Black
Friday shoppers ditch their computers, flock to stores
NEW
YORK (AP) — Retailers are offering much of their Black Friday deals online, but
shoppers still showed up at malls and stores around the country looking for
discounts — and to take in the scene. Black Friday is expected to be the
busiest shopping day of the year, according to ShopperTrak. Sales are expected
to hit $23 billion on Friday, up from $21 billion during the same year-ago
period, according to MasterCard Spending Pulse, which tracks all forms of
payment, including cash.
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A
holiday miracle? Stores try to cut down on long lines
NEW
YORK (AP) — Retailers will once again offer big deals and early hours to lure
shoppers into their stores for Black Friday. But they'll also try to get
shoppers out of their stores faster by minimizing the thing they hate most:
long lines. At Macy's, shoppers can scan and pay for goods on their own
smartphones. And at Target, Walmart and others, workers will be sent to store
aisles to check customers out on mobile devices. Retailers hope the changes
will make in-store shopping less of a hassle.
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Adults
want cozy, kids want gross: 4 holiday trends to watch
NEW
YORK (AP) — Cozy sweaters and soft pajamas are in for adults. Kids, meanwhile,
are asking for board games featuring fake poop and pimples. Those are just some
of the trends expected this holiday season, when shoppers are projected to
spend as much as $720 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.
Kohl's, for example, is pushing soft sweaters and fuzzy mules. And gross-out
games like Pimple Pete are popular.
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S&P
500 slides into 'correction' for second time this year
U.S. stocks closed lower
Friday, bumping the benchmark S&P 500 index into a correction, or drop of
10 percent or more from its recent all-time high in September. Energy companies
led the market slide as the price of U.S. crude oil tumbled to its lowest level
in more than a year, reflecting worries among traders that a slowing global
economy could hurt demand for oil.
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Japan's
Osaka to host 2025 World Expo, beating Russian city
PARIS
(AP) — The Japanese city of Osaka will host the World Expo in 2025, after
beating out cities in Russia and Azerbaijan. They all wanted to attract an
event expected to draw millions of visitors and showcase the local economy and
culture. Shouts of joy in Japanese rose up in the Paris auditorium where the
170 member states of the Bureau International des Expositions voted Friday in
favor of Osaka's bid.
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GM
under investigation for faulty brake vacuum pumps
Regulators
are investigating poor brake performance on 2.7 million GM pickups and SUVs.
The NHTSA has received reports of nine crashes and two injuries
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Nissan
board fires Ghosn as chairman following arrest
TOKYO
(AP) — Nissan has fired Carlos Ghosn as chairman in a dramatic end to the
powerful executive's nearly two decade reign at the Japanese automaker. The
company says its own investigation detected serious misconduct, including
under-reporting of Ghosh's income and misuse of company assets. Nissan Motor
Co. said its board of directors met for several hours Thursday and voted
unanimously to dismiss Ghosn. Prosecutors say he is suspected of
under-reporting $44.6 million in income from 2011 to 2015.
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Cyber
Monday shoppers will see more sites charging sales tax
WASHINGTON
(AP) — Shoppers heading online to purchase holiday gifts will find they're
being charged sales tax at some websites where they weren't before. The reason:
the Supreme Court. A June ruling gave states the go-ahead to require more
companies to collect sales tax on online purchases. Now, more than two dozen
have moved to take advantage of the ruling, many ahead of the busy holiday
shopping season.
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The S&P 500 index
fell 17.37 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,632.56. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average lost 178.74 points, or 0.7 percent, to 24,285.95. The Nasdaq composite
dropped 33.27 points, or 0.5 percent, to 6,938.98. The Russell 2000 index of
smaller-company stocks picked up 0.40 points, or 0.03 percent, to 1,488.68.
