People have hoped that Black Friday this year would push the nation out of the recession. Despite the sluggish economy, retailers continue to hang their optimistic hats on black Friday shoppers. It turned out that retailers have managed to entice deal-hungry shoppers to come into their stores but in the end, they are disappointed when they see that shoppers stick only to the most deeply discounted items.

In the beginning, there were indications that store traffic would actually be as strong as last year, but it turned out that many customers were watching their pockets tightly and were only bying the things they believed would be good bargains. Indeed, the National Retail Federation has been predicting that holiday sales will be a 1% drop in from a year ago. This is a second down year but better than last year’s 3.4% decline. However, before in October 2009, consumer spending was 0.7% up then expected, according to Commerce Department who announced the figures this week. To be sure, a few shoppers seemed determined to spend, at least at discount malls.

Despite on all the hope that retailers are putting on shoppers, economists say the U.S. economy is consumption-driven, and that until Americans have the confidence and the means to buy more goods and services, the recession will continue to hang on.

While Americans are hanging on to their hope to be pushed out of the recession by Black Friday shoppers, the world’s economy went to an interesting direction. Due to a debt crisis in Dubai, investors’ reactions has caused stocks to slump on Friday. Crude oil touched a six-week low, gold tumbled, and the dollar climbed as worried investors sought safe havens.

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