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Tag: Price

  • Amazon CEO warns prices have gone up from tariffs

    Some of the things people buy the most are at their most expensive point of the year as the calendar changes over to 2026. Our get the facts data team dug into what actually caused the prices of some items to go up or go down. Let’s start with beef. Right now, the average price for ground beef is 823 per pound and 967 for steaks, the highest prices for both all year. Several factors like President Trump’s tariffs. Cattle inventories and an aging farming population contributed to the increase, but so did something called the New World screwworm, *** parasitic fly that produced *** deadly disease in some places like Mexico. Another grocery staple that is more expensive now, coffee. Our get the Facts data team found the price rose each month throughout the year, maxing out at 926 cents *** pound. Two of the world’s biggest coffee producers, Brazil and Vietnam, Were impacted by drought and excessive rains earlier this year, which reduced coffee production, and Brazil saw an additional 40% tariff over the summer as well. One of the biggest talking points, especially from President Trump about the state of the economy was egg prices. They are one of the few items tracked that actually are cheapest now. Egg prices saw their biggest price hike in nearly 10 years in January, then rose to an all-time high of 623. Per dozen in March. This was in large part to ongoing bird flu outbreaks. Egg prices would start falling in the summer and are now 286 *** dozen. Some other groceries that saw increases this year, cookies, potato chips, bacon, cheddar cheese, and orange juice. But it wasn’t all increases at the supermarket. Some items are cheaper now compared to January, like pasta, white bread, tomatoes, and strawberries. In Washington, I’m Amy Lou.

    If your next Amazon order seems more expensive, President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs may be partially to blame, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Tuesday.Like many retailers, Amazon and its vast network of third-party sellers loaded up on inventory ahead of Trump’s tariff rollout last spring. But that supply ran out by the fall, Jassy said in a CNBC interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.“So you start to see some of the tariffs creep into some of the prices, some of the items,” he said. “Some sellers are deciding that they’re passing on those higher costs to consumers in the form of higher prices, some are deciding that they’ll absorb it to drive demand and some are doing something in between.”The comments are a stark shift from last June, when Jassy said in a CNBC interview that the company had not seen “prices appreciably go up.” That was after Amazon drew the direct ire of Trump and members of his administration following reports that the e-commerce giant planned to display how tariffs were impacting prices.After Trump spoke with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at the time, a company spokesperson told CNN the move “was never a consideration for the main Amazon.” It was only being considered for certain products on its spinoff site, Haul, which sells items below $30, the company said.On Tuesday, though, Jassy said: “We’re going to do everything we can to work with our selling partners to make prices as low as possible for consumers, but you don’t have endless options.”In a statement, though, the company told CNN that overall price levels have not changed more than expected. “While we are seeing prices for some sellers and some brands go up, overall the prices of products on Amazon have not changed outside of normal fluctuations,“ an Amazon spokesperson said.And the White House said it maintains that foreign exports are footing that tariff bill.“The average tariff imposed by America has increased by almost tenfold under President Trump, and inflation has continued to cool from Biden-era highs,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.“The Administration has consistently maintained that foreign exporters who depend on access to the American economy, the world’s biggest and best consumer market, will ultimately pay the cost of tariffs, and that’s what’s playing out,” he added.Amazon isn’t the only retailer warning of higher prices because of tariffs. Walmart, Target and Home Depot and many other companies have publicly said tariffs are making products more expensive. And while overall consumer inflation was modest last year, many businesses surveyed by the Federal Reserve in its latest Beige Book, a collection of anecdotes, warned they’re planning bigger price hikes this year.

    If your next Amazon order seems more expensive, President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs may be partially to blame, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Tuesday.

    Like many retailers, Amazon and its vast network of third-party sellers loaded up on inventory ahead of Trump’s tariff rollout last spring. But that supply ran out by the fall, Jassy said in a CNBC interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

    “So you start to see some of the tariffs creep into some of the prices, some of the items,” he said. “Some sellers are deciding that they’re passing on those higher costs to consumers in the form of higher prices, some are deciding that they’ll absorb it to drive demand and some are doing something in between.”

    The comments are a stark shift from last June, when Jassy said in a CNBC interview that the company had not seen “prices appreciably go up.” That was after Amazon drew the direct ire of Trump and members of his administration following reports that the e-commerce giant planned to display how tariffs were impacting prices.

    After Trump spoke with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at the time, a company spokesperson told CNN the move “was never a consideration for the main Amazon.” It was only being considered for certain products on its spinoff site, Haul, which sells items below $30, the company said.

    On Tuesday, though, Jassy said: “We’re going to do everything we can to work with our selling partners to make prices as low as possible for consumers, but you don’t have endless options.”

    In a statement, though, the company told CNN that overall price levels have not changed more than expected. “While we are seeing prices for some sellers and some brands go up, overall the prices of products on Amazon have not changed outside of normal fluctuations,“ an Amazon spokesperson said.

    And the White House said it maintains that foreign exports are footing that tariff bill.

    “The average tariff imposed by America has increased by almost tenfold under President Trump, and inflation has continued to cool from Biden-era highs,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.

    “The Administration has consistently maintained that foreign exporters who depend on access to the American economy, the world’s biggest and best consumer market, will ultimately pay the cost of tariffs, and that’s what’s playing out,” he added.

    Amazon isn’t the only retailer warning of higher prices because of tariffs. Walmart, Target and Home Depot and many other companies have publicly said tariffs are making products more expensive. And while overall consumer inflation was modest last year, many businesses surveyed by the Federal Reserve in its latest Beige Book, a collection of anecdotes, warned they’re planning bigger price hikes this year.

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  • Instacart is ending its controversial price tests

    Instacart has it will be ending price testing on its platform. This comes after a published earlier this month revealed pricing experiments that led to some customers seeing higher prices than others and the last week it would be investigating the grocery delivery app.

    “Effective immediately, Instacart is ending all item price tests on our platform. Retailers will no longer be able to use Eversight technology to run item price tests on Instacart,” an Instacart spokesperson shared with Engadget. The blog post called out “misconceptions and misinformation,” maintaining that these price experiments were never the result of dynamic pricing and were never based on any personal or behavioral information about shoppers.

    In an responding to the study’s allegations, Instacart said pricing changes were a “form of short-term, randomized A/B testing.” The post referred to this process as “common in the grocery industry” and continued to paint the practice as a way to “invest in lower prices.” It also highlighted that Instacart does not set the prices on its platform, which are set by retailers listed on the app.

    The company made clear that its retail partners will continue to set their own prices on the platform, which may vary by location just as they do in brick-and-mortar stores, but that Instacart will no longer support any item price testing services.

    Andre Revilla

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  • Demand surges for Airbnbs during the World Cup in L.A., with prices jumping 56%

    On June 12, Peggy Orenstein’s inbox flooded with booking requests for her Inglewood Airbnb.

    The date seemed random, but after a quick search, the influx of interest became clear. It was exactly a year before one of the biggest events in American soccer history, when the U.S. will kick off its World Cup in a match against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium, and Orenstein had set up the system to only accept booking requests up to a year in advance.

    Orenstein’s rental sits just across the street from the venue. Suddenly, her Airbnb became one of the hottest homes in the Southland.

    She hadn’t adjusted the prices yet to reflect the rabid demand, so she declined the requests and tweaked the rates. Typically, a two-night stay at the house would cost around $1,000. For a two-night stay during the Americans’ opening match June 12, it’ll now cost more than $10,000.

    Roughly 6.5 million people are expected to travel to North America during the 2026 World Cup, and many of them will be heading to L.A., where SoFi Stadium is hosting eight games, including two U.S. matches during the group stage. Airbnb hosts are viewing the games as a gold mine, hoping soccer fans will shell out thousands to stay near the stadium.

    The World Cup rental market will serve as a test case for the 2028 Olympics, when an estimated 15 million people are expected to visit Southern California.

    For the night of the opening match June 12, more than 70% of short-term rentals in Inglewood have already been booked, according to data site Inside Airbnb. That’s a 58% increase compared to typical reservation rates on normal days.

    Rates are rising as well. On June 1, the average booked rate for an Airbnb in L.A. is $245, according to data platform AirDNA. On June 12, when the U.S. plays Paraguay, it’s $382 — a 56% jump.

    In Inglewood, prices are even wilder. Homes that normally rent for hundreds are listed for thousands. The nightly price for a one-bedroom apartment a block from SoFi is typically around $400. On June 11, the day before the game, it’s $713. On June 12, the day of the game, it’s $1,714.

