The pandemic threw the real-estate world into disarray, as people emptied out of offices, hotels, and malls and worked from their homes. That disruption has transformed how people and companies finance, operate, and occupy real estate. 

Some big firms like WarnerMedia have been rethinking office-space needs — and some commercial real-estate deals were put on ice as financing dries up. Coworking and flex-office firms are struggling under big rent obligations after years of rapid growth.

Still, some companies like Facebook have been pushing ahead with plans for big office spaces, showing that it may be too soon to call an end to the office. 

A surge in e-commerce is fueling demand for warehouse and cold storage space as companies look for new ways to reach customers. Life-sciences companies are fueling a big boom in demand for lab space. A surge in streaming content consumption and cloud data needs has made studio spaces and data centers red-hot real estate plays.

And with the pandemic increasing the amount of food delivery and hurting restaurants' bottom lines, ghost kitchens have been seeing a rush of venture funding. 

Here's the latest news on how real-estate markets are being upended, and how experts think these trends will play out in the long run. 

Latest commercial real-estate news and deals

• Seattle has become the battleground for tech giants Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. Here's how that's keeping real-estate deals going despite the pandemic.
• Rents in top NYC shopping districts are crashing and dark storefronts are multiplying. A firesale sublease by Ralph Lauren on Fifth Avenue highlights the carnage.
• ByteDance quietly leased 'massive' data centers in 2020, a sign it may have planned to shift TikTok operations to the US

Sectors that are heating up

• Studio space is a red-hot real estate play as demand for streaming content surges, and insiders say Brookfield could be the next big investor to pile in
• Booming demand for lab space is a rare bright spot for real-estate developers. But a steep learning curve means some 'stupid money' investors could get burned.
• Goldman Sachs, KKR, and Blackstone are pouring billions into data centers, a hot real-estate play that's chasing a boom in cloud storage and streaming content
• Demand for lab space is booming, and real-estate giant JLL just hired a new life-sciences expert to lean into the opportunity

Subleasing activity

• Elite litigation firm Boies Schiller is looking to sublet its glitzy NYC office after a firm-wide restructuring and attorney exits
• Uber is looking to dump a big chunk of a huge new NYC office it recently signed. It's an abrupt turnaround for the ride-hailing giant.
• Advertising and PR giant Dentsu is the latest corporate tenant to cast off glitzy NYC offices as more companies rethink their footprints
• AT&T is putting WarnerMedia's huge NYC headquarters under review and could decide to cut hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space

Tech office deals

• Amazon just leased a new space in Brooklyn to house recording studios for its music-streaming service, as Big Tech keeps gobbling up space while the office market flounders
• Facebook scored a $100 million break on its blockbuster NYC office deal, and it could mark the start of a wave of discounts as vacancies soar
• The Big Tech office isn't dead. Here's why giants like Facebook and Amazon keep gobbling up space while telling workers they can stay home.
• Facebook thinks in-person collaboration can't be fully replicated remotely and is betting on physical office hubs in big cities as key recruitment tools

Restaurants and ghost kitchens

• How Uber founder Travis Kalanick's real-estate buying frenzy could turn ghost kitchens into a new speciality asset class
• Ghost kitchens are pitching themselves as the future of restaurants. These are the 14 companies — and the money backing them — that you need to know.

Hotels and casinos

• Hotel lenders are racing to dump risky loans as the hospitality industry nears a breaking point, with defaults stacking up and high-profile properties starting to shutter
• Investments in risky hotel debt could get wiped out as travel gets slammed — and one group of lenders may see an outsized hit
• A growing group of lenders are looking to unload hundreds of millions of dollars of souring hotel loans. Teams hired to sell the portfolios say it's just the beginning of a surge in activity.
• Billions of dollars of Las Vegas development hang in the balance right now, but the owner of Caesars Palace sees the city's crisis as an opportunity to imagine its next mega-project.

