Black Friday — What to know in markets

Heidi Chung
·Reporter
Updated
0

Friday will be a shortened trading session with markets closing at 1 p.m. ET.

The holiday shopping season is already underway, but things will heat up significantly when consumers flood stores and websites for deals on Black Friday.

According to a recent survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF), well over 56% of consumers started their holiday shopping during the first week of November. Nevertheless, Black Friday kicks off the busiest shopping weekend of the year — and this year is no exception. The NRF estimated that 165.3 million people are expected to shop Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday. And 114 million of those consumers plan to shop on Black Friday.

“The tradition of Thanksgiving weekend holiday shopping has become a five-day event with consumers spending money in stores, supporting local small businesses, and online with their mobile devices and computers,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Even as people are starting to purchase gifts earlier in the season, consumers still enjoy finding good Thanksgiving deals and passing time shopping with family and friends over the long holiday weekend.”

Pedestrians walk past a shop announcing Black Friday sales in Caen, northwestern France, on November 27, 2019. - Black Friday is a sales offer originating from the US where retailers slash prices on the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP) (Photo by SAMEER AL-DOUMY/AFP via Getty Images)
Pedestrians walk past a shop announcing Black Friday sales in Caen, northwestern France, on November 27, 2019. - Black Friday is a sales offer originating from the US where retailers slash prices on the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP) (Photo by SAMEER AL-DOUMY/AFP via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Adobe Analytics expects online sales of $4.4B on Thanksgiving Day, which is an increase of 19.7% from last year. Black Friday is expected to rake in $7.5B and Cyber Monday is anticipated to bring in a record-setting $9.4 billion in sales.

“For televisions alone, shoppers are already seeing discounts twice as deep as expected with average savings yesterday of 17.5%,” Adobe’s VP of Commerce Product & Platform John Woosley said. “Those consumers who grab their smartphone to do some quick online shopping after dinner are likely to find offers that are even better than this time last year.”

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Heidi Chung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @heidi_chung.

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