Check Out more gloomy forecasts for the holiday sales season.

With mall traffic likely weak for the remainder of the year and uncertainty lingering in the financial markets, analysts at CL King say that even with inventory reductions across the board they don’t yet see a light at the end of the tunnel.

“We believe the macro situation has fallen further with worse-than-anticipated negative data points on employment, housing, car sales, investment portfolios, etc.,” CL King wrote in an analyst note.

“The consumer has been cut back with regard to credit availability, as have small businesses. The extreme volatility in financial markets and the subsequent barrage of negative news headlines is probably causing further mall traffic weakness … Such mall traffic weakness is not likely to improve in October, despite very favorable weather comparisons.”

A Reuters/Zogby poll says nearly six times as many shoppers plan to spend the same or less than last year than those who plan to spend more.

Also in the basket:

Family Dollar profit tops Wall St view, shares up (Reuters)

CVS takes issue with Longs shareholder letter (Reuters)

Anheuser-Busch expects 3rd-qtr income up (Reuters)

(Photo/Reuters)