Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) and US President Donald Trump attend their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka on June 29, 2019.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
Beijing is insisting that a rollback of tariffs must be part of any phase one trade deal with Washington, China's Global Times newspaper said on Sunday citing unnamed sources, amid continued uncertainty on whether the two sides can reach an agreement.
"A US pledge to scrap tariffs scheduled for December 15 cannot replace the rollbacks of tariffs," the newspaper said in a tweet. The Global Times is published by the People's Daily, the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party.
New York (AFP) - The US holiday shopping season officially opened with a deluge of "Black Friday" promotions but the frenzied crowds of the past have thinned out with the rise of e-commerce.
Companies in the retail, entertainment and tourism industries once again tried to entice shoppers after Thanksgiving with a bevy of offers on a day synonymous with American consumer culture and notorious "doorbuster" sales that start at the crack of dawn.
But US consumers aren't buying Black Friday the way they once did.
Only 36 percent of US consumers plan to shop this year on Black Friday, down one percent from last year and a decline of 23 percent from 2015, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey.
"Just a few years ago, Black Friday had the aura of a FOMO (fear of missing out) event," PWC said. "Now it seems more symbolic than significant in the pantheon of retail holidays."
Black Friday will be followed in three days by "Cyber Monday," a second highpoint of spending early in the season.
Friday's sales have prompted copycat versions throughout Europe, an effort that has generated no small amount of friction.
This year's events prompted protest in parts of France, Germany and the Netherlands that included environmentalist rallies outside Amazon distribution centers and human chains blocking malls.
There has been little sign of that sort of subversiveness in the United States. Rather, the bigger emerging challenge for Black Friday has been shifting consumer patterns.
The PWC survey said that for the first time in 2019 more consumers (54 percent) said they'll do more of their shopping online than in stores.
- Higher sales expected -
Economists and retail industry insiders are broadly confident about the outlook for the 2019 season, owing to a strong labor market.
Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of US economic growth and has stayed strong throughout 2019 even as manufacturing has stagnated and business investment has been lackluster.
"Consumers are in good financial shape and willing to spend a little more on gifts for the special people in their lives this holiday season," said Matthew Shay, Chief Executive of the National Retail Federation.
The NRF has projected that US consumers will spend an average of $1,048 this year, up about four percent they said they would spend last year.
But increasingly more of those sales are migrating online.
This trend includes Amazon of course, but also traditional brick-and-mortar chains like Walmart and Macy's that have evolved into "multichannel" retailers, as well as companies and organizations hawking everything from pet food to hotel stays to political merchandise.
President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" merchandise was being once again discounted on the US president's political website at 35 percent off.
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was offering 25 percent off merchandise orders of $75 or more.
Due to the lateness of Thanksgiving, this year's holiday shopping season is about six days shorter than last year, prompting more retailers to push up promotions even earlier in the season than usual, according to analysts.
Online consumer spending on Thanksgiving day came in this year at $4.2 billion, up 14.5 percent from a year ago and the first time above $4 billion, according to Adobe Analytics.
Jason Woosley, a vice president with Adobe, said preliminary data showed Black Friday was also on track to top its performance from last year by almost 19 percent, with promotions for sporting goods and appliances especially popular.
The data suggested the Thanksgiving day shopping spree hasn't "stolen any traffic from Black Friday," he said, adding that about 20 percent of the overall online sales for the season are expected between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.
The Walmart store in Bellevue, Washington.Irene Jiang / Business Insider
Walmart is notorious for its Black Friday chaos.
The retailer — already famous for it's "everyday low prices" — is known to ramp up its deals on the holiday season. This year, Walmart's in-store Black Friday shopping event began at 6 p.m. local time on Thanksgiving day, November 28.
However, as more people shift toward shopping online, Black Friday as we once knew it has started to change. The massive crowds and lines that once characterized the national shopping holiday are dying down on the famed day itself. The real even starts the day before and customers shop online through the weekend all the way to Cyber Monday.
Walmart has also faced backlash for its labor practices, especially its decision to keep stores open on Thanksgiving without providing workers with overtime pay. Many shoppers expressed their outrage on Twitter, threatening to boycott the store for Black Friday in protest of lack of compensation for employees working during the holiday.
We visited two Walmart stores on opposite ends of the country — one in Framingham, Massachusetts and one in Bellevue, Washington — to see how the shopping experiences would compare. The store in Bellevue was practically a ghost town, and our experiences at both stores demonstrated how the infamous mayhem of Black Friday is dying down — or at least has moved elsewhere.
Here was our experience:
For these shoppers, the web just won’t cut it.
The rise of online retail has eased the Black Friday hoards of yesteryear, but many bargain-seekers still turned out across the Big Apple on Friday to splash some cash in person.
