Merry Christmas (or whatever holiday you observe) — Circuit City (NYSE: CC $0.26 on 10/31/2008) has just announced (at least internally) that they will be closing 155 stores on or before December 31, 2008.

Circuit City Closes 155 Stores, as reported by The Consumerist

This buoyant news comes after news posted on Gizmodo, Sony Trucks Literally Turn Around to Stop Circuit City Shipments.  

Add in a dash of NYSE notifying Circuit City that they risk being delisted on the NYSE as their stock price has been below $1 for over 30 days.  

This is what will be driving the pessimistic consumer confidence reports. 

Consumers have less money this year, retail shops are going to have lower sales, more stores will shut down.  It is a self perpetuating cycle.  

Add to all of this, shipping prices have dropped to record lows.  As repoted in the Telegraph, Investors shun Greek debt as shipping crisis deepens.  

So we have retail stores shutting down, the ones that are there can’t pay for new inventory, consumers are losing money, jobs are disappearing, all the while commodity traders and shippers can’t secure loans to run the infrastructure that supports our global economy.

Happy Monday

Update – The Consumerist has posted the list of Circuit City stores that are closing. Thanks to Yupologist on Reddit for this one.