A new AT&T survey found that members of Generation Z are the biggest Black Friday shoppers, while older generations shop closer to Christmas.
The survey also found that more people get gift ideas from shopping in-person than on social media.
The findings come as experts see a “K-shaped” economy stretching into the holiday season.

People shop at a clothing store in Manhattan on Nov. 7, 2025, in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Black Friday is proving more popular for younger consumers than for their elders, according to a new report provided exclusively to CNBC.
AT&T Business’ 2025 Holiday Shopping Survey, conducted by Morning Consult, found that 40% of Generation Z members and 32% of millennials plan to do most of their shopping on Black Friday. Older generations, on the other hand, prefer to shop later in the season, just a week or two before Christmas, the survey found.

“Black Friday is always such a big deal, and the pricing and the offers and advertising that’s done during that time is probably what would draw Gen Z, especially things done on social media,” said Angela Rutherford, AT&T’s vice president of mid-market sales.
The enthusiasm for Black Friday comes even as Gen Z plans to pull back their spending.
Consulting firm PwC reported in September that Gen Z shoppers plan to spend 23% less on average this holiday season than a year ago – the sharpest decline of any generation and a significant change from the previous year, when Gen Z said they planned to spend 37% more.
And as non-wealthy Americans face pressures of higher prices and economic uncertainty, some reports are showing signs of a “K-shaped” economy that may stretch into the holiday season, with wealthier consumers spending more and lower-income consumers shopping more conservatively.
A new Deloitte survey found that consumers at large plan to spend 4% less on Black Friday than they did last year, primarily due to concerns of financial constraints and a higher cost of living.

Still, Rutherford said consumers are being more “intentional and value-driven” in their holiday shopping this year.
That spending is translating into more support for small businesses rather than large legacy retailers, with 77% of consumers reporting they would do all of their holiday shopping at small businesses if they could and if the pricing was the same, according to AT&T’s survey.
Compared with last year, the number of survey respondents who said they shop at small businesses to boost their local economies grew by 8 percentage points.
“I think there’s a price consciousness out there, combined with a, ‘If I can still save money or get a good price, I will still shop local,’ type of mentality out there,” Rutherford said.
The AT&T survey also found that 72% of people reported getting their gift ideas from in-person shopping rather than from social media.
And even as artificial intelligence begins to reshape the way people shop, more than half of shoppers said they were more likely to use traditional online search methods for their gifting this holiday season than AI – just 9% of those surveyed said they are more likely to use AI to find gifts.
“AI has exploded over the last couple years, and it’s infiltrating all aspects of life,” Rutherford said. “I think as time goes on, you will see a shift from the traditional search to AI for shopping.” More

A third high-profile technology executive is leaving General Motors amid a reorganization of the automaker’s software and product businesses.
Baris Cetinok, GM senior vice president of software and services product management, will depart the company next month.
GM is combining its vehicle software engineering and global product units under one organization, led by new Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson.

Mary Barra, Chair and CEO of General Motors (right to left), Mark Reuss, President, Sterling Anderson, Chief Product Officer, and Dave Richardson, Senior Vice President Software and Services Engineering at “GM Forward” on Wednesday, October 22, 2025 in New York.

DETROIT – A third high-profile technology executive is leaving General Motors amid a restructuring of the automaker’s software and product businesses, CNBC has learned.
Baris Cetinok, GM senior vice president of software and services product management, will depart the company effective Dec. 12, the automaker confirmed Tuesday after an internal announcement to employees.

Cetinok is the third tech-turned-auto executive to leave GM in roughly a month as the company combines its vehicle software engineering and global product units under one organization, led by new Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson.
“Baris has built a strong software product management team at GM. We’re grateful for his contributions and wish him continued success. With hardware and software engineering unified under Global Product, we’re integrating product management with engineering to accelerate the delivery of exceptional in-vehicle experiences,” GM said in an emailed statement to CNBC.
Cetinok, who joined GM in September 2023 after stints with companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, could not immediately be reached for comment. The announcement of his departure comes a month after he described his position as “a product person’s dream” in an interview with CNBC.
GM’s senior vice president of software and services engineering, Dave Richardson, and its head of GM artificial intelligence, Barak Turovsky, have also left the company since October. Richardson was with GM for more than two years, while Turovsky was hired in March.

