Value was in vogue in 2024.
Shoppers and restaurant patrons in the U.S. were choosy about where and how to spend their money as they wrestled with high housing and food prices.
Well-heeled customers traded down to Walmart and Aldi. Diners opted for fast food or home cooking instead of sit-down restaurants. Department stores struggled as buyers shopped online or at cheaper chains like H&M.
Residents also moved away from buying furniture or investing in expensive renovations, opting to refresh their homes with inexpensive items like frames and candles.
Those shifts changed the buying and eating landscape in 2024. As of Dec. 20, Coresight Research tracked 48 retail bankruptcies in the U.S., compared with 25 during the same period a year ago. And at least 22 restaurant chains filed for bankruptcy this year, the highest number since 2020, according to BankruptcyData, a company that tracks filings.
Here are some of the trends – and dead ends – that The Associated Press tracked in 2024:
WINNERS:
WALMART
The nation’s largest retailer typically shines during tough times as shoppers turn to the discounter for groceries, which account for 60% of Walmart's total business. And just like during the 2008 Great Recession, Walmart saw households with incomes of $100,000 or above making up more of its clientele. But this time around, company executives think they can keep those customers because they’ve expanded online services and added more stylish clothes and mannequins.
AMAZON
Online juggernaut Amazon leaned into its reputation as a destination for deals to appeal to bargain-hungry buyers. In November it launched Amazon Haul, a new low-cost storefront featuring electronics, apparel and other products priced under $20. And the company said its Prime Day event in July resulted in record sales. But Amazon could face headwinds in the coming year with threatened tariffs on products from China and labor unrest in the U.S.
FAST CASUAL CHAINS
It was a good year for restaurant chains like Shake Shack that are a step up from fast food but still offer good value. Cava, which specializes in fresh Mediterranean food, said its revenue surged more than 33% in the first nine months of this year as it rapidly built new restaurants. Chipotle got some heat from value-conscious diners about smaller portions, but drew customers back after retraining workers to ensure “consistent and generous” portions.
JEANS SELLERS
The wide-leg jeans silhouette – the “it” style that rapidly replaced boot-cut and skinny jeans – drove sales across many different retailers this year. Macy’s, Abercrombie & Fitch, Levi Strauss, Gap and Stitch Fix were among those citing the trend as a big sales booster in recent months. Value-conscious buyers could snap them up at Walmart for $29. At the high end, Gucci had wide-leg versions for $1,200.
MCDONALD’S
The year didn’t begin well for McDonald’s. The company’s sales slumped as inflation-weary customers chose to eat at home instead of grabbing fast food. But a $5 meal deal introduced in June helped draw lower-income customers back into stores. McDonald’s extended the deal through the end of this year and said more value is coming in 2025. The fast food giant is working to get customers back after a fall E. coli outbreak linked to raw onions in Quarter Pounder hamburgers sickened at least 104 people in 14 states.
LOSERS:
TARGET
Target’s cheap chic fashions and home decor have long been a big attraction, but the chain faced challenges in 2024. Unlike Walmart, Target is more reliant on discretionary items like clothing because less than a quarter of its sales come from food and beverages. It has always battled a perception of being more expensive, and analysts say its merchandise has lately been in disarray. Still, Target drew crowds on Black Friday with exclusive Taylor Swift products.
STARBUCKS
Starbucks had a tough year. Orders are getting increasingly complex, with thousands of ways to customize drinks. That’s leading to long lines and incorrect pickup times on the mobile app. New offerings like olive oil-infused coffee didn’t attract customers, who also grew tired of Starbucks’ high prices. Starbucks hired a new CEO, Brian Niccol, in the fall to help turn things around. But labor strife, which led to strikes in December, could continue to hurt the company in 2025.
LEGACY RESTAURANTS
Several decades-old chains threw in the towel in 2024, succumbing to rising competition, changing dining patterns and big portfolios of outdated restaurants. Red Lobster, TGI Fridays and Buca di Beppo all filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and shuttered dozens of locations. A leaner Red Lobster later exited bankruptcy under new ownership, but it remains to be seen whether older chains can turn around years of declining sales.
BIG TICKET ITEMS
At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. consumers took advantage of low interest rates and stimulus benefits to remodel their homes and make other big purchases. But last year, they pulled back. That’s been a challenge for retailers like Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain, which noted lower sales of appliances, home theaters and gaming equipment. Home Depot and Lowe’s also reported lower sales of big-ticket items, particularly discretionary kitchen and bathroom remodeling projects.
DEPARTMENT STORES
Department stores, particularly those catering to middle income shoppers, have struggled to hold onto customers as many turn to online shopping or to fast-fashion retailers. Among the worst performers: Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based Kohl’s, which reported its 11th consecutive quarter of sales declines this year. Outgoing CEO Tom Kingsbury recently owned up to merchandising mistakes, including scaling back fine jewelry, popular store label brands and petite sizes. Customers will see those categories return in the coming year.
