Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with words dropped+rose. 2 news.

UNITED States Internet sales rose at the slowest pace on record as discounts cut revenue in the final days of the holiday shopping season. Online spending from November 1 through December 21 increased 19 percent from the same period a year earlier to $26.3 billion, Reston, Virginia-based ComScore Inc said yesterday. Sales trailed last year's 26 percent growth and the research firm's forecast for a 20 percent gain during this year's holidays, Bloomberg News said. Consumers have limited spending growth this year as gasoline and food prices rise and mortgage defaults increase. The Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment for December dropped to 75.5, the lowest since October 2005. "This year will be the year of the discount," Fred Crawford, managing director at AlixPartners LLP, told Bloomberg Television on December 21. AlixPartners is a consulting firm based in Southfield, Michigan. ComScore hasn't recorded growth of less than 20 percent since

THE mortgage delinquency ratio in Hong Kong dropped to 0.11 percent and the rescheduled loan ratio fell to 0.2 percent, both record lows, driving the combined ratio lower to 0.32 percent, according to a report yesterday. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority also found in the monthly survey that new mortgage loans drawn down rose 17.5 percent to HK$18.7 billion (US$2.4 billion).