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Last-minute bargain hunters send vacation retail sales higher than last year, Mastercard says
Priceconscious vacation buyers opened their wallets for lastminute online discounts on clothing and stocking stuffers, potentially benefiting sellers that also offered such hassle-free options as complimentary delivery and curbside pickup. The appeal of online shopping has actually risen due to its convenience, similar or lower costs than in-store, the availability of services like purchase online, get in-store ( BOPIS) and quick, free shipments, stated Michael Schulman, a. retail expert at Running Point Capital Advisors. The shortened holidays this year compared to. last year, with a tighter scrunch in between Thanksgiving and. Christmas, also left less time for in-store retail shopping and. most likely incentivized more phone and computer surfing and. purchases, he said. While there were offers aplenty, merchants appeared to have. been disciplined with promos. Target and Dollar. Tree's shares were up almost 3% in noon trading, while Walmart. was flat. According to a Mastercard SpendingPulse report, online. costs throughout the holiday shopping period from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 grew by 6.7% over in 2015, compared to a 2.9% increase for. in-store sales. This added to a total costs increase of 3.8% over. 2023, going beyond the formerly forecast increase of 3.2% and. topping the 3.1% increase during the exact same duration in 2015. Steve Sadove, senior advisor to Mastercard and previous Saks. CEO and chairman, told Reuters that spending rose even when. higher rates due to inflation were factored in. He kept in mind that. the last five days of the holiday season accounted for 10% of. all vacation spending, showing a lot of strength in the end. With just 27 days in between Thanksgiving and Christmas-- five. less than last year - retail executives were less exuberant. going into the holiday season. They explained their customers as selective, mindful. and conservative, and making needs-based purchases. As a. outcome, lots of sellers doubled down on cutting prices and. offering promotions, Bernstein experts said previously this month. Walmart said it would continue to lower rates. through rollbacks, while competing Target said it would. increase its promotional strength as buyers were not as. engaged without promotions. Dollar General said it. anticipates profits to be pressured from increased promotions in the. fourth quarter, while Kroger and Five Below likewise. stated they had to lower costs to be competitive. Walmart and Target spent more on ads to reach consumers on. short-video app TikTok and streaming platforms like Peacock and. Hulu during the season, highlighting their membership programs. that deal fast delivery and BOPIS. Some of these efforts appear to have actually worked. Salesforce estimated that the number of BOPIS orders could. double throughout the weekend before Christmas, comprising nearly 40%. of all online orders for sellers. And deliveries are also. strong, with FedEx estimating stronger-than-expected. holiday shipment volume last week. REAL CONSUMER STRENGTH Huntsville, Alabama-resident Aireale Hobbs, 40, started. Christmas searching for pajama sets, Stanley drink tumblers, and. toys for her family online on Black Friday. She stated she chose to do a bulk of her shopping online. since of convenience, more choices and much better deals. I got some things from Target that were discounted when. using the app, said Hobbs, who operates at as a front desk clerk. at a physician's workplace. Laptop computers and TVs with brand-new innovation, lower rates and. growing acceptance of lab-grown diamonds, and athleisure clothing. also encouraged shoppers to spend this holiday, even. though promotions were at the very same levels as in 2015, Sadove. said. Promotions were managed. Nothing was additional deep and. there were no panicked promos. What we saw was some real. consumer strength, Sadove said, including that low unemployment. and greater incomes were buffering personal finances. Sales in the apparel, precious jewelry and electronic devices categories. were up 3.6%, 4% and 3.7%, respectively over last year,. according to Mastercard. Online sales of apparel, in particular,. grew 6.7%, compared to 0.2% in stores.
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Putin: There is no time for signing a new Ukraine gas transit agreement this year
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, said that there is no time to sign another Ukrainian gas transit agreement this year. He blamed Ukraine for not extending the agreement which brings gas to Slovakia and Czech Republic. Putin added that Kyiv had punished Europe with its decision to not renew the contract. The current gas transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine, which runs for five years, expires at the end of this year. In a briefing televised, Putin stated that "there is no contract" and that it was impossible to complete it within 3-4 days. Russian gas is only a small part of the Russian gas that reaches Europe through Ukraine. In 2023, Russia will ship about 15 billion cubic meters (bcm), which is only 8% the peak Russian gas flow to Europe in 2018-19. The Soviet-era Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline brings gas from Siberia via the town of Sudzha - which is now under control of Ukrainian military forces - in Russia's Kursk region. The gas then flows to Slovakia via Ukraine. The gas pipeline in Slovakia is split into branches that go to Austria and the Czech Republic. Putin said that Russia was ready to provide gas to any customer via Ukraine, but a lawsuit made this impossible. Putin reiterated that Russia is ready to provide gas to Europe through Poland via the Yamal-Europe pipeline.