Macy’s said it would close 150 namesake stores over three years and open 15 higher-end Bloomingdale’s. Upscale Nordstrom, on the other hand, had a better than expected fiscal year due largely to soaring sales at its off-price Nordstrom Rack stores.
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As the calendar flipped one year ago, Canadian real estate watchers were optimistic a sluggish 2023 would give way to a rebound, with hopes of renewed demand as soon as the spring.
But the lag in 2024 lasted longer than some expected, with the Bank of Canada waiting until June to deliver the first of the year's five interest rate cuts. While buyers stormed back to the market this fall, experts noted the first few rate cuts hadn't been enough to motivate everyone to leave the sidelines quite yet.
Now heading into 2025, economists and real estate agents believe activity is poised to remain strong amid much lower borrowing costs and more favourable rules for buyers, despite an overall challenging affordability picture.
The Canadian Real Estate Association reported earlier this month the number of homes sold in November jumped 26 per cent year-over-year, marking the second straight month of gains at that level. For the first 11 months of the year, cumulative home sales were up 6.9 per cent compared with 2023.
"The big thing is first-time homebuyers are back and are going to continue to get into the market," said Re/Max Canada president Christopher Alexander in an interview.
"We expect, overall, a much more robust year as far as activity goes and consumer confidence, especially with further anticipated rate decreases."
The Bank of Canada lowered its policy rate by a half-percentage point earlier this month, bringing it to 3.25 per cent, while signalling a more gradual approach to future cuts in the new year.
Alexander said high interest rates — the central bank's policy rate stood at five per cent before its cutting cycle — have been a major barrier of entry for would-be buyers.
Re/Max's 2025 housing market outlook report said it is expecting home sales to rise in 33 of 37 Canadian regions, including increases of up to 25 per cent, along with the national average residential price rising by five per cent.
Alexander said the market didn't really take off after the bank's first few cuts in part due to messaging that it expected to decrease rates even further as the months rolled along. He said that caused many would-be buyers to hold off "in anticipation of more affordability."
"But the challenge with that strategy is at a certain point, you hit the point of no return where rates have come down so it's a little bit less expensive on a monthly basis, but then it becomes more competitive, so prices go up," he said.
Hamilton, Ont., broker Mike Heddle said for the better part of two years, it's felt like the "pendulum has swung" from the strong seller's market of 2021 and 2022.
"There's just been a real big pause and the masses are just kind of waiting and seeing," said Heddle of Royal LePage State Realty.
"I'm predicting that we're going to see a much stronger and resilient 2025 where we'll probably hover around a balanced-to-a-seller's market."
He said buyers' confidence has been evident in recent weeks, having personally seen an uptick in offers on homes. That could carry over into January after a holiday period that is often fairly quiet.
While pent-up demand should translate to more homes changing hands in the coming months, "it's not going to be a force forever," said TD economist Rishi Sondhi. He cautioned that rush will likely be exhausted "relatively soon, probably the first half of next year."
The national average sale price stood at $694,411 in November, according to CREA.
The initial demand boom should push housing prices higher, though Sondhi noted markets in Canada's two largest provinces, Ontario and B.C., are still dealing with big supply backlogs that will take time to clear.
Along with falling interest rates, Sondhi said the federal government's recent mortgage rule changes, which kicked in Dec. 15, should help lift home sales and prices.
Those measures included extending the maximum mortgage amortization period for first-time homebuyers to 30 years from 25, and the cap for which a potential buyer can obtain an insured mortgage being raised from $1 million to $1.5 million.
TD forecasts home sales will rise by 16 per cent across Canada in 2025 on a year-over-year basis, while Canadian average home prices will go up eight per cent.
"You have falling interest rates, you have the likelihood of continued economic growth, and you have these federal measures, all of which should support a good year for housing," said Sondhi.
Another advantage for buyers is the national banking regulator's recent move to remove a stress test for uninsured mortgages, said Ratesdotca mortgage and real estate expert Victor Tran.
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions announced in September it would end the policy for lenders to apply the minimum qualifying rate to straight switches when uninsured mortgages are renewed at a different institution under the borrower's current amortization schedule and loan amount.
"The spring market will be really hot because of all these recent changes with affordability," said Tran.
Other factors, such as the labour market and political uncertainty — both domestically and in the U.S. — could play a role in determining the housing picture next year, he said.
But Tran said it's premature to start comparing the market to 2021 and early 2022 when activity skyrocketed.
"The rates are still not low enough yet compared to what they were before," said Tran.
"Affordability is improving a little bit, but qualification is still very difficult for a lot of Canadians. So house prices do need to come down a little bit more to really spur a lot more activity."