Student housing

• A student housing developer is facing congressional scrutiny after it pressured colleges to bring kids back to campus in order to keep dorms full
• A student-housing developer is facing backlash after pressuring schools to bring college kids back to campus so it could keep its revenues up
• Big investors poured billions into student housing — thinking it was a recession-proof bet. Then the pandemic emptied campuses and turned that thesis on its head.

Warehouses and logistics

• Neighbor, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup that wants to be the Airbnb of self-storage, has started partnering with landlords to turn empty offices into spaces for people's stuff
• Cold storage is 2020's red-hot real estate play. Here's how the private-equity backed industry leader is spending $500 million to tighten its grip on the market.
• Real estate developers are building costly cold storage space before they even have tenants. They're betting the risky move could be a winning investment as grocery delivery booms.
• Logistics startup Bond has teamed up with SoftBank-backed REEF Technology to bring nano-warehouses to parking lots across the US. Here's how they're building the distribution hubs of the future.
• Amazon just signed its largest-ever warehouse lease in NYC. Here's how it's been making deals left and right to grow its massive storage and distribution network.

Coworking and flex-office providers

• Knotel plans to scale back its global portfolio by 60% over the next 6 months as the pandemic and financial problems have quashed its once grand ambitions to dominate the flex workspace sector
• Flex-workspace firm Breather has hired bankers to explore options including a sale, and it's a sign of a bigger consolidation push as office demand tanks
• Flex-workspace firm Industrious is eyeing a big expansion in Asia and just inked its first deal outside the US
• WeWork is demanding overdue rent from hundreds of small businesses and threatening to send them to collections agencies if they don't pay up

Brick-and-mortar retail space

• Inside the rise of real-estate titan David Simon, the country's top mall-owner facing a make-or-break moment with a $2 billion bet on troubled JCPenney
• Giant mall owner Brookfield Properties is ditching its worst locations and redeveloping what's left into 'mini cities' that blend shopping with residential space
• Markets for retail and office space are under enormous pressure. A foreclosure in the works for a building on NYC's glitzy Fifth Avenue shopping corridor shows just how bad it's getting.
• Real-estate developers are betting on a risky strategy to reimagine retail space in hopes of rescuing struggling shopping centers

What top investors and dealmakers are saying

• 5 commercial real-estate investors who are raising billions laid out the red-hot opportunities and strategies they're leaning into after a major market upheaval
• Blackstone's co-head of real-estate explains why the giant investor is still betting on office properties — and lays out the industries where demand for in-person workspaces are the strongest
• Meet the 4 dealmakers driving Blackstone's $325 billion commercial real estate portfolio. They walked us through how they're thinking about opportunities in the downturn.
• The CEO of real estate heavy-hitter Eastdil explains the types of deals that are must-do right now — and warns that a 'de-retailing' trend is set to accelerate

The world has changed drastically in the two years since D1 Capital launched.

And Dan Sundheim has made money through it all, thanks to a string of bets that have emerged as winners in the new normal. The Wharton grad now has at least $1 billion in personal wealth between his assets in his firm, stake in the NBA's Charlotte Hornets, real-estate portfolio, and art collection.

The former Viking Global Investors chief investment officer started trading at D1 in July 2018 with more than $5 billion — including more than $500 million of his own money — and hasn't looked back.

Business Insider earlier this month took a look at the rise of Sundheim, based on conversations with a dozen of his college classmates, coworkers, and people who've invested with him. They revealed a whip-smart, mild-mannered colleague who had early flashes of investing brilliance.

"I think of Dan like LeBron James. Whatever team he is on is going to be a contender because he makes everyone else around him so much better," one of Sundheim's former Viking colleagues told Business Insider. 

