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A modest rise in negative equity is emerging across parts of the U.S. housing market, but the overall picture remains far more stable than anything resembling the Global Financial Crisis.
Having negative equitycommonly known as being underwatermeans a homeowner owes more on their mortgage than the homes current market value. According to ICE Mortgage Technology, just 1.0% of U.S. mortgages were underwater in April 2025. By October 2025, that share rose to 1.6%. Thats an uptick, but still extremely low by historical standards. For comparison, during the worst of the foreclosure crisis in September 2009, 23.0% of homeowner mortgages were underwater, per CoreLogic/First American.
Where the pressure is building
The recent rise in underwater mortgages is concentrated in three areas:
VA and FHA loans: These programs typically involve lower down payments, which means borrowers start with thinner equity cushions. When home prices slip even modestly, these homeowners can move underwater more quickly than conventional borrowers.
Recent vintages: Borrowers who purchased in 2023, 2024, or 2025often at elevated price levels and still-tight affordabilityhave had limited time to pay down their balances. If their local markets have cooled, theyre more exposed to negative equity.
Metros with post-boom corrections: The markets seeing the most underwater pressure tend to be in the Southwest, Southeast, and Westregions that experienced some of the sharpest run-ups during the Pandemic Housing Boom and then the clearest price reversals. Metros with elevated underwater shares include places like Cape Coral, Lakeland, North Port, Palm Bay, Jacksonville, and Tampa in Florida; Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio in Texas; and Colorado Springs.
Why negative equity remains rare nationally
Despite localized corrections, underwater mortgages remain scarce nationwide. Three major factors explain why.
National home prices are still near record highs. While certain Sun Belt and Western markets have given back some of their pandemic gains, national home price indices remain close to peak levels. Those broad gains continue to cushion the national equity picture, even as some metros soften.
The amortization benefit of ultra-low pandemic mortgage rates. Millions of homeowners locked in 2%3% fixed rates in 2020 and 2021. Because lower rates allocate more of each payment toward principal from day one, these borrowers have built equity unusually quickly. As of late 2024, more than half of outstanding mortgage holders had rates below 4%, accelerating their debt paydown and widening their equity buffers.
Few buyers purchased at the exact peak. Even in markets that have corrected, such as Austin or Cape Coral, only a small slice of homeowners bought at the absolute top in early 2022. Most owners purchased earlierand at lower pricesleaving them well above water today.
This years U.N. climate conference in Brazil had many unique aspects that could have been part of a historic outcome.
COP30, as its called, was hosted in Belem, a city on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, a crucial regulator of climate and home to many Indigenous peoples who are both hit hard by climate change and are part of the solution. It had the heft of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, an influential and charismatic leader on the international stage known for his ability to bring people together. And encouraged by Lulas rousing speeches in the summits beginning days, more than 80 nations called for a detailed road map for the world to sharply reduce the use of gas, oil, and coal, the main drivers of climate change.
In the end, none of that mattered.
The final decision announced Saturday, which included some tangible things like an increase in money to help developing nations adapt to climate change, was overall watered-down compared to many conferences in the past decade and fell far short of many delegates’ expectations. It didn’t mention the words fossil fuels, much less include a timeline to reduce their use.
Instead of being remembered as historic, the conference will likely further erode confidence in a process that many environmentalists and even some world leaders have argued isnt up to the challenge of confronting global temperature rise, which is leading to more frequent and intense extreme weather events like floods, storms, and heat waves.
The criticism was withering and came from many corners.
A climate decision that cannot even say fossil fuels is not neutrality, it is complicity, said Panama negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez. Science has been deleted from COP30 because it offends the polluters.
Even those who saw some positives were quick to say they were looking toward the future.
Climate action is across many areas, so on the whole it is a mixed bag. They could have done much, much more, said Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development.
All eyes are already turning to COP31, added Nacpil, referring to next year’s conference, which will be held in Turkey.
High expectations for COP30
Saturday’s final resolution was the culmination of three years of talk, from measured optimism to hoopla, about a Conference of the Parties, as the summit is known, that could restore confidence in the ability of multilateral negotiations to tackle climate change. It was even called a COP of truth.
From the time Lula was reelected in October 2022, he began pitching his vision of hosting a climate summit for the first time in the Amazon. By 2023, the U.N. had confirmed Brazil’s bid to host it in Belem. The choice of Belem, a coastal city in northeast Brazil, raised many questions, both in Brazil and in many countries, because Belem doesn’t have the infrastructure of other Brazilian cities such as Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo.
