Shares in Web-search leader Google Inc. slid 4.7 percent on Tuesday, their biggest decline in a year, on concern that the outlook for holiday sales may not be as strong as investors had hoped.

Expectations that U.S. retail sales activity following the Thanksgiving holiday may not be as strong as some analysts had predicted knocked Google down $19.94 to $403.54 in brisk turnover of 21.4 million.

Shares in Google, which makes money by selling online advertising and referring shoppers to sites of retailers, had gained almost 40 percent in two months on expectations that a strong holiday season would lead a surge in revenue.

Turnover on Tuesday was nearly three times the 90-day daily average of 8.3 million.

In recent years, the Monday after Thanksgiving has been seen as an indicator of the holiday sales outlook for Internet businesses, and investors didn’t like what they saw, said Herb Kurlan, president of Vtrader LLC, an online trading firm.

Source: eWeek