For those who find themselves on the verge of entering the market, Alexander said waiting until the perfect time could be a risk in itself.
"You won't see 2021 activity for a long time. Prices were going up almost by the day," he recalled.
"I don't see that happening for a long time, but my advice always is, 'Buy within your means.' Timing the market usually ends up in disaster."
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The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority says a machinery fire this morning at a Delta, B.C., terminal facility has been put out and no injuries were reported.
The authority says in a written statement that a coal stacker caught fire at a facility operated by Westshore Terminals, temporarily shutting operations at the terminal and a neighbouring facility operated by GCT Deltaport.
The statement says the Delta fire department responded "immediately," and the blaze has now been put out but fire officials are still on scene to monitor the site.
The port authority says no injuries were reported, and Westshore is "continuing to manage" the response with Delta fire officials.
Video footage posted online Saturday shows thick black smoke billowing upwards from a conveyor engulfed in flames at the facility.
Photos posted on social media also show the smoke on the horizon visible from the Tsawwassen ferry terminal.
Westshore Coal Terminal at Delta Port is on fire.
Located near Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal
Vancouver pic.twitter.com/ooW8LtXNjh
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President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue.
The request came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court, in which the company argued the court should strike down a law that could ban the platform by Jan. 19 while the government emphasized its position that the statute is needed to eliminate a national security risk.
“President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute. Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case,” said Trump’s amicus brief, which supported neither party in the case and was written by D. John Sauer, Trump’s choice for solicitor general.
The argument submitted to the court is the latest example of Trump inserting himself in national issues before he takes office. The Republican president-elect has already begun negotiating with other countries over his plans to impose tariffs, and he intervened earlier this month in a plan to fund the federal government, calling for a bipartisan plan to be rejected and sending Republicans back to the negotiating table.
Trump has also reversed his position on the popular app, having tried to ban it during his first term in office over national security concerns. He joined the app during his 2024 presidential campaign and his team used it to connect with younger voters, especially male voters, by pushing content that was often macho and aimed at going viral.
He said earlier this year that he still believed there were national security risks with TikTok, but that he opposed banning it. This month, Trump also met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
The filings Friday come ahead of oral arguments scheduled for Jan. 10 on whether the law, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban, unlawfully restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment. The law was was signed by President Joe Biden in April after it passed Congress with broad bipartisan support. TikTok and ByteDance filed a legal challenge afterwards.
Earlier this month, a panel of three federal judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld the statute, leading TikTok to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
The brief from Trump said he opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.”
In their brief to the Supreme Court on Friday, attorneys for TikTok and its parent company ByteDance argued the federal appeals court erred in its ruling and based its decision on “alleged ‘risks’ that China could exercise control” over TikTok’s U.S. platform by pressuring its foreign affiliates.
The Biden administration has argued in court that TikTok poses a national security risk due to its connections to China. Officials say Chinese authorities can compel ByteDance to hand over information on TikTok’s U.S. patrons or use the platform to spread or suppress information.
But the government “concedes that it has no evidence China has ever attempted to do so,” TikTok’s legal filing said, adding that the U.S. fears are predicated on future risks.
In its filing Friday, the Biden administration said because TikTok “is integrated with ByteDance and relies on its propriety engine developed and maintained in China,” its corporate structure carries with it risk.
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A ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, a top White House official said Friday.
Biden administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon.
But Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, told reporters Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance to companies about how to hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks.
The update from Neuberger is the latest development in a massive hacking operation that has alarmed national security officials, exposed cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the private sector and laid bare China's hacking sophistication.
The hackers compromised the networks of telecommunications companies to obtain customer call records and gain access to the private communications of “a limited number of individuals." Though the FBI has not publicly identified any of the victims, officials believe senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures are among those whose whose communications were accessed.
Neuberger said officials did not yet have a precise sense how many Americans overall were affected by Salt Typhoon, in part because the Chinese were careful about their techniques, but a “large number" were in the Washington-Virginia area.
Officials believe the goal of the hackers was to identify who owned the phones and, if they were “government targets of interest,” spy on their texts and phone calls, she said.
The FBI said most of the people targeted by the hackers are "primarily involved in government or political activity.”
Neuberger said the episode highlighted the need for required cybersecurity practices in the telecommunications industry, something the Federal Communications Commission is to take up at a meeting next month.
“We know that voluntary cyber security practices are inadequate to protect against China, Russia and Iran hacking of our critical infrastructure,” she said.
The Chinese government has denied responsibility for the hacking.
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Sales rose this year during the holiday shopping season even as Americans wrestled with elevated prices for many groceries and other necessities, according to new data.