For Lula, that was the point: This was a chance for the world to get a taste of the Amazon, truly understand what was at stake, and a chance for thousands of Indigenous peoples, who live across the vast territory shared by many South American nations, to participate.
By the time the conference began Nov. 6 with two days of world leaders’ speeches, Lula was able to change the subject from Belem, in large part by laying out a vision of what the conference could be.
Earth can no longer sustain the development model based on the intensive use of fossil fuels that has prevailed over the past 200 years, Lula said Nov. 7, adding: The fossil fuel era is drawing to a close.”
Words like those, coming from the leader who has both curbed deforestation in the Amazon and unabashedly supported oil exploration in it, raised hopes among many delegates, scientists, and activists. Here was Lula, the ultimate pragmatist from a major oil-producing country, which gets most of its energy for domestic uses from renewables like hydropower, pushing a major change.
Previous naming of fossil fuels
In late 2023, during COP28 in Dubai, the final resolution declared the world needed to transition away from fossil fuels. The past two years, though, nothing had been done to advance that. Indeed, instead of phasing away, greenhouse gas emissions worldwide continue to rise.
Now at COP30, there was talk of a road map to fundamentally changing world energy systems.
A few days before the talks concluded, there were signs that even Lula, arguably Brazil’s most dominating political figure of the past 25 years, was tempering his expectations. In a speech Wednesday night, he made the case that climate change was an urgent threat that all people needed to pay attention to. But he was also careful to say that nations should be able to transition to renewable energies at their own pace, in line with their own capacities, and there was no intention to impose anything on anybody.”
Negotiators would lose much of Thursday, as a fire at the venue forced evacuations.
An outcome that many nations blasted
By Friday, the European Union, along with several Latin American and Pacific Island nations and others, were flatly rejecting the first draft of a resolution that didn’t identify fossil fuels as the cause of climate change or have any timeline to move away from them.
After 10 years, this process is still failing, Maina Vakafua Talia, minister of environment for the small Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, said in a speech Friday, talking about the decade since the 2015 Paris Agreement, which set international goals to limit temperature rise.
After an all-nighter from Friday into Saturday, the revised resolution, which U.N. officials called the final, did not include a mention of fossil fuels. Environmental activists decried the influence of major oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia, which historically have fought against proposals that put a timeline on reducing oil.
When delegates met Saturday afternoon for the final plenary, COP30 President André Corra do Lago gaveled in the text while also promising to continue the discussion of fossil fuels and work with Colombia on a road map that could be shared with other countries. Technically, Brazil holds the presidency of the climate talks until the summit in Turkey next year.
That was little consolation for several dozen nations that complained, including some, such as Colombia, that flatly rejected the outcome.
Thank you for your statement,” do Lago would say after each one. “It will be noted in the report.
___
The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Peter Prengaman, Associated Press
Associated Press reporters Seth Borenstein, Melina Walling, and Anton Delgado contributed to this report.
Christmas went on the auction block this week in Pennsylvania farm country, and there was no shortage of bidders.About 50,000 Christmas trees and enough wreaths, crafts and other seasonal items to fill an airplane hangar were bought and sold by lots and on consignment at the annual two-day event put on at the Buffalo Valley Produce Auction in Mifflinburg.Buyers from across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic were there to supply garden stores, corner lots and other retail outlets for the coming rush of customers eager to bring home a tree most commonly a Fraser fir or to deck the halls with miles of greenery.Bundled-up buyers were out in chilly temperatures to hear auctioneers hawk boxes of ornaments, bunches of winterberry, cotton branches, icicle lights, grave blankets, red bows and tree stands. It was nearly everything you would need for Christmas except the food and the presents.Americans’ Christmas tree buying habits have been evolving for many years. These days homes are less likely than in years past to have a tree at all, and those that do have trees are more likely to opt for an artificial tree over the natural type, said Marsha Gray with the Howell, Michigan-based Real Christmas Tree Board, a national trade group of Christmas tree farmers.Cory Stephens was back for a second year at the auction after his customers raved about the holiday decor he purchased there last year for A.A. Co. Farm, Lawn & Garden, his store a three-hour drive away in Pasadena, Maryland. He spent nearly $5,000 on Thursday.“It’s incredible, it’s changed our whole world,” Stephens said. “If you know what you’re looking for, it’s very hard to beat the quality.”Ryan Marshall spent about $8,000 on various decorations for resale at Ward’s Berry Farm in Sharon, Massachusetts. Among his purchases were three skids of wreaths at $29 per wreath and he expected to double his money.“The quality’s good, and it’s a place that you can pick it out yourself,” he said.Gray said her group’s research shows the main reason people pick a real tree over an artificial tree “is the scent. They want the fresh scent of a real Christmas tree in their home.” Having children in the house also tends to correlate with picking a farm-grown tree, she said.An August survey by the Real Christmas Tree Board found that 84% of growers did not expect wholesale prices to increase this season.Buffalo Valley auction manager Neil Courtney said farm-grown tree prices seem to have stabilized, and he sees hope that the trend toward artificial trees can be reversed.“Long story short we’ll be back on top of the game shortly,” Courtney said. “The live tree puts the real Christmas in your house.”A survey by a trade group, the National Christmas Tree Association, found that more than 21 million farm-grown Christmas trees were sold in 2023, with median price of $75. About a quarter of them were purchased at a “choose-and-cut” farm, one in five from a chain store, and most of the rest from nurseries, retail lots, nonprofit sales and online.
