Holiday spending dip
anticipated in survey
Consumers plan to reduce Christmas spending this year, putting extra pressure on retailers for their critical shopping season.
Shoppers will shrink their budgets by an average of 5%, the first notable decline since 2020, according to PwC’s annual Holiday Outlook survey. That decline five years ago occurred amid the pandemic and its curtailed Christmas celebrations.
“Gen Z is just pulling back significantly,” said Kelly Pedersen, PwC partner, noting the younger generation is facing the highest credit card delinquency rates and shifting more spending toward experiences like concerts and travel, where prices have risen faster than goods.
Consumers are also anticipating a shorter shopping period, with most expecting to have their gift-hunting complete by the Monday after Thanksgiving.
More than 84% of consumers expect to cut back spending in the next six months, citing rising prices, potential tariffs and a higher cost of living — on everything from cars to insurance premiums, the PwC survey found.
Retail sales data for August show consumers are still spending, but cautiously.
— The Minnesota Star Tribune (TNS)
Amazon to raise pay,
lower benefits costs
Amazon will spend more than $1 billion to raise pay and lower health insurance costs for warehouse and transportation employees in the U.S.
The company said Wednesday that the average pay for a worker in Amazon’s vast logistics empire will increase to $23 an hour this year. The average total compensation, including benefits, will pencil out to over $30 an hour. Full-time employees will see about a $1,600 per year pay bump.
Known in Seattle for its tens of thousands of corporate workers, most of Amazon’s workforce is made up of warehouse employees. Amazon is the second-largest private employer in the world, with 1.55 million workers.
Regulatory agencies and Congress have criticized the company’s management of its warehouses, especially its working conditions.
Amazon reviews its pay and benefits in the fall, regularly raising pay for its warehouse workers, wrote Udit Madan, senior vice president of Amazon Worldwide Operations, in a company blog post.
Amazon didn’t say how much the average pay would be per state.
— The Seattle Times (TNS)
State Index dips 2.4
to end day at 927.51
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Thursday at 927.51, down 2.4 points.
“Small cap stocks outperformed their larger cap peers as the Russell 2000 Index set a new closing high for the first time since 2021,” said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
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