Holiday sales from the beginning of November through Christmas Eve climbed 3.8%, outpacing the 3.1% increase from a year earlier, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks all kinds of payments including cash and debit cards. The last five days of the season accounted for 10% of the spending.
This year, retailers were even more under the gun to get shoppers in to buy early and in bulk since there were five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Michelle Meyer, chief economist at Mastercard Economics Institute, said the holiday shopping season “revealed a consumer who is willing and able to spend but driven by a search for value” as seen by concentrated online spending during the biggest promotional periods.
Sales growth was higher than the 3.2% increase Mastercard SpendingPulse had projected this fall. The data released Thursday excludes the automotive industry and is not adjusted for inflation.
Clothing sales rose 3.6%, with most of the growth being fueled by online shopping. Spending on restaurants, and sales of electronics and jewelry also grew. Online sales jumped 6.7% from a year ago and in-person spending rose 2.9%.
Consumer spending accounts for nearly 70% of U.S. economic activity and economists carefully monitor how Americans use their money, particularly during the holidays, to gauge how they’re feeling financially.
The most recent government data on consumer spending, released on Dec. 17, showed shoppers stepped up activity at retail stores last month. But auto dealer sales drove most of those gains as huge storms created a need for new cars in parts of the southeast slammed by Hurricane Helene in October. Big discounts at many retail chains also attracted shoppers.
But the report also hinted at some consumer caution as sales at grocery stores, clothing shops, and restaurants fell. Outside of car dealers and online retailers, sales gains were modest.
Retailers felt more pressure this year due to the shorter holiday shopping period, and also from a presidential election that captured the attention of many consumers. Sales of general merchandise slid 9% in the two weeks ended Nov. 9, according to Circana, a market research group. Sales have been rebounding but stores will have to make up for those losses.
A broader picture of how Americans are spending their money arrives next month when the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, releases its combined two-month statistics based on November-December sales figures from the Commerce Department.
The group expects that shoppers will have made $979.5 billion to $989 billion worth of purchases in November and December, which would represent a 2.5%-3.5% increase over the same two-month period a year ago. That would be a slower rate than the 3.9% increase from holiday 2023 over holiday 2022 season.
Overall, retailers had a decent start to the unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping period despite lots of discounts that started as early as October.
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U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s proposed 25-per-cent tariffs threaten to disrupt North American free trade. The move could also undercut the business case that drove the US$27-billion formation of Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. CP-T.
Keith Creel, Canadian Pacific Railway’s top executive, touted the US$27-billion takeover of Kansas City Southern railway and its Mexican network as an industry-beating move to tap continental free trade.
The deal, approved in 2023, gave Calgary-based CP control of KCS’s U.S. and Mexican rails that extend down the spine of the southern U.S. and on to Mexico’s auto-making and agricultural heartlands, as well as ports on both coasts.
In speeches to investors, Mr. Creel described the deal as transformational. The “merger that we’re putting together will allow additional free trade to flow between these three nations,” he said in 2022.
Skip ahead to late 2024, and Mr. Creel is reassuring those same investors the railway can withstand a Trump trade war. He says the railway will continue to grow even in the face of the 25-per-cent tariffs that economists warn will hit trade volumes, drive inflation and possibly cause a recession.
Both major Canadian railways have extensive U.S. networks built through takeovers intended to capitalize on north-south free trade. Montreal-based Canadian National Railway CNR-T took over Illinois Central in 1989 – the same year the Canada-U.S. free trade started – gaining a railway from Chicago to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
CP, meanwhile, also built a U.S. network but went no farther south than Kansas City until the KCS takeover. The deals signal the importance of free trade and underline that most goods are flowing north-south and not over the traditional east-west routes. The Trump tariffs threaten to upend this.
Still, Mr. Creel, at an investors’ conference on Dec. 4, noted Mr. Trump warned in his first term of a trade war, and instead renegotiated the North American free-trade pact. This spurred a rise in shipments among the countries that will continue, he said.
Analysts and investors are not so sure.
CPKC’s share price fell by 8 per cent in the weeks leading up the Nov. 5 U.S. election, betting Mr. Trump would win and raise trade grievances. The stock continued falling in the weeks after, and a brief rebound was dashed on Nov. 25, when Mr. Trump said he would levy 25-per-cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico if the countries did not stop the flow of illegal migrants and drugs.
Toronto-Dominion Bank’s Cherilyn Radbourne said both CPKC and Canadian National Railway Co., which has a large U.S. network, will see freight volumes drop should the tariffs be levied.
Trans-border shipments made up one-third of CN’s revenue and 41 per cent of CPKC’s revenue in 2023. She said both railways will see a short-term rise in freight volumes as shippers try to get ahead of the tariffs. “Beyond that, we would expect cross-border volumes to be negatively impacted by increased tariffs,” Ms. Radbourne said in a research note.