Mark Scolforo, Associated Press
Universal Pictures two-part Wicked gamble continues to defy gravity at the box office. Just a year after part one brought droves of audiences to movie theaters around the country, even more people bought opening weekend tickets to see the epic conclusion, Wicked: For Good. According to studio estimates on Sunday, Wicked: For Good earned $150 million from North American theaters in its first days in theaters and $226 million globally.
Not only is it the biggest opening ever for a Broadway musical adaptation, unseating the record set by the first films $112 million launch, its also the second biggest debut of the year behind A Minecraft Movies $162 million.
The results are just fantastic, said Jim Orr, who heads domestic distribution for Universal. Some films can deliver a false positive when tickets go on sale early but these results speak for themselves.”
Universal began rolling out Wicked: For Good in theaters earlier this week, with previews on Monday ($6.1 million from 1,050 theaters) and Wednesday ($6.5 million from 2,300 theaters). By Friday, it was playing in 4,115 North American locations and had raked in $68.6 million. IMAX showings accounted for $15.5 million, or 11%, of its domestic haula November record for the company.
IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond said in a statement that the strong market share shows, our momentum carries into demos and genres beyond our traditional core, including families.
As with the first film, women powered the opening weekend, making up around 71% of ticket buyers according to PostTrak exit polls. Critics were somewhat mixed on the final chapter, but audiences werent: An overwhelming 83% of audiences said it was one they would definitely recommend to friends. As far as foot traffic is concerned, the box office tracker EntTelligence estimates that about two million more people came out for Wicked: For Good‘s first weekend than for Wicked‘s.”
Jon M. Chu directed both Wicked films, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. The first film made over $758.7 million worldwide and received 10 Oscar nominations (winning two, for costume and production design). The question is how high Wicked: For Good can soar. Combined, the two films cost around $300 million to produce, not including marketing and promotion costs.
The first film paved the way, Orr said. It’s really become a cultural event I think audiences are going to be flocking to theaters for quite some time to come.
Two other films also opened in wide release this weekend, but further down on the charts behind a buffet of holdovers. Searchlight Pictures opened its Brendan Fraser film Rental Family in 1,925 theaters, where it earned $3.3 million. The Finnish action film Sisu: Road to Revenge, a Sony release, also played in 2,222 theaters. It earned an estimated $2.6 million.
Second place went to Now You See Me: Now You Dont with $9.1 million in its second weekend, followed by Predator: Badlands with $6.3 million in weekend three. The Running Man followed in fourth place with $5.8 million, down 65% from its debut last weekend.
Although this weekend the box office was more of a winner takes all scenario, Wicked: For Goods success is vitally important for the exhibition industry as a whole as it enters the final weeks of the year.
It sets up a very strong final homestretch of the year, said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscores head of marketplace trends.
After the slow fall season, the Thanksgiving blockbusters could not arrive soon enough. Early next week, Zootopia 2 enters the mix and is also expected to drive big crowds to the cineplex over the holiday break.
Thanksgiving is often one of the biggest moviegoing frames of the year, Dergarabedian said, and both Wicked 2 and Zootopia 2 will benefit. Last year Wicked, Moana 2, and Gladiator II helped power a record five-day frame.
The running domestic box office is currently hovering around $7.5 billion, according to Comscore. Before the pandemic, the annual box office would regularly hit $11 billion, but the post-pandemic goal has lessened to $9 billion. The big question now is whether titles like Wicked: For Good, Zootopia 2, and Avatar: Fire and Ash can push the industry over that threshold.