SUBSCRIBE NOW TO READ THE FULL STORY: The rise of Dan Sundheim: How a Wharton whiz kid became the LeBron James of investing, launched one of the hottest hedge funds on earth, and minted a billion-dollar fortune in the process

• President Donald Trump is leaning on the advice of aides, family members, and TV hosts on who to pardon before leaving office, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
• Presidents usually consider cases vetted by Justice Department lawyers as part of a formal application process.
• Trump on Wednesday pardoned Michael Flynn, his former national security advisor who lied to FBI agents about his contact with Russian officials in 2016.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump is leaning on the counsel of friends, TV hosts, and family members in deciding who to pardon before he leaves office on January 20, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Usually, people convicted of federal crimes can apply to the White House to be considered for a presidential pardon, and their cases are reviewed by Justice Department attorneys.

But Trump is relying on the recommendations of people close to him, particularly Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and advisor, sources told The Post. The newspaper described Kushner as having played an important role in Trump's previous pardons.

Speculation is growing about who the president will pardon in his last weeks in office. The Post did not specify which people Trump's circle had suggested for pardons.

On Wednesday, The New York Times reported on speculation that a pardoning "blitz" could include George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign aide who pleaded guilty to lying to investigators as part of Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

Traditionally, presidents reserve their pardons for people who've been victims of a miscarriage of justice. But Trump has been accused of using the power to shield his associates from punishment.

There has even been speculation that Trump could pardon himself, an unprecedented move that some legal experts believe would be struck down by the Supreme Court.

The president on Wednesday said he had pardoned Michael Flynn, his former national security advisor who pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his contact with Russian officials before Trump took office. Trump claimed that Flynn did not receive a fair hearing.

But Trump is not the first president to be accused of misusing pardons — Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton were also accused of abusing the power.

• As Americans at home sat down for Thanksgiving dinner in 1968, a team of special operators was setting out to solve a deadly puzzle in Cambodia.
• US intelligence had lost track of tens of thousands of North Vietnamese troops, and with memories of the Tet Offensive still fresh, American commanders wanted to know where they were and what they were doing.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

During the Vietnam War, the US military had a covert special-operations unit that conducted cross-border operations in Cambodia, Laos, and North Vietnam.

Composed of Army Special Forces operators, Navy SEALs, and Air Commandos, and other personnel, the Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) took the fight to the enemy without hesitation.

SOG teams were primarily tasked with strategic reconnaissance deep behind enemy lines and would often end up fighting against overwhelming superior enemy forces. The unit's 100% casualty rate meant a SOG assignment came with a body bag or a Purple Heart, sometimes multiple ones.

Complicating matters, the US adamantly denied its troops operated outside South Vietnam. Accordingly, SOG operators wore sterilized uniforms and carried weapons without serial numbers — for all intents and purposes, they weren't Americans when they crossed the border.

Where is the NVA?

As Americans at home sat down for Thanksgiving dinner in 1968, John Stryker Meyer and his team of operators, ST Idaho, were called in to solve a deadly puzzle.

Army intelligence and the CIA had lost track of the 1st, 3rd, and 7th North Vietnamese Army divisions, totaling 30,000 troops, somewhere on the South Vietnam-Cambodia border.

US intelligence estimated that more than 100,000 NVA troops were in Cambodia, and SOG headquarters was worried that the missing NVA were preparing to launch another attack on Saigon or overrun one of the Special Forces A camps in the area.

The NVA had recently attacked several A camps, and the Tet Offensive in January that year had caught American forces off-guard across South Vietnam.

It fell on Meyer and his team to locate the missing NVA, and if they got the opportunity, to snatch an enemy soldier alive.

ST Idaho — a six-man team of two Americans and four indigenous operators — went in packed.

They carried CAR-15 rifles, sawed-off M-79 grenade launchers, detonation cord to clear landing zones, dozens of M-26 fragmentation grenades and Claymore mines, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. In the field, firepower was life.

For the Claymores — small boxes with C4 explosive and hundreds of small metal balls — the team carried five- and ten-second fuses. In case they were compromised and running toward a landing zone, they would drop the Claymores and pull the fuse. The NVA were often so close behind that those fuses were barely long enough.

