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The US economy is showing signs of strain just as retailers prepare for the holiday season, with weak job growth, rising unemployment, and soft consumer sentiment adding to inflation and tariff pressures. August saw only 22,000 new jobs created, while job cuts rose and openings fell to a two-year low, underscoring a fragile labor market. Consumers remain pessimistic, tightening their spending plans despite potential Fed rate cuts. Our outlook is cautious: holiday retail sales are projected to grow just 1.2%, forcing retailers to lean heavily on promotions and loyalty-driven discounts to capture demand without eroding margins.

LVMH fell short in Q3 as Chinese consumers鈥� pessimism hurt sales: The luxury conglomerate missed revenue expectations as economic uncertainty caused shoppers to pull back.

Stability and predictability have returned to the global ecommerce market after three years of uncertainty. Digital sales will increase by 8.9% this year and 9.4% next year鈥攅xactly the same projections generated in our last forecast. Total retail sales growth will be in the mid single digits.

The value of Deutsche Bank shares plummeted on Friday as the price of its credit default swaps spiked. Meanwhile, the news of a probe left UBS and Credit Suisse shares struggling.

The gap between H&M and Inditex is getting wider: While Inditex records record profits, H&M veers toward a Q1 operating loss. (This article was written with the assistance of ChatGPT.)

Adidas will rely on wholesale to help dig it out of its Yeezy hole: But weak demand from retail partners could delay its comeback.

Our take: Retailers should take note of recent data from the UK鈥檚 Office of National Statistics and the Confederation of British Industry that suggests that while consumers continue to spend, they鈥檙e increasingly cautious about where and when they pull out their pocketbooks. That dynamic is likely to intensify once the October budget arrives.

This would translate to an aggregate CET1 ratio of 10.8%, well above the passing rate of 6.9%. The tests covered Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander, Standard Chartered, and Virgin Money. These eight banks account for roughly 75% of lending to the UK economy, per Bloomberg.

February sales volumes rose 1.2% month-over-month (MoM), driven by higher sales in non-food stores (which increased 2.4% MoM), per the Office of National Statistics. That鈥檚 significantly higher than the 0.2% economists polled by Bloomberg expected鈥攜et another sign of consumer resilience. Consumer expectations of inflation are easing.

China faces a difficult road to recovery: Despite some encouraging signs of recovering consumer demand, falling exports and a property slump could weigh on confidence.

Our take: Positivity-based branding is essential in an era of volatility and contention across many social platforms鈥攂ut to be successful, advertisers need to understand how to identify and capitalize on positive spaces. Advertisers must identify user sentiment by platform.

Banks are in a period of uncertainty, which means new opportunities and new risks. H1 2025 was volatile. The Trump administration cycled through waves of tariffs, which added pressure to businesses and consumers; tried to fire much of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB); and ushered in a new era for digital currencies. This means two things for banks:.