    “It’ll be interesting to see how much people will pay,” Orenstein said.

    Some hosts use an algorithm to determine their nightly rates, but Orenstein sets the prices herself. She arrived at the $10,000 number by looking at nearby hotels, which are mostly sold out for the nights of the eight World Cup matches.

    “The Lum Hotel had a suite available during the World Cup for $1,943. Meanwhile, our house can accommodate eight guests with four bedrooms, plus a kitchen and yard,” she said.

    There are classic amenities such as a grill and hot tub, but the biggest amenity is proximity. Orenstein is banking on visitors ponying up for the convenience of parking at the property and walking to the stadium while everyone else navigates traffic jams and long rideshare waits.

    “It gets crazy out there,” she said. “I’ve had people offer to pay me $40 to use the bathroom while walking by during a Taylor Swift concert. Our neighbor sold parking spots for $1,000 during the Super Bowl.”

    David (pictured) and Peggy Orenstein, run an Airbnb across the street from SoFi Stadium.

    (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

    Colin Johnson has been renting out his home near SoFi Stadium for two years. It’s his actual residence, meaning when someone stays there, he has to book a hotel or crash on a friend’s couch. But he said the payouts are worth it.

    “There are so many events and venues around us, why wouldn’t we take advantage?” he said.

    A typical two-night stay in the three-story townhouse runs about $600. For the U.S. opening match, it costs more than $3,000.

    Johnson said demand is roughly 60% Americans and 40% foreigners, but he expects foreign interest to pick up as the games get closer.

    Demand isn’t limited to Inglewood. Luxury rentals across Los Angeles are being booked for eye-popping numbers, according to Mokhtar Jabli, founder of luxury rental platform Nightfall Group.

    He’s booked two so far. The first was rented by a Florida client coming to Los Angeles to see Iran play two matches at SoFi Stadium against New Zealand and Belgium. The modern home in Hollywood Hills, complete with an infinity pool overlooking the city, rented for $33,000 for seven nights from June 15 to 22.

    The second was booked by a New York client coming to see the U.S. play Paraguay. The 7,000-square-foot mansion in Malibu comes with a movie theater, butler, security and full-time staff. For 10 days, it rented for $100,000.

    Jamie Lane, chief economist for AirDNA, expects a surge across L.A. County — not just in demand, but in supply.

    “There’s a lot of interest right now in what you can make as a host,” Lane said. “In most cities, there won’t be enough lodging, so that pushes rates higher.”

    He added that since Airbnb is the official “Alternative Accommodations and Bookings Platform” of the World Cup, the company is urging people to host. AirDNA has hosted multiple bootcamps around the country for people interested in renting out their homes during the World Cup, teaching them how to furnish homes, how to set prices during the games and more.

    Lane expects a boost in listings early next year, which would mirror Paris in the months leading up to the 2024 Olympics, when active listings soared by 40%.

    It’s unclear how proactive Southern California cities will be in cracking down on illegal listings as homeowners look to make a quick buck by renting out their rooms. Many cities have strict short-term rental regulations, but haven’t taken the steps necessary to enforce them.

    Last year, the L.A. Housing Department estimated that 7,500 short-term rentals were violating the city’s Home Sharing Ordinance, but the city only issued 300 citations.

    Orenstein said it won’t be easy in Inglewood.

    “You have to jump through hoops to have an Airbnb,” she said. “Apply for permits, do inspections, pay your taxes every month. It has to be done right.”

    Jack Flemming, Hailey Wang

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  • News Analysis: Trump’s math problem: Rising prices, falling approval ratings

    WASHINGTON — President Trump made dozens of promises when he campaigned to retake the White House last year, from boosting economic growth to banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports.

    But one pledge stood out as the most important in many voters’ eyes: Trump said he would not only bring inflation under control, but push grocery and energy prices back down.

    “Starting the day I take the oath of office, I will rapidly drive prices down, and we will make America affordable again,” he said in 2024. “Your prices are going to come tumbling down, your gasoline is going to come tumbling down, and your heating bills and cooling bills are going to be coming down.”

    He hasn’t delivered. Gasoline and eggs are cheaper than they were a year ago, but most other prices are still rising, including groceries and electricity. The Labor Department estimated Thursday that inflation is running at 2.7%, only a little better than the 3% Trump inherited from Joe Biden; electricity was up 6.9%.

    And that has given the president a major political problem: Many of the voters who backed him last year are losing faith.

    “I voted for Trump in 2024 because he was promising America first … and he was promising a better economy,” Ebyad, a nurse in Texas, said on a Focus Group podcast hosted by Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell. “It feels like all those promises have been broken.”

    Since Inauguration Day, the president’s job approval has declined from 52% to 43% in the polling average calculated by statistician Nate Silver. Approval for Trump’s performance on the economy, once one of his strongest points, has sunk even lower to 39%.

    That’s dangerous territory for a president who hopes to help his party keep its narrow majority in elections for the House of Representatives next year.

    To Republican pollsters and strategists, the reasons for Trump’s slump are clear: He overpromised last year and he’s under-performing now.

    “The most important reasons he won in 2024 were his promises to bring inflation down and juice the economy,” Republican pollster Whit Ayres said. “That’s the reason he won so many voters who traditionally had supported Democrats, including Hispanics. … But he hasn’t been able to deliver. Inflation has moderated, but it hasn’t gone backward.”

    Last week, after deriding complaints about affordability as “a Democrat hoax,” Trump belatedly launched a campaign to convince voters that he’s at work fixing the problem.

    But at his first stop, a rally in Pennsylvania, he continued arguing that the economy is already in great shape.

    “Our prices are coming down tremendously,” he insisted.

    “You’re doing better than you’ve ever done,” he said, implicitly dismissing voters’ concerns.

    He urged families to cope with high tariffs by cutting back: “You know, you can give up certain products,” he said. “You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice, but you don’t need 37 dolls.”

    Earlier, in an interview with Politico, Trump was asked what grade he would give the economy. “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus,” he said.

    On Wednesday, the president took another swing at the issue in a nationally televised speech, but his message was basically the same.

    “One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead,” he said. “Now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world. … Inflation is stopped, wages are up, prices are down.”

    Republican pollster David Winston, who has advised GOP members of Congress, said the president has more work to do to win back voters who supported him in 2024 but are now disenchanted.

    “When families are paying the price for hamburger that they used to pay for steak, there’s a problem, and there’s no sugarcoating it,” he said. “The president’s statements that ‘we have no inflation’ and ‘our groceries are down’ have flown in the face of voters’ reality.”

    Another problem for Trump, pollsters said, is that many voters believe his tariffs are pushing prices higher — making the president part of the problem, not part of the solution. A YouGov poll in November found that 77% of voters believe tariffs contribute to inflationary pressures.

    Trump’s popularity hasn’t dropped through the floor; he still has the allegiance of his fiercely loyal base. “He is at his lowest point of his second term so far, but he is well within the range of his job approval in the first term,” Ayres noted.

    Still, he has lost significant chunks of his support among independent voters, young people and Latinos, three of the “swing voter” groups who put him over the top in 2024.

    Inflation isn’t the only issue that has dented his standing.

    He promised to lead the economy into “a golden age,” but growth has been uneven. Unemployment rose in November to 4.6%, the highest level in more than four years.

    He promised massive tax cuts for the middle class, but most voters say they don’t believe his tax cut bill brought them any benefit. “It’s hard to convince people that they got a tax break when nobody’s tax rates were actually cut,” Ayres noted.

    He kept his promise to launch the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history — but many voters complain that he has broken his promise to focus on violent criminals. In Silver’s average, approval of his immigration policies dropped from 52% in January to 45% now.

    A Pew Research Center survey in October found that 53% of adults, including 71% of Latinos, think the administration has ordered too many deportations. However, most voters approve of Trump’s measures on border security.

    Republican pollsters and strategists say they believe Trump can reverse his downward momentum before November’s congressional election, but it may not be easy.

    “You look at what voters care about most, and you offer policies to address those issues,” GOP strategist Alex Conant suggested. “That starts with prices. So you talk about permitting reform, energy prices, AI [artificial intelligence] … and legislation to address healthcare, housing and tax cuts. You could call it the Affordability Act.”

    “A laser focus on the economy and the cost of living is job one,” GOP pollster Winston said. “His policies on regulation, energy and taxes should have a positive impact, but the White House needs to emphasize them on a more consistent basis.”

