Santa's sack will be light this year. Share prices of Mattel and Hasbro, the two big US toymakers, have fallen by a third since August. Third-quarter numbers released yesterday from both manufacturers prompted downgrades to earnings expectations in spite of solid sets of topline growth. Has Christmas been cancelled?

Some caution is natural. After 15 years of declining prices for toys, 2006 and 2007 were notable for rises in average product prices. New mechanisation and computerisation techniques had allowed the creation of must-have robotic playthings, handing their manufacturers a rare degree of pricing power. Yet with consumers retrenching from all discretionary spending, it is hard to see too many parents forking out for Hasbro's $180 FurReal Friends Biscuit animatronic puppy, or Mattel's $60 Elmo dolls.