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Endeavor Global's LNG tanker will likely head to Germany, LSEG data shows
U.S. melted gas (LNG). business Venture Global LNG's tanker Venture Bayou, currently. stationed at the Plaquemines LNG export plant in Louisiana, is. expected to head to Brunsbuttel, Germany and will likely get here. there by Jan. 8, according to LSEG data. The U.S. is the world's biggest exporter of the superchilled. gas and a key provider of gas to Europe in the wake of Russia's. intrusion of Ukraine. Plaquemines LNG just recently started producing first LNG and the. vessel's anticipated departure from the Louisiana plant likely. shows it is bring its very first LNG cargo. The business was. not immediately readily available for remark. The plant is already over budget by more than $ 2.35 billion and is expected to have an extended commissioning duration,. possibly postponing long-term client shipment until 2026. When completely completed Plaquemines will be among the. largest LNG plants worldwide and help keep the United States. ranked as the world's biggest LNG exporter.
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Gazprom's gas output to increase to around 416 bcm in 2024
Alexei Miller, the head of Russia's Gazprom, stated on Thursday the group's natural gas production is set to increase this year by 61 billion cubic metres (bcm) to around 416 bcm. The boost is from an all-time low production in loss-making 2023, when output plunged by 13% amid a fall in gas exports to Europe, when Gazprom's primary source of revenue, as relations with the West worsened over the conflict in Ukraine. Gas exports to China are set to increase to 31 bcm this year, Miller stated, up from the scheduled 30 bcm. The business has been in talks with China over a considerable increase in gas sales, consisting of via the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline. However, negotiations have actually not flourished due to a. number of problems, mainly costs. Gazprom has actually instead turned to the low-priced domestic. market, in addition to neighbouring ex-Soviet nations, such as. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The business said on Thursday that gas materials to. domestic customers have reached a record high of 390 bcm in. 2024.
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Azerbaijan Airlines flight was downed by Russian air defence system, 4 sources state
An Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday was downed by a Russian air defence system, four sources in Azerbaijan with understanding of the examination told Reuters. An Embraer guest jet crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, eliminating 38 people, after diverting from a location of Russia in which Moscow has used air defence systems against Ukrainian drone strikes in recent months. Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 had actually flown numerous miles off its arranged route from Azerbaijan's Baku to Grozny, in Russia's Chechnya, to crash on the opposite coast of the Caspian Sea, after what Russia's air travel watchdog stated was an emergency that might have been triggered by a bird strike. Officials did not instantly explain why it had actually crossed the sea, however the crash followed Ukrainian drone strikes this month hit the Chechnya area of southern Russia. The nearby Russian airport on the airplane's flight course was closed on Wednesday early morning. Russian, Azerbaijani and Kazakhstani officials have all required examinations into the crash.
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Finland cops investigate foreign ship after power cable interruption
Finnish cops are examining whether a foreign ship was involved in the damage of an undersea power cable television connecting Finland and Estonia following an abrupt failure on Wednesday, the cops said on Thursday. Both the Finnish and the Estonian government will hold remarkable conferences in the future Thursday to assess the circumstance, they said in separate statements. Baltic Sea countries are on high alert for prospective acts of sabotage following a string of blackouts of power cable televisions, telecom links and gas pipelines because 2022, although subsea equipment is likewise subject to technical malfunction and accidents. Fixing the 170 km (106 miles) Estlink 2 interconnector will take months, and the outage might trigger a tense power supply circumstance during winter, operator Fingrid said in a. declaration. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal was in close contact. with associates in the Nordic and Baltic area, he said in a. post on X. The 658 megawatt (MW) Estlink 2 failure started at midday local. time on Wednesday, leaving just the 358 MW Estlink 1 in. operation in between the two countries, operator Fingrid said. The police, in cooperation with the Border Guard and other. authorities, are examining the chain of events of the. incident, Finnish cops stated in a statement. Private investigators were penetrating the prospective function of a foreign. ship, authorities said without calling the vessel. Authorities in Sweden are on the other hand leading an examination into. the breach last month of two Baltic Sea telecom cables, in an. event German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has actually stated he. presumed was brought on by sabotage. Individually, Finnish cops continue to investigate damage. caused in 2015 to the Balticconnector gas pipeline linking. Finland and Estonia, along with several telecoms cables, and. have said this was likely brought on by a ship dragging its anchor. In 2022 the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream gas pipelines. running along the seabed in the exact same waters were exploded, in a. case still under examination by Germany.
