As data for the Black Friday weekend begins to accumulate, it is becoming clear that the weekend was not a rousing success for retailers. One sign of the weakness is the lack of an expected statement from J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP), where a company spokesman reportedly said that the company would issue a statement before the weekend was over confirming that its sales were better this year than they were last year. Unless that weekend reference also includes Cyber Monday sales, J.C. Penney missed its self-proclaimed target.

J.C. Penney is not the only retailer getting a haircut Monday. The National Retail Federation said on Sunday that holiday shopper numbers declined this year and that even those shoppers in the stores were spending less — more than 6% less. Other department stores are also getting taken down: Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) traded down 2.3% Monday morning, and Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) traded down 2.9%.

Is this pessimism or is it a manifestation of what has become at least a week-long or even month-long Black Friday? In an effort to get the first shot at customers’ wallets, retailers have been starting promotions earlier and consequently pulling sales in earlier. Whether the entire holiday shopping season will be better or worse than last year almost certainly depends on what date a retailer starts counting from.

ALSO READ: Apple, New York City Dominate Black Friday Sales

It is also possible that U.S. consumers feel a bit less comfortable with spending this year, even though the unemployment numbers are much better and the falling price of gasoline is putting a bit more cash in their pockets. Or perhaps consumers will wait until the last minute, hoping for better deals.

None of this changes the meaning of the weekend for J.C. Penney. Unless the company can show a solid gain in sales for the holiday quarter, stockholders are likely to flee.

J.C. Penney shares were down more than 5% in the noon hour on Monday, at $7.60 in a 52-week range of $4.90 to $11.30. Shares were down about 6% earlier.

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