From Walmart to Costco, U.S. retail giants are all-in on Diwali. Here’s why
The recent increase in Diwali festivities in the country has led major retailers to adopt a more desi look
Diwali, a major Hindu festival symbolizing the triumph of light over darkness, is less than two weeks away, and this year, U.S. retailers are embracing the occasion with festive decor, special promotions, and exclusive Diwali-themed offers.
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The increasing prominence of Diwali celebrations and related marketing campaigns across the U.S., a festival also known as Deepawali (meaning “row of lights”), reflects a strategic effort by retailers to tap into the event’s association with wealth, prosperity, and abundance. By catering to the growing South Asian community and the broader audience’s interest in cultural festivities, businesses are positioning themselves to capture a share of the holiday’s economic and cultural significance.
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Why Diwali is so important for businesses
This year, Diwali will be celebrated on October 31st. The festival is celebrated among Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and others, and holds profound significance for businesses. The Confederation of All India Traders reported that Diwali-related sales in 2023 reached an estimated $45 billion, with food, textiles, and jewelry being the top-selling categories.
During this festival, millions of devotees worship the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, and the god of wisdom, Lord Ganesh. The festival not only represents a time for spiritual reflection but also marks the beginning of a new financial year, according to the Hindu calendar.
Diwali presents an invaluable opportunity for many entrepreneurs, stock traders, and business people to reset their financial accounts and open new ones on this auspicious day, symbolizing fresh beginnings and renewed aspirations for success.
Over the five-day festival, homes are adorned with vibrant lights and candles, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere. People indulge in delicious sweets, exchange gifts, and buy jewelry and coins, reinforcing social bonds and honoring traditions passed down through generations.
How U.S. retail giants are capitalizing on Diwali
South Asians are among the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the United States, with over 5.4 million residents making their mark in industries like tech, entertainment, medical science, and politics. Recognizing the significance of Diwali, retail giants like Costco (COST) have introduced an impressive array of Diwali-themed products to meet the growing demand during this festive season. Their offerings include traditional items such as gold bars and coins, firecrackers, candles, decorative lights, a variety of sweets, and essential Diwali-related grocery items, among others. This year, these products have not only gained popularity but are also flying off the shelves, with many items quickly running out of stock.
Similarly, Target (TGT) has introduced a range of Diwali-themed decorations and gift items, catering to the festive spirit of the season. Meanwhile, retailers like TJ Maxx (TJX) and Walmart (WMT) have dedicated separate sections in their stores for Diwali, offering a variety of products to help customers celebrate the festival.
In another sign that Diwali has gone mainstream, Barbie (MAT) has unveiled its first “Diwali doll” ahead of the festival of lights, dressed in traditional Indian attire and makeup.
… And Diwali and Halloween coincide this year — #diwaloween
This year, Diwali falls on Halloween, creating a unique overlap of festivities. The timing has sparked excitement, especially among Indian-American communities, as children and adults find more reasons to celebrate.
Social media is abuzz with viral memes and reels featuring people celebrating Diwali in Halloween costumes, blending traditional Diwali rituals with Halloween’s playful and spooky spirit, calling it #diwaloween.
These lighthearted, creative expressions reflect how the two cultures are merging, showcasing the adaptability and joy of cross-cultural celebrations. Retailers and community organizers are also embracing this fusion, hosting events and sales that cater to both holidays, making it a season of even greater festivity and inclusivity.
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Pumpkin-spice season is Wall Street’s favorite quarter
The pumpkin-spice latte has become a multibillion-dollar seasonal engine — driving foot traffic, grocery markups, and the scent of profit every fall
By mid-September, the country performs its quietest costume change. Before the first leaf even hits the sidewalk, America already smells like nutmeg. Wool socks reappear — even when the thermometer disagrees. The Uggs migrate from your closet to the sidewalk. And somewhere in that choreography, a paper cup becomes a signal: Fall has been declared by corporate consensus. Boots thump, blanket scarves bloom, and the most memed consumer in the country — the Christian-Girl-Autumn archetype who talks about cinnamon foam like it’s a personality trait — returns on schedule, latte in hand. The joke is that she’s “basic.” The business case is that she’s reliable.
Because pumpkin spice isn’t a meme anymore; it’s a calendar.
