Fiscal Focus

December 29, 2024 Fiscal Focus  December Market Recap  While shoppers were doing last-minute shopping, investors were unwrapping early gifts on Wall Street. December saw a full market surge, closing the year on a high note after months of cautious optimism and fears of recession. The S&P 500 topped 6,000, the Nasdaq broke 20,000, and numerous individual stocks such as Tesla and Nvidia saw substantial gains But this wasn't just holiday magic. It was a mix of government monetary policies and investor FOMO! A Historic Finish All three major U.S. indices closed December at all-time record-breaking highs:    Index December Close Yearly Gain                            S&P 500: 6,010.91 +28.3%                          Nasdaq Composite: 20,034.60 +28.6%              ...

  Title: Christmas recap By Fiscal Focus|Dec 29th 2024 A Brief History of the Holiday Hustle "The most wonderful time of the year", for years, December shopping has been about last-second urgency: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and now “Last-Minute Tuesday shopping". Sales start before Thanksgiving and somehow continue into Christmas, where you'd expect sales to be realistically done. In 2024, holiday shopping started earlier than ever , with numerous retailers pressured by inflation and inventory pile-ups. But the flash markdowns, which were put in place, we see are often just shams. The “Sale” Trap: An $80 game marked down to $39.99? Most likely, it was always going to sell for $39.99; the inflated “original price” was just bait. This was a key tactic I saw mainly used during Black Friday, where sellers would often increase the price 20-30% a month before and then shed the price back down to market price on the day of the sale, and label it as a deal. Retailer...

Black Friday recap  Fiscal Focus | Nov 2024 2024 Black Friday witnessed record-breaking online sales, a decline in in-store sales, and the growth of online sales. Record-Breaking Online Sales According to Adobe Analytics, online sales on Black Friday 2024 reached a whopping $10.8 billion, which marks a 10.2% increase from the previous year. Cellphones and other electronics accounted for 55% of these sales and generated around $5.9 billion in revenue.    Decline in In-Store Shopping While online sales fared well, in-store shopping experienced yet another skid in sales for consecutive years.  Shoppers  in stores decreased by 8.2% compared to the previous year, which I believe was influenced by things such as pre-existing weather conditions and pre black Friday promos. Despite this, some retailers attempted to draw customers back into stores with exclusive in-store promotions and merchandise, but as seen with the numbers, it did not do much to influence cu...