📉 RETAIL NUMBERS TUMBLE

<p>Retail numbers begin to tumble as more shoppers move from in store sales to online sales. The U.S. economy created far fewer jobs than expected in November, in a sign that hiring started to slow even before the announcement of the new Covid omicron variant, the Labor Department reported earlier in the day. Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 210,000 for the month, though the unemployment rate fell sharply to 4.2% from 4.6%. The labor force participation rate increased for the month to 61.8%, its highest level since March 2020. With a competitive job market threatening to bleed through the hectic holiday shopping season, retailers are now taking extra measures to lure in potential candidates and keep their existing ones. Walgreens Boots Alliance and CVS plan to raise their minimum hourly wage to $15, and Costco raised pay to $16 earlier this year. Amazon is offering sign-on bonuses up to $3,000 and healthcare benefits to some candidates, while Kohl's is giving associates a $100 to $400 bonus for working during the holiday season. Traffic at retail stores on Black Friday dropped 28.3% compared with 2019 levels, as Americans shifted more of their spending online and kicked off their shopping earlier in the year, according to preliminary data from Sensormatic Solutions. Traffic was up 47.5% compared with year-ago levels, Sensormatic said. This time in 2020, many shoppers stayed at home due to fears around the coronavirus pandemic and as retailers operated on somewhat reduced hours. So far, from Nov. 1 through Cyber Monday, consumers in the United States have spent $109.8 billion online, which is up 11.9% year over year, Adobe said. And on 22 of those days, consumers purchased more than $3 billion worth of goods, another new milestone, it said. Adobe anticipates digital sales from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 will hit $207 billion, which would represent record gains of 10%.</p> <p>💰Support the Channel CashApp: $MarketMarauder</p> <p>📚Website: www.marketmarauders.net</p> <p>🦩Twitter: @yourequest</p> <p>😎Instagram: market_maraud