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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

National Retail Federation: 187 Million People To Shop This Weekend; Death Toll From Hong Kong Fire Spikes; Trump: Pausing Migration From Third World Countries. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired November 28, 2025 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[05:34:00]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START. This is your business breakout.

Trading gets underway on Wall Street in just a few hours, but the day will end early with the markets closing at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Black Friday. Here's where U.S. futures stand ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street. Everything starting the day up.

All right, let's check some of today's business headlines.

Food banks across the United States are overwhelmed this holiday season with some reporting record demand. Experts say rising prices, stagnant wages, and the pause in SNAP benefits during the government shutdown are pushing more families to seek help.

It is the busiest shopping day of the year here in the U.S. The National Retail Federation says 130 million people plan to shop for Black Friday deals. The top items on people's gift list include clothing and accessories, gift cards, and toys. And despite a record number of shoppers, consumers are planning to spend less this year.

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America's biggest retailers are trying to stand out this holiday season as consumers pull back spending. For Macy's that means more in- store experiences to win over wary shoppers, budget-friendly Old Navy is betting on designer collections, and Walmart is promising a 30- minute turnaround from online order to delivery.

Well, if you are not planning to head out to the stores perhaps you are gearing up for some online shopping, and one thing is certain -- it's said to be a busy time for Shopify, whose ecommerce platform is used by retailers around the world. Its live globe sites will keep us updated with the Black Friday shopping stats. And last year merchants using Shopify made more than $11 billion in sales over the Thanksgiving weekend.

And joining me now is Shopify's president, Harley Finkelstein. And Harley, thank you so much for being with us. Your company -- it accounts for more than 10 percent of all online

commerce in the U.S., so I know that you're going to have some good insights for us.

First, give us the landscape on the ground at the moment as we hit Black Friday because we hear time and time again, Harley, how people are feeling about the economy and their wallets.

HARLEY FINKELSTEIN, PRESIDENT, SHOPIFY: Yeah. Look, we measure consumer confidence at checkout. We power -- actually 12 percent of U.S. ecommerce goes through Shopify today. And there's a lot of excitement right now on the ground.

I think Black Friday, in particular, used to really belong to the big box stores. That is no longer the case anymore. We actually see entrepreneurs and independents that are really the ones that are winning.

But like you said, Brian, we actually monitor this. And anyone can see this at home. If you go to bfcm.shop you can see real time. In fact, if you want to pull up the globe I'll give you some trending things. There we go. You can actually see things in real time right now.

So as we're sitting here right now, we're seeing about $1.1 million of sales every minute on Shopify. About 12,000 orders per minute across 15 million unique shoppers. Now remember, this isn't just -- and we have some big brands on Shopify. ALO, for example, or Gymshark, or On Running. But the majority of Shopify stores are these independents and these small businesses and they're really the ones who are -- who are the winners we think this Black Friday.

Now, right now, as we look at top categories I have some new information for you -- some new data. So right now, top categories are skincare, vitamins, t-shirts and activewear. When we look at top trending products as we speak, we see Aloe Yoga with ALO Yoga with their pullover, Cozy Earth with their bamboo sheets, and MERIT Beauty with their flush balm.

The other thing that we're seeing, which is fascinating, is last year a lot of the products seemed to be about adventure and outdoors -- ski equipment, hiking equipment. This year home seems to be the hero. We're seeing a lot of things for the kitchen, a lot of cozy stuff -- blankets, games -- that are really winning right now.

The other thing I want to mention is you mentioned earlier about how it's trending from last year to this year. Well actually, average cart price is up this year relative to last year. Last -- it's currently about $112. That's up about $6.00 from last year or so.

And so we're real excited about this Black Friday. We think that this is going to introduce new consumers to new merchants. But most importantly, it does feel like consumers are buying, but they're buying very intentionally from brands that they love.

ABEL: OK. So let's talk about that a little bit more because, of course, when times get tough it's generally the lower and middle- income earners that feel it the most and therefore, maybe pull back on spending more.

How critical are those demographics to business owners, both big box and small business owners, during this holiday shopping season?

FINKELSTEIN: Yeah. I mean, look, discounts are important but that is table stakes right now. What consumers seem to be looking for is value. They're looking to buy very specifically from brands they really love. So rather than buying indiscriminately they're waiting for deals from brands they really care out. Think about the brands that you love or anyone watching love. People are going back to those sites. They're looking for those emails to come out for those discounts.

So it's not that they're not -- it's not that they're not buying, it's just they're buying in a very particular way where they're waiting for deals from brands they love and they're voting with their wallets to buy from those independents, and it's working really well. And again, we're already up now to $1.5 million of sales per minute.

So last year we saw about $11.5 billion across the four BFCM days on Shopify. We expect we'll see more this year.

