A strong jobs report last week surprised many analysts. Lower than expected unemployment numbers plus not as bad as expected inflation numbers have some thinking we can avoid a
recession altogether. Yet, inflation is still high at over 7% for the year and it is only that low because of some help from China protesters driving down the price of oil.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) gave out more than $400B in loans during the pandemic.
But now bills are coming due, and a lot of the businesses are struggling to make payments due to inflation and profits being nowhere near pre-pandemic levels.
Lego, Build-A-Bear,
Hasbro, and even McDonalds are cashing in on a new craze called Kidults. Kidults are grown adults who buy kids toys for
themselves. Things like Star-Wars nostalgia, covid lockdowns, and an isolation trend have led more and more adults to embrace their inner kid and buy toys. This trend is great for the bottom line of toy companies but could spell trouble for an already emotionally stunted population.
The immensely popular game Fortnite was just on the losing end of a $520M lawsuit with the FTC. Fortnite's parent company Epic Games agreed to pay the large sum because it was caught illegally collecting data on Children.
Barnes & Noble is the country's largest
bookstore, and it is growing. A sign that all hope is not lost. People were taught by the pandemic that reading can be fun and Barnes & Noble is reaping the benefit of people turning back to paper books. 30 new stores are set to open next year.
In other retail news, inflation has not hurt big-box stores like Burlington, TJ Maxx, and Ross since all three stores are enlarging their physical footprint.
Disney Stock went downhill this week mostly because the Avatar: The Way of
Water did not do as good at the box office as expected. It was still the 5th best box office opening weekend of the year but after the success of the first Avatar this one fell way short of expectations.
