MasterCard sees no buoyant holiday season

NEW YORK (Reuters) - MasterCard Inc (MA.N), the world's second-largest credit-card network, on Tuesday ruled out a buoyant holiday season this year in the United States, but estimated the shopping season would be better than in 2008.

Chief Executive Robert Selander said an improvement in retail sales in September and in credit and debit card spending in October was encouraging, but warned that more job losses and a historically low consumer confidence would slow any recovery.

"I think it's not going to be an overly buoyant season," Selander told Reuters in an interview. "We are seeing improvements relative to prior months, and given that it was a weak fourth quarter last year, we think it will be viewed as good as or better than last year by the time the season is done.

Industry forecasts for holiday sales range from predicting slightly lower to slightly higher returns for stores versus a year ago, while many consumers surveyed say they will spend less on shopping during the season.

Expectations for the 2009 holiday season compare to a year earlier, when the credit crunch and financial market meltdown caused consumers to slash spending and led to the worst drop in holiday sales in more than 40 years.

(Reporting by Juan Lagorio; editing by Gunna Dickson)