Top 10 movies by domestic box office
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
1. Wicked: For Good, $150 million.
2. Now You See Me: Now You Dont, $9.1 million.
3. Predator: Badlands, $6.3 million.
4. The Running Man, $5.8 million.
5. Rental Family, $3.3 million.
6. Sisu: Road to Revenge, $2.6 million.
7. Regretting You, $1.5 million.
8. Nuremberg, $1.2 million.
9. Black Phone 2, $1 million.
10. Sarahs Oil, $711,542.
Lindsey Bahr, AP film writer
Novo Nordisk’s closely-watched Alzheimer’s trials of an older oral version of its semaglutide drug failed to help slow the progression of the brain-wasting disease, the firm said on Monday, a blow to the obesity drug giant that sent its shares sliding.
The trials, which Novo had previously called a “lottery ticket” to underline its highly uncertain outcome, were testing whether the medicine could slow cognitive decline in patients.
The setback scuppers hopes for Novo that Alzheimer’s could open a major new market for GLP-1 medicines such as semaglutide, as it faces rising competition to its blockbuster drugs in its core treatment areas of obesity and diabetes.
Erik Berg-Johnsen, portfolio manager at Novo shareholder Storebrand Asset Management, told Reuters that the trial failure was likely “a nail in the coffin” for using its products against Alzheimer’s.
“The fact that the study was discontinued after two years, despite a planned third year extension, suggests that semaglutide offers virtually no benefit in slowing Alzheimer’s progression.”
Novo’s trial was being closely watched as an indication about whether GLP-1 drugs – used by millions for diabetes and weight loss – might slow disease progress.
The drug tested was Rybelsus, a pill approved only for type 2 diabetes. Like Novo’s blockbusters Ozempic and Wegovy, it contains semaglutide.
‘LOTTERY TICKET’ LOSES OUT
The company’s Executive Vice President for Product and Portfolio Strategy, Ludovic Helfgott, had described the Alzheimer’s trials as a “lottery ticket” in September, referring to its uncertain prospects yet huge potential.
Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias affect more than 55 million people globally. There is no cure.
“While semaglutide did not demonstrate efficacy in slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, the extensive body of evidence supporting semaglutide continues to provide benefits for individuals with type 2 diabetes, obesity, and related comorbidities,” Chief Scientific Officer Martin Holst Lange said in a statement.
The results from the two trials of early-stage patients, called EVOKE and EVOKE+, are another setback for the Danish drugmaker and new CEO Mike Doustdar, which had seen booming success, driven by Ozempic and Wegovy, before slowing sales growth and a tumbling share price prompted a CEO change and mass layoffs.
The setback reinforces analyst scepticism about Novo’s Alzheimer’s ambitions, with UBS having estimated just a 10% probability of success.
Henrik Hallengreen Laustsen, Jyske Bank analyst, said however that a 10% share price fall on Monday looked like an “overreaction”.
Sydbank analyst Soren Lontoft Hansen said that the failure was not a surprise for Novo, which has had a tough year with slowing sales of its key weight-loss drugs, management overhaul and rising competition from U.S. peer Eli Lilly .
“The share’s reaction is probably more due to the bad sentiment around the Novo Nordisk shares and the negative news flow over the past year – perhaps there was hope for a little tailwind from this study.”
PARTICIPANTS AGED 55 TO 85
Shares of Biogen jumped about 5% premarket following news of Novo’s Alzheimer’s trial failure. Biogen and partner Eisai’s Leqembi and rival Eli Lilly’s Kisunla are the only approved treatments for Alzheimer’s in the United States. Both drugs require infusions or injections and can cause significant side effects.
“There was some fear that Ozempic might reduce the opportunity for Leqembi and other Alzheimer’s drugs by preventing progression of disease. So these data lift a potential competitive overhang,” said Cantor analyst Eric Schmidt.
The Rybelsus trials, covering a combined 3,808 patients, were the first large trials for patients with early stage Alzheimer’s.
The trials used a ratings system to assess clinical changes in areas such as memory and how patients were able to care for themselves over a two-year period. The studies aimed for a 20% slowing of cognitive decline, trial details show.
Wall Street analysts viewed the trials as high-risk, high-reward, and had said the data would determine if Novo’s Alzheimer’s programme could become a future growth driver.
