Business Highlights: Cyber Monday expected to set record; Meta hit with claims over underage users
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Cyber Monday marks the year’s biggest online shopping day, and one more chance to save on gifts
Consumers are scouring the internet for online deals as they begin to cap off the five-day post-Thanksgiving shopping bonanza with Cyber Monday. Even though e-commerce is now part and parcel of our everyday lives, Cyber Monday – a term coined back in 2005 by the National Retail Federation – continues to be the biggest online shopping day of the year. Adobe Analytics expects consumers to spend between $12.0 billion and $12.4 billion on Monday, making it the biggest online shopping day of all time. For several major retailers, the “Cyber Monday” sale is a days-long event that began over the weekend. Consumer spending for Cyber Week - the five days between Thanksgiving and Monday - provides a strong indication on how much shoppers are willing to spend during the holidays.
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New incentives could boost satisfaction with in-person work, but few employers are making changes
NEW YORK (AP) — The COVID-19 pandemic upended the work habits of people around the world, with millions working from home, at least for part of their week. Workers have returned in waves back to the office on some days, but navigating that transition is a significant hurdle for employers and workers alike. And many simply don’t want to restore the pre-COVID status quo. Top factors behind this resistance include a sense of losing flexibility or throwing off a better work-life balance, as well as often lengthy and costly commutes. Two surveys conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago give a glimpse into the challenges and tensions that arrive with return to office plans.
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US airports saw record passenger volumes, but fewer headaches, over Thanksgiving weekend
A record number of passengers traveled through U.S. airports over Thanksgiving weekend, the Transportation Security Administration said Monday. The TSA said it screened just over 2.9 million passengers on Sunday, surpassing the previous record of 2.88 million set on June 30. That was 10% more than the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year. Travel was relatively smooth despite the crowds. On Sunday, just 55 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were cancelled, according to FlightAware, a tracking service.
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Court document claims Meta knowingly designed its platforms to hook kids, reports say
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A newly unsealed legal complaint claims Facebook parent Meta Platforms deliberately engineered its social platforms to hook kids. The complaint also alleges the company knew, but never disclosed, it had received millions of complaints about underage users on Instagram but only acted on a fraction of those accounts. The complaint has been described in Wall Street Journal and New York Times reports. The document, originally made public a month earlier in redacted form, was the opening salvo in a lawsuit filed by the attorneys general of 33 states. Meta maintains the complaint misrepresents its work.
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Stock market today: Wall Street edges lower as four-week winning streak cools off
Stocks edged lower on Wall Street as markets look ahead to updates on inflation and how American consumers are feeling about the economy. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% Monday. The index is coming off a holiday-shortened week and its fourth straight winning week. The Dow lost 56 points, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1%. Shopify rose after announcing a Black Friday record for worldwide sales of $4.1 billion from its merchants. On Tuesday the Conference Board issues its latest report on consumer confidence, and on Thursday the government releases October data on the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation.
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Supporting nonprofits on GivingTuesday this year could have a bigger impact than usual
Supporting nonprofits on GivingTuesday this year could have a bigger impact than usual. That’s because nonprofits and industry groups say donations so far are down compared with previous years. Many organizations will be looking to make up the difference on GivingTuesday, which is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Some run matching campaigns, meaning a supporter has pledged to double or sometimes triple the donation of other, smaller donors. A large amount of charitable giving happens at the end of the calendar year, so it’s still too soon to tell if this year will follow the trend in 2022, when overall donations dropped for only the fourth time in 40 years.
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EU regulators say Amazon’s acquisition of vacuum maker iRobot may harm competition
European regulators say Amazon’s proposed acquisition of robot vacuum maker iRobot may harm competition. The European Commission, the European Union’s top antitrust enforcer, said Monday that it has informed Amazon of its “preliminary view” regarding the deal following an investigation that began in July. Regulators have raised concerns that the buyout may hinder iRobot’s rivals from effectively competing on Amazon’s marketplace. They say Amazon is an important platform for sales of robot vacuum cleaners in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The commission has until February 14 to make a final decision on the deal. Amazon says its working with regulators and will address their concerns.
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The S&P 500 fell 8.91 points, or 0.2%, to 4,550.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 56.68 points, or 0.2%, to 35,333.47. The Nasdaq composite fell 9.83 points, or 0.1%, to 14,241.02. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 6.35 points, or 0.4% to 1,801.15.
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