And Starbucks built the calendar. Twenty-two years after the drink went national — it was tested in about 100 stores in Vancouver and Washington in 2003, then rolled out across the U.S. in 2004 — the pumpkin-spice latte (PSL) is less a beverage than a seasonal operating system, spanning coffee chains, grocery aisles, and whole aisles of three-wick candles. When Starbucks flips the fall switch, visits rise in all 48 continental states — with measurable launch-day spikes that have now repeated with metronomic consistency. The ritual might be ironic, but the spending is not.
The company now treats late August like a soft holiday, and the market obliges. This year’s launch on August 26 set a U.S. sales record and lifted visits across all 48 continental states, repeating last year’s surge; Utah was among the standouts at over 40% above its daily average. The pattern is so dependable that Placer.ai describes the PSL as a “reliable traffic and revenue anchor.” Competitors play the same game, but the launch-day boost at Dunkin’ or Dutch Bros. still doesn’t match the Starbucks effect. No one has turned limited-time offers into a traffic engine quite like Seattle.
Last year’s splash also quantified the scale nicely: On August 22, 2024, U.S. Starbucks locations saw about a 24% rise in visits versus the day-before-launch average; North Dakota was up 45.5% and Mississippi 4.8% — a neat reminder that the heartland leans in even as the coasts roll their eyes on social media. This year looks “nearly identical,” which is precisely the point. The ritual is the moat. Behind the foam is a tidy lesson in retail physics: predictable ritual begets predictable revenue. Analysts who live in anonymized foot-traffic dashboards have started to describe the PSL not as a drink but as a “financial instrument” — a seasonal asset that widens Starbucks’ competitive advantage precisely because it is so stubbornly repeatable.
The fandom is industrialized, too. Starbucks nurtures a year-round fall micro-culture — the private Leaf Rakers Society on Facebook (with over 40,000 members), dedicated to all things fall — and the company packages the lore in anniversary posts and press notes that read like liturgy for latte season. It’s kitsch, and it works.
The holiday Starbucks invented
Starbucks doesn’t just drop a drink; it orchestrates a season (and a quarter). Menus, merch, influencer rituals, and a captive fan base converge into a predictable early-fall traffic event that advertisers would pay to borrow and investors can practically pencil into models. The product is nostalgia. The asset is anticipation. When your customer has been trained to treat a date on the calendar like a holiday, the line between marketing and operations disappears.
There’s now a premium for feeling cozy. Each year, LendingTree scrapes prices on dozens of “pumpkin-spice vs. regular” pairs and, each year, it finds a surcharge. For 2025, the average pumpkin markup clocked in at 8.4% — higher than 2024’s 7.4% but still below the 2022 peak. It is retail’s most benign price discrimination: Charge a little more when the customer is buying a mood. The spread shows up in grocery (Target’s pumpkin trail mix versus its everyday mix), in center-store (Trader Joe’s Pumpkin O’s versus Joe’s O’s), and, yes, at the coffee counter (a pumpkin latte versus a regular latte). That’s seasonality, measured to the decimal.
Zoom out, and the category is no novelty. NielsenIQ’s count of pumpkin-flavored products crested around $800 million in the 12 months through July 2023 — a tidy floor for a market that keeps adding SKUs and retailers. The PSL may be the tentpole, but the franchise sprawls across cookies, breads, beers, yogurts, and even pet treats. When a flavor can animate a dozen aisles for twelve weeks, the margin math stops looking cute and starts looking strategic.
Home is where the cinnamon is
If the cup is the billboard, the kitchen is the conversion. Instacart’s order data shows that pumpkin-spice creamers explode in the fall — up roughly 1,459% in September to November compared with the rest of the year — a clean signal that a chunk of latte season has migrated to the home. And that means that the ritual survives the budget pivot: brew at home, upgrade the flavor, keep the cozy. In a year when households are still nursing inflation hangovers, that’s how a meme becomes a line item.
Then, there’s the other PSL: pumpkin-scented living. Candle buyers treat September like spring training and December like the Super Bowl. Bath & Body Works’ fourth quarter is the workhorse, with billions in seasonal sales riding on fragrance releases and promo tentpoles; Yankee Candle turns its own fall lineup into an annual fandom drop. Americans spent an estimated $5.8 billion on scented candles back in 2021, and the habit has only deepened with the home-centric tilt of post-pandemic life.
The path from latte to living room is shorter than it looks.