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Algerian wheat purchase in tender seen at 630,000 T, traders say
Algeria's state grains company OAIC is believed to have actually purchased around 630,000 metric tons of milling wheat in a worldwide tender which closed on Tuesday, European traders stated on Thursday. Traders had actually reported the purchase on Tuesday but had not given estimates of tonnes bought. Some trader estimates on Thursday put the purchase over 630,000 lots. Costs reported on Thursday were again around $257 to $258 a. heap cost and freight (c&& f) included, they stated. This was the. like reported on Tuesday night. Traders suspected some of the wheat would be sourced from. the Black Sea area, consisting of Romania and Ukraine, although. technically the grain can be sourced from optional origins. Trader reports stated around 8 companies made sales,. consisting of one French trading house. Diplomatic tension between. France and Algeria has actually led evident sidelining of French. materials in OAIC's tenders considering that early October. Reports show evaluations from traders and even more. price quotes of rates and volumes are possible later on. The wheat was sought for shipment in four periods from the. main supply regions consisting of Europe: Feb. 1-15, Feb. 16-28,. March 1-15 and March 16-31. If sourced from South America or. Australia, shipment is one month earlier.
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China Eastern to debut C919 on Shanghai-Hong Kong route in January
China Eastern Airlines will launch the first commercial crossborder service operated by C919 between Shanghai and Hong Kong on January 1, stateowned China Central Tv (CCTV) stated on Thursday. Currently, the 3 big state-owned airline companies in China all operate the C919, the narrow-body jet locally developed by the Commercial Airplane Corporation of China (COMAC), but they just fly within mainland China. The brand-new service, a daily return flight, comes as China looks for to protect the first worldwide client for the C919, a jet with the potential to equal the Boeing 737 MAX and Plane A320neo. China Eastern, the very first to launch the C919, commands a. fleet of 9 C919s that service various domestic paths. The addition of Hong Kong - a special administrative area. of China with its own air travel regulative system - as a. destination will broaden China Eastern's network to nine cities. COMAC has been focusing on its global growth,. opening an office in Hong Kong in October, following the. establishment of its Asia-Pacific office in Singapore. COMAC has. said that the Hong Kong workplace is a crucial element of its. global technique. The aircraft maker is seeking to acquire. accreditations for the C919 from the European Union and has. revealed hopes to attain it by 2025.
Algerian wheat purchase in tender seen at 630,000 T, traders state
Algeria's state grains firm OAIC is believed to have actually acquired around 630,000 metric tons of milling wheat in a worldwide tender, which closed on Tuesday, European traders said on Thursday.
Traders had actually reported the purchase on Tuesday however had not provided price quotes of tonnes purchased. Some trader approximates on Thursday put the purchase over 630,000 tons.
Rates reported on Thursday were again around $257 to $258 a. heap cost and freight (c&& f) consisted of, they said. This was the. same as reported on Tuesday night.
In its last full-scale milling wheat tender in late October,. OAIC was approximated by traders to have actually scheduled around 600,000 lots. for shipment in December at the greater rate of $263 a heap c&& f.
Traders suspected some of the wheat purchased this week. would be sourced from the Black Sea area, including Romania,. Bulgaria and Ukraine, although technically the grain can be. sourced from optional origins.
Trader reports said around eight business made sales,. consisting of one French trading house.
Algeria, among the leading markets for EU wheat exports,. for many years sourced the majority of its imported wheat from France. However Russian and other Black Sea region exporters have been. expanding in the market, a trend amplified by the apparent. sidelining of French materials in OAIC's tenders because early. October amid diplomatic stress in between Algiers and Paris.
OAIC, which does not release details of its tenders, has. said it treats all providers equally.
Reports reflect assessments from traders and further. price quotes of costs and volumes are possible later on.
The wheat was sought for shipment in four periods from the. main supply areas, including Europe: Feb. 1-15, Feb. 16-28,. March 1-15 and March 16-31. If sourced from South America or. Australia, shipment is one month previously.
(source: Reuters)