Home prices across the country, including Southwest Florida, are up. Gas prices are down. Stock prices are rising and unemployment continues to dip as hiring ramps up.

Not to mention there was no bad weather to report across the nation.

All these factors combined to bode well for a strong holiday shopping season.

The National Retail Federation predicted that sales made over the holidays, which began around Thanksgiving and wrapped up at Christmas, would increase by 4.1 percent to $616.9 billion nationally when compared with 2013 season.

The Florida Retail Federation had an even rosier forecast: a 5 percent jump in sales across the Sunshine State this year.

Final numbers will not be available for a while, but there have been indications that such optimism was not misplaced.

A report by MasterCard found that retail sales rose 5.5 percent from the day after Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve as strong demand for women’s apparel, jewelry and casual dining helped offset slow sales for electronics.

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