New York (CNN Business) Tiffany & Co. already warned in January that sales during the holiday were weak. It turned out that demand for jewelry and other bling in the company's trademark blue boxes was a bit worse than what investors expected.

Tiffany TIF Shares offell 5% in early trading after the company reported that sales for its fourth quarter were a bit below the already-lowered forecasts . They bounced back after market open, though, and were up about 3% in early trading.

The company blamed a drop off in tourist spending in the United States and Europe for the shortfall.

Sales at stores open at least a year were down 1% during the quarter. Tiffany said in its earnings release Friday that it's not expecting things to improve anytime soon.

The company hinted that earnings in the first half of this year will be down from the same period in 2018 because of a stronger US dollar hurting sales, as well as a continuation of lower foreign tourist spending.

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