    “People voted for change in 2024,” he warned. “If they don’t get it — if inflation doesn’t begin to recede — they may vote for change again in 2026.”

    Doyle McManus

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  • How to spot real savings on Travel Tuesday

    Chain stores have Black Friday. Online marketplaces have Cyber Monday. For local businesses, it’s Small Business Saturday.In the last 20 years, more segments of the retail industry have vied for their own piece of the holiday shopping season. The travel trade has firmly joined the trend with another post-Thanksgiving sales push: Travel Tuesday.On the same day as the nonprofit world’s Giving Tuesday, airlines, hotels, cruise ship companies, travel booking platforms and tour operators get in on the annual spirit to spend by promoting one-day deals. Consumer advocates say there are legitimate savings to be had but also chances to be misled by marketing that conveys a false sense of urgency.”People see ‘40% off’ and assume it’s a once-in-a-lifetime steal, without recognizing that the underlying price may have been inflated or that the same itinerary was cheaper last month.” Sally French, a travel expert at personal finance site NerdWallet, said.She and other seasoned travelers advised consumers who want to see if they can save money by booking trips on Travel Tuesday to do research in advance and to pay especially close attention to the fine print attached to offers.People hoping to score last-minute deals for Christmas or New Year’s should double-check for blackout dates or other restrictions, recommended Lindsay Schwimer, a consumer expert for the online travel site Hopper.It’s also wise to to keep an eye out for nonrefundable fares, resort fees, double occupancy requirements or upgrade conditions that may be hidden within advertised discounts, according to French.Shoppers should be wary of travel packages with extra transportation options or add-on offers, French said. Instead of lowering fares or room rates, some companies use statement credits, extra points, included amenities and bundled extras as a way to tempt potential customers, she said.“Many travel brands want to keep sticker prices high to maintain an aura of luxury, but they still need to fill planes, ships and hotel rooms,” French said. “Add-on perks are their workaround.”Consumers who are prepared rather than impulsive and on the lookout for the up-sell are in a much better position to identify authentic bargains, consumer experts stressed. Knowing what a specific trip would typically cost and comparison shopping can help expose offers based on inflated underlying costs and whether the same itinerary might have been cheaper at other times, they said.“Compare prices, check your calendar and make sure the trip you’re booking is something you genuinely want, not something you bought because a countdown timer pressured you,” French said. “What gets glossed over is that the best deal might be not booking anything at all if it doesn’t align with your plans.”Travel Tuesday came about based on existing industry trends. In 2017, Hopper analyzed historical pricing data and found that in each of the nine previous years, the biggest day for post-Thanksgiving travel discounts was the day after Cyber Monday.The site named the day Travel Tuesday. The number of offers within that time-targeted window and the number of travelers looking for them has since expanded.“Nearly three times as many trips were planned on Travel Tuesday last year compared to Black Friday,” Hopper’s Schwimer said. “We continue to see growth in the day, year over year, as more travel brands and categories offer deals.”The event’s origin story is in line with the National Retail Federation coining Cyber Monday in 2005 as a response to the emerging e-commerce era. American Express came up with Small Business Saturday in 2010 to direct buyers and their dollars to smaller retailers, credit card fees and all.A report by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company last year noted that November and December tend to be slow months for travel bookings, making Travel Tuesday a “marketing moment” that could help boost revenue.Hotel, cruise and and airline bookings by U.S. travelers increased significantly on Travel Tuesday 2023 compared with the two weeks before and after the day, the report’s authors wrote, citing data provided by the travel marketing platform Sojern.While Travel Tuesday so far has been mostly confined to the United States and Canada, “European travel companies can anticipate the possibility that Travel Tuesday will become a growing phenomenon in their region, given that other shopping days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday have spread beyond North America,” the report stated.Vivek Pandya, lead insights analyst for Adobe Analytics, which tracks online spending, said consumers have more tools than ever this holiday season to help them determine if deals hold up to scrutiny.“Social journeys, influencers providing promo codes and values, and generative AI platforms taking all that in – the prices, the social conversation, the reviews – and giving guidance to the consumer, that’s a very different, dynamic kind of journey consumers are taking than they have in previous seasons,” Pandya said.Both he and French emphasized that prices rise and fall based on multiple factors, and that the winter holidays are not the only major promotional period of the year.“We now have dozens of consumer spending ‘holidays,’” French said. “Amazon alone keeps adding new versions of Prime Day. So if you don’t buy on Travel Tuesday, you haven’t missed your moment.”

    Chain stores have Black Friday. Online marketplaces have Cyber Monday. For local businesses, it’s Small Business Saturday.

    In the last 20 years, more segments of the retail industry have vied for their own piece of the holiday shopping season. The travel trade has firmly joined the trend with another post-Thanksgiving sales push: Travel Tuesday.

    On the same day as the nonprofit world’s Giving Tuesday, airlines, hotels, cruise ship companies, travel booking platforms and tour operators get in on the annual spirit to spend by promoting one-day deals. Consumer advocates say there are legitimate savings to be had but also chances to be misled by marketing that conveys a false sense of urgency.

    “People see ‘40% off’ and assume it’s a once-in-a-lifetime steal, without recognizing that the underlying price may have been inflated or that the same itinerary was cheaper last month.” Sally French, a travel expert at personal finance site NerdWallet, said.

    She and other seasoned travelers advised consumers who want to see if they can save money by booking trips on Travel Tuesday to do research in advance and to pay especially close attention to the fine print attached to offers.

    People hoping to score last-minute deals for Christmas or New Year’s should double-check for blackout dates or other restrictions, recommended Lindsay Schwimer, a consumer expert for the online travel site Hopper.

    It’s also wise to to keep an eye out for nonrefundable fares, resort fees, double occupancy requirements or upgrade conditions that may be hidden within advertised discounts, according to French.

    Shoppers should be wary of travel packages with extra transportation options or add-on offers, French said. Instead of lowering fares or room rates, some companies use statement credits, extra points, included amenities and bundled extras as a way to tempt potential customers, she said.

    “Many travel brands want to keep sticker prices high to maintain an aura of luxury, but they still need to fill planes, ships and hotel rooms,” French said. “Add-on perks are their workaround.”

    Consumers who are prepared rather than impulsive and on the lookout for the up-sell are in a much better position to identify authentic bargains, consumer experts stressed. Knowing what a specific trip would typically cost and comparison shopping can help expose offers based on inflated underlying costs and whether the same itinerary might have been cheaper at other times, they said.

    “Compare prices, check your calendar and make sure the trip you’re booking is something you genuinely want, not something you bought because a countdown timer pressured you,” French said. “What gets glossed over is that the best deal might be not booking anything at all if it doesn’t align with your plans.”

    Travel Tuesday came about based on existing industry trends. In 2017, Hopper analyzed historical pricing data and found that in each of the nine previous years, the biggest day for post-Thanksgiving travel discounts was the day after Cyber Monday.

    The site named the day Travel Tuesday. The number of offers within that time-targeted window and the number of travelers looking for them has since expanded.

    “Nearly three times as many trips were planned on Travel Tuesday last year compared to Black Friday,” Hopper’s Schwimer said. “We continue to see growth in the day, year over year, as more travel brands and categories offer deals.”

    The event’s origin story is in line with the National Retail Federation coining Cyber Monday in 2005 as a response to the emerging e-commerce era. American Express came up with Small Business Saturday in 2010 to direct buyers and their dollars to smaller retailers, credit card fees and all.

    A report by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company last year noted that November and December tend to be slow months for travel bookings, making Travel Tuesday a “marketing moment” that could help boost revenue.

    Hotel, cruise and and airline bookings by U.S. travelers increased significantly on Travel Tuesday 2023 compared with the two weeks before and after the day, the report’s authors wrote, citing data provided by the travel marketing platform Sojern.

    While Travel Tuesday so far has been mostly confined to the United States and Canada, “European travel companies can anticipate the possibility that Travel Tuesday will become a growing phenomenon in their region, given that other shopping days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday have spread beyond North America,” the report stated.

    Vivek Pandya, lead insights analyst for Adobe Analytics, which tracks online spending, said consumers have more tools than ever this holiday season to help them determine if deals hold up to scrutiny.

    “Social journeys, influencers providing promo codes and values, and generative AI platforms taking all that in – the prices, the social conversation, the reviews – and giving guidance to the consumer, that’s a very different, dynamic kind of journey consumers are taking than they have in previous seasons,” Pandya said.

    Both he and French emphasized that prices rise and fall based on multiple factors, and that the winter holidays are not the only major promotional period of the year.

