🦃 Good morning, and happy Thanksgiving week, CFOs. The U.S. consumer keeps spending; FedEx, Tapestry and Hasbro gird for the holidays; plus, how much will Thanksgiving dinner cost this year?

The short work week coming up marks the unofficial start of the U.S. holiday shopping season, and with that comes increased scrutiny on what's up with the U.S. consumer.

“We call it our Super Bowl,” Scott Roe, CFO and chief operating officer of luxury-brand owner Tapestry, tells me, noting the constant preparation each holiday season for the Coach and Kate Spade parent, especially with greater focus and attention on their website—and the state of the U.S. consumer.

He’s not alone. America’s biggest retailers have discovered that the consumer is far from dead. For all the hand-wringing over tariffs and a wobbling economy, shoppers are spending where they perceive value as evidenced by strong recent financial results from Walmart, Gap, T.J. Maxx parent TJX and other chains, my colleagues Suzanne Kapner and Sarah Nassauer write.

The spending points to a solid holiday shopping season, which many retailers count on for a significant portion of their annual sales and profits. (Read on, dear CFO Journal readers, for how FedEx and Hasbro’s CFOs are preparing for peak season.)

Monday

Earnings: Agilent Technologies, Keysight Technologies, Symboti and Zoom

Tuesday

Earnings: Alibaba Group Holding, Analog Devices, Autodesk, Best Buy, Burlington Stores, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Dell, HP, J.M. Smucker, NetApp, Nutanix, Urban Outfitters, Workday and Zscaler

The Census Bureau reports retail sales data for September.

The BLS releases the producer price index for September.

S&P Cotality releases its National Home Price Index for September.

The Conference Board releases its Consumer Confidence Index for November.

Wednesday

Earnings: Deere

The Census Bureau releases the durable goods report for September.

Thursday

Equity and fixed-income markets are closed in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Friday

The Nasdaq Stock Market, New York Stock Exchange, and the bond market close early on Black Friday. Stocks stop trading at 1 p.m. and bonds at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

It’s peak season for many companies, including FedEx, Hasbro and Tapestry, whose CFOs joined me last week at the annual MIT Sloan CFO Summit near Boston to discuss how they are managing change and the upcoming holiday retail season.

For Hasbro, two-thirds of the company’s toy volume comes in the last quarter of the year, said Gina Goetter, CFO and chief operating officer of Hasbro. “So that's a pretty hefty chunk of change that is dependent on how many consumers are going to show up,” she said.

The U.S. consumer so far has shown signs of resiliency, but Goetter noted she is monitoring data in November and December for clues on if that will be sustained.

“We are watching and being mindful as that consumer bifurcates between those that are untouched by any of the noise that's going on and they're continuing to spend, and those that are really impacted by what is happening to their day-to-day paychecks,” Goetter said.

“So far, so good, with our holiday season,” she said.

FedEx CFO John Dietrich said planning and investing for the retail season started last year.

“Frankly our peak season planning starts as soon as the prior peak season ends,” Dietrich said. "Maybe you get a little break for New Year's, but it starts right away, so we take it very seriously, and we're excited about this particular peak.”

FedEx has made investments in its weather forecasting capabilities, for example, to make sure they have efficient traffic flow for their packages and to minimize disruptions across the more than 200 countries and territories FedEx serves, he said. “In the short time I've been with the company we've been able to compress when we have weather disruptions, for example, at our Memphis hub. We've improved our efficiency significantly, so it's a constant focus.”

Executives are starting to chill out about tariffs after a year of anxiety.

Months into President Trump’s roller coaster of a global trade war, something has shifted. Business leaders sound less gloomy about tariffs than they have for much of the year. They are talking less about risk when they discuss them with investors. And the subject is no longer dominating earnings calls like before.

“We believe that the worst of the tariff and economic disruptions to our businesses are now behind us,” said David Maura, chief executive of Spectrum Brands, which sells everything from pet food to insect repellent, on a call with investors this month.

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The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics including corporate tax, accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team comprises reporters Kristin Broughton, Mark Maurer and Jennifer Williams, and Bureau Chief Walden Siew.

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