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Good morning. US stock futures dipped in Monday morning trading as investors digested news of retail sales over the Thanksgiving holiday period and gear up for comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later in the week.

🛍️ Retail sales rebound after Thanksgiving holiday

📝 Our report: Black Friday in the U.S. was like a shopping fiesta this year, with retail sales doing the cha-cha and rising 2.5% compared to last year according to the latest Mastercard Spendingpulse report. E-commerce sales also increased by 8.5% year-over-year as consumers shopped for deals online, while in-store sales increased by 1.1%, MasterCard Spendingpulse said.  

 🔑 Key points:

• In September, Mastercard SpendingPulse, which measures in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment, said it anticipated U.S. retail sales, excluding automotive, to grow 3.7% during the holiday season, running from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24.

• Black Friday refers to the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, when retail sales are traditionally strong.

• U.S. shoppers spent $9.8 billion online during Black Friday this year, according to data from Adobe Analytics, which was in line with expectations of the data and insights arm of software firm Adobe.

💡 So what: Black Friday retail sales in the U.S. are highly significant for both retailers and the overall economy. The importance of Black Friday lies in its potential to boost consumer spending, drive retail revenue, and set the tone for the overall holiday shopping period. For retailers, especially those in the brick-and-mortar space, Black Friday is a critical day for attracting customers with special promotions and discounts.

Monday - No Major Economic News

Tuesday - Consumer Confidence, Chicago Fed President Goolsbee Speaks

Wednesday - US GDP, Fed Beige Book

Thursday - New York Fed President Williams Speaks, Initial Jobless Claims (wk end Nov 24)

Friday - Fed Chair Jerome Powell Speaks

 📈 Investing legend Carl Icahn shares his top investing principles!

💰 Here are a few start-up ideas for the new year!

💸 New to investing? Follow these proven investment strategies!

✖️ X advertiser retreat worsens financial woes

WHAT: Social media platform X might need a hug and a cup of hot cocoa because it's facing the possibility of losing a whopping $75 million in ad revenue by the end of the year according to reports by the New York Times. The platform's U.S. ad revenue has declined at least 55% year-over-year each month since its acquisition by Elon Musk, Reuters previously reported.

WHY: Advertisers have fled X since Musk bought it in October 2022 and reduced content moderation, resulting in a sharp rise in hate speech on the site, according to civil rights groups.

⛽ Russian gas exports to China hit new high

WHAT: Russia's Gazprom proudly announced that its natural gas deliveries to China have hit a new historic high, and it seems the demand is skyrocketing faster than a squirrel with a caffeine addiction! Russia said it aims to export 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to China next year and eventually raise the flows to 38 bcm per year.

WHY: Gazprom says it sees its pipeline-gas flows to China matching its historical shipments to Western Europe, which have slumped as European countries moved to diversify their energy imports after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

📱 Meta in hot water over Instagram accounts

WHAT: Well, well, well, it seems Meta's been playing hide-and-seek with the age rules on one of its social media platforms. According to a freshly unsealed court document in the ongoing legal drama, Meta's been knowingly letting under-13s roam free on Instagram since 2019, while collecting their personal information without their parents’ consent.

WHY: The wave of lawsuits is the result of a bipartisan, multistate investigation dating back to 2021, after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen came forward with tens of thousands of internal company documents that she said showed how the company knew its products could have negative impacts on young people’s mental health.

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