CP outbid CN in its months-long pursuit of Missouri-based KCS, paying a premium for the railway that brought access to new markets. CPKC now offers customers longer hauls with fewer interchanges, a time-saving and efficient service.
The railway has partnered with Americold Realty Trust to build a chilled container facility in Kansas City that will send pork and beef to Mexico. The hub will have Mexican food inspectors on-site to ensure rapid shipments south and a “seamless border,” Mr. Creel recently told investors.
The two companies are also looking at new facilities in Mexico, taking meat south and bringing Mexican fruit and vegetables north, including to Loblaw Cos. Ltd. L-T stores in Canada, he said.
CPKC said on Dec. 17 it completed a second bridge connecting Mexico and Texas over the Rio Grande, doubling its capacity to move freight between the countries. The railways opened an automotive yard near Dallas in June for finished vehicles moving among the three countries.
“Even if some tariffs get implemented, I still think there’s such an advantage, especially in Mexico to the U.S., that leads to a good outcome uniquely for our network,” Mr. Creel said.
CIBC World Markets chief economist Avery Shenfeld said even if Mr. Trump spares Canada or Mexico the tariffs, there will still be tense negotiations ahead. “Trump’s willingness to brandish the tariff weapon so quickly, before even getting to his desk in the Oval Office, portends a long road ahead for both Canada and Mexico to preserve what they negotiated during Trump’s first term,” Mr. Shenfeld said in a note to clients.
Christian Wetherbee, managing director of transportation research at Wells Fargo Securities in New York, believes CPKC’s stock sell-off overshot the actual risk of Trump tariffs.
Mexican trade accounted for 22 per cent of CPKC’s 2023 revenue, or $3-billion, he said. Of this total, 55 per cent is U.S. exports to Mexico; 23 per cent is Mexican exports to the United States; and 1 per cent is Mexico to Canada.
“The mix is likely underappreciated by investors,” Mr. Wetherbee said. “I am a firm believer that the relationship between [the U.S.] and Canada, and the U.S. and Mexico in particular is one that has the potential to grow from here, even with Trump.”
Still, he said if Mr. Trump levies the tariffs when he takes office, freight volumes will slump the following year, a shift Mr. Creel did not count on when he crafted the deal to buy KCS.
“I think strategically [the takeover] still makes sense but maybe how much you paid for it could be in question,” Mr. Wetherbee said.
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Just about everyone dreams about cars they wish they could own, and there’s no better time than the holidays to make a list of vehicles you’d love to have in your driveway. The car pros at Edmunds rounded up five of their favorite dream-worthy vehicles. But rather than just list the most outlandish and expensive exotics, they focused on highlighting models that are expensive but not so pricey that it’d be completely unrealistic for you to own one one day. The vehicles are ordered in ascending order of price and include destination fees.
Ford F-150 Raptor R
Off-road trucks look fantastic and are extremely capable. What truck enthusiast wouldn’t have one topping their wish list? The king of the hill for 2025 is the F-150 Raptor R. The regular Raptor is already impressive, and the R takes it to the next level with a bonkers 720-horsepower supercharged 5.2-liter V8 engine, upgraded Fox dual-value shock absorbers, and massive 37-inch all-terrain tires. An R-specific grille and hood are also part of the R’s upgrades.
Thankfully, the Raptor R isn’t all bark and bite. It also has plenty of features to make it a livable truck for daily driving. Standard features include leather upholstery, cooling front seats, a premium sound system, and a surround-view camera to help make this big truck easier to park.
Starting Price: $112,825
Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Few sedans can match the Mercedes-Benz S-Class for opulence, luxury and prestige. This grand sedan showcases nearly every luxury, technology and performance innovation that Mercedes-Benz has concocted. Everything you touch inside is likely covered in leather, heated, or bathed in disco-worthy ambient light.
A novel could be written about all of the S-Class’ luxury and comfort features, but one of the most notable is the E-Active Body Control system. It scans the road surface ahead and adjusts the suspension to deliver the best ride possible. The S-Class also boasts an extensive list of advanced safety features and has an augmented reality head-up display that projects images that appear to float in front of the car. For the ultimate S-Class, get the 791-horsepower AMG S 63 E Performance model.
Starting Price: $118,900
Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
Who needs a European exotic car when the Corvette ZR1 is just as capable? A sports car fanatic’s wish list wouldn’t be right without the ZR1. The new Corvette hit a record-setting top speed of 233 mph, making it the fastest car ever built by an American automaker and the fastest current production car priced under $1 million, according to Chevrolet.
The top speed record was possible thanks to the ZR1’s turbocharged 5.5-liter V8 engine that cranks out a staggering 1,064 horsepower. Its carbon-fiber aero package kept it glued to the track by generating over 1,200 pounds of downforce at top speed. Chevrolet also says the ZR1 can accelerate through the quarter mile in less than 10 seconds. We expect the Corvette ZR1 to go on sale in early 2025.