    “We now have dozens of consumer spending ‘holidays,’” French said. “Amazon alone keeps adding new versions of Prime Day. So if you don’t buy on Travel Tuesday, you haven’t missed your moment.”

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  • Black Friday shoppers spend more time looking for deals but less money amid economic angst

    Black Friday shoppers flocked to stores, hoping to get more bags for their buck as they grapple with inflation, tariffs and anxiety about the health of the economy.

    Citadel Outlets in Commerce was mobbed Friday morning with long waits for parking and winding lines in front of stores as consumers tried to grab good deals. Camila Romero and her 13-year-old daughter spent hours in line trying to get the best possible deals on Ugg and Coach items on their wish lists.

    “You come to the Citadel because it’s outlets. And it’s discounts on top of that,” she said. “So even when you’re broke, you don’t feel it.”

    Shoppers across Los Angeles plan to spend less this holiday season, data show. While retailers tease their biggest deals and prepare for what they hope is robust demand, a Deloitte survey found that Angelenos plan to spend 14% less over the holidays compared with last year.

    Nationally, shoppers are expected to spend 10% less than last year.

    Consumers are pulling back on spending in response to economic uncertainty and rising prices, said Rebecca Lohrey, a partner at Deloitte with expertise in retail and e-commerce.

    “There is at least a perception of higher prices and higher costs of goods,” Lohrey said. “That is a concern for consumers across the board, and is one of the reasons they’re tightening their wallets a little bit.”

    The survey found that 62% of Angelenos expect the economy to weaken in the year ahead, up from 34% in 2024. Around the same percentage of respondents said they are concerned about a potential recession in the next six months.

    Across income groups, consumers are making cost-cutting trade-offs and putting more emphasis on finding the best deal, the data showed. More than half of Los Angeles respondents said they would switch brands if their first choice was too expensive.

    “It tends to be the lower income brackets or the middle income brackets that are the most likely to trade down,” said Collin Colburn, vice president of commerce and retail media at the Interactive Advertising Bureau. “This year, actually, everyone is trading down.”

    Camryn Smith and her daughter showed up to snoop around for the deals at the Americana at Brand in Glendale early Friday morning. The discounts help knock off some of the effect of inflation, she said.

    “The prices are higher and they just bring them down to what they normally would be,” Smith said. “It’s crazy.”

    Consumers are fatigued from continuous inflation and instability brought on by the Trump administration. More shoppers are regifting or considering giving homemade gifts, the Deloitte survey found.

    “We’ve been in an environment where prices continue to rise for a host of reasons, inflation being one, tariffs being another,” Colburn said. “I think when that happens year on year, it really drags on the consumer.”

    This means more shoppers are looking for ways to save on purchases — and presents — they cannot put off.

    The National Retail Federation predicts that a record number of Americans will shop the sales over Thanksgiving weekend. Retail sales in November and December are expected to grow between 3.7% and 4.2% compared with last year, the federation said.

    Cautious consumers are more eager than ever to find a hot deal, said NRF chief economist Mark Mathews.

    “People are changing the way that they spend,” he said. “They’re focusing more on stretching their dollar and getting value for the dollar.”

    Even shoppers spending more than usual may be doing it out of concern, economists say. Consumers who anticipate inflation sometimes spend now out of fear that prices will rise later.

    Brooklyn Farmer braved the crowds at Citadel to shop and try to save amid inflation.

    “People are struggling right now, but the holidays are still important to them,” he said. “The thinking is if there’s going to be discounts like this, I might as well go while I can, instead of spending more later.”

    Of those surveyed by Deloitte in Los Angeles, 43% said they planned to spend most of their holiday budget at big-box retailers and 32% said they would spend the most at digital-first retailers.

    Shoppers are also using new tools to help them find products and deals, including artificial intelligence. Data collected by the Interactive Advertising Bureau found that AI now ranks as the second-most influential shopping source, ahead of retailers’ websites and apps and behind only search engines.

    Nearly 90% of shoppers nationally said AI helps them find products they wouldn’t have found otherwise, according to the IAB data.

    Mattel, the El Segundo-based toy company, is offering up to 50% off at Target on Hot Wheels, Barbie dolls and Disney Princess toys, said company spokesperson Kelly Powers.

    “Mattel is working closely with retailers across the country on Black Friday deals,” Powers said.

    In May, Mattel said it was considering raising its prices to offset the effect of President Trump’s tariffs on China..

    On the October earnings call, however, the company said the full effect of tariffs won’t be seen until the fourth quarter.

    Discount retailers that depend heavily on foot traffic have given conflicting signals about their business.

    Walmart recently raised its sales forecast for the year after reporting a 6% year-over-year increase in revenue in the third quarter.

    Target, in contrast, missed analyst expectations and reported a 1.5% decline in sales in the third quarter. On a call with analysts earlier this month, Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell said the company “has not been performing up to its potential.”

    Of course, for many shoppers on Friday, the pilgrimage to splurge at the local mall was about more than saving.

    Ericka Pentasuglia brought her daughter to the Americana the Brand at around 3 a.m. to be the first in line for a pop-up store selling Billie Eilish perfume. She thought it was important for her to pass down the tradition of Black Friday shopping.

    “I do feel like it is dying a little bit,” Pentasuglia said. “The best thing is that you don’t lose a tradition, it continues to your children.”

    Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Christopher Buchanan, Gavin J. Quinton

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  • Video: Fact Check: Is Trump Right About Affordability?

    President Trump has made misleading statements about the cost of a Thanksgiving meal, turkey and gasoline.

    Linda Qiu, Claire Hogan, Stephanie Swart and Pierre Kattar

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  • Why you’re having a hard time getting a matcha latte around L.A.

    The matcha drinks at Kin Bakeshop are so popular that some customers wait hours for their fix.

    The little Santa Barbara cafe was going through more than four pounds of the Japanese tea on its busiest days when it started getting tough to get a reliable supply.

    This summer, the matcha dealer called to say that after a decade of importing from Japan, she had been forced to start rationing supply. There was no longer enough of the potent powder for everyone.

    Kin Bakeshop found new supplies and hiked its prices, but the customers kept coming, said Tommy Chang, owner of the cafe.

    “It’s like the harder that it is to get your hands on it, the more people want it,” he said. “They just need their matcha. They’ll come here no matter what.”

    A growing thirst for matcha is roiling a delicate supply chain from Japanese tea farms to California’s cafes. The tea leaves are grown in the shade, specially processed and then stone-ground into the bright green, earthy powder used in drinks and desserts.

    Tea farm owner Masahiro Okutomi in Sayama, Japan, in June 2025.

    (Philip Fong / AFP/Getty Images)

    As matcha’s bold aesthetic and health benefits have taken social media and consumers by storm, Japanese production is under strain from an aging population and hotter climate. That’s sent prices surging, and businesses scrambling to secure supply.

    Exacerbating the problem is the fact that coffee shops are doubling and tripling down on their demand by heaping more matcha in drinks, said Lauren Purvis, who supplies Kin Bakeshop and other local cafes with tea and matcha. Traditionally, she has trained shops to use three grams of matcha in one serving, but recently she said some are using as many as nine grams, a fact that shocked her producers.

    “A lot of my producers are like, ‘We have never seen a moment like this in the history of Japanese tea,’” she said.

    Before the recent matcha boom, Japanese tea farmers were struggling to keep the industry alive. Younger Japanese have abandoned tea fields to work in cities and generally prefer coffee over tea. But signs of a shortage began to emerge in the summer last year as demand skyrocketed overseas.

    A wooden spoon pushes green powder through a sieve into a white bowl

    Barista Julia Peng sifts matcha powder for lattes at Kin Bakeshop on Oct. 21, 2025 in Santa Barbara. The store no longer uses matcha in desserts, reserving it for beverages due to a shortage.

    (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

    Purvis, who founded Mizuba Tea Co. in 2013, first felt the effects in December. An order was months late because one of her usually reliable Japanese suppliers didn’t have enough of the specialized tins used to package the matcha.

    Then her producers told her that as much as 30% of their spring harvest was lost due to abnormally hot temperatures. When the tea leaves went up for auction in the summer, prices tripled.

    Those increases have started to hit U.S. consumers, who are facing an added cost due to 15% tariffs on imports from Japan.

    The Japan Tea Export Promotion Council has warned that shipments to the U.S. have been delayed by tariff processing. Some shipments have been stuck at customs and are at risk of being disposed of or sent back.

