Cyber Monday Makes History: A Positive Sign For Holiday Shopping?

• (0:15) - Historic Cyber Monday
• (3:45) - UPS, USPS, & FedEx (NYSE:FDX): Deliveries Expected
• (5:30) - Episode Roundup: Podcast@Zacks.com

History was made during this year’s Cyber Monday, and on this week’s episode of Shopping for Stocks, host and Zacks Editor Maddy Johnson dives into America’s largest-ever online shopping day.

Cyber Monday ended up generating some $6.6 billion in sales, according to Adobe Analytics, and that by 10 a.m., $840 million had already been spent online, a 17% year-over-year jump.

Overall, this holiday season has been off to a strong start. Online sales saw another record on Black Friday, while foot traffic on that day in stores didn’t fall as much as analysts had feared. If you went out shopping last Friday, you likely noticed that a ton of other people decided to join you. Or at least I did. My local Target (NYSE:TGT) , Macy’s (NYSE:M) , Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) , and Ulta (NASDAQ:ULTA) were packed, with winding lines during those peak doorbuster hours.

This rise in retail activity has helped bolster retail stocks, even after not too shabby Q3 earnings results, and shares of Macy’s, JCPenney (NYSE:JCP) , Target, and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) all rallied yesterday after preliminary Black Friday sales results started to creep in.

While solid promotions were likely a big driver for a lot of shoppers, the strong economy should also be looked at. Consumers feel confident right now, and when confidence is high, people are going to spend.

As a reminder, if you feel that something was missed, or if you want a different topic covered, send an email to podcast@zacks.com. Make sure to check out all of our other audio content at zacks.com/podcast, and remember to subscribe and leave a rating on iTunes.

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of Shopping for Stocks!

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