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Retail in focus as Black Friday shopping kicks off

Today marks the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season as investors size up Black Friday to determine the current mood of the U.S. consumer. While fears of a new

Travel boom! Southwest offers double pay to avoid July 4 disruptions

baona/iStock via Getty Images As concerns dwindle over gathering in crowds or attending public events, 86% of Americans plan to celebrate Independence Day this year, up from 76% in 2020.

Early start to holiday shopping season pulls from Black Friday-Cyber Monday tally

The National Retail Federation says it saw the expected shift to digital by consumers during the Black Friday to Cyber Monday shopping period, For the first time ever, the number

Retail Spending Surges In September

Retail sales and food-services spending posted a strong gain in September.The September gain was the fifth in a row.Core retail sales, which exclude motor vehicles and gasoline retailers, posted a 1.5 percent gain for the month.Unit vehicle sales, reported earlier in the month, have also staged a very solid recovery.Results across the various categories of retailers were mostly positive in September.

September Production And Consumption Measures Both Surprise - In Opposite Directions

Industrial production has a 100-year-plus record of measuring the production side of the economy.Similarly, retail sales have a 70-year-plus record of measuring the consumption side of the economy.In September, both surprised, as production failed to confirm leading indicators and declined, while sales boomed despite the ending of emergency Congressional assistance.I am inclined to take both with extra grains of salt as potentially impacted by pandemic-related seasonal distortions.

U.S.: September Sales Surge

US retail sales are incredibly strong, rising 1.9% month-on-month versus 0.8% consensus.Strength was broad based with 12 out of 13 categories reporting a rise.Nonetheless, we shouldn't take too much away from what was a very good report, which saw sporting goods up 5.7%, health spending up 1.7% and eating/drinking out up 2.1%.

Trends With Benefits #30: Omnichannel Retail With Jeff Macke

Among the largest names in retail, as represented by the MVIS U.S. Listed Retail 25 Index, the differences between winners and losers this year is dramatic.The difference separating many of the names into winners and losers is their ability to leverage not only ecommerce, but all channels of marketing to facilitate engagement with their brand.

The Deceptive Recovery In Retail Sales Can't Last

Retail sales climbed back to record levels in June and continued to grow in July and August - despite painful levels of unemployment and income loss.But the good times will not last much longer: The massive government income support programs that funded consumer spending are ending, while shoppers will need to resume normal household necessities.Absent additional government interventions - which seem increasingly unlikely - retail sales will soon fall again and remain depressed until the pandemic eases and the economy recovers.