Transcripts For KQED Nightly Business Report 20151128

Way, early reports from Software Firm adobe show that shoppers spent more than a billion dollars online between midnight and 5 00 a. M. , that is up about 20 from just last year. Target reported a strong start to its black friday weekend, the retailer said its stores saw a solid turn out yesterday and that thanksgiving Internet Sales were the biggest ever. Other retail ceos also like what theyre seeing. Were very pleased with what were seeing on the internet with people shopping on thanksgiving and this morning and were very pleased with the traffic in our stores as well. Last night was clearly the kick off to thanksgiving shopping and we saw it not with just the lines but with the purchasing. So we were very encouraged that people finally not only came out, but came out and bought. Its been very promotional early in the cycle here. We certainly offered a tremendous amount of value, we had a lot of kickoff sales last night as part of our thanksgiving opening. Weve got a lot of reasons for people other to come into our stores or visit our website. As for the performance of some Retail Stocks it was mixed. Best buy, walmart and amazon ended lower while ebay and target rose. And at the nations malls foot traffic picked up throughout the day following thin crowds overnight. Courtney reagan is at the wood fooeld maul outside chicago. Did the crowds compare with other years. Reporter i think that the pattern that weve seen is fairly similar to what weve seen in years past. When the door busters began at the big box retailers like walmart and target thats when you see the initial big crowds. Once the shoppers get what they came for they go back home. Overnight it thins out and you see a bit of a lull. Midmorning to Late Afternoon you see the crowds surge again. Thats what happened here at the wood fooeld mall with the peak of the crowds coming around lunchtime once everyone had a chance to go home and recharge, in some cases folks stayed out all night long. Jll is a retail asset property manager and they say that 90 of their retailers are reporting traffic levels this year are about the same if not stronger than last year. So some analysts do disagree with that is correct theyre not quite sure that they think that the crowds are as strong because of some of the online deals that a number of the brick and mortal retailers offered much earlier than the deals in stores. This is often a big weekend for electronics. So what are consumers buying and what are they spending . Reporter thats exactly right. Electronics, again, are a hot item, especially at the big box retailers. Walmarts chief merchandising officer says the roku tv was among the best sellers but all of the 40 inch tv brands sold very well. Targets ceo called out the fit bit, ipad as well as the apple watch and target is one of the few retailers that does sell the apple watch. Here at the mall, take a listen to what some of the folks were buying. We are shopping for clothes, good deals. Sweaters, jeans, socks, jewelry, purses. I got a teenage girl at home. A little bit of everything. A little shoes, i got some socks, got a hat, got to cover up the dome a little bit. Maybe some jeans, some shirts. Pretty much everything. Reporter and adobe says that lego products as well as some barbie products, some of those classic toys are also among the best sellers in there with all those electronics. Thats very much. Courtney reagan in shom berg, illinois. It could be a blockbuster season for the toy guys and all because of one franchise in particular. Jane wells looks at the force to be we can kond with in the toy aisle. The force is strong this toy season. Theres star wars and then theres Everything Else. Reporter this could be the best year foroy sales in a decade. Npd group says total sales could near 20 billion thanks in part to lower gas prices and lower unemployment and one powerful franchise which started a long time ago and a toy store far, far away. Sales of disney star warsrelated merchandise are expected to be much more forceful than disneys frozen franchise was, in part because it appeals to both boys and girls over three generations. Give it everything you got. Reporter star wars the movie could possibly do 2 billion in box office, but some analysts say star wars the merchandise machine could do twice that, with has brow the clear winner paying disney a licensing fee which some estimate at being 20 . Recently at an Analyst Meeting hosted by hasbro they mentioned that from their perspective they are actually short a little bit of product that the sell through is that good. The little 6 inch figures are very popular, light sabres, you know, this year they came out with you mr. Your own light saber, that is very popular. Reporter toys r us opened at 5 00 p. M. On thanksgiving and this store in san mateo, california had a strong thursday night followed by low traffic early friday morning. Its quiet. Reporter of tecourse, star wars toys are not the only gifts expected to sell well this year but its dominance will be impressive, most impressive. For nightly Business Report, jane wells. Our next guest says its not going to be a particularly joel gee holiday sales season, he is brit beamer. Good to see you as always. You say its going to be a tough selling season. What tells you that specifically and what do you think lies behind that . First of all, you have no new products out there with the exception of star wars coming out. As you know, the movie doesnt hit the screens until like the 15th or 18th of december so there will be this huge explosion in the end, but the other problem is theres nothing on the adult side thats exciting, over 50 of consumers saying theres nothing new this year and half of people say theyre buying less because of it. That