Headlines — November 26, 2023

Locator: 46173HEADLINES.

Disney flop: the movie "Wish." Sophia and family almost walked out of the movie Saturday night. Barron's. 

Black Friday Apple deal! The $179-second -generation Apple Pencil is now going for an incredible $79 -- at Amazon and Walmart.

My favorite chart: wow, wow, wow. They’re reading the blog. Most recent.

About that recession:

Record: another source confirms one-day record.

Whether they jostled through brick-and-mortar stores or toggled between tabs and virtual carts, holiday shoppers were eager to participate in Black Friday this year.

Both in-store and online retail sales increased year-over-year unadjusted for inflation, according to Mastercard’s SpendingPulse insights, which noted that apparel, jewelry and restaurant categories saw considerable spikes.

In-store sales jumped a little more than 1%, while e-commerce led the charge with an increase of 8.5%. However, Sensormatic Solutions, which tracks shopper traffic at brick-and-mortar stores, found that visits on Black Friday were up 4.6% from 2022. This is a turnaround for retailers, the company said, as foot traffic has been down an average of 2.4% this year.

“Though we anticipated an increase, in-store shopper traffic outperformed our expectations,” Grant Gustafson, head of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic, said in a statement. “Consumers are again finding joy in brick-and-mortar shopping, seeing it as an experience to be shared with loved ones. It’s a testament to the hard work retailers have done to streamline journeys and deliver satisfying experiences.”

Adobe Analytics, which tracks US online shopping, reported a record $9.8 billion in Black Friday sales, up 7.5% from 2022, driven by surging demand for electronics such as televisions, smart watches and audio equipment. Most shoppers did their browsing and buying on their phones, with mobile purchases accounting for $5.3 billion in sales. Adobe expects that purchases made through smartphones this holiday season will overtake those made by desktops for the first time.

Memo to self: use Amazon Prime credit card at Belk.

Lego: from The Verge. Set 10305. At Amazon, $500. At Lego, $300. At Lego, this recently introduced set is out of stock. Considered Lego’s GOAT sets. Massive. Launched August 3, 2022. Needs to be fact-checked but sounds about right. This will be a thousand-dollar set someday. YouTube.

Apple OS update: macOS 14 Sonoma. I just updated my M1 MacBook Air. I’m sure I use less than one percent of all the really cool stuff in Apple’s operating systems. Truly amazing and all their upgrades are always entirely free.

Wordle: in two today!

NFL today: 6 - 4 - 1 - 1 today. Must see: Chiefs - Raiders.

Investing: ESG. 

A king’s ransom: that purple dye.

Coal: annual update. Coal is dead; long live coal.

Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival. Link here. 

Bud Lite: as good as any analysis. Lite beer? It's a commodity -- all lite beers have the same number of calories and they all taste the same. An compared to IPAs, almost no taste. Compared to the rare dark beer, way too thin. Watery.  On top of that, for big beer drinkers and casual drinkers, way too many options.