Visa Inc

• Holiday retail spending rose 4.2% this season, driven by e-commerce and electronics: Visa report - U.S. holiday retail spending rose 4.2% as consumers spent more on tech and apparel, with online sales jumping 7.8%, Visa data shows, despite higher prices.
• 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.
• Asia-Pacific markets trade higher after Wall Street notches fresh record - Asia-Pacific markets traded higher on Friday, tracking Wall Street gains.
• How Stablecoins Can Help Criminals Launder Money and Evade Sanctions - Through layers of intermediaries, stablecoins can be moved, swapped and mixed into pools of other funds in ways that are difficult to trace, experts say.