Grocery plays along. Private labels and culty chains use pumpkin as a content strategy — a reason to visit, a reason to post, a reason to come back next week for the SKU you couldn’t find yesterday. Trader Joe’s practically re-merchandises the store around the drop, from Pumpkin Spice Liège Waffles to pumpkin brioche, a carnival of amber packaging that turns the mundane Saturday stock-up into an event. Trader Joe’s won’t tell you how those items sell. They don’t have to; the line at the checkout does.
The culture smells like fall
Part of the endurance here is that pumpkin spice has become a mood board you can buy, a way to perform seasonality in a climate and culture that often refuse to behave. August is sweltering, but your first sip of an iced pumpkin cream chai says autumn is coming anyway. The country tends to ritualize through consumption; this one is simply better branded than most. The snobs can scoff as much as they want; the army will still show up.
This year, Montclair State found that there are about 15% fewer pumpkin-spice searches in 2025 and more gripe-y posts about prices. But offline, traffic keeps showing up. It seems online fatigue is just another annual tradition now — like debating whether fall drinks showing up in August is “too early.”
There’s a tidy macro story in the pieces. A traffic spike you can pencil in each season. A consistent pricing premium that pads margins without alienating buyers. An at-home migration that preserves the ritual when wallets tighten. A fragrance boom that turns “cozy” into an affordable luxury when bigger luxuries feel out of reach.
Add that all up, and you get a pocket-size stimulus plan — a seasonal boost for cafés, grocers, and home-fragrance chains that hits precisely when the year’s third quarter can use the help. In a year when late-summer heat stretches into October and the news cycle refuses to cool, the market has successfully sold a version of fall that is punctual, scented, and measurable — in foot traffic spikes, in premiums, in creamer orders.
And the “basic” backlash? At this point, it’s baked into the model. The early launch dates, the regional skew, the annual debate about whether we’ve reached peak pumpkin just yet — they’re all part of the anticipation machine that makes the product work. If anything, the data suggests stasis: 2025 looks a lot like 2024, and that sameness is the moat. 2026 will look a lot like this year — and so on and so on. Fall in America has a smell. It announces itself in paper cups and three-wick jars. It drives traffic, commands a small premium, and holds its value — year after cinnamon-scented year.
Instagram will let parents block their kids from talking to 'AI characters'
Meta is rolling out new parental controls for teen accounts on Instagram, including restrictions to its AI characters and a PG-13 setting
Facebook and Instagram parent Meta is introducing a new feature to let parents control how — and if — their teen can interact with AI characters.
The new update will let parents block some AI characters or shut off access altogether for their teen’s account. But even if parents opt to block all access to AI characters, their teen will still have access to Meta’s AI assistant. Meta said this feature will have “default, age-appropriate protections in place.” The update will first be rolled out on Instagram early next year, the tech giant said Friday.
Meta's latest update to teen protections comes just months after a Reuters report found that an internal policy document at the company let its AI chatbots engage in romantic conversations with kids.
In response to this report, attorneys general for 42 states and two territories sent a letter to 13 companies using artificial intelligence — including Meta — saying they would use “every facet of our authority to protect children from exploitation by predatory artificial intelligence products.”
Meta isn’t the only company playing catch up on teen protections. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, rolled out a slew of parental controls in September, including a teen version of ChatGPT.
In addition to Friday’s update, Meta announced on Tuesday that it updated “AI experiences” for teen users to follow guidance of PG-13 ratings. It said this means “AIs should not give age-inappropriate responses that would feel out of place in a PG-13 movie.”
“In addition to our longstanding policies — which already hide or prohibit the recommendation of sexually suggestive content, graphic or disturbing images, and adult content like tobacco or alcohol sales from teens — our updated policies will now go even further,” Meta said.
Parents will have the option to add even stricter settings to their child’s account, which would filter “even more content” than the PG-13 version. The update is being rolled out in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia in English. Meta said its AI characters already “are designed” to not discuss self-harm, suicide, or eating disorders with teens.
Meta said parents can get access to “insights” into what topics their child is talking about with AI characters and the AI assistant. The tech company did not elaborate more specifically on what these insights would include.
Users who Meta believes could be teenagers will have these age-restrictions placed on their accounts. However, researchers have documented how easy it is to circumvent limits set by chatbot companies. Age-verification rules are also known to be easily bypassed.