means a quarter of americans will buy less because theres nothing new. Also keep in mind every tv set, every computer that walmart and best buy has been selling yesterday and today is 50 to 100 less than it was a year ago. So you would have to have 18 more items just to make up for the lower transaction rate. So thats the other challenge out there. Because Electronics Drives so many Early Morning shoppers both on thursday and friday, you know, our numbers said there was a 15 to 18 increase last night. So youve got to have more youve got to sell more units to get the same amount of revenue in the door. Exactly. Tell me a little bit about how you are an liesing which sort of segments of the spending and shopping universe are going to do well. I assume its going to be another year where online begins to eat away again at enclosed mall traffic. There is no question. This is the issue that nobody besides Walmart Walmart went out this year very aggressively and said we want to put a shot in amazon. When they came out and said all the early bird specials on thursday evening will be online thursday, i mean, thats a huge, huge issue. Now, in our interview you were talking to consumers last night and today they are all people who went online at walmart who ultimately got it but said sometimes it took 30 or 40 minutes before the transaction would clear. That was a big aggravating. Theres no question that the mall traffic retailers are struggling the most. In the month of october only 19 consumers talked into an enclosed mall, a year ago it was 23 . Those retailers will have a more difficult time and the freestanding stores, you know, like the walmarts, targets and best buys will get more shoppers early. The question is will they find what they want there or will they have to go somewhere else. Thats the 64 billion question. All right. Brit, thank you very much. Brit beamer with Americas Research group. In chicago a group of protesters marched through the citys mostefai mouse shopping district, their goal, disrupt black friday shopping on Michigan Avenue president to bring attention to last years killing of a 17yearold by a police officer. Some demonstrators tried to block store entrances north Michigan Avenue one of the largest and most lucrative shopping streets in the midwest. On wall street volume was light on this holiday shortened trading day. The do you jones industrial average fell 14 points to close at 17,798, weighed down by disney. The knack das 11 points higher and the s p 500 rose by a single point. For the week the three major indexes were basically flat with the dow off about onetenth of 1 . God prices slipped almost 2 to near a sixyear low. Pressured by a strong dollar and a potential increase in interest rates. In china the shanghai composite fell 5. 5 . Thats its worst day since august as a government crack down on the countrys largest Brokerage Firms expanded, its basically an Insider Trading investigation. Investor attention also overseas where russian says it will impose economic tanks sanctions on turkey and cancel major investment of in that country. This for the do you think of a russian jet this week. More on the rising tensions between these two nations. Reporter after the downing of the russian bomber by the Turkish Air Force both sides said they didnt wish to escalate the situation but the language we have heard over the last day or so only seems to have done that. President putin suggesting claims that the turks didnt know it was a russian aircraft were lame. He also went on to say that he believed that turkey was taking oil from the isis terrorist group. Well, for his part the turkish president came out and said mr. Putin shouldnt play with fire. He also said it was russias ally, ear i cant, that was taking isis oil. So the rift continues over these two powers and we understand that the russians are looking at what economic sanctions they may take in retaliation. Meanwhile, the french president hollande has been here, he sat down with president putin for a threehour meeting and it does appear that some progress was made on getting russia to work with the u. S. Led alliance against isis. Geoff cutmore, nightly Business Report from moscow. Still ahead, tis the season to buy some stocks and our market monitor has a list you may want to consider. A new lawsuit is raising systems about red stones fitness to run two media companies. One of his former girlfriends alleges he is mentally impaired. The 92yearold executive is the executive chairman and Controlling Shareholder of viacom and cbs. Red stones attorney calls the lawsuit baseless. Jooelss audi brand has suspended two engineers amid the emissions sand scandal. They said that the company is investigating whether some employees deliberately manipulated emission control devices. The executive did not give further details. Meanwhile, toyota outsold jooels for the fourth straight month in october and that keeps the japanese auto maker in the top spot for global sales this year. Toyotas vehicle sales totaled more than 8. 3 million from january through october, volkswagen delivered 8 8. 2 milli million. Auto makers are hoping for a spike in sales, black friday quickly becoming as important to the Auto Industry as it is for general retailing. In fact, this weekend is expected to push the industrys sales rate to its highest point in year. Phil lebeau has more on the models most in demand from lyle, illinois. Reporter the commercials have been everywhere this month. Black friday has become one of the most popular days of the year to buy a new car or truck. We were willing to wait and see what kind of prices and what kind of deals would be out there on black friday. Its a threeday weekend, its the end of the month so they want to sell cars near the end of the month. Its a good time to buy cars. Reporter a number of analysts believe the november sales rate about will top 18 million vehicles, which would be the first time the u. S. Has seen sales that strong for three straight months. This year trucks and suvs are expected to be in heavy demand in showrooms because gas is selling for just 2. 