Nintendo tells Reuters stellar holiday sales despite global slowdown, shares surge

Shares of Nintendo surged 4 percent after President Satoru Hirata told Reuters in an exclusive interview that sales of its Wii game console sales bucked the global downturn and more than doubled in the critical U.S. Thanksgiving week. Iwata also told Reuters on Dec. 8 that European Wii sales have by far outstripped last year’s. The interview was cited in an analyst report, Japanese trade paper Kabushiki Shimbum. The IHT carried the story, which was accompanied by a profile of Iwata, a Nintendo factbox, two graphics and pictures.