Tausi Insider

U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in October as households stepped up purchases of motor vehicles and a range of other goods, suggesting consumer spending picked up early in the fourth quarter, which could help to support the economy. The solid retail sales reported by the Commerce Department on Wednesday and signs of a slowdown in inflation raised cautious optimism the economy could avoid an anticipated recession next year or just experience a mild downturn. “We might be in for a soft landing after all,” said Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics in Toronto. Retail sales rose 1.3 per cent last month after being unchanged in September. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales rising 1.0 per cent. Retail sales are mostly goods and are not adjusted for inflation. They increased 8.3 per cent year-on-year in October. One-time tax refunds in California, which saw some households receiving as much as $1,050 in stimulus checks, likely helped t...

A family loads a TV into a pickup truck outside a Walmart on Black Friday in El Paso, Texas on Nov. 25. JUSTIN HAMEL /The New York Times News Service Gus Carlson is a U.S.-based columnist for Tausi Insider. There’s some head-scratching going on among retail experts this week as they try to make sense of the strong sales at U.S. stores on Black Friday and record-setting online sales on Cyber Monday. The recurring question: What inflation? Shoppers’ enthusiastic spending to kick off the holiday season has defied the gloomy mood set by a well-worn list of data that has weighed on the U.S. economy for some time. Inflation is at 40-year highs, with steep prices for gas, food and other staples, and rising interest rates are making everything from mortgages to car loans more expensive. Yet retail sales over the U.S. Thanksgiving long weekend topped US$9-billion, and Cyber Monday sales of more than US$11-billion set a new record. The National Retail Federation expects the ...

The National Retail Federation estimates it accounted for US94.5 billion in losses last year, up sharply from the previous year. Glenn Lowson/Tausi Insider Gus Carlson is a U.S.-based columnist for Tausi Insider Walk into most any drugstore in a U.S. city to buy a tube of toothpaste, a stick of deodorant or a bottle of Aspirin and you may be surprised: They are locked up in cases, like diamond necklaces or Rolex watches, and accessible only by key-bearing employees – if you can find any to help you. The reason? Theft, often accompanied by violence and aggression in urban locations, has quickly become the biggest plague on U.S. retailers. The National Retail Federation estimates it accounted for US$94.5-billion in losses last year, up sharply from the previous year, and nearly half its members are spending more on loss-prevention technology than ever before. Big retailers are sounding the alarm, warning that the issue is so acute, they can no longer account for it in the normal cost ...

An Indigenous Elder, residential school survivor and 60's scoop survivor who identifies as "Redstone woman that walks with fire", left, is removed from a sacred fire area by police during an eviction process at a homeless encampment in Toronto on June 22, 2021. Chris Young/The Canadian Press There’s a restaurant I pass often that is as expensive as it is mediocre. It closed recently, and a man experiencing homelessness promptly moved in to the covered patio. This area, a somewhat fancy part of downtown Toronto, has been full of such disadvantaged people lately. And as their encampments have grown in the past two years, I’ve seen more private security hanging around, apparently hired by nearby building owners. But it’s not just an issue with homelessness. These days, I see security guards wherever I go, from Dollarama to Shopper’s Drug Mart. In Ontario alone, there were more than 100,000 licensed security guards in 2021, a 13-per-cent increase from 2020. That is a massiv...