Data Feed: December 28, 2017

Holiday Retail Spurred: Mastercard SpendingPulse reported that US holiday sales surged by 4.9% this year, marking the largest year-over-year increase since 2011. The electronics and appliances category grew by 7.5%, while home furniture and furnishings spiked by 5.1%. The company attributed the gains to both a strong economy and winning strategies used by retailers to engage shoppers.

Prime Moves: Amazon's pretty happy about its Prime membership service. The retail giant claims more than 4 million people trialed or began the free shipping benefit in a one-week period over the holiday season. The company also reported that its Echo Dot smart speaker device was the top-selling Amazon device during the holiday shopping period.

NFL Draws Dollars: According to iSpot.tv, the NFL's programs have drawn in a total of $3.7 billion in advertising for TV networks that control broadcasting rights. That list includes CBS, NBC, ESPN, Fox and the NFL Network. The automotive vertical pumped the most money into NFL TV ads, at $748.2 million, followed by insurance, wireless communications firms and mobile device manufacturers.

Boomerang Bucks: A new survey from The Harris Poll for NerdWallet found that eight in 10 US parents with children ages 18 or older are still paying for at least some of their expenses. Almost 60% of those parents are still letting their kids live at home, and a little more than one-fifth are paying for their children's housing expenses somewhere else. NerdWallet reports that those costs might be eroding many parents' retirement security.