Bitcoin slips under $106,000 to hit its lowest level in months
Bitcoin dropped to its lowest level since June in a continuation of the cryptocurrency’s decline after President Trump threatened new tariffs on China
Bitcoin fell to its lowest level since June early Friday morning after hitting a record high in early October.
The largest cryptocurrency fell to $103,745.88 early Friday before gaining some ground later in the morning, according to CoinDesk data. At 9:35 a.m. Bitcoin sat around $105,950.
Just weeks ago, on Oct. 6, Bitcoin had hit its highest level in the cryptocurrency’s history, reaching a peak of $126,000. But in the last week, the cryptocurrency has declined more than 6.5%.
Bitcoin fell last Friday after President Donald Trump threatened 100% tariffs on some Chinese imports, resulting in what CNN called a “mini crash” with $19 billion in liquidated positions, the outlet reported based on CoinGlass data.
Trump called his proposed tariff rate unsustainable in a Fox Business interview on Friday with Maria Bartiromo. "It's probably not. You know, it could stand. But they forced me to do that."
FxPro chief market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich called today’s drop an “even more dangerous dynamic” after last week's drop because “we are not seeing a slip in a thin market, but rather a massive sell-off in search of a new bottom,” Barron’s reported.
The second largest cryptocurrency Ethereum also saw a drop early Friday, declining about 6%, according to CoinDesk. Binance Coin, the fourth largest cryptocurrency, is down nearly 9.5% in the last 24 hours. In just a week, the crypto market has declined by over $600 billion, Bloomberg reported based on CoinGecko data.
Even IKEA is raising prices in this economy
The company that made ”democratic design” a slogan now has to pay for democracy, as tariffs and input costs are forcing IKEA to rethink affordability
IKEA’s famously low prices are starting to lose their flat-pack magic, and the proof is on the tag: in the U.S., the Uppland sofa that went for $849 is now $899, and a three-piece oak bedroom set that was $959 is now listed at $1,049 — modest moves that add up to a strategic pivot as recently implemented U.S. tariffs inflate costs, force the retailer to test what “affordable” still means.
The exposure is structural. Only about 15% of IKEA’s U.S. assortment is sourced domestically, leaving most of the line to run the tariff gauntlet, even as the company has insulated some categories — all U.S. kitchen cabinets are sourced locally — to dodge new duties.
The timing likely isn’t coincidental. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on wood (up to 50%), timber, and upholstered furniture, which could affect many IKEA products, went into effect this week and have added friction to the global supply chain that IKEA once gamed better than anyone. Shipping and labor costs haven’t helped, nor has the new normal of geopolitics-as-cost-structure. Even with the retail giant’s scale — 460 stores, 700 million customers, and enough Swedish pine to build a small nation — the company can’t keep absorbing every shock.
Executives have stopped pretending the squeeze is theoretical. Ingka Group, which operates most of the IKEA stores around the world, told The Wall Street Journal that trade barriers make it harder to hold the line on prices, and that some costs will be passed through — carefully, selectively, and with as little fanfare as possible.
“Our ambition is to continue lowering prices. But of course, in the world we live in, sometimes… that becomes very difficult or even impossible at some point,” Ingka retail manager Tolga Öncü told the WSJ. “We have to adapt and pass on parts of the cost increase to the customers.”
For most of the past two years, IKEA tried to cut prices by roughly 10% across many markets to win back inflation-weary shoppers. That gamble bought volume — unit sales rose 3% in fiscal 2025 — but it didn’t buy growth. Global revenue slipped 1% as shipping, labor, and raw-material costs kept climbing. Now, the company that once built its empire on scale and precision is running out of cushion. You can’t discount your way out of a rising cost base forever — and tariffs have turned a slow grind into an immediate bill.
The near-term playbook is mitigation. IKEA is accelerating U.S. production and lining up more domestic suppliers to dull tariff exposure; it has been public about scouring for local mattress and upholstery capacity and about shaving operational costs to preserve its “democratic design” pitch. Its recent purchase of U.S. logistics tech firm Locus hints at how the retailer plans to protect margins: by treating distribution as a design problem. But even that may only soften the landing.
The company has also updated its U.S. customer guidance to be blunt about the basics — prices can change during the year, and past prices won’t be honored — which is a tidy way of telling shoppers to expect more fine-tuning as policy and input costs shift.
What makes IKEA’s adjustment market-relevant is the signaling effect.
