This is a holiday-shortened trading week, with U.S. markets closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. Markets will also close early the next day, which coincides with Black Friday in the U.S. Many of America’s biggest retailers, including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Costco are launching Black Friday sales events next week, with deals, discounts, and promotions on thousands of products. With earnings season mostly behind us, investors can still expect a batch of earnings from prominent retailers like Lowe’s, Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Abercrombie & Fitch, Kohl’s, and Nordstrom, among others. However, the spotlight could focus on tech giant and artificial intelligence (AI) pioneer Nvidia, which reports its earnings on Tuesday. Market watchers also can expect updates on existing home sales and consumer sentiment, along with the release Tuesday of meeting minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) latest policy meeting.
Nvidia, More Retailers To Report as Earnings Season Winds Down
In what could be the last eventful week of earnings season, investors can expect reports from the last batch of retailers featuring Lowe’s, Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Abercrombie & Fitch, Kohl’s, and Nordstrom, among others. However, the spotlight could shine on tech giant and AI leader Nvidia, which will report its earnings on Tuesday. Baidu, Hewlett Packard, Trip.com, and Zoom Video Communications also will report this week.
Holiday Spending Kicks Off With Black Friday
If you’re among the millions of shoppers who have felt the pinch of high inflation, you may want to consider the countless deals and discounts available on Black Friday. Many of America’s biggest retailers are launching Black Friday sales events in the week. Retail spending over the holiday season, defined as Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, is forecast to rise between 3% and 4% from a year ago to as much as $966.6 billion, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). That’s a smaller increase than last year’s 5.4% gain, and well below a record gain of 12.7% in 2021, which was the biggest in the NRF’s records dating back to 2003.
Online shopping, which surged in popularity during the pandemic and has shown few signs of letting up, is projected to increase between 7% and 9% this holiday season, accounting for a greater share of total spending. A separate study from McKinsey found that U.S. consumers are less inclined to splurge this holiday season compared with last year’s, perhaps due to persistently high inflation and rising interest rates, which have pushed annual percentage rates (APRs) on credit cards to record highs. Just over a third, or 35%, of surveyed consumers said they’re willing to splurge, versus 39% who said the same in 2022. Gen Z consumers’ responses to this question recorded the steepest drop compared with last year, but at roughly 50%, they said they were still more willing than any other generation to spend generously this holiday season.