At Macy’s flagship location in Herald Square, one British family said they had come all the way from London specifically to experience the consumer bonanza first-hand.
“We just came out shopping and we’ve spent all our money already!” said Donna Lee, 30. “We got some Christmas presents and we will keep some for ourselves.”
The family of eight women and their kids were weighed down by several bags from Victoria’s Secret.
“We bought so much we have to take it back to the hotel room and drop it off,” added her cousin Kirsty Lee, 30. “Then we will come back and shop some more.”
Workers at the emporium said the store’s Thursday opening meant fewer people showed up on Black Friday itself.
“Opening on Thanksgiving is good for us because the Black Friday rush isn’t so crazy,” said Erin McDonnell, 54, a freelancer who works for Ralph Lauren and helps with events at Macy’s counter.
At the Queens Center Mall, Jenny Pascual, 35, arrived at the Pink store with her 14-year-old daughter Emily Huestipac around 6:30 a.m., half an hour before the retailer opened.
She ended up spending $300 and saving $300 in her early-morning shopping spree.
“This is a good sale for me because I have daughters and they wanted sweaters, T-shirts and tights,” Pascual said. “I’m happy I came. It was a real bargain and I got the stuff that I wanted for much less. I always save and wait for today to go shopping.”
Sweaters and leggings at the store were buy one, get one free, while underwear that normally sells for $11 and $12 was on offer at $35 for 10 pairs.
“The extra money that I saved, I am going to use it to pay some bills, like the electric bill,” Pascual said. “And I am going to put some away towards a summer vacation for my family.”
Pascual, of Jamaica, said she didn’t even think of bargain-hunting on Thanksgiving.
“No, it’s a day to spend with my family, not for shopping,” she said. “I wanted that day to be with my family. I still get a good sale today so I don’t have to cut into my family time and all that good food to come out here.”
A JC Penney employee at the mall said many others are opting to shop online instead of hitting the sales racks.
“Most people are doing their shopping online, especially the younger generation,” said the clerk, who declined to give her name. “They don’t want to come in the store. They don’t have to get dressed. They roll over [in bed], get their laptop and start shopping.”
But Victoria James, a tried-and-true online shopper, had ventured out in person for the first time on Black Friday to see what it’s all about.
“I just wanted to see the difference in coming into the store and shopping online,” James said. “And, I needed to take a break and get out of the house for a little while.”
James scored a blouse at Forever 21 — but still wasn’t entirely sold on shopping in stores rather than online.
“I avoid the crowd,” James said. “I avoid the long lines. Sometimes the store might not have what I want. It’s easier online. I can look at a lot of different stores and it’s easier to compare prices … If I don’t see anything I want, I’m going back home to shop online.”
Starbucks has apologized after an Oklahoma police officer was was given a coffee cup with the word 'pig' printed on the label while working on Thanksgiving.
The Kiefer police officer stopped at the Starbucks in Glenpool to order five cups of coffee for dispatchers working on Thanksgiving.
But the officer was left disgusted after the coffee label had the word 'pig' printed on the side.
The Starbucks cup the officer was served in Glenpool, Oklahoma, with the label 'PIG' on the side
Facebook users commented on Johnny O'Mara's Facebook post about the cup and said the word 'pig' on the label was 'disrespectful'
Kiefer Police Chief Johnny O'Mara called the manager of the coffee chain who offered to reprint the label if the officer brought the cups back.
However the police chief decided to share a picture of the cup on Facebook yesterday with the caption: 'So... one of my on-duty officers decides to do something nice for our dispatchers.
'It's Thanksgiving Day; our dispatchers are under appreciated as it is. My officer goes to Starbucks to get the dispatchers coffee as a thank you for all they do (especially when they're working a holiday.)'
He continued: 'This is what he gets for being nice.
'What irks me is the absolute and total disrespect for a police officer who, instead of being home with family and enjoying a meal and a football game, is patrolling his little town.'
'This cup of coffee for a 'pig' is just another little flag.
'It's another tiny pinprick into the heart of men and women who are asking themselves more often: 'Why am I doing this?'
He added: 'Just pour the coffee, please. Are we at a point where a task as simple as pouring an exceptionally overpriced cup of coffee is so complicated that it cannot be accomplished without 'expressing oneself?'
Kiefer police chief Johnny O'Mara shared the label on Facebook
'As a side note, I called the store and was told they'd be happy to 'replace the coffee with a correct label.' The proverb 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me' came to mind.
'Thank you, first responders, for risking it all this Thanksgiving away from your families.
'If you're looking for coffee use a place where you pour your own and you're certain of what's in it). Stay safe; go home.'
People were quick to comment on the post and branded the label 'disrespectful'.
