Does ANYBODY Wonder WHY WE Haven't Seen Sales STATS Recently?

I posed the question as my title because I remember seasons when day by day and week by week we were bombarded with RETAIL constantly improving for obvious reasons. The last 5 or so years the progression seems to be BETTER BLACK FRI etc. and that's it until 3 days prior to Xmas when the truth comes out to prepare people for the HUGE after holiday sales. And it appears the season which supposedly started out so well just fizzled. Anyone else notice this deafening SILENCE?