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The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is still on this year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. 

But, like many events that have taken place in 2020, it will look a little different. For one, it’ll be a fully virtual event, filmed over the course of three days on the block of 34th Street where Macy’s Herald Square flagship store is located.

Second, the number of participants will be drastically reduced, with high school marching band performances nixed and a “specially rigged anchor tether framework of five specialty vehicles” flying balloons instead of the traditional 80 to 100 people holding balloons down. A small group of people will make sure they’re taking flight safely. 

Susan Tercero, the executive producer of the parade, said that Macy’s leaders decided it was important to still put on the event because of all that people have gone through this year. Many following the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have opted to scale down or cancel their Thanksgiving celebrations altogether.

“Everybody really felt strongly that [the parade] was probably something that we needed for Thanksgiving,” she said to Business Insider. “In a time of great change, we wanted to be something that people could rely on.” 

The parade has happened every year since 1924, except for three years during World War II. 

Being flexible and able to adapt to changes on the fly has been a key part of the process, especially as COVID-19 case numbers have been on the rise in recent weeks. Tercero added that while most of the parade will be pretaped, some parts will take place live on Thanksgiving morning. 

Read more: 3 business areas Levi’s is prioritizing to help it grow sales after the pandemic created a reckoning for jeans

Putting on signature events like the parade and the 4th of July Fireworks, which Tercero also produces for Macy’s, is a good opportunity to promote the company brand. 

“Macy’s likes to give back to the community. It’s something that’s in our blood and it’s something that we’ve been doing for many, many years. And we see these events as something to give back to the entire country and to New York,” Tercero said.

“We’re deeply rooted in tradition and in the Americana cultural aspects of this country. When you talk about the parade and talk about the fireworks, it’s something that everybody knows about.”

It’s been a challenging year for live events, as everything from weddings …read more

Source:: Business Insider

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US stocks declined on Wednesday as a surprise jump in weekly jobless claims butted heads with vaccine hopes.
The Dow Jones industrial average dipped below 30,000 after closing above the level at a record on Tuesday.
New claims for unemployment benefits rose to an unadjusted 778,000 for the week that ended Saturday. Economists expected a reading of 730,000.
Oil prices climbed on hopes for a demand rebound. West Texas Intermediate crude jumped as much as 3%, to $46.26 per barrel.
Watch major indexes update live here.

US equities closed mixed on Wednesday as worse-than-expected economic data prompted a retreat back to tech stocks from value names and cyclicals.

Investors got their first bout of disappointing data before markets opened. New jobless claims climbed to an unadjusted 778,000 for the week that ended Saturday, the Labor Department announced Wednesday morning. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected a reading of 730,000.

The reading comes after a similarly unexpected jump in claims last week and signals a new bout of weakness in the labor market’s recovery.

Further, new data on consumer spending and income drove stocks lower later in the session. Personal income fell 0.7%, according to the Commerce Department. The reading marked a bigger decline than economists expected and signals the unemployment-benefits boost signed by President Trump in August has mostly dried up.

Personal spending grew 0.5%, landing just above estimates but still marking a sizeable drop from the prior month’s revised jump of 1.2%.

Here’s where US indexes stood at the 4 p.m. ET close on Wednesday:

S&P 500: 3,629.65, down 0.2%

Dow Jones industrial average: 29,872.47, down 0.6% (174 points)

Nasdaq composite: 12,094.40, up 0.5%

Read more: Buy these 19 small-cap stocks that hedge funds have invested the most dollars in as smaller companies head for their strongest monthly outperformance ever, RBC says

“A barrage of US data confirms a mixed picture for the economy,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, said. “Financial markets are quickly entering holiday mode but what appears to be clear is that outlook for the fourth quarter will continue to deteriorate.”

Wednesday is the last full trading session of the week. Markets are closed for the Thanksgiving holiday and will close at 1 p.m. ET on Friday.

The Dow closed just below 30,000 after breaching the threshold in Tuesday trading. Outperforming tech stocks lifted the Nasdaq composite and …read more

Source:: Business Insider

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Salesforce has held talks to buy the workplace messaging app Slack, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday morning. If it goes through, the deal would be Salesforce’s largest ever, capping off a years-long acquisition spree that’s included companies like MuleSoft and Tableau.

Salesforce is in advanced talks with Slack, and that a deal could be announced within days, potentially by the time Salesforce reports its quarterly earnings on Tuesday, according to the report. However, there’s no guarantee it will lead to an acquisition.

However, if a deal is reached, the report indicates that Salesforce would likely pay more than the some $17 billion at which Slack was valued at market close on Tuesday — surpassing its acquisition of Tableau for over $15 billion in 2019. Shares in Slack are up over 30% on the news at the time of publication, while Salesforce stock is off some 5%.

A deal between Salesforce and Slack would make sense for both companies and put increased competitive pressure on Microsoft, several analysts said. That’s important, as both Salesforce and the smaller Slack are significant Microsoft rivals in their own right.

Analysts recently told Business Insider that the growth of Microsoft Dynamics 365 threatens the “iron grip” that Salesforce holds on the customer relationship management (CRM) space, while Slack has shown signs that the rise of Microsoft Teams has put a strain on its growth prospects.

By teaming up, analysts now say, Salesforce would be better-positioned to compete directly with Microsoft Teams and the larger Office 365 suite of which it’s a part, while Slack gets the resources it needs to build momentum in the marketplace.

“This deal would be a major shot across the bow at Microsoft with the company’s Teams offering a direct messaging competitor against Slack that has been a clear hurdle to growth and now would be a two horse race between Microsoft and Salesforce,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note to clients. 

Acquiring Slack would help Salesforce improve its collaboration capabilities 

As Microsoft becomes a stronger competitor to Salesforce, one of its strengths is that its various tools —like its sales and service software Dynamics 365, its simple app development suite Power Platform, and productivity applications like Word and Excel — are all integrated. Microsoft is increasingly positioning Teams as the “hub for work” where those apps connect. 

Teams is included for free with business …read more

Source:: Business Insider