Jessica Linnet: 'Oh my gosh!!! That is horrible they did that. So disrespectful. Thank you though for what all you and your officers do for us.'
Linda Dee Rooney-Card added: 'Thank you and your officers and dispatchers for all you do.'
Starbucks spokesman Jory Mendes told KTUL: 'This is absolutely unacceptable and we are deeply sorry to the law enforcement officer who experienced this.
'We have also apologized directly to him and we are working to connect with the police chief as well as to express our remorse.
'The barista has been suspended pending the outcome of our investigation into this matter.
'This language is offensive to all law enforcement and is not representative of the deep appreciation we have for police officers who work tirelessly to keep our communities safe.'
The Starbucks employee has reportedly reached out to the officer and apologized claiming it was a joke.
The Dow slipped 112.59 points, or 0.40% to close at 28,051.41. The S&P 500 pulled back 0.40% to 3,140.98. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.46% to end the day at 8,665.47. Stocks fell in a shortened trading session but still posted their best monthly performance since June.
The S&P 500 rose more than 3% for November, notching its biggest one-month gain since June when it rallied more than 6%. Optimism around U.S.-China trade relations and a milder-than-expected pullback in corporate earnings helped drive the market's strong performance this month. However, the signing of two U.S. laws supporting Hong Kong protesters dampened some of that positive sentiment as a key Dec. 15 deadline approaches. China also threatened on Friday to take "strong counter-measures" against the U.S.
Investors will turn their attention to the latest reading on the ISM manufacturing index and construction spending data on Monday. Wall Street will also watch out for any potential retaliation from China. Read more here.
U.S. stocks turned lower Friday, snapping a four-day winning streak amid light volume, as a trade deal with China remained out of reach. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.40% was down about 112.59 points, 0.4%, to close at 28,051.41. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.40% fell 12.62 points, 0.4%, to close near 3,141.01. The Nasdaq was down about 39.70 points, 0.5%, at 8,665.47. Retail giant Walmart Inc. WMT, +0.28% was one of the few retailers in the green on Black Friday: shares gained about 0.3% on the day, and are up nearly 28% for the year to date.
In the week that has passed since Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk unveiled the company’s new Cybertruck, there have been no shortage of opinions about the futuristic-looking ride with its sharp angles and stainless steel exterior.
Some have been challenging, such as when an official from Ford proposed a tug-of-war between the Cybertruck and a Ford F-150 pickup. Some have been critical and cheeky, like some of the initial reactions to the Cybertruck on social media channels. Lego even went so far as to tweet out a picture of a “truck” that was made of wheels and three Lego pieces, and which Lego said was “guaranteed shatterproof” in reaction to the Cybertruck’s windows shattering during a demonstration at the vehicle’s unveiling on Nov. 21.
So, if on one end there is Tesla building a Cybertruck out of stainless steel, and Lego building its version of the truck out of Legos on the other, is there some kind of Cybertruck-making material that could fall somewhere in the happy middle of the Cybertruck spectrum?
How about mashed potatoes?
Such a possibility became a reality when Twitter user Dan Milano posted photos, and video, of his brother Greg using his Thanksgiving Day mashed potatoes to build a pretty realistic-looking version of the Cybertruck.
My brother has been working on a mashed potato cybertruck for over an hour pic.twitter.com/Bze4kOKiHy
— Dan Milano (@DanMilanoHere) November 29, 2019
“My brother has been working on a mashed potato Cybertruck for over an hour,” Milano originally tweeted. As his brother progressed with his design, Dan Milano continued to post updates as the Cybertruck took form.
Lookin pretty sweet, now he’s scooping out the back pic.twitter.com/EKYQQhfjcC
— Dan Milano (@DanMilanoHere) November 29, 2019
“Lookin pretty sweet,” Dan Milano tweeted as the mashed potato Cybertruck neared completion. “Now he’s scooping out the back.”
Before too long, Greg Milano had put the Cybertruck’s ramp down, and, eventually, the lure of Thanksgiving mashed potatoes became too much for him to take as he drenched his Cybertruck sculpture in gravy and dug in.
We filled the back with gravy pic.twitter.com/f8pMfJaEaD
— Dan Milano (@DanMilanoHere) November 29, 2019
Dan Milano finally posted a side-by-side photo comparison of Tesla’s Cybertruck and his brother’s creation, which really did pay homage to the real thing.
“He ate every bite,” Dan Milano tweeted. “Next time, a sweet potato ATV.”He ate every bite. Next time: A sweet potato ATV. pic.twitter.com/0bFIjxacVZ
— Dan Milano (@DanMilanoHere) November 29, 2019
Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment about Greg Milano’s edible Cybertruck sculpture. But, maybe Tesla might take a look at the possibility of using mashed potatoes as building material in future versions of the vehicle?