    “Tariffs are just the icing on the cake,” Purvis said. “Matcha is just going to get a lot more limited and a lot more expensive.”

    When Chang started Kin Bakeshop in 2020, he only needed a couple of bags per week. Now he buys them by the dozen, with extra orders whenever he can get it. After the first time the store ran out of matcha, he started keeping emergency stores, though those are often empty too.

    “I’m in shock that it’s happening,” he said.

    Matcha has taken over his menu. It now includes a strawberry matcha latte, black sesame matcha, and coconut matcha cloud.

    When he learned that the supply of his usual matcha was restricted, Chang decided to spend about $135 per pound, or 70% more, on a higher grade of matcha that was less prone to shortages.

    The store used to serve matcha desserts too, such as lemon yuzu mochi doughnuts dusted with matcha, but now saves the precious powder for beverages.

    A green-colored drink with a white-colored cream in a glass

    A matcha latte with whipped cream at Kin Bakeshop. Historically, the U.S. has been the largest consumer of Japanese tea.

    (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

    Historically, the U.S. has been the largest consumer of Japanese tea. But as matcha demand has gone global, U.S. businesses are increasingly competing with buyers from Europe to the Middle East to Southeast Asia.

    The Japan Tea Export Promotion Council estimates that the total volume of tea exports increased by 154% in 2024 compared with a decade earlier. The U.S. went from accounting for 45% of exports to 32% in the same time frame.

    To meet market demand, the Japanese government has encouraged tea farmers to increase production of tencha, the tea used to make matcha, sometimes at the expense of other types of tea.

    Other countries such as China, Vietnam and South Korea are also growing more tencha. But new plants take years to cultivate, and suppliers said there is deep penchant among buyers for Japanese matcha, which is seen as the highest quality.

    The scarcity has prompted some businesses to resort to extreme measures. Purvis said one producer she works with had a stranger show up and refuse to leave without matcha.

    Jason Eng, who works in business development and partnerships for Kametani Tea in Nara, Japan, said buyers are asking to sign annual contracts to secure matcha for the following year.

    “Our buyers and partners overseas, they are all running dry, and they’re panicking,” he said. “Even new clients are asking for a ridiculous amount of tea. It’s completely unsustainable.”

    Luke Alcock, founder of Premium Health Japan, a matcha supplier in Uji — a city near Kyoto famous for its fine tea —said he’s gone from simply facilitating sales to buying and holding his own stock to ensure he can supply brands through next year’s harvest.

    Although about 40% of his clientele is in the U.S., he’s gotten increasing inquiries from the Middle East and Europe, even with rising prices.

    He’s also been careful to protect the privacy of his suppliers, since buyers are so eager to get more matcha.

    He’s also been careful to protect the privacy of his suppliers, since buyers are so eager to get more matcha. One customer requested the contact information of a manufacturer, which Alcock assumed was for customs clearance. That customer then used the details to reach out to his supplier and do business directly.

    “People are just ruthless,” he said. “We’re still seeing how the market reacts, but it’s showing that people are going to keep buying.”

    Stephanie Yang

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  • Video: What Happens if Obamacare Subsidies Expire?

    new video loaded: What Happens if Obamacare Subsidies Expire?

    Consumers are facing greater costs for their 2026 A.C.A. health coverage as Congress continues to debate whether to extend subsidies that help people afford their premiums. Margot Sanger-Katz, a health care policy reporter for The New York Times, explains why.

    By Margot Sanger-Katz, Laura Bult, Claire Hogan, Zach Wood and Stephanie Swart

    October 22, 2025

    Margot Sanger-Katz, Laura Bult, Claire Hogan, Zach Wood and Stephanie Swart

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  • Cheap insulin pens will soon be available through state-backed deal, Newsom announces

    SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced a plan to offer $11 insulin pens through the state’s pharmaceutical venture.

    Beginning Jan. 1, consumers can purchase a five-pack of pens for a suggested price of $55, according to the governor’s office. The packs will be available to California pharmacies for $45.

    California is the first state in the nation to sell its own brand of generic prescription drugs as Newsom and other state leaders seek ways to drive down rising healthcare costs.

    Insulin users without health insurance today can pay $400 for a small vial.

    Newsom, in a statement Thursday, said that Californians shouldn’t “ration insulin or go into debt to stay alive.”

    “California didn’t wait for the pharmaceutical industry to do the right thing — we took matters into our own hands,” Newsom said.

    Officials hope the drug will lower costs across the board, not just for the consumers ultimately picking up the drug. Major drug companies have also cut prices on insulin, but critics contend those cost savings are passed on to other consumers.

    Earlier this week, Newsom signed legislation, Senate Bill 40, capping insulin co-pays at $35 for the first time in California.

    “This law ensures no family will be forced to choose between buying insulin and putting food on the table in California again,” the bill’s author, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), said in a statement.

    Newsom, who vowed to be the “healthcare governor” during his campaign, in 2020 unveiled a proposal for California to make its own line of generic drugs.

    Three years later, he announced a $50-million contract with the nonprofit generic drugmaker Civica to produce insulin under the state’s own label.

    Earlier this year, the state began selling Naloxone, a medication that blocks the effects of opioids, at below market prices.

    Dakota Smith

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  • Shoppers in California plan to splurge this holiday season — out of fear

    Shoppers in California plan to splurge this coming holiday season, but not because they are confident about the future. They are worried about inflation and figure it’s better to buy now than pay more later.

    At least that’s the takeaway from a new report from accounting firm KPMG that shows that consumers on the West Coast are more concerned about price rise and tariffs than those in any other region in the country.

    Nationally, shoppers intend to boost their holiday spending by 4.6% this year compared with last year, spending an average of $847 on shopping, according to the report.

    “When you think about why consumers are planning on spending more, it’s not that they have more wallet to spare, but it’s actually an expectation that prices are increasing,” Duleep Rodrigo, KPMG U.S. consumer and retail leader, said in an interview. “Eighty percent also of consumers are really being very conscious about inflation, and inflation that is impacted as a result of tariffs.”

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    Of the six different regions KPMG surveys, the Pacific region — which includes California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii and Alaska — showed the highest concern for rising prices due to tariffs, with 72% citing inflation as a top concern.

    Nationally, 8 in 10 consumers believe tariffs will result in price increases. The least concerned were consumers in the Northeast, where only 6% said price increases would result in cutting back on holiday spending.

    “The consumer is spending like a poker player with a small chip stack,” Rodrigo said in the report. “They know they can’t play every hand but are willing to go ‘all in’ on a promising hand with a high emotional payoff. There’s also a psychological element where the consumer is managing a complex set of uncertainties.”

    KPMG found that consumer spending on essentials such as groceries, automotive expenses and personal care have increased in 2025, though much less than last year. In discretionary categories such as toys, furniture and hobby supplies, people expect to spend less.

    As budgets get tight, more people plan on spending on themselves this holiday season, with many purchasing big ticket holiday travel costing more than $1,000.

    The top gifts people want to receive this holiday season? Cold hard cash — followed by gift cards and apparel — indicating that more people want flexibility to spend on things they like, according to KPMG.

    Consumer price inflation for Los Angeles increased 3.3% in August, compared with the same time last year. National consumer inflation stood at 2.9% for the same period, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    From toys to apparel, retailers have experienced varying levels of impact due to President Trump’s sweeping tariffs on much of the world this year.

    Many retailers have been absorbing the costs of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration but cannot hold off indefinitely.

    Rodrigo said price increases on goods have already started happening, with retailers being more strategic.

    “For now, consumers that are in the top 20% are probably driving 80% of the economic activity that is sustaining and maintaining the current state of the economy,” Rodrigo said. “But there is a larger population that is really hurting, and that is really concerned with their dollars right now.”

    Nilesh Christopher

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  • The best early October Prime Day TV deals: Save on sets from TCL, Sony, Hisense and more

    Black Friday remains the best time to grab a new TV at a discount, but Amazon’s latest October Prime Day sale should be a decent time to take the plunge if you need to upgrade right away. While the two-day Prime Big Deal Days event doesn’t officially start until October 7, a small handful of well-regarded TVs from the likes of TCL, Hisense, Sony and Samsung are cheaper than usual right now. You can find our full list of the best October Prime Day TV deals below. We’ll update this roundup as prices change and new offers arise in the days ahead.

