Costco’s December sales numbers are the first indicator from a company of how holiday sales held up, and the early read is positive. DA Davidson analyst Michael Baker says in a research note that the overall comparative sales acceleration and the ramp up in online sales are both a good sign for general holiday spending. E-commerce sales in particular tend to correlate with discretionary items for Costco, a sign that shoppers were coming out in force to buy gifts in December. He also notes non-food goods, excluding foreign exchange, were up in the high-single digits, their best performance since August.