After all,Tesla itself says of the Cybertruck’s stainless steel body that “If there was something better, we’d use it.”
Every family has their own Thanksgiving traditions. In the Milano household, it's seeing what will be sculpted out of mashed potatoes.
Greg Milano, 30, has been making mashed potato sculptures at Thanksgiving for 10 or 15 years. With a background in art and architectural history, he likes challenging himself with topical and challenging new ideas for the annual tradition.
This year was no different. As his family gathered at his mom's house in Connecticut, Milano got to work turning potato into Elon Musk's odd looking Cybertruck.
Truly uncanny.
Here's the real thing, for reference.
He lated added a corn kernel to act as the ball bearing that was smashed into the truck at its demo.
"In years past I’ve done things that are timely and in the news," Milano told BuzzFeed News.
"I’m a lover of technology and that was obviously a huge thing in the news lately."
Milano's brother, Dan, tweeted the whole process, which picked up thousands of likes on Twitter.
Milano said this all started when he was a teenager, and with much simpler ideas.
"It started like any other teenager with a volcano and morphed into a pyramid and a couple of other things over the years," he said.
"It kind of just became a tradition."
He said he usually started sculpting as everyone sits down to eat and it takes him up to two hours to get everything just right.
Some have certainly been more complex than others, like last year when he recreated the Guggenheim.
Or in 2016, when he made the White House in honor of the election.
Another year, it was the Pantheon.
Once he remade Stonehenge.
Some of his favorites though are the more simple designs, like this Lego minifig head.
His most famous to date was when he made a Hostess Twinkie and Cupcake in 2012.
Milano said he's under a bit of pressure every year since both his family and people who know him on social media are excited to see what he'll make next.
"One or two years I didn’t post it and people got upset," he said.
As for the sculptures themselves, Milano usually ends the tradition in the only way that makes sense — by dousing them in gravy and chowing down.
Arizona Cardinals Safety Josh Shaw (27) during the first half of an NFL game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Bucs on November 10, 2019, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL.
Icon Sportswire | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
The National Football League has suspended Arizona Cardinals defensive back Josh Shaw for betting on games, the league announced Friday.
Shaw, who is currently on injured reserve, will not be eligible to play for the remainder of the 2019 season, and out indefinitely until at least the conclusion of the 2020 season for betting on NFL games on "multiple occasions," the league said.
"The continued success of the NFL depends directly on each of us doing everything necessary to safeguard the integrity of the game and the reputations of all who participate in the league," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "At the core of this responsibility is the longstanding principle that betting on NFL games, or on any element of a game, puts at risk the integrity of the game, damages public confidence in the NFL, and is forbidden under all circumstances.
"If you work in the NFL in any capacity," Goodell concluded, "you may not bet on NFL football."
Shaw's agent, Zeke Sandhu of Elite Athlete Management, did not immediately respond to request for comment about the suspension.
Shaw, 27, has not played this season as he's currently out with a shoulder injury. The NFL says its investigation found Shaw used no insider information, while also acknowledging there was no evidence showing teammates and coaches knew about Shaw's betting activity.
Currently, sports betting is illegal in Arizona; hence,
Shaw placed bets on games while on a trip with friends in Las Vegas. Shaw, who signed with the Cardinals on a one-year deal worth roughly $895,000, has three business days to appeal his suspension via the NFL-NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement. If Shaw files and losses any appeal, he could petition for reinstatement following Feb. 15, 2021.The Cincinnati Bengals drafted Shaw in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. In 55 career games, Shaw recorded 108 total tackles and one sack.
An Oklahoma police chief says an on-duty officer who picked up an order at a local Starbucks found the word "pig" on the drinks' labels instead of the officer's name.
Johnny O'Mara, the police chief in Kiefer, Oklahoma, shared an image of the cup in a Facebook post Thursday, explaining the officer had bought coffee for the town's 911 dispatchers "as a thank you for all they do."
"This is what he gets for being nice," O'Mara wrote in the post.
"It’s another tiny pinprick into the heart of men and women who are asking themselves more often: 'Why am I doing this?'" he continued.
He added the coffee shop offered to replace the coffee with a proper label, an offer he denied.
A Starbucks representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY, but Jory Mendes, a Starbucks spokesman, confirmed to KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City and KTUL-TV in Tulsa that Starbucks has apologized and suspended a barista pending an investigation.
"What irks me is the absolute and total disrespect for a police officer who, instead of being home with family and enjoying a meal and a football game, is patrolling his little town," O'Mara wrote.
Kiefer, Oklahoma's population was 1,973 as of 2017, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Representatives from the Kiefer Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY.
