season is here, but this year businesses both big and small are feeling the squeeze. in an nbc news exclusive, jo ling kent spoke to the u.s. labor secretary about when we will see relief and the economic threat from the new omicron variant. reporter: for the first time labor secretary marty walsh visiting the clogged port of los angeles, filled with idling container ships. i would say the port may not be operating 24/7, but at they re certainly operating as a higher capacity reporter: when do you think the supply chain will be back to normal i don t think there s ever a normal in the supply chain. i think it s always been ups and downs reporter: the port of l.a. says the number of containers waiting to be unloaded has dropped 37% since late october, but fed chie jerome powell today laying out fears brought on by the omicron variant. greater concerns about the virus could reduce people willingness to work in person which would slow progress in the labor market and intensif
thing is as we figure out the new variants we need to continue to stress people getting vaccinat boosted, wearing masks, being careful. reporter: but it is more than for this small business owner hiring at her chicago boutique kido is very expensive because she has to compete for workers with major retailers unfortunately if we are short staffed that affects everything reporter: on top of that, she has only been able to get 60% of what she needs to stock her shelves this holiday season we have at least a dozen of our best sellers that we have always leaned on during this time just haven t been available. reporter: how do you make sure small businesses are properly served in this pandemic when they try to get their stuff in for holiday season i think when we look at the unloading and delivering of goods and services to our country, goods to our country, i don t look through the lens of the big companies and then the small companies. i look to everybody s company at the same
right up my blouse. reporter: cuomo insists that never happened. it would be an act of insanity to touch a woman s breast and make myself vulnerable to a woman for such an accusation. reporter: today s release also includes an interview with his brother cnn s chris cuomo and text messages showing he tried to help the governor s staff by checking his sources about new accusers tonight cnn says it will review the attorney general s documents and have conversations over the next few days about how they relate to cnn. lester anne thompson, thank you. also tonight just hours left for cyber monday deals it is a big day for amazon, as you can imagine. how is the online retailer keeping up with demand? jo ling kent with an exclusive inside look, and it comes as the feds call for more answers in the supply chain crisis reporter: tonight, the fcc ordering major retailers and grocery
pre-pandemic levels. so that s why this cyber monday, and this cyber week across the board, is so important, as retailers try to meet that demand that customers are looking for, over this holiday shopping season. the deadlines are also coming up for your personal shipping, as well. u.p.s. ground, the deadline for that is december 15th. that s just a couple of weeks away. so shoppers really facing a lot of headwinds right now on this cyber monday, which means inflation and the supply chain crisis, but amazon says that they are confident that they re going to break their own records. and if that happens and if online spending across the board is as strong as the forecast, we re looking at an $11 billion day overall. jose? jo ling kent from dallas. thank you so much. coming up, new on the new omnicron variant overseas, plus a new attempt at saving the iran nuclear deal. we re live with the latest. you re watching jose diaz-balart reports. you re wat diaz-balart reports. okay, we re
43 past the hour today, it is, of course, cyber monday. one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. businesses are hoping for a record-setting day after black friday saw less-than-stellar sales and supply chain issues and shipping delays persist. later today, president biden is set to meet with top ceos to discuss moving goods to shelves. joining me now from an amazon airfield facility in dallas, nbc news business and tech correspondent, jo ling kent. jo? reporter: hi, jose. this amazon plane, you ll appreciate this, is headed for miami, florida, today. they re processing millions of packages, and what you need to know about this cyber monday is there s a lot of pressure on retailers, as consumers can have their pick of where they shop. overall, discounts, according to the data that we re seeing, are less than they were last year. and if you also look at foot traffic, in terms of black friday, in-person, in-store shopping was also down significantly, even from