Gains registered on Black Friday

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Big crowds were expected at malls and other retail outlets on Friday 11/28/08, the day after Thanksgiving. The fear was that they would mostly be browsing. But early indications are that they pulled out their wallets too. Preliminary estimates pegged consumer spending at $10.6B, a 3% increase over Black Friday 2007’s $10.3B total. Although celebrations will be muted by the slim margins, thanks to deep discounting, analysts are encouraged that consumers are willing to spend even with the  present economic uncertainty.