Mixed consumer spending patterns in the first full week of December

Spending processed through all core retail merchants, excluding hospitality, in Worldline's payment network reached 785 million dollars.

That's up 1.4 percent on the same period last year, and up 13.9 percent on 2019.

Chief Sales Officer Bruce Proffit says the build-up to Christmas has begun, but it varies across sectors.

He says spending among food and liquor merchants was up 6.7 percent, but down across most other sectors.