The government’s retail data is finally trickling in after shutdown-related delays and the economic verdict is...meh. US retail sales (not adjusted for inflation) rose just 0.2% in September, compared to a 0.6% jump in August, according to the Commerce Department. Economists were hoping for growth of at least 0.3%.

The lackluster numbers wrap up what was an otherwise solid Q3 for US retailers, with July posting 0.65% growth. The data suggests that shoppers are cooling on splurging on items like clothes and vehicles but are still spending on personal-care items and furniture. Americans also still seemed willing to go out to bars and restaurants.

Bargain retailers benefit

Companies that pride themselves on values and discounts are doing well: Walmart’s Q3 sales beat estimates, and the company raised its profit outlook for the second time this year. TJX Companies, which owns and chaotically organizes both TJ Maxx and Marshalls, also raised annual sales and profit estimates last week.

Best Buy, meanwhile, reported a 2.7% increase in same-store sales, its biggest quarterly gain in four years, though CEO Corie Barry said that customers were being more “thoughtful” about big-ticket items.

Not spending equally. Some economists continue to point to the so-called K-shaped economy—or a growing divide between high-income spenders and everyone else. An analysis of Federal Reserve data showed that the top 10% income bracket made up almost half of total consumer spending in Q2.

Looking ahead…despite affordability fears, the holiday-shopping season could be a good one for retailers. Mastercard is expecting a 3.6% jump in seasonal spending this year—not necessarily driven by shoppers buying more, but rather them paying higher prices on pretty much everything. A recent survey by the Conference Board showed consumer confidence cratering.—MM

Sorry, Nvidia: Meta reportedly wants Google’s chips. Meta is considering spending billions of dollars to use Google’s AI semiconductors in its data centers in 2027, The Information reported this week, sending shares of Alphabet up 1.5% and Nvidia down 2.6%. Under the deal, Google would provide Meta with tensor processing units (TPUs), which can be customized for specific AI functions. That differs from Nvidia’s industry-standard GPUs, which were originally designed to render visual graphics. The reported deal comes at a good time for Google and a bad time for Nvidia: The search giant recently inked a multibillion-dollar chip agreement with Anthropic, while AI-bubble fears already dragged Nvidia’s stock down more than 10% from a late-October peak. In response to the report, Nvidia said it was “delighted by Google’s success,” but also added that “Nvidia is a generation ahead of the industry.”

Ukraine–Russia peace deal gains momentum. Ukraine is “ready to move forward” on the “framework” of a US-backed deal to end the war with Russia, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday, though some disagreements over key issues remain, including territory. This comes after American and Russian delegates reportedly met in secret and drafted a 28-point plan that was widely seen as favorable to Moscow. Following Ukrainian and American officials’ amending of the proposal, President Trump will now send US special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who experts believe is likely to nix the deal. Hours after Trump signaled optimism about the deal, Russian attacks killed at least seven people and caused many others to shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

Traveling for Thanksgiving? You’ve got a big storm coming. A record 82 million people in the US are set to travel at least 50 miles to their Turkey Day destinations this year, according to the American Automobile Association. If you’re one of them…good luck! Extreme weather is expected to cause traffic delays and flight disruptions today, with strong winds and blizzard conditions in parts of the Midwest and rain and fog along the East Coast and in the Northwest. Luckily for the Labubu Float, weather is supposed to clear up for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City tomorrow, but strong gusts might make balloon handlers’ arms feel especially sore on Friday.—ML

People selling their homes are acting like a jaded single who keeps deleting Hinge. In September, homesellers delisted their properties at the highest rate in eight years, according to a Redfin study published yesterday.

Delistings surged 28% in September from the year before—with 5.5% of listed homes having their for-sale yard signs yanked that month, the largest share since at least 2016.

Because it’s a buyer’s market

High mortgage rates and economic uncertainty have made the early 2020s housing frenzy feel as fleeting as the sourdough baking fad—with many homes now languishing on the market for months.

For many sellers, offering a discount is the only way to woo buyers:

• 57% of properties sold in the first ten months of 2025 got a price cut, compared to 47% between 2020 and 2024, according to the National Association of Realtors.
• For people who bought their homes recently, that often entails selling at a loss. Of the properties delisted from Redfin in September, about 15% were at risk of selling below purchase price, a five-year high.

That might explain why folks who purchased their homes in the past five years were behind a disproportionate number of delistings, per Redfin.

But…some sellers pull their home from Redfin and later relist it in order to make it appear as a fresh offering and hide a price cut.—SK

The long-awaited final season of Stranger Things drops tonight on Netflix, marking the end of an era that began in 2016, when most of the cast was still years away from being old enough to vote and know what an IPA tastes like.

If you were willing to wait nearly four years for the conclusion of your favorite show, you’re probably willing to endure Netflix’s plan for releasing the final episodes in installments. Four will come out tonight, three more will be released on Christmas, and the finale arrives on New Year’s Eve.

It’s hard to argue with the strategy:

• Netflix’s subscriber count has jumped from about 94 million in 2016 to more than 700 million today.
• The show’s first four seasons all landed in Netflix’s most recent weekly top 10, a first for the platform and a sign of the buzz that Netflix wants to draw out over the course of several weeks.

Warming to theaters: Earlier this year, CEO Ted Sarandos called the idea of releasing movies in theaters “outmoded,” but the Stranger Things series finale will spend two days in 350 cinemas. The release comes as Netflix is reportedly willing to keep Warner Bros. Discovery movies in theaters, if it wins its bid to buy the company.

What’s next? There’s still more Hawkins content coming: A play, an animated show, and a live-action spinoff are in the offing. Hopefully, no one in those casts will be nearing a mid-life crisis when the runs are over.—DL

The US is finally making it up to the UK after it inspired its ally to make Geordie Shore. Interest in Thanksgiving is surging in the UK, thanks to a growing fascination with American cuisine, the Guardian reported. The proof is in the bread pudding:

• Online searches for Thanksgiving skyrocketed 440% in the UK this year, according to the retailer Ocado. Searches for pumpkin spice alone are up by over 550%.
• Close to half (42%) of British millennials and Gen Zers say they’ve attended a Thanksgiving feast.

Turkey purveyors are noticing the uptick: Pipers Farm in Devon said it was expecting even higher demand this year after last year’s pre-Thanksgiving sales climbed by 38% compared to the two weeks prior.

“It’s become a real occasion here,” Izzie Peskett, Whole Foods Market UK’s head of marketing, told The Guardian. “Thanksgiving is now less about where you’re from and more about embracing the warmth and generosity of the occasion.”—AE