GM Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson during the automaker’s “GM Forward” event on Oct. 22, 2025 in New York City.
Michael Wayland / CNBC

Anderson left the self-driving company he cofounded, Aurora Innovation, to join GM. He told CNBC last month that in order for the automaker to succeed, software and product must be thought of as one and the same.

“That’s the point of the role, I think, is it brings together all of these pieces into a unified approach to how we do product going forward,” Anderson said during an Oct. 22 interview at a GM technology event in New York.
Anderson, a former McKinsey & Co. consultant who later led Tesla’s AutoPilot program, said his goal is to accelerate the pace of GM’s innovations.
When Anderson’s appointment with GM was announced in May, Cetinok said in a LinkedIn post he was “delighted to welcome” the executive to the company. GM CEO Mary Barra and GM President Mark Reuss also hailed Anderson as being equipped to “evolve” and “reinvent” the automaker’s operations.
The global automotive industry has battled for years to better integrate technology into vehicles – from their production to consumer-facing software and remote, or “over-the-air,” updates like Tesla pioneered.
GM has taken an aggressive approach to combat such challenges by hiring leaders from Tesla and technology companies such as Apple and Google. However, many times, such executives have had short tenures with the company. More

Roughly 15% of the homes that were delisted in September were at risk of selling at a loss, according to Redfin.
Redfin found 70% of homes listed in September were on the market for 60 days or longer.
The supply of homes for sale is about 15% higher now than it was a year ago.

Weak buyer demand, weakening home prices and overall uncertainty in the economy are combining to make home sellers change their minds and step out of the market.
Close to 85,000 U.S. sellers took their homes off the market in September, up 28% from September 2024 and the highest level for that month in eight years, according to Redfin. 

Sellers are delisting because so many listings are going stale, sitting on the market longer and longer. Redfin reported that 70% of listings in September were on the market for 60 days or longer.
Homeowners are seeing prices weaken significantly and would rather wait than accept a low offer. Prices in September were 1.3% higher year over year, down from a 1.4% rise in August, according to the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index.

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“The frequency of delistings is keeping inventory tighter than it looks on paper,” said Asad Khan, a senior economist at Redfin. “When tens of thousands of homeowners pull their homes off the market rather than accept a low offer, it effectively reduces the supply of homes that are actually available for buyers. That keeps sale prices elevated.”
Some sellers are lowering prices — even multiple times. The typical price cut is roughly $10,000, but multiple reductions are becoming more common as homes take longer to sell, according to Zillow. The typical listing saw $25,000 in cumulative price cuts in October, matching the largest discounts Zillow has ever recorded.
The housing market is now heading into its slowest season. While 1 in 5 homes that are delisted are relisted, that may not happen for several months, as sellers will likely wait for the much busier spring season to try again.

Home prices are still 50% higher than they were just five years ago, but some sellers who bought in the last few years are facing potential losses. Roughly 15% of the homes that were delisted in September were at risk of selling at a loss, the highest share in five years, according to Redfin.
The supply of homes for sale is about 15% higher now than it was a year ago, according to Realtor.com, but that is likely to shrink in the coming weeks, both because of the season and because of weakening consumer sentiment among buyers and sellers alike.
Pending sales in October, which are based on signed contracts, were up 1.9% month to month and basically flat from a year ago, according to the Realtors. The monthly bump may have been due to a small drop in mortgage rates, which then turned higher again in November. More

Bidder dynamics in October saw the second-highest monthly gain over the past year, according to JLL’s Global Bid Intensity Index.
Multifamily housing led real estate subsectors in competition with the strongest bidding activity.
There was also a significant rebound in bidding competitiveness for the industrial and logistics sector, as trade policy uncertainty settled slightly. 

Modern urban condos in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Marcia Straub | Moment | Getty Images

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July marked a turning point in competition for commercial real estate properties, with bids rising for the first time in more than a year. That trend continued into October. 

Bidder dynamics during the month saw the second-highest monthly gain over the past year, according to JLL’s Global Bid Intensity Index. Competitiveness continues to improve, partly due to interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve in September and October.
The index measures bidding activity in order to give a real-time view of liquidity and competitiveness in private real estate capital markets. That, in turn, is an indicator for future capital flows across investment sales transactions.
“As capital deployment accelerated during the third quarter, institutional investors are signaling increased confidence in the market, even as uncertainty persists,” said Richard Bloxam, CEO of capital markets at JLL. “We expect business confidence will continue to improve and pave the way for continued capital flow growth into 2026.”