For decades, the flat-pack giant has acted as a price anchor across the category; when its tags move, smaller chains lose cover, and consumers feel it in the big-ticket staples that outfit a first apartment or replace a family sofa. Economists have long warned that a meaningful share of tariff costs ultimately reaches the checkout line, and early furniture CPI readings have reflected that pressure — a point underscored by the WSJ’s accounting of category increases and pass-through estimates.
IKEA insists that its core promise — good design at accessible prices — hasn’t changed, but the cost of keeping that promise is rising. The question now isn’t whether some items get marked up, but how much of the policy shock gets absorbed by better sourcing and logistics, and how much lands with shoppers. If even the flat-pack king can’t keep its balance sheet level, consumers may have to assemble a new definition of cheap.
Trump says Ozempic will get much cheaper. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly shares tumble
Trump’s comments on Ozempic “signal aggressive posturing” in drug price negotiations, an analyst said
Shares of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly dropped sharply in early trading Friday after President Donald Trump said Thursday that the cost of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, which he called “the fat loss drug,” should be “much lower.”
“Those are going to be $150 out of pocket," Trump said during an Oval Office news conference." Eli Lilly sells two similar drugs to Ozempic, Mounjaro and Zepbound, and all three carry a list price of about $1000 per month.
Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), quickly jumped in to say talks with Novo Nordisk over the price of the popular weight loss drug are still ongoing.
“The GLP-1 category of drugs, which includes Ozempic, have not been negotiated yet,” he said, adding: “We’re going to be rolling those out over time.”
Novo Nordisk stock slid about 6% and Lilly’s fell as much as 5.1% in pre-market trading on Friday. Novo Nordisk recovered some ground to trade down about 3.5% shortly after markets opened, with Eli Lilly off about 2.6%.
Trump made his remarks during a news conference to announce a deal the White House negotiated with Merck KGaA to cut prices for its fertility treatments in exchange for a reprieve from threatened pharmaceutical tariffs. Merck will offer its IVF therapies through Trump’s recently announced direct-to-consumer platform, TrumpRX.
Trump’s comments on Ozempic “signal aggressive posturing” in the negotiations, Evan Seigerman, an analyst for BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a note to investors. But he said the new price may not fundamentally change Novo’s business, since health insurers have already negotiated discounts of 60% to 70% off the list price of the drug.
Also, Medicare is already in talks to lower prices for Ozempic and its sister Novo Nordisk drug, Wegovy, under the Inflation Reduction Act enacted by former President Joe Biden. The deadline for those negotiations is Nov. 1, with the lower prices to take effect in 2027.
In July, the Trump administration sent letters to 17 major drug manufacturers, including Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, demanding that they bring down the prices of prescription drugs in the U.S. to match the lowest price offered in other developed nations — known as the most-favored-nation price.
Trump says the tariffs he's threatening against China aren't actually 'sustainable'
Trump's remarks underscore a de-escalatory path he's seeking to avoid intensifying a trade war that has unnerved investors and stirred uncertainty
President Donald Trump on Friday flashed rare contrition about a 100% tariff he's threatened against Beijing, labeling it as an unsustainable position in the trade war between the U.S. and China.
"It's not sustainable, but that's what the number is," Trump said in a Fox Business interview with Maria Bartiromo. "It's probably not. You know, it could stand. But they forced me to do that."
The president then heaped praise on Chinese leader Xi Jinping, saying he's demonstrated strength in his leadership. "I think we're gonna be fine with China," Trump said. "But we have to have a fair deal. It's gotta be fair."
Trump's remarks underscore a de-escalatory path he's seeking to avoid intensifying a trade war that has unnerved investors, stirred uncertainty among businesses and occasionally plunged financial markets. In recent days, he threatened to impose a 100% tariff on additional Chinese products and to cut off U.S. imports of cooking oil. That followed a strict rare earth mineral export ban from Beijing.
Stocks climbed on Friday morning, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 165 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 modestly rose as well.
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported Chinese officials are betting that President Donald Trump's attention towards the stock market serves to their advantage in a trade stand-off with the U.S.
By Beijing's calculus, the U.S. can't afford a prolonged trade war that keeps intensifying with little end in sight, a prospect they believe would tank financial markets and push Trump to make concessions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shut down that possibility.
"We won't negotiate because the stock market is going down, we will negotiate because we are doing what is best economically for the U.S," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at a CNBC event on Tuesday.