IT’S NOT JUST THE STOCK MARKET THAT’S UP:

Online retailers are expected to have a cheerful holiday season thanks to legions of new shoppers buying gifts over the Internet, say two new forecasts.

Sales will grow 18 percent over last year to $26 billion, according to a report released Monday by JupiterResearch. . . .

The forecasts show that the e-commerce is still strong 10 years after the founding of industry giants Amazon.com and eBay. Shoppers continue to migrate online, lured by convenience, a proliferation of free shipping offers and the prospect of saving money by driving less — given the current high gasoline prices.

Yes, and there’s also the traffic, which I hate: I was at the mall yesterday morning and it was surprisingly uncrowded, but I figured that was the last day it would be tolerable for a couple of months. That’s why I’m going to do as much shopping as I can over at old reliable!