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Of all the commercial real estate sectors, multifamily housing led in competition with the strongest bidding activity. That is being driven by housing shortages across most major markets. Rental vacancy rates are still high, but more renters are expected to re-lease in the coming year because the for-sale housing market is so expensive.
JLL estimates that there is a shortage of 3.5 million housing units in the U.S. That, along with near-record-high home prices, is keeping renters in place for longer and will likely push multifamily vacancy rates lower once all the new supply makes it through the pipeline. All of that is driving continued strong conviction among multifamily investors. 

There was also a significant rebound in bidding competitiveness for the industrial and logistics sector, as trade policy uncertainty settled slightly. 
There was some softening in competition for retail properties simply because there were more of them for sale, so buyers had more choice. There were, however, more deals in the market. Investor demand is being driven by a rise in consumer and retail spending, for now at least. 
The office sector is also well into recovery, with bid dynamics rising from all-time lows in late 2023. Investor sentiment is improving with expanding bidder pools and increased lender participation.
Near-term interest rate cuts are still in question, especially given stronger-than-expected employment figures for September, released late due to the government shutdown. Investors, however, seem to be less sensitive to the timing, as they still expect rates to come down further next year. 
“While market uncertainty will continue to impact decision-making, the growth picture is looking more positive for 2026. Having worked through various junctures of uncertainty over the past year, more investors are showing a higher tolerance for risk,” Bloxam said. “Coupled with the exceptionally strong debt markets, we expect this will catalyze continued improvement in liquidity.” More

Best Buy hiked its full-year sales and earnings outlook.
The consumer electronics retailer said it saw tech upgrades and strong sales of computers, gaming consoles and smartphones during the fiscal third quarter.
The company’s annual sales have declined for the past three years.

A Best Buy store in Pinole, California, US, on Monday, Nov. 24, 2025. Best Buy Co. is expected to release earnings figures on November 25.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Best Buy hiked its full-year forecast Tuesday, as it topped Wall Street’s quarterly sales expectations and customers turned to the retailer to upgrade tech devices and splurge on new computers, gaming consoles and smartphones.
The consumer electronics retailer said it now expects revenue of between $41.65 billion to $41.95 billion for the full year, higher than its previous range of $41.1 billion to $41.9 billion. It expects adjusted earnings per share of $6.25 to $6.35, compared with its prior range of $6.15 to $6.30.

Best Buy said it expects full-year comparable sales, a metric that tracks sales online and at stores open at least 14 months, to range between a 0.5% rise to a 1.2% increase, compared with its previous expectations for a 1% decline and a 1% climb.
In the company’s news release, CEO Corie Barry said Best Buy saw “better-than-expected sales” for the quarter because of strong results across computing, gaming and mobile phones. She said sales grew across both its website and stores.
“We are flexing the unique strength of our model as customers need to upgrade or replace their consumer electronics and new products and innovation are coming to market,” Barry said.
She said the quarterly results are “setting us up well for an exciting holiday season.”
Here’s how the retailer did for the three-month period that ended Nov. 1 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $1.40 adjusted vs. $1.31 expected
Revenue: $9.67 billion vs. $9.59 billion expected

Best Buy has been waiting for some of the key catalysts that tend to drive its business, such as higher housing turnover that leads to appliance purchases, the tech innovations that spark demand for devices and expert advice, and the increased willingness by inflation-weary consumers to splurge on discretionary items.
Some of that tech innovation appears to be gaining momentum with sales of the Nintendo Switch 2, new iPhones and AI-enabled laptops. The company called out those merchandise categories as strengths in the most recent three-month period.
Best Buy’s net income for the fiscal third quarter fell to $140 million, or 66 cents per share, from net income of $273 million, or $1.26 per share, in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose from $9.45 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Best Buy’s comparable sales increased 2.7% year over year. In the U.S., the metric jumped 2.4%, as shoppers bought computers, gaming systems and mobile phones, but purchased fewer appliances and home theaters.
Best Buy’s annual revenue has dropped for the past three years. With the updated guidance, the company expects annual revenue to be slightly higher than last year’s total of $41.53 billion.
As of Monday’s close, shares of Best Buy have dropped by about 12% so far this year. That compares with the 14% gains of the S&P 500 during the same period.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates. More