ST Idaho was used to operating in Laos. In Cambodia, however, the game was played differently.

The State Department had imposed strict limitations to the rules of engagement there. The teams couldn't rely on fixed-wing aircraft for close air support or use white phosphorus, and they could only go 20 km from the border.

ST Idaho, however, found consolation in the Air Force's 20th Special Operations Squadron. Nicknamed the "Green Hornets," these airmen flew the UH-1P Huey, a better version of the helicopter also in use by the Army.

More importantly to ST Idaho was the Green Hornets' arsenal, which included rockets, M-60 machine guns, and M134 mini-guns with tens of thousands of rounds.

A Thanksgiving to remember

On Thanksgiving Day, the team was inserted without incident and began patrolling. After a few minutes, they sighted smoke and moved toward it.

They were soon in the periphery of a huge enemy base camp, but the NVA weren't home. As the point man, one of the indigenous operators, scouted for the enemy, Meyer snapped pictures.

Suddenly, the point man shouted, "Beaucoup VC!" Although Meyer couldn't spot any enemy, he trusted his indigenous teammate and gave the call to withdraw. As he did, the NVA arrived.

Seemingly hundreds of enemy soldiers came pouring in from the south and north. The team leap-frogged toward their landing zone, planting Claymores, lobbying grenades, and firing their CAR-15s as they went. Despite their casualties, the NVA kept running after them.

ST Idaho set up a hasty perimeter around the LZ, waiting for the Green Hornets. As more and more NVA appeared, the cavalry arrived.

The Huey gunships put down a devastating rate of fire that kept the NVA at bay long enough for ST Idaho to climb up the helicopters. As Meyer's Huey was getting ready to lift off, a lone NVA soldier broke through the hail of fire and stopped feet away from the chopper.

"I remember watching the clumps of mud from his boots slowly kicking upward toward the rotors as the door gunner and I hit him in the chest with a burst of gunfire," Meyer told Insider.

As the choppers rose, several more NVA burst into the perimeter, firing at the Americans. Meyer threw a white phosphorus grenade as a parting gift. Minutes later, ST Idaho was safely back on base. They had found the missing divisions.

"It was one of the most terrifying missions of my 19 months in SOG," Meyer told Insider.

That says a lot, given the hair-raising operations that Meyer participated in and has written about. But ST Idaho wouldn't have made it without the Green Hornets.

"Nothing gave us more satisfaction than getting our SF brothers out when they got in trouble, which was almost all the time," Alfonso Rivero, a Green Hornet gunner, told Insider. "The feeling of camaraderie and brotherhood among all of us SOG people remain to this day. Nothing like it."

Despite barely surviving, the team's morale was unaffected.

"We were very sober at first, realizing how close we came to getting whacked," Meyer said. "We took pride in accomplishing the mission, but there was no braggadocio about it. We went in again two days later."

Just another day in SOG's secret war.

• Warren Buffett joked in a CNBC interview in 2010 that he would've faced a fast-food Thanksgiving in 2008 if US authorities hadn't saved the financial system.
• "If the government hadn't acted, I would be eating Thanksgiving dinner at McDonald's," he said.
• The famed investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO wouldn't mind too much, as he typically picks up breakfast at the restaurant chain on his way to work.
• Buffett is also the proud owner of a McDonald's gold card, meaning he can eat for free at the company's restaurants in Omaha.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Warren Buffett would have celebrated Thanksgiving with a Big Mac, fries, and a milkshake in 2008 if US officials hadn't bailed out the banks, he joked in a CNBC interview in 2010.

"If the government hadn't acted, I would be eating Thanksgiving dinner at McDonald's," he quipped.