Estimated starting price: $150,000
Cadillac Escalade-V
Does your wish list include a big and powerful SUV? If it does, the Escalade-V should top it. The big Caddy roars like a muscle car thanks to its supercharged 6.2-liter V8 that churns out 682 horsepower and helps it hit 60 mph in just 4.4 seconds. The Escalade-V also boasts enormous 24-inch wheels and large Brembo brakes that help bring the three-ton SUV to a stop.
But the Escalade-V isn’t only about brute power. It also has three rows of seating, plenty of cargo space and offers impressive tech like Super Cruise, a hands-free highway driving system, and an enormous 55-inch curved display that spans the dashboard.
Starting Price: $161,990
Lucid Air Sapphire
What if we told you there was a car that could outpace almost anything on a drag strip, keep up with high-end sports cars on a racetrack, and be comfortable enough for daily errands? Well, if that sounds amazing, add the Air Sapphire to your dream list.
The Air Sapphire is a high-performance electric luxury sedan made by Lucid, an electric vehicle startup. It’s one of the most powerful production cars in the world, producing an astonishing 1,234 horsepower from its three electric motors. Lucid says it has a top speed of 205 mph and can rocket to 60 mph in a mind-numbing 1.9 seconds. You can adjust the vehicle’s setting for exceptional track performance or simply provide a comfortable ride around town.
Starting price: $250,500
Edmunds says
Even if you can’t afford any of these vehicles, you can still picture one sitting in your driveway or imagine yourself cruising around town in it. And who knows, maybe holiday magic will give you the opportunity to own one in the future.
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The Christmas tradition has become nearly global in scope: Children from around the world track Santa Claus as he sweeps across the earth, delivering presents and defying time.
Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about Santa’s location. Millions more follow online in nine languages, from English to Japanese.
On any other night, NORAD is scanning the heavens for potential threats, such as last year’s Chinese spy balloon. But on Christmas Eve, volunteers in Colorado Springs are fielding questions like, “When is Santa coming to my house?” and, “Am I on the naughty or nice list?”
“There are screams and giggles and laughter,” said Bob Sommers, 63, a civilian contractor and NORAD volunteer.
Sommers often says on the call that everyone must be asleep before Santa arrives, prompting parents to say, “Do you hear what he said? We got to go to bed early.”
NORAD’s annual tracking of Santa has endured since the Cold War, predating ugly sweater parties and Mariah Carey classics. The tradition continues regardless of government shutdowns, such as the one in 2018, and this year.
Here’s how it began and why the phones keep ringing.
The origin story is Hollywood-esque
It started with a child’s accidental phone call in 1955. The Colorado Springs newspaper printed a Sears advertisement that encouraged children to call Santa, listing a phone number.
A boy called. But he reached the Continental Air Defense Command, now NORAD, a joint U.S. and Canadian effort to spot potential enemy attacks. Tensions were growing with the Soviet Union, along with anxieties about nuclear war.
Air Force Col. Harry W. Shoup picked up an emergency-only “red phone” and was greeted by a tiny voice that began to recite a Christmas wish list.
“He went on a little bit, and he takes a breath, then says, ‘Hey, you’re not Santa,’” Shoup told The Associated Press in 1999.
Realizing an explanation would be lost on the youngster, Shoup summoned a deep, jolly voice and replied, “Ho, ho, ho! Yes, I am Santa Claus. Have you been a good boy?”
Shoup said he learned from the boy’s mother that Sears mistakenly printed the top-secret number. He hung up, but the phone soon rang again with a young girl reciting her Christmas list. Fifty calls a day followed, he said.
In the pre-digital age, the agency used a 60-by-80 foot (18-by-24 meter) plexiglass map of North America to track unidentified objects. A staff member jokingly drew Santa and his sleigh over the North Pole.
The tradition was born.
“Note to the kiddies,” began an AP story from Colorado Springs on Dec. 23, 1955. “Santa Claus Friday was assured safe passage into the United States by the Continental Air Defense Command.”
In a likely reference to the Soviets, the article noted that Santa was guarded against possible attack from “those who do not believe in Christmas.”
Is the origin story humbug?
Some grinchy journalists have nitpicked Shoup’s story, questioning whether a misprint or a misdial prompted the boy’s call.
In 2014, tech news site Gizmodo cited an International News Service story from Dec. 1, 1955, about a child’s call to Shoup. Published in the Pasadena Independent, the article said the child reversed two digits in the Sears number.
“When a childish voice asked COC commander Col. Harry Shoup, if there was a Santa Claus at the North Pole, he answered much more roughly than he should — considering the season:
‘There may be a guy called Santa Claus at the North Pole, but he’s not the one I worry about coming from that direction,’” Shoup said in the brief piece.
