As reported last week, the Black Hat conference in Vegas has come and gone, and left us with an array of news on security threats both tangible, and theoretical. You can find a good round up of this year’s “greatest hits” for the security conference, in this overview from PC World.
Category: Holidays
4th of July Snapshot: Gas Prices, Economic Indicators Heat Up Like Roman Candles
As we approach the July 4th 2014, the economy news at summer’s midpoint celebration is increasingly rose-colored like one of those ground bloom flower fireworks.
On the one hand, as Bloomberg reports, “jobs growth adds more sunshine” to the U.S. Economy. Specifically, job growth, in payroll specialist ADP’s report ahead of the official Federal figures, was much higher than expected. ““The labor market appears to be firing on all cylinders and is finally self-sustaining,” the Bloomberg said, citing two two PNC Financial Services economists.
When New Year’s Was New — Plus: New Cards Coming for the Hacked!
In the spirit of the holidays, we’ve stayed away from some of our “hard news” offerings in this space, to report on more thematically consistent topics, like the history of Christmas gift-giving, or this week — a history of New Year’s itself.
Before the Holiday Spending Reports: A Brief History of Christmas
First of all, let us wish you happy holidays, and a Merry Christmas. We assume this will pertain throughout the 12 Days of Christmas, whenever you catch up with this post.
And as we all slip into more congenial, hopefully somewhat more relaxed “holiday time,” we also leave behind our reports of spending and card use trends, card security breaches (but oh boy — more about that in the new year!) and such, for a little bit, to contemplate how it was we got “here.”
Black Friday Down, Yet Cyber Monday Sets Record
There are a lot of interesting tea leaves — perhaps that’s peppermint tea, in the spirit of the season — to be read as the data comes in from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, that stretch of time formerly known as “Thanksgiving Weekend.
The 12 Ways of Christmas
It’s a short holiday week, and we wanted to get the blogging in before it was time to address the stuffing!
If you’re on the merchant side of the equation, it’s also a “short” holiday season, due to Thanksgiving coming later in November than usual. So there’s even more expectation — frenzy? — around the official “Black Friday kickoff” sales. Not only for customers, but for merchants as well.
First Data’s Data Points to Stronger Holiday Season
An analysis from the First Data Corporation shows a discernible uptick in consumer spending in the period heading right into the holiday season — namely, the month of October. For that four-week period, their “SpendTrend” analysis tracked “same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT, closed-loop prepaid cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations.”
After the Shutdown: Holiday Budgets Trimmed, Consumers Still Willing to Shop
Like the Boy Scouts, we believe in being prepared. Especially now that the U.S. is once again funding its government and paying its debts, and people are free, relatively, to go about their business. Part of that preparation may include anticipating how much business you can now expect from customers this holiday season.
May You Live in Pinterest-ing Times: Social media and Holiday Shopping
Yes, we’re barely past Labor Day, and it’s already time to think of your customers’ shopping habits as the holiday season approaches. Indeed, you may have been thinking about such things before the last 4th of July sparkler was lit.
