Holiday shopping

• China keeps benchmark lending rates steady for a seventh straight month despite weak economic data - The People's Bank of China kept its 1-year and 5-year loan prime rates unchanged at 3% and 3.5% respectively, holding them for a seventh straight meeting.
• AI shopping could drive $263 billion in holiday sales. Walmart and Target are racing to get in - Consumers are turning to AI chatbots like ChatGPT for gift discovery, reviews and price matching, potentially driving billions in sales this holiday season.
• How Black Friday became a retail letdown: 'To sustain the ride, they started to dilute it' - Black Friday used to be the biggest in-person shopping event of the year, but for six straight years, online sales have outpaced stores.