ABEL: And I -- if we could keep that up -- this -- your site -- $1.1 million sales per minute. I do want to see, Harley, how that stacks up compared to previous years. But also, how are brands adapting and how is AI factoring into the shopping experience right now?

FINKELSTEIN: It's an amazing question. So AI is definitely playing a role here. If you -- I mean, these are obviously very early days of AI and what we call agentic commerce. But if you just look at sites on Shopify, since January we've seen six times the amount of traffic up to Shopify stores from some sort of AI chat application. So consumers are using AI to do research to find new brands, so that's playing a big role.

On the other side, small businesses are really getting a competitive edge using AI with things like Shopify Sidekick. We've seen about 100 million conversations happen with our AI tool, which helps our merchants on Shopify make better decisions, run campaigns. Do things like product photography. Effectively help them create their own virtual team using AI.

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So we think it's still pretty early when it comes to AI and agentic commerce, but that -- it's growing quite quickly.

On the other side in terms of what has changed, one of the major changes is this idea of channels. Historically, it was about buying online or buying offline. You were either an online retailer or an offline retailer. That's no longer the case anymore. Consumers don't wake up and say I'm going to buy strictly online or offline today.

In fact, what they're saying is they may start with a TikTok video, then they may go to the online store. They may pop into a pop-up or physical retailer. And then they may end up buying in a video game like Roblox, which you power as well.

So what we've been doing at Shopify over the last couple of years is really allowing our merchants to sell anywhere across every surface area, whether it's on AI or it's on Instagram, in-store, offline. And stores that historically were very online-specific stores -- you know, companies like Gymshark, for example -- are actually opening up physical stores -- or Tecovas.

The other thing we're seeing is brands like FIGS, which makes those hospital scrubs -- they're actually creating stores. That was an online business. That's now creating stores near hospitals so health care workers can easily go on their lunch break to purchase in-store.

So this idea of online versus offline is kind of over. We're living in a little bit of a post-channel world where commerce is happening everywhere --

ABEL: Yeah.

FINKELSTEIN: -- and Shopify is powering that.

ABEL: A hybrid situation --

FINKELSTEIN: That's right.

ABEL: -- if you will.

FINKELSTEIN: Yeah.

ABEL: All right, Harley Finkelstein. I really appreciate your time and expertise. Thank you. I hope the rest of the day goes well for you.

FINKELSTEIN: Thank you, Brian -- appreciate it.

ABEL: Yeah.

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake rocked the Anchorage area of Alaska on Thursday. In this surveillance video you can see objects falling inside a home, spooking the family's pets -- poor things. There were no immediate reports of significant damage. And according to local media, this quake was the largest to hit this area of Alaska since 2021.

The Trump administration is preparing to implement tough new restrictions on immigration. We will have those details after the break.

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ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel. Here are some stories we are watching today.

The death toll has soared to 128 people in that Hong Kong apartment block fire. Around 200 people are still unaccounted for. Authorities say the fire is now completely extinguished and the police investigation into what caused it could take about three to four weeks.

President Trump says he will end migration to the U.S. from "third world countries." In a long message posted to social media late Thanksgiving night, the president announced a range of new measures to clamp down on migrants. Earlier, an official said the U.S. will reexamine green cards of people from 19 countries.

One of the two National Guard members targeted in the shooting on Wednesday that sparked that social media post has died. President Donald Trump says U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom was "outstanding in every way." U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe is still in critical condition following surgery. They were both attacked while on patrol just blocks from the White House.

President Trump again calling for an end to migration from "all third world countries" in a long message posted on social media late on Thanksgiving night. The president also said he will remove anyone who is "not a net asset to the United States or is incapable of loving our country." He called the denaturalization of migrants who threaten security and to deport migrants who aren't compatible with Western civilizations, and said, "Only reverse migration can fully cure this situation."

Earlier, an immigration official said that the U.S. will examine the green cards of people from 19 countries. And among those countries on this list, Venezuela, Haiti, Myanmar, Somalia, and Afghanistan. The suspect in the National Guard shooting is an Afghan national.

CNN's Kristen Holmes reports from West Palm Beach where she is traveling with the president.

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump vowing to crack down even more when it comes to immigration and crime in the wake of the shooting of two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C. -- saying essentially that the United States will stop processing any requests from Afghan nationals coming into the United States as well as assess and review the status of any Afghan nationals currently in the United States.

One thing, of course, to keep in mind here is the fact that this individual -- the suspect -- had come into the country under a government program back in 2021 but was granted asylum under President Trump's administration earlier this year.

We now know President Trump has ordered 500 additional troops to be put on the ground in Washington, D.C. We heard from the Secretary of Defense saying that this was in order to keep the city safe and beautiful at the same time.