Read more: An innovation-focused portfolio manager at a $158 billion firm shares 8 disruptive stocks across multiple industries he thinks could grow 30% every year over the next decade

The billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO was underscoring the enormous threat posed by the financial crisis in 2008. However, few would put it past him to follow through on a fast-food Thanksgiving.

Buffett typically grabs breakfast at McDonald's during his morning drive to the office, opting for a pricier bacon-egg-and-cheese biscuit if he's feeling especially wealthy. He also carries one of the restaurant chain's gold cards, which entitles him to free McDonald's meals for life in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.

"That's why the Buffett family has Christmas dinner at McDonald's," he joked in a CNBC interview in 2007.

Read more: A senior portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley's $665 billion investment-management business shares his playbook as stocks run higher in 2020 — and 3 non-COVID threats that will occupy his attention in 2021

Buffett isn't shy about showing his love for McDonald's or his thriftiness — even when he's spending time with Bill Gates, one of the wealthiest men in the world.

"Remember the laugh we had when we traveled together to Hong Kong and decided to get lunch at McDonald's?" Gates wrote in a public letter to Buffett in 2017. "You offered to pay, dug into your pocket, and pulled out…coupons!"

Giving thanks to the government

Buffett joked about celebrating Thanksgiving at McDonald's shortly after he praised the US government's financial-crisis interventions in a New York Times op-ed article.

"The challenge was huge, and many people thought you were not up to it," he wrote. "Well, Uncle Sam, you delivered."

The investor signed the letter "Your grateful nephew, Warren."

Read more: Lazard's top ESG stock-picker outlines the 3-part strategy he's used to beat 75% of his peers and smash his benchmark without paying Tesla-like prices

There are few people more qualified than Buffett to judge the federal response in that period. When credit markets seized up, Berkshire invested billions of dollars in blue-chip companies including Goldman Sachs and General Electric, and it loaned much-needed cash to ailing businesses such as Harley-Davidson.

The investor also called Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson in October 2008 to suggest the US government invest directly in the banks instead of only buying their assets, inspiring a program that might have staved off an even deeper recession.

When you buy through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. Learn more.

Amazon Prime Day might still be fresh in your memory, but Black Friday is fast approaching. Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) are the best days of the year to shop for TVs, kitchen appliances, smart home devices, and fashion, and Amazon is one of the most convenient places to shop, especially for Prime subscribers. 

This year is shaping up to be no different. Although Black Friday officially starts the day after Thanksgiving, Amazon has been offering deals since November 20.

Amazon Black Friday tech deals

Black Friday deals on Amazon devices and services

Shoppers can expect thousands of deals to crop up in the weeks leading up to and following Black Friday 2020, and they include Amazon's collection of devices, like Ring security cameras, Fire TVs, Kindle ebook readers, Amazon Echo speakers, and eero routers.

Amazon Black Friday gaming deals

Amazon Black Friday home and kitchen deals

When does Amazon's Black Friday sale start?

Black Friday is an annual sales event that traditionally happens at the end of November, after Thanksgiving, and it's followed closely by Cyber Monday. This year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday land on November 27 and November 30, respectively.

Amazon will officially kick off its Black Friday deals on November 20, with discounts on tons of products including Amazon-branded goods, Echo devices, Ring smart home devices, and more. Just like during Prime Day, Amazon is highlighting several small businesses during its Small Business Holiday Deals sale, with up to 20% off select products. 

What should I buy from Amazon's Black Friday deals?

Amazon is the everything store — which means if something is on your shopping list, it will likely see a discount during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

We'll likely see huge discounts on Amazon's in-house brands, Fire devices, Kindles, and Echo smart home gadgetry that matches what we saw during Prime Day. Plus, we expect to see several of Amazon's services dramatic markdowns like we saw on Prime Day, tweaked slightly. 

Consider Amazon Music Unlimited: On Prime Day, Amazon offered 4 months of its premium tier for $1, while for Black Friday, the offer is 3 free months.

