There have been mixed signals from the High Street

A large proportion of annual turnover traditionally occurs in the period.

Next, the first big store group to issue a trading statement, is expected to show sales continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace than in 2003.

But analysts will be looking for admissions of poor performance after regulators told retailers to disclose any worse-than-expected figures early.

In mid-December, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) wrote to all High Street store groups listed on the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 indices warning them not to hold back on revealing any poor trading data.

Growing consumer debt and five interest rate rises have led to fears the UK's important retail sector might suffer a poor holiday period.

Price-conscious

While sales in the run up to Christmas are not thought to be as poor as some analysts had been predicting, there are expected to be winners and losers.

Figures from retail information group Footfall have shown more bargain hunters were out at the sales after the Christmas holiday than last year.

But the British Retail Consortium (BRC) retail survey for December, released on 11 January, will provide an overall indication of High Street sales.

Cut-throat competition and price-conscious shoppers are expected to have hurt retailers in the run-up to Christmas, according to the BRC.

Expansion into non-food items by supermarket chains such as Tesco and Asda is also said to have had an impact on some stores.

The trading statement from Next will be followed in the next two weeks by updates from Morrisons, Dixons, House of Fraser, Tesco and Boots.