    Best Prime Day TV deals

    TCL

    The TCL QM6K is widely regarded by reviewers we trust as one of the year’s better TV bargains. It’s a budget-oriented model, so it won’t get you the same level of contrast, color volume or brightness as more expensive sets, nor will it be ideal for HDR content (especially in well-lit rooms). Still, its quantum-dot color, mini-LED backlighting and full-array local dimming more than hold their own for the price, plus it runs on the useful Google TV platform. It’s also a nice buy for gaming on the cheap, since its input lag is relatively low and it has a native 144Hz refresh rate that can reach as high as 288Hz at 1080p. This discount ties the lowest price we’ve seen for the 75-inch model.

    $750 at Amazon

    Hisense U8QG 65-inch Mini-LED TV for $1,082 ($416 off): Several reviews suggest that the Hisense U8QG ticks most of the requisite boxes for a LCD TV in 2025: robust local dimming and mini-LED backlighting, exceptionally high brightness, vibrant quantum-dot colors, a fast refresh rate (165Hz in this case), support for the major HDR formats and so on. It’s a higher-end option than something like the TCL QM6K with much better brightness and contrast, though it still falls short of a good OLED TV when it comes to the latter. Like most LCD panels, it’ll also look a bit washed out if you view it from an angle. It has three HDMI 2.1 ports, which is one fewer than many other TVs in this price range, though it uniquely includes a USB-C video input if you want to hook up a gaming laptop or Nintendo Switch. (Just note that you won’t get VRR or HDR when using that.) You’d mainly get it over an OLED TV if you’re willing to trade some picture quality for something that’s better-suited in a bright room. This deal on the 65-inch model isn’t an all-time low, but it matches the best price we’ve tracked since July.

    Samsung S90F 55-inch QD-OLED TV for $1,498 ($100 off): The Samsung S90F is an upper-tier model with a QD-OLED panel, which blends the usual perks of a quality OLED set — near-perfect contrast, wide viewing angles, clear motion, low input lag — with a layer of quantum dots. This helps it produce a wider gamut of more vivid colors compared to traditional WOLED TVs. It also comes with four HDMI 2.1 ports and has a fast refresh rate of 144Hz. It doesn’t support Dolby Vision HDR, however, and reviews we trust say that the LG C5, a competing WOLED model, retains darker black levels in a bright room. (The S90F has a more colorful image, though.) We saw this 55-inch model go for $100 less earlier in the month, but this deal matches the best price we’ve tracked otherwise. The 65-inch version is similarly discounted. Just make sure you only buy the 55-, 65- or 77-inch model, as every other size in the US uses a lesser WOLED panel. Shady, we know.

    Sony Bravia 8 II 65-inch QD-OLED TV for $2,998 ($502 off): It’s certainly not cheap, but the Sony Bravia 8 II has earned plaudits for its excellent image processing, upscaling and overall accuracy alongside the expected color, contrast and motion benefits of its QD-OLED display. This should help it make lots of movies and shows look closer to their original intent. It also uses the handy Google TV interface. Outside of an extremely brief dip in June, this deal matches the best price to date for the 65-inch version. That said, if you can’t stomach the high price, other reviews note that the older Sony A95L offers similar performance a bit less, while more recent competitors like the LG G5 and Samsung S95F can get noticeably brighter (even if they’re not always as accurate). Those two should be better for gaming as well, as the Bravia 8 II only has two HDMI 2.1 ports — one of which is an eARC port for soundbars — and its input lag is slightly higher.

    Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K for $25 ($25 off): The standard Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K offers the same core experience as the pricier Fire TV Stick 4K Max, only it comes with a slightly slower processor, half the storage (8GB) and Wi-Fi 6 instead of Wi-Fi 6E. For most people just looking for a casual streamer on the cheap, those shouldn’t be huge losses. This model is also more powerful than the just-announced Fire TV 4K Select, though its Fire OS interface can still be messy and ad-heavy, with special emphasis on Amazon’s own services. This deal is $3 more than the stick’s all-time low, though it matches the best price we’ve seen since Black Friday last year.

    Amazon Fire TV Stick HD for $18 ($17 off): The Fire TV Stick HD is the budget pick in our guide to the best streaming devices. It can only stream up to 1080p, and it can run a bit choppier than the 4K models since it has a slower chipset and half the RAM (1GB). The usual issues with the Fire TV interface still apply here too. But if you just want to add streaming apps to an aging TV or basic monitor for as little cash as possible, it should get the job done. This discount ties the device’s lowest price to date.

    Jeff Dunn

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  • Erewhon to open an exclusive tonic bar in New York City

    The Southern California grocery brand that has become synonymous with luxury and wellness is taking its first steps into New York City.

    Erewhon said it plans to open a tonic bar within an exclusive West Village members’ club later this fall.

    The tonic bar will serve members at Kith Ivy, a lifestyle and fitness club from Ronnie Fieg, chief executive of the popular streetwear brand Kith.

    Kith Ivy will open to an “extremely limited” number of members this fall, the Kith website said.

    The miniature Erewhon will be tucked away near cold plunge pools and a sauna at 120 Leroy Street in New York City, according to blueprints Fieg posted on Instagram.

    The members’ club, which will also feature rooftop padel courts and dining from Cafe Mogador, reportedly comes with a hefty initiation fee of $36,000 and an annual fee of $7,000.

    The price and exclusivity of Kith Ivy aligns with Erewhon’s own high-end reputation. In Los Angeles, the grocer is known for expensive specialty goods and celebrity-inspired drinks, like the $20 Hailey Bieber strawberry smoothie.

    “Erewhon is going after those really premium customers,” said Jeff Wells, lead editor of the trade publication Grocery Dive. “If you’re succeeding in Southern California, New York would be the next logical place to go.”

    Erewhon’s new tonic bar will offer a limited selection of drinks and smoothies, a company spokesperson said Wednesday. Only Kith Ivy members will be able to order in-person, but other New Yorkers within a select radius of the club can order drinks for delivery through Postmates and Uber Eats.

    Erewhon has a loyal following in the Los Angeles area, where the company operates 11 locations and plans to open three more in West Hollywood, Glendale and Thousand Oaks. The company got its start in the 1960s as a health foods store in Boston before relocating to the West Coast.

    The grocer’s foray into New York comes as other supermarket chains have cut back on costs. Kroger, the parent company of Ralphs and Food 4 Less, is in the midst of closing locations and recently laid off nearly 1,000 corporate employees.

    Unlike Ralphs, Erewhon has established itself as a luxury destination that caters largely to wealthy customers.

    “Erewhon is all about being at the cutting edge of food and beverage, for a premium price,” Wells said. “Your average middle-class shopper can’t afford to shop there.”

    Caroline Petrow-Cohen

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  • Video: How Tariffs Will Affect This Unique Cheese

    new video loaded: How Tariffs Will Affect This Unique Cheese

    By Eshe Nelson, Nikolay Nikolov, Laura Salaberry, Emli Bendixen and Jon Hazell•

    Stilton is a special type of blue cheese that can be made in only three English counties. There are just four producers of Stilton left, but this one was crowned best cheese in the world, according to one of the industry’s top awards last year. Eshe Nelson, a business reporter for The New York Times, went to Clawson Farms, the producer of the award-winning Stilton, which is trying to expand its business in the United States, despite the higher costs imposed by the Trump administration’s tariff policy.

    Recent episodes in Behind the Reporting

    Eshe Nelson, Nikolay Nikolov, Laura Salaberry, Emli Bendixen and Jon Hazell

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  • GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE

    GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE

    I’ve been looking for the right apartment close enough to work, in the right price range, and availability for a few months now and just about twenty minutes ago or so the manager of the property sent me a text and said that I had it!! GUYS I’M SO FRIGGIN PSYCHED

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  • In closely divided Nevada, Harris and Trump battle for economic hearts

    In closely divided Nevada, Harris and Trump battle for economic hearts

    LAS VEGAS — 

    Vice President Kamala Harris has never met Maria Rodriguez. She probably never will. But the Democratic presidential nominee should be worried about Rodriguez, and voters like her.

    The single mother of three from Henderson, Nev., is a onetime Democratic voter who frets about the economy (meaning: the price of just about everything) and says she plans to vote for former President Trump.

    Rodriguez cast her ballot for Joe Biden four years ago, hoping for better times. But, regardless of what government statisticians might say about the economy, the 36-year-old finds it’s harder to pay the bills today, even though she is working two or three jobs as a nurse and home healthcare worker.

    “Going to the market is really hard right now,” Rodriguez said as she pushed a mostly empty cart up an aisle of a Dollar Tree discount store last week. “Sometimes, before, you would go in with 100 bucks and come out with a full cart. It was pretty OK. Now, with 100 bucks, you can get maybe 10 things. It’s living paycheck to paycheck.”