In 2015, The Atlantic magazine doubted the flood of calls to the secret line, while noting that Shoup had a flair for public relations.
Phone calls aside, Shoup was indeed media savvy. In 1986, he told the Scripps Howard News Service that he recognized an opportunity when a staff member drew Santa on the glass map in 1955.
A lieutenant colonel promised to have it erased. But Shoup said, “You leave it right there,” and summoned public affairs. Shoup wanted to boost morale for the troops and public alike.
“Why, it made the military look good — like we’re not all a bunch of snobs who don’t care about Santa Claus,” he said.
Shoup died in 2009. His children told the StoryCorps podcast in 2014 that it was a misprinted Sears ad that prompted the phone calls.
“And later in life he got letters from all over the world,” said Terri Van Keuren, a daughter. “People saying ‘Thank you, Colonel, for having, you know, this sense of humor.’”
A rare addition to Santa’s story
NORAD’s tradition is one of the few modern additions to the centuries-old Santa story that have endured, according to Gerry Bowler, a Canadian historian who spoke to the AP in 2010.
Ad campaigns or movies try to “kidnap” Santa for commercial purposes, said Bowler, who wrote “Santa Claus: A Biography.” NORAD, by contrast, takes an essential element of Santa’s story and views it through a technological lens.
In a recent interview with the AP, Air Force Lt. Gen. Case Cunningham explained that NORAD radars in Alaska and Canada —- known as the northern warning system — are the first to detect Santa.
He leaves the North Pole and typically heads for the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean. From there he moves west, following the night.
“That’s when the satellite systems we use to track and identify targets of interest every single day start to kick in,” Cunningham said. “A probably little-known fact is that Rudolph’s nose that glows red emanates a lot of heat. And so those satellites track (Santa) through that heat source.”
Check out where Santa is via the live video below:
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Your monthly rent payment can go beyond just keeping a roof over your head, it can be tapped for potential benefits such as improving your credit score or earning cash-back rewards. But experts say these financial tools should be used wisely.
Rent reporting can be facilitated by your landlord, or you can sign up with a number of companies offering to report your monthly payments to credit bureaus. Each time you pay rent, you can potentially increase your credit score. There are also opportunities to earn cash back on rent payments, either through credit cards or special programs.
Rent reporting can be “incredibly practical, incredibly helpful” for people who are building credit, said Shannon Terrell, spokesperson for NerdWallet Canada.
But it's best suited for someone who is financially secure, she added.
“If you are someone who potentially struggles to make those rent payments in a timely fashion, maybe rent reporting is not the ideal route for you at this time,” Terrell said.
A payment that is slightly late shouldn’t ding your score though, said Eva Wong, co-founder and chief operating officer of Borrowell. The fintech company focuses on money management tools, including credit monitoring and options to improve your credit rating.
“What matters is that you made the [rent] payment, right?” Wong said. “Most lenders give a 30-day grace period for paying any bills. So as long as the person is coming back and saying, ‘Yes, I did pay my October rent, and this is what it was,’ usually lenders don’t report something late unless it’s more than 30 days.”
Borrowell launched its rent-reporting tool in 2022, which doesn’t require a landlord’s involvement. Renters can either connect their accounts to Borrowell or upload financial documents from their bank — even if it's just screen grabs of the rent payment coming out. They also require a lease document.
For a quick credit score boost, Borrowell also offers a tool that can report up to 24 months of rent payments made in the past, for a one-time fee. The company will refund this fee if users don’t see their score increase.
“They can be large increases, especially for people who are new to credit and don’t have a lot of credit history, or have a lower credit score,” Wong said. “Obviously, the higher your credit score, the less room there is to go.”
For users with a score below 700, about 70 per cent saw their rating improve, Wong added. The average boost was 27 points among that group.
Chexy, Zenbase, FrontLobby and City Lending Centers are a handful of other companies with credit-reporting tools; some also offer rent-splitting with roommates or breaking down rent payments into smaller chunks.
KOHO also bundles tools for renters, launching their rent-reporting service this year, while also offering cash back on rent without a credit card, tenants’ insurance, and free credit reports in the app.
For cash back, a renter could see up to $90 annually. Since KOHO’s rent-reporting tool is new, it doesn't have program data yet — but credit score increases would likely surpass another credit-building product it offers, which sees an average boost of 22 points after three months.
As always when shopping around, compare fees and bundling requirements to unlock some perks.
For those who want to pay rent with a credit card for cash back or rewards points, Terrell said there’s more math to do.
First, determine which rewards your rent payments are eligible for. There are often tiered rates for types of spending on credit cards, from groceries to gas, to “all other transactions,” she pointed out.
Next, check for any spending caps for rewards.
