No matter how much Americans spend or run up their credit cards, it is never enough.

Never enough, that is, if those who are passing judgment on the situation are Wall Street analysts who focus on stocks of discount and department store chains. They have kept up a staccato of negative assessments since well before the holidays.

Despite such concerns, Chicago economist Brian Wesbury expects Thursday’s report of December retail sales to show an outsized gain of 1.3 percent. When car sales are excluded, the advance will be 0.5 percent.

Both numbers are quite respectable, and indicate the sky hasn’t fallen, Wesbury said.

“All that gloomy talk was for nothing,” he said. “It amounted to much more talk than gloom.”

Car sales “went through the roof, as both foreign and domestic makers layered on heavy levels of incentives,” said Wesbury, of Griffin, Kubik, Stephens & Thompson, an investment firm.

He noted that domestic auto and light truck sales mushroomed 13.6 percent from November.

There is more good news ahead for retailers, Wesbury said, because “many people bought gift cards and gift certificates for the holidays. These could give January sales a boost, as well.”

Some unusually tough talk and gruff assessments about speculative activity in housing and financial markets that took place at the most recent meeting of policy-makers of the Federal Reserve sent an ugly ripple through Wall Street last week. Analysts interpreted the remarks as indicating that the central bank may be ready to move more aggressively to clamp down on credit. The Fed’s next meeting takes place Feb. 2.

Get ready for additional talk about rising interest rates Friday, with release of the December producer price index, which measures wholesale inflation. In November, it jumped 0.5 percent, far ahead of what economists were expecting.

For the latest 12 months, wholesale prices were up a shocking 5.1 percent, largely on pipeline pressure from commodities. Most of the blame, of course, stemmed from soaring oil costs.

Analysts expect Friday’s report to show a modest gain, on the order of 0.2 percent, while recognizing that there is a wild card: China is drawing in so many raw materials, including petroleum and the makings for steel, that wholesale inflation may continue to surge.

The dollar’s swoon against foreign currencies will be at the forefront Wednesday, with a report on the trade deficit for November. Although the shortfall widened more than expected in October to a record $55.5 billion, analysts are expecting a very slight narrowing.

The greenback has suffered a heavy setback since Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told a European banking conference in late autumn that foreign investors may tire of financing an endless shortfall in U.S. trade with other countries. On a brighter note, the dollar picked up slightly last week on concerns over slow growth in Europe and Japan.

The stock market got off to a slow start in the new year, perhaps because of concerns about an upcoming flood of fourth-quarter corporate profits. Last year’s big winners, small-cap stocks, took the hardest hit.

Chicago investment manager Douglas Nardi says the year ahead can bring nice gains on Wall Street, but buyers will need to be selective.

“It looks like a good year for pharmaceutical stocks, but everyone said that in 2004,” said Nardi, of Legg Mason Investment Counsel. The year turned out to be a total disaster for many drugmakers.

Pharmaceutical stocks will benefit from relatively low valuations in 2005, he said, while the regulatory outlook appears favorable.

“Price controls definitely are off the table, and tort reform, were it to occur, would be a positive for the industry,” Nardi said.

As for stocks to avoid, he is looking at utilities and financials. His reasoning: Both are walking on eggs as the Fed continues to ratchet up interest rates.