05 a gallon nationwide, b theres another factor driving sales this weekend, auto makers are doing a better job of packaging deals to attract buyers. There is a lot of set pricing, 20 off msrp for the friends and Neighbors Program where there is a no haggle price set because people dont have a lot of times, its the holidays. If you package your deal in an easy to understand quick manner it probably is going to resonate more with congratulations, which weve seen. On average about 3 3,100 but theyre making that up by selling more models at higher prices. Still with nearly every auto maker running holiday specials the competition has become fierce. I see the volume all the manufacturers are producing a lot of cars and dealers are selling them, but its such a competitive marketplace to sell the environment itself the margins are thinner than they used to be. Reporter black friday in showrooms and the green can be seen all around, phil lebeau, nightly Business Report, lyle, illinois. Disney has lost unless millions of espn subscribers and that is where we begin tonights market focus. The Company Sports network has lost 3 million subscribers in a year. Bringing the number of customers the cable channel has back to what it was ten years ago. The news ignites concerns about decreasing demand for Traditional Cable Television packages, shares of the dow component tumbled almost 3 . Shares of calibios pharmaceuticals surged after they said they would not lend any more stock to shows looking to short sell it. Investors are betting that its shares will go down. The stock was up nearly 30 today. Worth noting that calibios is a small cap stock. An update on that e. Coli outbreak at costco federal Officials Say theyve raced the bacteria back to a vegetable mix of celery and onions that was in the rotisserie chicken salad. 19 people in 7 states have been sickened as a result of the outbreak, the stock up a fraction today. Next era energy announcing it will skel two of its texas natural gas power plants for 1. 5 billion, the transaction expected to close in the First Quarter of 16 shares up slightly today. Market monitor likes mid cap stocks and has some names he says are bargains that investors should add to their Holiday Shopping list, he is brian peery, Portfolio Manager of the hen si cornerstone mid cap 30, which is a concentrated fund 30 stocks that invest across different sectors. La time brian was on in may he recommended jetblue, it was aup 27 , jc peppy, it was off about 5 and pilgrims pride is 18 lower. Brian, welcome back. I know were going to get to jcpenney and jetblue in just a minute because they remain your picks. What should i do with that other one, pilgrims pride . Weve sold all of our position in pilgrims pride, it was aid bad environment and it not a bad stock, its actually pretty cheap, but it doesnt fit into our growth criteria so that was one that we have since sold. Lets move on to the picks that you like right now. Game stop is your first choice. Why do you like it . You know, its interesting. I think that theyve really got theyve come down since their Quarterly Earnings and are still a decent value at this point. I think the Fourth Quarter is actually going to be pretty good, even though the consoles have been out for a couple years like the xbox one and ps 4 i think the consumer today is looking for a way to do value shopping, you see it in the black friday deals and game stop is the only place where you can go and get these used games that are still perfectly good games but you are going to get them at a Good Discount and can pick up a couple of games for the price of a new one and their margins are better on the used game, their digital down loads are doing of well. I think good forward i like this company and think its a great price. Lets move on to a stock that a lot of people are liking these days and that is for the first time in a long time jcpenney. You still like it, you had it on your buy list earlier, its down a little since then, but why are you hanging with it . I do. I like jcpenney. I think that it is a longterm story, nothing is going to change in the coming weeks, i think, but theyve really positioned themselves well and it does take some time to get back the consumers that theyve lost over the last few years when they really did kind of a broad change of what they were going to offer to the consumer and theyre going back to their fundamentals and providing a Value Proposition for todays shoppers. People, i think, during the Christmas Season are going to go in and buy jewelry and get a buy perfume and stuff and i think they will wind up doing well in that area and thats going to boost their sales for the quarter. What is jetblue doing so well that you like it again . Everything. The management seems fantastic. They are keeping costs down, theyve really started to expand upstream in terms of adding to their mid service. I think theyre doing everything exceptionally well. With oil down in the low 40s and i think its going to stay low for a while i think this is a great longterm situation as they kind of move upstream and capture more market share from higher revenue customers. Brian, thanks very much. Thanks, tyler. And coming up, why Small Businesses are betting on a 14 billion saturday. Here is what to watch next week, europes central bank meets thursday and they could decide to introduce more stimulus. We will also hear from janet yellen she is set to testify in washington. And friday is jobs day, the governments