    “I was potentially a Democrat,” she said. “But I have changed my way of thinking [because] this country is going downhill.”

    Views like Rodriguez’s go a long way in explaining why Nevada, which Democrats have won in the last four presidential races, remains up for grabs in the 2024 election. Harris holds a narrow 0.6% advantage in recent polls, according to an aggregate by Real Clear Politics. That’s a marked improvement for the Democrats, given that Trump led in the high single digits in polls before President Biden left the race in July.

    The Silver State is one of seven states thought to hold the key to victory in 2024. And it usually picks the candidate the rest of America favors. In the 28 presidential elections since 1912, the winner of Nevada has won the presidency all but two times. The exceptions occurred in 1976, when Nevada chose Republican Gerald Ford over Democrat Jimmy Carter, and in 2016, when Nevada and its six electoral votes went to Hillary Clinton over Trump.

    Trump will count heavily on Nevadans’ discomfort with the economy to help him grind out a victory in a state that most experts expect to be closely contested through the Nov. 5 election.

    The former president has a rally scheduled Friday night in Las Vegas. He has an ad on Las Vegas television stations that features another former Republican president, Ronald Reagan.

    “I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago,” Reagan says in video of his closing 1980 debate against President Carter. “Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago?”

    That question might serve Trump well this year, as national and state polls continue to show that the economy remains the top issue for voters. The party in power usually pays the price for such sentiments. In an Emerson College poll in August, 37% of likely Nevada voters surveyed named the economy as the top issue, with the related topic of housing affordability second, named by 15% of those surveyed.

    Nevada’s elasticity in presidential politics is partly due to the large share of voters — 34% — who don’t identify with either major party.

    “That large bloc of independent voters makes the state unpredictable,” said Thom Reilly, a former public official in Nevada’s Clark County and now an academic. “They were supporting Trump by 10% in January, and now the polling is all over the map, and they might be in Harris’ camp. I think those voters make it more volatile.”

    Frustrating to Democratic stalwarts is the fact that not all voters have been moved by improving economic indicators, with the buying power of “real wages” growing nationally over the last year.

    The state’s unemployment rate of 5.5% in August put it higher than the national average of 3.7%, but the Las Vegas metropolitan region’s 4% jobless rate nearly matched the U.S. as a whole. Those figures pale in comparison to the 31% unemployment that devastated the state during the 2020 onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Annual inflation peaked in 2022 at about 9%, and had declined to 2.6% for the American West (including Nevada) by this summer, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Prices even dropped in some categories, including dairy, fruits and vegetables.

    And although gasoline in Nevada is costing an average of $3.98 per gallon this month, above the national average of $3.27, that represents a substantial drop from the $4.62 one year ago, according to AAA.

    The boom-bust cycles that Nevadans know too well — with particularly deep holes during the Great Recession and early in the pandemic — have been particularly painful in the housing market.

    Apartment rents jumped dramatically in 2022, with the typical rental rate of $1,805 in the Vegas metro area marking a nearly one-third increase from just two years prior. Only three other metropolitan areas experienced bigger leaps. The median rent today stands at $2,070, so increases have slowed but still leave some people struggling to pay their rent.

    ::

    An intake worker at a senior center in the working-class northwest section of Las Vegas said that her clients have been forced to rely on family members, while others have been evicted and forced to move into their cars. Or onto the streets.

    “The rent has gone up since Biden’s been in office. It went up when Trump was in office,” said the worker, who asked to go only by her first name, Karen. “We don’t know where the blame lies.”

    She said she hadn’t known much about Harris but liked what she saw at the Democratic National Convention.

    “She has a lot of new ideas, things that would help,” including proposals for an expanded child-care tax credit, Karen said.

    In interviews with 17 people in Henderson and Las Vegas last week, six said they intended to vote for Harris and five for Trump, while six others weren’t sure they would vote at all. Half of those who haven’t committed said they tended to favor the former president; the other half the current vice president.

    Donald Trump was leading in state polls during this Las Vegas rally in June, before President Biden quit. An ad for him on Vegas TV stations shows Ronald Reagan telling voters in 1980 to ask whether they’re better off than they were four years ago.

    (John Locher / Associated Press)

    Trump backers tended to stress his background as a businessman and to focus on the bottom line. Prices for most things were lower when the Republican was in the White House, so it’s time to bring him back, they said.

    Some also seconded Trump’s frequent complaint that immigrants crossing the border illegally from Mexico are harming the U.S. (Border crossings have decreased in recent months.)

    Most Harris supporters said they trusted her to make the kind of changes she promised; such as imposing sanctions on retailers and others determined to be engaged in price gouging. Those who like the Democrat said they were sick of the demonizing of immigrants.

    Rodriguez, a mother of three, said her parents came from Mexico legally. She complained about those who come without authorization and then get government benefits.

    “You have people coming into this country, and basically everything is handed to them,” said Rodriguez, who grew up in Orange County. “To me, I don’t think that’s fair.”

    One aisle over at the Henderson Dollar Tree, Monica Silva expressed a different view. She said Trump “is always talking about the Mexican issue.”

    She added: “He is always criticizing them and blaming them. And that is not true. That is not the problem in our country.”

    Silva, 77, who immigrated more than half a century ago from Chile, sees Harris as someone who will rein in price gouging.

    “I think she’s just powerful, and she has the experience as the lawyer, you know?” Silva said. “I think she can get things done, more than most people can.”

    Shara Rule, who works for an electric scooter business, doesn’t feel Harris or the Biden White House are to blame for higher prices. And she sees prices coming down.

    “Trump is just greedy. He is helping himself,” said Rule, 61. “She’s smart and got a good head on her shoulders. I think she’s going to lead us in the right direction, economically.”

    Susan Kendall, a director of medical records for a nursing facility, felt that Trump got more done, while the Democrats mostly talked.

    She fondly recalled the “economic impact payment” of $1,200 in COVID-19 relief she got when Trump was still in office.

    “That made a big difference for people, and Biden didn’t even try any of that,” said Kendall, 56. (Actually, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan shortly after taking office, sending payments of $1,400 per person to middle-class families.)

    “I don’t know exactly what Trump did. But whatever he did, it worked,” Kendall said. “I feel like Trump focuses inside the country and helping people here inside the country and not helping people from the outside.”

    The ad featuring Reagan really hit home with her. “I saw it and thought about how things were four years ago,” she said. “I think that will make it easy to make your decision.”

    Mandy, a 35-year-old stay-at-home mom, said prices have gotten so high that she no longer grabs all of the snacks and extras she would like in the supermarket.

    “I can’t afford that right now,” she said.

    “I just think that the country needs to be run like a business,” said Mandy, a two-time Trump voter who declined to give her last name. “Not so much like Biden is running it now. He’s not like a businessman. He’s a politician.”

    Shopping for yarn to crochet hats for friends and family, Kathleen Clark said she sees both political camps as misguided in thinking any president can change economic conditions in the short term.

    The 66-year-old Clark, a day trader on the stock market, said long-term micro- and macro-economic forces control the economy. She also doesn’t believe campaign promises, like Trump and Harris promising to eliminate taxes on tips. (“They can’t do it,” she said, “until they figure out how to replace that money.”)

    Clark also questioned those who say how much they are suffering. She knows from her retail days, she said, that the kids who started back to school in recent weeks were wearing some pretty pricey outfits.

    “Those kids are going out there with $600 tennis shoes and backpacks. They got $1,000 on their backs,” she said with a chuckle. “They’re not hurting.”

    One of those ubiquitous Nevada independents, Clark said her vote will be guided by one factor that is beyond argument.

    “I’m voting for Harris. Why? Strictly because she’s a woman,” she said. “I don’t believe in Biden. I don’t believe in Trump. I don’t believe in any of the rest of it. But it’s about time [for a female president]. There is nothing else.”

    James Rainey

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  • MATIC: Market Dip Translates To 18% Losses

    MATIC: Market Dip Translates To 18% Losses

    They say journalists never truly clock out. But for Christian, that’s not just a metaphor, it’s a lifestyle. By day, he navigates the ever-shifting tides of the cryptocurrency market, wielding words like a seasoned editor and crafting articles that decipher the jargon for the masses. When the PC goes on hibernate mode, however, his pursuits take a more mechanical (and sometimes philosophical) turn.

