Call it a Christmas miracle. Macy's Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. Inc. -- two troubled department-store chains that have been emblems of the so-called retail apocalypse -- rang up healthy sales results this holiday season.
Macy's said Thursday that its comparable sales for November and December were up 1 percent over a year earlier, a welcome turnabout for a company that has posted 11 consecutive quarters of declines on this measure.