Stine Jacobsen, Maggie Fick and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Reuters
Old Brick Farm, where Larry Doll raises chickens, turkeys and ducks, was fortunate this Thanksgiving season.Doll’s small farm west of Detroit had no cases of bird flu, despite an ongoing outbreak that killed more than 2 million U.S. turkeys in the last three months alone. He also avoided another disease, avian metapneumovirus, which causes turkeys to lay fewer eggs.“I try to keep the operation as clean as possible, and not bringing other animals in from other farms helps mitigate that risk as well,” said Doll, whose farm has been in his family for five generations.But Doll still saw the impact as those diseases shrank the U.S. turkey flock to a 40-year low this year. The hatchery where he gets his turkey chicks had fewer available this year. He plans to order another 100 hatchlings soon, even though they won’t arrive until July.“If you don’t get your order in early, you’re not going to get it,” he said.
Thanksgiving costs vary
The shrinking population is expected to cause wholesale turkey prices to rise 44% this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Despite the increase, many stores are offering discounted or even free turkeys to soften the potential blow to Thanksgiving meal budgets. But even if the bird is cheaper than last year, the ingredients to prepare the rest of the holiday feast may not be. Tariffs on imported steel, for example, have increased prices for canned goods.As of Nov. 17, a basket of 11 Thanksgiving staples including a 10-pound frozen turkey, 10 Russet potatoes, a box of stuffing and cans of corn, green beans and cranberry sauce cost $58.81, or 4.1% more than last year, according to Datasembly, a market research company that surveys weekly prices at 150,000 U.S. stores. That’s higher than the average price increase for food eaten at home, which rose 2.7% in September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.Datasembly showed a 2% decline in the retail price of a 10-pound turkey as of Nov. 17. Pricing out Thanksgiving meals isn’t an exact science, and the firm’s tally differed from other estimates.The American Farm Bureau Federation, which uses volunteer shoppers in all 50 states to survey prices, reported that Thanksgiving dinner for 10 would cost $55.16 this year, or 5% less than last year. The Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, using NielsenIQ data from September, estimated that feeding 10 people on Thursday using store-brand products would cost $80 this year, which is 2% to 3% lower than last year’s estimate.
Tempting turkey prices
Grocery chains are also offering deals to attract shoppers. Discount grocer Aldi is advertising a $40 meal for 10 with 21 items. Kroger said shoppers could feed 10 people for under $50 with its menu of store-brand products.Earlier this month, President Donald Trump touted Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal basket, which he said was 25% cheaper than last year. But that was because Walmart included a different assortment and fewer products overall this year.“We’re seeing some promotions being implemented in an effort to draw customers into the store,” David Ortega, a professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University, said.That’s despite a sharp increase in wholesale turkey prices since August. In the second week of November, frozen 8-16 pound hens were averaging $1.77 per pound, up 81% from the same period last year, according to Mark Jordan, the executive director of Leap Market Analytics, which closely follows the poultry and livestock markets.Avian viruses are the main culprit. But another reason for turkey’s higher wholesale prices has been an increase in consumer demand as other meats have gotten more expensive, Jordan said. Beef prices were up 14% in September compared to last year, for example.“For a big chunk of the population, they look at steak cuts and say, ‘I can’t or I don’t want to pay $30 a pound,'” Jordan said.That’s the case for Paul Nadeau, a retired consultant from Austin, Texas, who plans to smoke a turkey this week. Nadeau said he usually smokes a brisket over Thanksgiving weekend, but the beef brisket he buys would now cost more than $100. Turkey prices are also up at his local H-E-B supermarket, he said, but not by as much.“I don’t know of anything that’s down in price since last year except for eggs,” Nadeau said.
Tariffs and weather
Trump’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum are also raising prices. Farok Contractor, a distinguished professor of management and global business at the Rutgers Business School, said customers are paying 10 cents to 40 cents more per can when companies pass on the full cost of tariffs.Tariffs may be partly to blame for the increased cost of jellied cranberry sauce, which was up 38% from last year in Datasembly’s survey. But weather was also a factor. U.S. cranberry production is expected to be down 9% this year, hurt by drought conditions in Massachusetts, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.In Illinois, where most of the country’s canning pumpkins are grown, dry weather actually helped pumpkins avoid diseases that are more prevalent in wet conditions, said Raghela Scavuzzo, an associate director of food systems development at the Illinois Farm Bureau and the executive director of the Illinois Specialty Growers Association. Datasembly found that a 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix cost 5% less than last year.