Some credit cards, Terrell said, allow you to earn cash back up to a certain amount of spending — for instance, $5,000 or $10,000 per year. Any spending on the card beyond that won’t return any more cash to you. Since rent is a major expense, you might max out your rewards potential fast.
Lastly, find out the fees for the rental payment.
“These payment-processing platforms that allow you to pay your rent with your credit card, they might charge you a processing fee in the neighbourhood of one, two, three per cent or more,” Terrell said. Processing fees can potentially outweigh rewards, she added.
Mixing rent and credit card debt can also be dicey. You shouldn’t carry that balance month to month, she said.
“We put ourselves at risk of accumulating high-interest debt if we can’t, or don’t, pay off the balance in full in a timely fashion,” Terrell said.
“The other thing to think about here, too, is that carrying a balance on your credit card, even for a short period of time, can impact your credit utilization ratio. That’s a measure of how much debt you currently carry in relation to your total available credit. If you have a higher credit utilization ratio, that can actually hurt your credit and can pull down your credit score.”
Carrying a high balance also hinders your ability to absorb emergency and unforeseen costs, Terrell pointed out, as many Canadians use credit cards to cover gaps when finances are tight.
“So it’s a risky strategy,” she said, “and it certainly won’t be for everyone.”
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A recent survey shows small business owners in the United States are feeling more optimistic about the economy following the election.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses’ Small Business Optimism Index rose by eight points in November to 101.7, its highest reading since June 2021.
The Uncertainty Index declined 12 points in November to 98, following October’s pre-election record high of 110.
NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said small business owners became more certain about future business conditions following the presidential election, breaking a nearly three-year streak of record high uncertainty.
“Owners are particularly hopeful for tax and regulation policies that favor strong economic growth as well as relief from inflationary pressures,” he said in a statement. “In addition, small business owners are eager to expand their operations.”
The net percent of owners expecting the economy to improve rose 41 points from October to a net 36%, the highest since June 2020.
Some owners are also hoping 2025 will be a good time to grow. The percent of small business owners believing it is a good time to expand their business rose eight points to a 14%. This is also the highest reading since June 2021.
While inflation has eased, it remains a top concern for owners. Twenty percent of owners reported that inflation was their single most important problem in operating their business (higher input and labor costs). It surpassed labor quality as the top issue by one point.
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The scent of bratwurst and pretzels filled the air as horses clopped down the main street, hauling a carriage full of tourists. Nestled in her mother's arms, a baby reached out to touch a shop window display, peering toward the sequin-covered reindeer behind it, as colorful ornaments twirled nearby.
Welcome to Leavenworth, Washington, the Christmas capital of the Pacific Northwest.
Decades ago, Leavenworth was a near ghost town on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains, one of the region's poorest communities. The mines and the sawmill had closed, and even the railroad left. In the 1960s, desperate business owners made a serious gamble. Without any state or federal help, they began taking out loans and remodeling the downtown in the style of a Bavarian village.
More than half a century later, the result brings tourists from near and far all year long — hikers and skiers, river rafters and fly-fishers, shoppers and day-trippers from Seattle, some 3 million visitors in all last year, according to Matt Cade, president of the Greater Leavenworth Museum. The crush has prompted concerns about the cost of living, and recent efforts, including some state funding for affordable apartments, have focused on ensuring that tourism industry workers can live in town.
But the town peaks in popularity during the holidays.
In December, it takes on the ruddy, warm glow of a German Christmas market, with the magic of choirs, carolers, food vendors and a gingerbread house contest. The longstanding practice of switching on the Christmas lights downtown on Saturday and Sunday evenings began to draw such large crowds that organizers eventually decided to just leave them on from Thanksgiving through February.
“Every time I go there, I just feel joy and excitement,” said Alison Epsom, of Sultan, who visited with her husband, Brian Jolly, and their 8-month-old daughter, Acacia.
The couple met nearly two decades ago, when they were performing at an international dance festival. For one of their first dates, Jolly invited Epsom, a native of England, to visit Leavenworth.
“I knew I had one opportunity that she was going to be here and I wanted her to fall in love with me,” he recalled.
As they drove through the mountain pass on their way, she told him to pull over. She jumped outside without a coat and made a little snowman.
“I had never seen that much snow," Epsom said. "So that was absolutely magical to me.”
They have made it an annual tradition to return to Leavenworth, and every year they pick out a new ornament for their tree at the Kris Kringl shop downtown. The town is a core part of the couple's love story. Jolly even proposed to her on a horse-drawn sleigh.
This year, it was their daughter's turn to pick out the new ornament — her parents decided they'd buy the first one she touched. She grabbed at a white owl, which now hangs from the family's Christmas tree, near the red- and gold-glittered star that Epsom picked out on their first visit.
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