On top of that, the sale will likely encompass every product category Amazon offers, which is to say, everything. Tech, beauty, home and kitchen, fashion, and smart home are some of the categories to be on the lookout for. 

Last year, we saw discounts of up to 50% on streaming sticks, voice assistants, headphones, and more. 

There are two deal types you should be aware of during Black Friday: daily deals and Lightning deals. The former are one-day offers, usually grouped by brand or category, and change at the end of the day. The latter are limited-time offers, often less than 24 hours, released throughout the day.

Each is limited by stock. So, it's not unwise to reorganize your shopping behavior; create the order first and agonize about the purchase afterward (you can always cancel the order before it ships without any penalty.) 

How we're selecting the best Amazon Black Friday deals 

• We only choose products that meet our high standard of coverage, and that we've either used ourselves or researched carefully.
• We will compare the prices against other retailers like Target and Best Buy and only included the deals that are the same or better (not including promotional discounts that come from using certain credit cards).
• All deals are at least 20% off, with the occasional exception for products that are rarely discounted or provide an outsized value.

Do I need to be a Prime member to shop Black Friday at Amazon?

Unlike Prime Day, which required a Prime subscription, Amazon's Black Friday sale is open to everyone. 

However, shopping on Amazon costs more and takes longer without a Prime membership. That said, if you're like most Americans and plan to do most of your holiday shopping during Black Friday, we strongly suggest you become a Prime member.

A Prime membership costs $13 per month, or $119 for a full year, which may seem steep, but it's still completely worth it. Of course, you could sign up for a 30-day trial, or just pay for a month-long membership. (You're in the window where you can start now, shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and not have to pay for the subscription.) Amazon also offers discounted Prime memberships for a few select groups.

No matter how you spin it, subscribing to Prime is the best way to make the most out of Amazon during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Can I order online and pick up in a store?

Unlike Target, Best Buy, and Walmart, Amazon shoppers are unable to shop at a store.

However, Amazon offers a few ways to ship your orders in addition to the standard two-day shipping, including free same-day shipping (which may be hard to come by during Black Friday), Amazon Day scheduled deliveries, and Amazon Hub Locker pickup, which offers a self-service delivery location, or locker, to pick up and return your orders.

Deals by store

• Amazon Black Friday deals
• Apple Black Friday deals
• Best Buy Black Friday deals
• Bombas Black Friday deals on socks and loungewear
• Brooklinen Black Friday deals on bedding, sheets, towels, and more
• Casper Black Friday deals on mattresses, sheets, pillows, and more
• Dick's Sporting Goods Black Friday deals
• GameStop Black Friday deals
• The Home Depot Black Friday deals
• Kohl's Black Friday deals
• Macy's Black Friday deals
• Rhone Black Friday deals on men's workout clothes and fitness apparel
• Target Black Friday deals
• Tommy John Black Friday deals on men's and women's underwear and loungewear
• Udemy Black Friday deals on online courses
• Ulta Black Friday deals
• Walmart Black Friday deals
• Wayfair Black Friday deals

• Deutsche Bank is considering letting staff permanently work two days a week from home, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
• The policy won't apply to all employees at Deutsche Bank, which has offices all around the world, and regulatory concerns still need to be addressed, they said.
• A Deutsche Bank spokesperson told Business Insider: "We are working on a hybrid model that will combine working from home as well as in the office. No decision has been made yet."
• Earlier in November, Deutsche Bank researchers called for a 5% tax on people choosing to work from home, arguing that remote work saved employees money.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Deutsche Bank could soon allow most employees to permanently work from home two days a week, according to a Bloomberg report.

The two-day rule has emerged as the preferred plan for Germany's biggest bank during discussions about remote working over the past few months, according to people familiar with the matter who requested to remain anonymous, per Bloomberg.

Deutsche told Business Insider it was looking at a "hybrid model that will combine working from home as well as in the office," but that no decisions had been made.