Farm to table
Back at Old Brick Farm, which has been in his family since 1864, Doll walked among his turkeys the week before Thanksgiving, patting their heads as they waddled between their warm barn and an open pasture. In a few days, he planned to deliver them to an Amish butcher.Doll sold all 92 turkeys he raised this year, with customers paying $6.50 per pound for what many tell him is the best turkey they’ve ever tasted. He enjoys a little profit, he said, and the good feeling of supplying a holiday meal.“I just love it, to think that, you know, not only are we providing them food, but the centerpiece of their Thanksgiving dinner,” he said.
Associated Press Video Journalist Mike Householder contributed.
Dee-Ann Durbin, AP Business Writer
The Thanksgiving holiday is nearly upon us, which means tens of millions of Americans will be traveling nationwide this week to visit their loved ones and celebrate around the dinner table with them on Thursday.
The majority of that travel both to and from Turkey Day destinations is expected to kick off tomorrow, Tuesday, November 25, and run through Monday, December 1, which are the dates the American Automobile Association (AAA) defines as the 2025 Thanksgiving holiday period.
Its the busiest travel period for Americans, even beating out holidays like the Fourth of July and Christmas.
While several million Americans are expected to make their Thanksgiving journeys by air or train, the overwhelming majoritymore than 73 million this yearare expected to travel by car.
If that includes you, youll want to pay attention to the latest data compiled by AAA.
It reveals the best times to hit the roads during the upcoming holiday period and the times you should avoid being on the streets if you don’t want to experience the worst of the increased traffic congestion.
Best times to hit the roads for the Thanksgiving travel period
Except on Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, any other time that you travel during this Thanksgiving holiday period, you are likely to see more road congestion than usual. However, some times of the day are likely to see less travel congestion than others.
Here are the best times to be in the car this Thanksgiving period if you want to avoid the worst of traffic, according to information compiled by AAA from transportation data and insights provider INRIX:
Tuesday, November 25: Before 12 p.m.
Wednesday, November 26: Before 11 a.m.
Thursday, November 27 (Thanksgiving): Minimal Traffic Impact Expected
Friday, November 28: Before 11 a.m.
Saturday, November 29: Before 10 a.m.
Sunday, November 30: Before 11 a.m.
Monday, December 1: Before 8 p.m.
Worst times to hit the roads for the Thanksgiving travel period
INRIX says that Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon are expected to feature the heaviest congestion before Thanksgiving, and the Sunday after Thanksgiving is expected to see the heaviest traffic for return home journeys.
The firm says that the worst times to be on the roads due to traffic congestion during the entire holiday period are as follows:
Tuesday, November 25: 12 p.m.9 p.m.
Wednesday, November 26: 11 a.m.8 p.m.
Thursday, November 27 (Thanksgiving): Minimal Traffic Impact Expected
Friday, November 28: 1 p.m.7 p.m.
Saturday, November 29: 1 p.m.8 p.m.
Sunday, November 30: 11 a.m.8 p.m.
Monday, December 1: 12 p.m.8 p.m.
More than 73 million people will travel by car this Thanksgiving
AAA says 73.28 million people will take to the roads in cars this Thanksgiving holiday period. Thats 1.3 million more than the 71.99 million travelers who took to the roads during the 2024 Thanksgiving periodan increase of about 1.8%.
It’s also 2.7 million more than those who took to the road in 2019, the last Thanksgiving before the outbreak of the pandemic.
But travelers this week wont only be taking to the roads to get to and from their Thanksgiving festivities. AAA says that while automobile travel will make up 89.6% of all travel in America during this Thanksgiving holiday period, millions of Americans will also be taking to the skies and rails.
The association expects 6.07 million travelers to take flights during this holiday period, and another 2.48 million to travel by other modes of transportation, including buses, trains, and cruise ships.
In total, AAA expects the number of travelers in America to reach 81.83 million this Thanksgiving holiday travel period. Thats a 2% increase from last year, when 80.22 million people traveled. And its 5.2% more than the 77.78 travelers who took to the road, skies, and rails in 2019.
Another home furnishings retail chain has sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it deals with higher costs, reduced sales, a downturn in the housing market, and President Trump’s tariffs.
American Signature Inc (ASI), parent company of American Signature Furniture and Value City Furniture, said Sunday that it has secured $50 million in debt financing as it seeks a buyer in an auction process. Here’s what to know.
What is ASI and why is it bankrupt?
Founded it 1948 and based in Columbus, Ohio, American Signature Inc is the parent company of two home furnishings retail chains: American Signature Furniture and Value City Furniture.
