Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background.

Why do stock prices of retailers not surge during the holidays?
The expected holiday sales are "known" or actually guessed at beforehand, and stock prices move in line with these expectations before the holiday. If the actual post holiday sales are more or less in line with the "guess," little stock price movement takes place. It's when the actual sales differ (materially) from the "guessed" sales that prices move up or down in the appropriate direction.  What happens is that the market "anticipates" or "guesses" first and "reacts" later, if necessary.