november employment report is out, it is a critical one right ahead of that next fed meeting. Thats what to watch next week. The International Air transport association is forecasting slow growth in air travel, the firm says a weaker Global Economy and a slow down in china will decrease the number of people who fly over the next two decades and that could depress airline orders for manufacturers suc as boeing and airbus. The international Small Businesses, excuse me, are getting fewer loans from big banks. According to the wall street journal analysis there has been a 38 decline in these loans over the past decade. Alternative lenders are picking up the slack and charging significantly higher rates. Small Business Owners are gearing up now for big sales tomorrow on whats become become known as Small Business saturday. The day has helped independent businesses in the past and as kate rogers reports, they are hoping the trend continues. Reporter its not black friday or cyber monday that kid agories was gearing up for, its Small Business saturday, sandwiched between the two major shopping day. The shop owner is hoping for big results for her Small Business. Its a reminder for people now with the internet and Everything Else that they have that they can shop at, its helpful to remind them that the businesses that have been here for so long are still here. Reporter the store does about 25 of its annual sales during the Holiday Season and also enlists local vendors to make their wares. I have 90yearold women knitting sweaters for orus, i he women who are in their 80s hand painting for us. We try to keep that local feel and that one of a kind uniqueness there for people. You try to set ourselves apart and shopping local is where you find that. Reporter now in its sixth year Small Business saturday is designed to encourage shoppers to buy from local retailers. This three three in four consumers say they plan to support local retailers during the Holiday Season. Whats more, some 80 of shoppers say they are willing to pay slightly more for an item if its purchased from a small independently owned retailer versus an online or big box store. Last year consumers spent 14. 3 billion or Small Business saturday according to American Express so Small Businesses like this one have high hopes for this year, but Small Business saturday isnt just limited to traditional retailers. New york citybased shore fitness is getting in on the action. The holiday time is definitely a time where people are looking to get a workout in, theres a lot of eating and celebration that goes on and there is a lot of pre tox and that our rider do so we see the studio busy this time of year. Our goal is to engage with our community and raise awareness about how important it is to support local Small Businesses. Reporter whether selling kids toys or exercise classes Small Businesses are united in their message reminding consumers to shop small this business season. To read more about Small Business saturday head to our website nbr. Com. Finally tonight this thanksgiving weekend officially kicks off the holiday movie season, one of the busiest times of the year at theaters, so what can we expect at the box office between now and the end of the year . Julia boorstin takes a look at hollywoods holiday offerings. Reporter everyone is already talking about star wars the force awakens which broke records, selling more than 50 million in tickets a month before it opened. This weekend another disney film is on track to dominate the box office. Pixars the good dinosaur which is off to a solid start for the long weekend, selling 1. 3 million in tuesday night tickets, thats just above frozens tuesday night start before it had the highest grossing thanksgiving weekend of all time. I think there are more childrens movies to see which is always exciting for me because i have two small kids. Reporter and now Warner Brothers rocky spinoff creed and foxes Victor Frankenstein are under pressure to deliver at the box office and stick out from competition both big screen and small. Its been an incredibly crowded marketplace in movie theaters since really the end of summer and that continues today. Also the small screen presents a ton of choices and audiences are pulled in a lot of different directions. Reporter on the heels of the latest hunger gameser film drawing the lowest opening of the franchise there are questions about whether audie e audiences are willing to go to theaters as much as they used to. Id rather stay home and watch the classics. Its cold and you want to stay inside, you get to bond a little bit. Yeah, i think thats whats nice about staying in. Reporter and their big concern star wars might crush the competition. Star wars presents such a formidable challenge for every other movie out there in the marketplace, is it going to bring more people tbrthe multiplex for all the movies or is it just going to bring more people in the multiplex for itself and that is the billion dollar question. Reporter a massive judd yens for star worse could expose more movie goers to trailers which uld end e rising tied up lifting both. Er. Thats nightly Business Report for tonight. Thanks for joining us. Im tyler mathisen. Have a great weekend, everybody, and we will see you right back here on monday. Gwen our postthanksgiving day table, something to talk about as we take a long view of the american mood, tonight on washington week. High alert over domestic security. President obama even as we are vigilant, we cannot and will not succumb to fear, even as we cannot allow fear to divide us. We have a threepronged strategy with respect to syria, iraq, and the region. We are working with jordan, lebanon, turkey and others. And worries about travel plenty of tough talk on the campaign trail. We have to take them on in th