Combined, the company has 120 stores across 17 states, it said in a court declaration over the weekend.
The Value City brand is spread out across more states, with stores in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
American Signature, meanwhile, has locations in Delaware, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee.
Additionally, the company has distribution centers in Ohio, Georgia, Indiana, and California, two of which are owned and two of which are leased.
ASI employs roughly 3,000 people.
As for why it’s filing for bankruptcy, the retailer noted that it had experienced a period of rapid growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that sales have slipped over the last year.
It cites a number of reasons for its dire straits, notably “one of the most severe housing market declines in recent history.”
Macroeconomic factors including rising interest rates and inflation have further exasperated the situation for ASI, as have “newly established tariffs.”
Which stores are closing as part of this process?
The company said in its bankruptcy announcement that it expects stores to remain open throughout the process.
However, in court filings it has identified five locations that it plans to close by early next year:
Value City Furniture: 2320 Sardis Road North, Charlotte, NC 28227
American Signature Furniture: 1770 Galleria Blvd, Franklin, TN 37067
American Signature Furniture: 2130 Gallatin Pike North, Madison, TN 37115
American Signature Furniture: 2821 Wilma Rudolph Blvd, Clarksville, TN 37040
American Signature Furniture: 2075 Old Fort Parkway, Murfreesboro, TN 37129
Liquidation sales have already begun at these locations and are expected to be completed by the end of January 2026, court filings show.
The company has enlisted SB360 Capital Partners to help with store closings and has warned that additional stores may close as the consultation process continues.
It was not immediately clear how many job losses are expected. Fast Company reached out to ASI for additional details and will update this post if we hear back.
What happens next?
ASI has entered into an agreement with a so-called stalking horse bidder owned by the Schottenstein family, whom Columbus Monthly has referred to as the Ohio capital’s “last dynasty.”
Holding company Schottenstein Stores Corporation also owns American Signature Inc, meaning the furniture chain could stay in the family.
However, American Signature plans to seek a higher bidder during an auction process within about 45 days.
American Signature’s bankruptcy follows a similar move by fellow home furnishings retailer At Home, which sought Chapter 11 protection in June and has closed a number of locations this year.
This story is developing…
World shares and U.S. futures were mixed on Monday after Wall Street was buoyed by revived hopes for an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was nearly unchanged.Germany’s DAX gained 0.5% to 23,201.85, while the CAC 40 edged less than 0.1% lower to 7,978.77. Britain’s FTSE 100 inched up 0.1% to 9,547.77.Markets in Japan were closed for a holiday.Hong Kong’s benchmark, the Hang Seng, rose 2% to 25,716.50. It got a boost from a 4.7% gain for e-commerce giant Alibaba, which has reported strong demand for its updated Qwen AI app. Alibaba is due to report earnings on Tuesday.The Shanghai Composite index rose less than 0.1% to 3,836.77.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.3% to 8,525.10.In South Korea, the Kospi reversed early gains, falling 0.2% to 3,846.06 on heavy selling of automakers.Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.3% and the Sensex in India shed 0.4%.This week, U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday, which will be followed by the Black Friday and Cyber Monday retail rushes.After last week’s ups and downs over AI and Nvidia, traders will focus more on “the backbone of U.S. growth, the consumer, whose spending still drives two-thirds of GDP,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.Data on the U.S. economy was scarce during the 6-week U.S. government shutdown, leaving investors struggling to parse trends in the economy.“This makes any sniff of holiday activity foot traffic, discount depth, card authorizations disproportionately important. In a data desert, even a puddle looks like a lake,” he said.On Friday, the S&P 500 gained 1% and the Dow climbed 1.1%. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.9%. Nearly 90% of stocks in the S&P 500 advanced.It was a fitting finish for a week that left the S&P 500 just 4.2% below its record but also forced investors to stomach the sharpest hour-to-hour swings since a sell-off in April. The jarring moves are testing investors following a monthslong and remarkably smooth surge for stocks, and they come down to two basic as-yet unanswered questions.Have prices for Nvidia, bitcoin and other stars of Wall Street shot too high? And is the Federal Reserve done with its cuts to interest rates, which would boost the economy and prices for investments?Markets took heart from a speech by the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, John Williams, who told a conference in Chile that he sees “room for a further adjustment” to interest rates.Other Fed officials have argued against a December cut, saying inflation is still too high.In the bond market, Treasury yields eased Friday on hopes for cuts from the Fed. Traders are now betting on a nearly 72% probability of a December cut, up sharply from 39% a day before, according to data from CME Group. That helped send the yield on the 10-year Treasury to 4.06% from 4.10% late Thursday.In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 43 cents to $57.63 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 38 cents to $61.56 a barrel.The U.S. dollar rose to 156.75 Japanese yen from 156.47 yen. The euro climbed to $1.1537 from $1.1516.Bitcoin was up 1.6%, near $86,000. On Friday, it briefly plunged below $81,000 before pulling back toward $85,000. That’s down from nearly $125,000 last month and brought it back to where it was in April, when markets were shaking because of President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs.
Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.
Being a life sciences CEO is not for the faint of heart. Drug discovery and patent approvals are costly and time-consuming, and even if an executive can steer a company to clinical trials, theres a very small chance the product will be commercialized. One study says that 90% of clinical drug development fails because the treatment didnt have its intended impact, had the wrong formulations, or harmed patients. You have a business challenge, a science challenge, a clinical trial challenge, and a regulatory challenge, says Kevin Conroy, CEO of the colorectal cancer screening company Exact Sciences. Its like solving a complex puzzle, and theres simply no guarantee of success.
When companies do solve that puzzle, the rewards can be huge: As Modern CEO went to press, Exact Sciences announced it was selling to Abbott in a deal valued at $21 billion.
Still, biotech and health technology companies are now confronting an additional burden: simmering science skepticism. Pew Research Center found that in 2024, 76% of Americans believed that scientists act in the publics best interest, up slightly from 2023 but down 10 points from pre-pandemic levels. A new survey from Pew shows that 24% of parents of school-age children question whether vaccines have undergone enough safety testing.
Rebuilding trust in science
Some lawmakers are fanning the flames. Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for changes in the ways vaccines are tested. The White House has cut budgets at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, and moved to terminate federal funding to universities, all of which participate in the funding of medical and science research.
Conroy says the current environment is a call to action to the biosciences industry to help rebuild trust with the public and lawmakers. How can we in this field show success that brings back a stronger belief in science, in data, in clinical studies, in evidence generation? he asks. I think its our responsibility to do that.
According to Conroy, Exact Sciences isnt facing any societal or political headwinds. It makes a colon cancer test (if youre a certain age, youve probably been served ads for its Cologuard Kit) that will screen five million people for cancer this year. Science skepticism hasnt touched cancer screening, he says. People on the left and right are touched equally by cancer.
Still, Exact Sciences and other science companies have benefited from an ecosystem of government-funded research, rigorous approvals, and endorsements that make the U.S. a biotech innovation powerhouse. Exact Sciences was founded in 1995 by an engineer who wanted to develop an alternative to colonoscopies, but the company struggled for years to develop a test. Conroy joined in 2009 after meeting with David Ahlquist, a Mayo Clinic physician who had spent 20 years researching noninvasive colon cancer detectionresearch funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.
Exact Sciences collaborated with Ahlquist on an approach that tests a patients stool for abnormal DNA or blood cells that might indicate the presence of colon cancer. Cologuard received FDA approval in 2014, after a huge clinical trial involving 10,000 patients; that same year the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it intended to cover the test, and the American Cancer Society included the test in its colon cancer screening guidelinesa key recommendation that helped build public trust in the at-home kit.
Exact Sciences would not be here without federally funded research at the Mayo Clinic, Conroy says.
Follow the data
Conroy notes that all businesses can gain from a scientific approachrunning experiments, conceding when something doesnt work (even if youve invested time and money in the research), and following the data. At Exact Sciences, such rigor extends beyond the lab. Before the company launched its kits, the team tested two different product designs for sample collectiona scoop and a container. The team thought consumers would favor the scoop, but research showed 85% of users preferred the container.
We would have made a big mistake if we had trusted our gut, Conroy says. A lot of times youre so passionate as a CEO, you skip all of those steps and just bulldoze your way toward the answer youd like to see. Im as guilty of that as the next CEO.
I asked Conroy how biotech executives can help restore trust in science and rally support for the broader system of grants and research funding now under fire. He notes that he travels to Washington from Exact Sciences headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, every quarter to meet with lawmakers, largely to advocate for early detection of diseases but also to talk about innovation and discovery. Every CEO in this field should be doing the same thing. Its too important for Americas competitiveness, he says.
Deadline extended
Were extending the deadline for Modern CEO of the Year nominations by a few days. If you or someone you know has had a standout 2025, please fill out this nomination form by November 28. Well name the Modern CEO of the Year on December 29.
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