But this has been an ongoing legal battle when it comes to President Trump deploying these various National Guard troops around the country, largely in Democratic cities. And so what you're going to start to see, according to sources, is President Trump talking about this incident in particular for the reason that they need more National Guard troops on the ground perhaps not just in Washington, D.C. but long-term across the country.

And one of the things that I'm hearing from the White House still is that they're really trying to figure out what the motive was in all of this. They are very aware, as is most of the country, that the idea of these National Guardsmen being in cities has become somewhat of a political flashpoint.

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Was politics involved here and was the proximity to the White House where the shooting happened some kind of symbolism or messaging, or perhaps it wasn't at all. So that's what they're trying to get to the bottom of right now.

I will tell you from the sources I've talked to both in the White House, some of them traveling with President Trump -- they say the president is getting briefed regularly. That he is talking to the cabinet officials who are on the ground working. You could really see how seriously the administration is taking this because it's been a whole of administration response from the attorney general to the head of the FBI, to the head of DHS. Everyone involved here and all of them talking to President Trump.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

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ABEL: The shooting of two National Guard members prompted President Trump to rail against immigration on social media. He announced an end U.S. migration from those third world countries among many other measures.

Earlier, my colleague Ben Hunte spoke to Natasha Lindstaedt, a professor of government at the University of Essex, and she explained why she things this move will not be effective.

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NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: This is, of course, in line with his MAGA agenda to try to prevent immigration. He thinks that this is the issue that he can really galvanize his MAGA base with.

And I just see it as a misdiagnosis of what happened and it's a typical reactionary response from him to try to prevent everybody from Afghanistan or from other developing countries that he has designated from coming into the country when this is most likely an isolated event.

I mean, The New York Times reported that this man from Afghanistan was possibly struggling from mental health issues. And that doesn't mean that everyone coming from Afghanistan is going to do this type of thing. I think it's also important to highlight that a U.S. citizen is five

times more likely to engage in violence than immigrants, and most of the time when immigrants are imprisoned or incarcerated it's -- 90 percent of the time it's because of immigration-related offenses. It's not because they commit violent crimes.

So targeting people in this way is not going to solve the problem. I think he is misunderstanding that it was by deploying National Guard troops there that were very, very vulnerable that made this more of a -- that made this more likely to happen because they weren't well- trained. Some of them were incredibly young -- maybe first day on the job. And National Guard troops themselves were very worried about this, and it was a concern that they could attract unwanted acts of violence by different extremist groups by placing them there. That is was too provocative.

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ABEL: Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow back on the field for the first time in months. How he did last night against the Baltimore Ravens just ahead.

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ABEL: Thousands of Americans spent Thanksgiving lining the streets at parades across the country. In Philadelphia Santa fittingly switched that traditional turkey for an Eagles' cap in support of the local NFL team. In Chicago, celebrations proceeded under heightened security following a recent fatal shooting at the city's Christmas tree- lighting ceremony. And in Manhattan, giant balloons filled the New York skyline as crowds watched the 99th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Well, Thanksgiving and football. The NFL playoff race is heating up with the Dallas Cowboys winning their third game in a row. Quarterback Dak Prescott got the Cowboys on the scoreboard early with a first- quarter touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb. Prescott would finish the day with 320 yards in the air and two touchdowns.

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs now fall to 6-6. Mahomes did hit tight end Travis Kelce for a touchdown here but the final score Cowboys 31, Chiefs 28.

In Detroit, the Lions fighting to keep their playoff hopes alive. David Montgomery opening the scoring for the home team with a three- yard touchdown run. But it was Jordan Love who dominated the game. The Packers' quarterback throwing four touchdown passes, including this 51-yard bomb to Christian Watson. Packers win 31-24. They will take on the division-leading Chicago Bears next Sunday in Green Bay.

Let's go to Baltimore. Running back Derrick Henry opened the scoring for the Ravens in the division matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. Baltimore managed to hold the visitors to only field goals in the first half. But Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, back from injury, coming to life in the third quarter. Look at this pass. He connected here with tight end Tanner Hudson for the touchdown. Burrow finished with 261 yards passing. Final score Bengals 32, Ravens 14.

Well, architects and designers in London have created a miniature and tasty version of the city. Check out these versions of Big Ben and other London landmarks. Can you believe those are gingerbread? The gingerbread city is on display at London's Museum of Architecture. It features 50 architect-designed gingerbread buildings.

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MELISSA WOOLFORD, FOUNDER, MUSEUM OF ARCHITECTURE: The theme this year is clay, so we're putting clay at the heart of urban life. So all the buildings behind me bring in different things like intergenerational working spaces where people can come together from different ages. We're looking at active spaces to promote health and wellbeing. So how do we create more sports in our communities? How do we create more connection to nature? So forest schools, rooftop gardens -- places where people can kind of come together and do really kind of hands on activities.

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ABEL: Pretty cool.

Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington, D.C. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.