According to Yahoo News, Cyber Monday has helped prevent a significant sell-off in an otherwise profit-taking trading day, with all four major indices closing marginally in the red. Approximately 77 million U.S. consumers participated in temporary sales on goods, primarily for early holiday shopping, which is in line with data from two years ago. The first full week of holiday shopping, both in-store and online, saw a 9.8% increase year over year, accounting for 76% of all U.S. consumers shopping this past week, up 6% from 2021. Companies like Affirm AFRM benefited, gaining 12% today.
New Home Sales for October were lower than predicted, with 679K seasonally adjusted, annualized units last month, significantly below the 725K expected. The housing market is currently experiencing the highest mortgage rates since the start of this century. The West and Midwest regions saw declines in new home sales, while the Northeast and South saw gains. The average sale price for a new home has decreased by $56K, and the median price of a new home sold has dropped by $87.5K year over year. This data will be relevant for companies like Toll Brothers TOL, Lennar LEN, and KB Home KBH when they report earnings early next year.
In earnings news, cybersecurity firm Zscaler ZS beat expectations in fiscal Q4 on both top and bottom lines, with earnings of 67 cents per share outpacing the Zacks consensus of 49 cents, and revenues of $497 million surpassing the anticipated $473.4 million. Next-quarter guidance also increased, but shares are selling the news after hours, down 6%. Upcoming economic data includes Case-Shiller results for September, Consumer Confidence numbers for November, and Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data on Thursday morning.