NEW YORK — Small businesses had a merry December, as shoppers wrapped up their holiday shopping.

That’s according to the Fiserv Small Business Index.

In the U.S., the seasonally adjusted index for December was 146, up 3 points from November. The figure is derived from point-of-sale transaction data in-store and online across about 2 million U.S. small businesses.

Fiserv, a payment and financial services technology company, found that small business sales rose 4.9% and total transactions grew 5.5% from December the year prior.

The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, said holiday sales in November and December rose 4% to $994.1 billion compared with the previous year. — Associated Press