    Christian’s journey with the written word began long before the age of Bitcoin. In the hallowed halls of academia, he honed his craft as a feature writer for his college paper. This early love for storytelling paved the way for a successful stint as an editor at a data engineering firm, where his first-month essay win funded a months-long supply of doggie and kitty treats – a testament to his dedication to his furry companions (more on that later).

    Christian then roamed the world of journalism, working at newspapers in Canada and even South Korea. He finally settled down at a local news giant in his hometown in the Philippines for a decade, becoming a total news junkie. But then, something new caught his eye: cryptocurrency. It was like a treasure hunt mixed with storytelling – right up his alley!

    So, he landed a killer gig at NewsBTC, where he’s one of the go-to guys for all things crypto. He breaks down this confusing stuff into bite-sized pieces, making it easy for anyone to understand (he salutes his management team for teaching him this skill).

    Think Christian’s all work and no play? Not a chance! When he’s not at his computer, you’ll find him indulging his passion for motorbikes. A true gearhead, Christian loves tinkering with his bike and savoring the joy of the open road on his 320-cc Yamaha R3. Once a speed demon who hit 120mph (a feat he vowed never to repeat), he now prefers leisurely rides along the coast, enjoying the wind in his thinning hair.

    Speaking of chill, Christian’s got a crew of furry friends waiting for him at home. Two cats and a dog. He swears cats are way smarter than dogs (sorry, Grizzly), but he adores them all anyway. Apparently, watching his pets just chillin’ helps him analyze and write meticulously formatted articles even better.

    Here’s the thing about this guy: He works a lot, but he keeps himself fueled by enough coffee to make it through the day – and some seriously delicious (Filipino) food. He says a delectable meal is the secret ingredient to a killer article. And after a long day of crypto crusading, he unwinds with some rum (mixed with milk) while watching slapstick movies.

    Looking ahead, Christian sees a bright future with NewsBTC. He says he sees himself privileged to be part of an awesome organization, sharing his expertise and passion with a community he values, and fellow editors – and bosses – he deeply respects.

    So, the next time you tread into the world of cryptocurrency, remember the man behind the words – the crypto crusader, the grease monkey, and the feline philosopher, all rolled into one.

    Christian Encila

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  • Home sales on track to match 2023’s sluggish pace

    Home sales on track to match 2023’s sluggish pace

    BOSTON — As state lawmakers were putting the final touches on legislation they hope will ease some of the state’s housing problems, home sales ticked up more than 8% in July and put 2024 sales just ahead of last year’s sluggish pace.

    The Warren Group last week reported 4,427 single-family home sales in Massachusetts last month, representing an 8.2% increase over July 2023 sales.

    The median sale price of $650,000 — a new record high for the month of July — was up 6.6% over July 2023’s $610,000 median price. But Warren Group Associate Publisher Cassidy Norton found a slight silver lining for prospective homebuyers.

    “Yes, a median sale price of $650,000 was a new all-time high for the month of July, and month after month prices are setting new records, but price gains are smaller than they could be,” she said.

    “Interest rates are more than double where they were two years ago, and I’m certain prices would be even higher without those changes. That does lead to a lack of inventory that may have abated price gains somewhat.”

    That lack of inventory, a longstanding problem that makes it more expensive and more difficult to live in Massachusetts, “will continue to be the biggest factor driving prices for the foreseeable future,” Norton added.

    Through seven months of 2024, single-family home sales are up just a hair over the same checkpoint in 2023, a year that ended with the lowest volume of sales in 12 years.

    The 22,879 sales so far this year represent a 0.8 percent increase over the first seven months of 2023. The year-to-date single-family home sale price is up 9.5 percent to $618,500.

    The story was similar for the condominium market in July. The month’s 1,947 condo sales were up 3.2 percent over last July’s 1,886 sales.

    The median sale price climbed 1.8% over July 2023 to $565,000, also a new record for July. Year-to-date, there have been 10,901 condo sales — a 3.2 percent decrease compared to the first seven months of 2023 while the median sale price of $545,000 is up 4.8 percent over the same time.

    “The median condo price also reached a new high for July, but prices were down moderately from the previous month,” Norton said. “This could be an early indicator that condo prices are starting to plateau.”

    Gov. Maura Healey this month signed into law a policy-filled $5.16 billion housing bond package that lawmakers sent to her desk the morning of Aug. 1.

    The law authorizes $5.16 billion in bonding, and implements 49 new housing policies, though advocates said its omissions made for an “underwhelming” final product.

    By Colin A. Young | State House News Service

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  • Los Angeles County agrees to buy downtown skyscraper

    Los Angeles County agrees to buy downtown skyscraper

    The county of Los Angeles has tentatively agreed to buy the Gas Company Tower, a prominent office skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles, for $215 million in a foreclosure sale.

    The price is a deep discount from its appraised value of $632 million in 2020, underscoring how much downtown office values have fallen in recent years.

    The Board of Supervisors must still approve the deal, which county real estate officials quietly but aggressively negotiated. If completed, the purchase could move workers and public services out of existing county offices, including the well-known Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, which dates to 1960, according to multiple people familiar with the transaction who requested they not be named in order to discuss the confidential negotiations.

    The county has begun the due diligence process of examining the property for possible structural problems or other issues before finalizing the transaction, which could take two to three months to complete, the sources said.

    In a statement to The Times, the county said that it had submitted a nonbinding “letter of interest” for the tower.

    “Because we are seeing once-in-a-generation price reductions for commercial real estate in the downtown area, as responsible stewards of public funds, the County is doing its due diligence and evaluating the possibility of acquiring property in the Civic Center area, such as the Gas Company Tower,” the statement said.

    Supervisor Janice Hahn, who is the daughter of longtime supervisor Kenneth Hahn, said in a separate statement to The Times that she is not fully on board with the acquisition.

    “I am uncomfortable with the County moving forward purchasing this skyscraper until I understand the CEO’s full plan which I have yet to see. I am definitely against moving County services away from Los Angeles’ only Civic Center,” she said.

    The Gas Company Tower represents “a generational investment opportunity to acquire a trophy asset at an exceptional basis,” Andrew Harper, a broker with the real estate firm JLL, said in May when JLL was hired to market the property. JLL declined to comment Tuesday on the pending sale.

    The 52-story tower at 555 W. 5th St. was widely considered one of the city’s most prestigious office buildings when it was completed in 1991. It has about 1.4 million square feet of space on a 1.4-acre site at the base of Bunker Hill.

    In recent years the downtown office market has turned against landlords as many tenants reduced their office footprint in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, when it became more common for employees to work remotely.

    Last year, the owner of the Gas Company Tower, an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management Ltd., defaulted on its debt and the property was put in receivership, in which a court-appointed representative took custody of the building to help creditors recover funds they lent to Brookfield. The building has roughly $465 million in outstanding loans.

    Elevated interest rates have weighed on prices by making it difficult for building owners to refinance debt and pushing them into quick sales or foreclosures. Some downtown L.A. office tenants have expressed concern in recent years that the streets feel less safe than they did before the pandemic and have left for other local office centers including Century City.

    The Gas Company Tower was renovated in 2023 and the tower currently is more than half leased to tenants including Southern California Gas Co., financial consulting firm Deloitte and law firm Latham & Watkins, according to real estate data provider CoStar.

    Office vacancy in downtown Los Angeles was more than 30% in the second quarter, real estate brokerage CBRE said, more than triple the level typically considered to be a healthy balance between tenant and landlord interests.

    Falling office values downtown are catching the attention of buyers seeking to grab property at a low point in the market, said Petra Durnin, a real estate analyst at Raise Commercial Real Estate who is not involved in the deal.

    “Unfortunate situations can create opportunities for others with the cash,” Durnin said. “Downtown has been through boom and bust cycles before and always reinvented itself.”

    A nearby 52-story office tower formerly owned by Brookfield at 777 S. Figueroa St. is set to be sold at the significantly discounted price of $120 million, or $117 a square foot, the Commercial Observer reported. It came close to selling for about $145 million a few months ago but the deal fell apart.

    In its statement to The Times, the county said it was eyeing the Gas Company Tower as an alternative to seismically retrofitting its downtown properties. The county owns 33 facilities that engineers say are vulnerable to collapse during a major earthquake, including the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, which has been the headquarters of Los Angeles County government for six decades, home to the offices of hundreds of employees and the five county supervisors.

    Last year, the county pledged to upgrade all 33 vulnerable buildings within the decade, an ambitious undertaking that experts say would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

    Roger Vincent, Rebecca Ellis

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