Holiday spending up 8 percent, online sales surge

Americans have been doing more of their shopping by sitting at home -- and they've been buying more items to sit on. And overall, spending during the holidays is up by nearly eight percent from a year ago.

According to a report released today, Americans spent more on items like furniture during the holidays this year, with online shopping in particular seeing a big spike. It was up by 20 percent. But shopping at physical stores still accounts for the majority of spending during the holidays.

Sales of women's clothing rose double-digits, while men's apparel declined, according to the MasterCard SpendingPulse report. The report is based on sales activity on the MasterCard payments network.

The National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail trade group, expects sales for November and December to rise 3.7 percent to $630.5 billion from a year ago.

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