Before the pandemic, the 90,000-person German bank, which has offices all over the world, only had a few thousand employees working from home. Since then, its systems and procedures have had to support up to 70,000 people across the world working remotely at the same time.

The people told Bloomberg that the policy won't apply to all staff in the company, and regulatory questions still need to be addressed.

Lawmakers in several countries still need to finalize Deutsche Bank's new plan, one person said.

The people said that it isn't yet clear how the bank will handle confidentiality issues when people are working remotely. This will probably lead to offices in different countries having separate policies, they added.

A Deutsche Bank spokesperson told Business Insider: "We are exploring what positive lessons Deutsche Bank can learn from the COVID-19 crisis about how we work as a bank in the future.

"We are working on a hybrid model that will combine working from home as well as in the office," they said. "No decision has been made yet."

Read more: Inside the daily routine of a Deutsche Bank managing director, who used to travel 10 days a month for work and moved from Manhattan to upstate New York during the pandemic

Deutsche Bank's potential policy shift comes after the company's research arm, Deutsche Bank Research, called for a 5% tax on people choosing to work from home.

The researchers argued that working from home saves people money on transport and clothes. Money raised from the tax could support people on low incomes who cannot do their jobs remotely, they said in a report. 

In May, Tiina Lee, chief executive of Deutsche Bank in the UK and Ireland, said the company faced "some challenges because so many started to work from home in a short period."

Sales and trading operations were the main hurdles because they require more technology and equipment, Lee said.

Many major companies are continuing to work remotely amid the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic.

American Express, Airbnb, and Uber have extended their work-from-home policies, whilst staff at Twitter have been told they can work from home forever. 

• Seven conservative lawmakers in New Hampshire have called for the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Governor Chris Sununu, a Republican, can be impeached.
• Sununu has ruled by executive order during the pandemic, and his recent statewide mask mandate violates constitutional rights, the resolution's backers said.
• But the vast majority of New Hampshire residents approve of the way Sununu handled the pandemic. The state has one of the country's lowest infection rates.
• The state's GOP chair and vice-chair called the investigation request "foolish."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Seven conservative lawmakers in New Hampshire have called for an investigation into whether the state's GOP governor Chris Sununu can be impeached for ruling by executive order during the pandemic.

This news comes just days after the governor implemented a mask mandate requiring people to wear a face covering in public places, which led to an anti-mask demonstration outside his home in Newfields on Sunday.

According to a filing by the New Hampshire General Court, Andrew Prout, a Republican member of the state's House of Representatives, was the prime sponsor of the request, titled "authorizing and directing the house judiciary committee to investigate whether cause exists for the impeachment of Governor Christopher T. Sununu."

"The mask mandate was the last straw," Prout told NHJournal. "Governor Sununu has a newly-elected GOP legislature he should be working with, but instead he continues to rule by executive order without any legislative consultation."

The effort has been backed by four other incumbent state representatives and two representatives-elect.

The representatives will call for the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether there is evidence to impeach Sununu during next year's legislative session, but the House has to vote in favor of the inquiry for it to be launched.

If it does find grounds for impeachment, the motion would have to be approved by both the House and the Senate.

But the GOP has a majority in the House, and the New Hampshire governor is popular among both party members and other political groups. Sununu won re-election to his third term with almost two-thirds of the votes.

Voters have approved of his COVID-19 management. A poll by the University of New Hampshire found that 95% of Republicans and 70% of Democrats approved of his handling of the pandemic.

The state has one of the lowest infection rates in the country.

The state's GOP Chair Steve Stepanek and Vice-Chair Pamela Tucker released a statement "condemning State Representatives' foolish investigation request."

The state "overwhelmingly approves" of Sununu's handling of the pandemic, Stepanek and Tucker said.

"Talk of impeachment is a severe obfuscation of the reasons Granite Staters elected Republicans on November 3 and these House members seeking headlines will look foolish when this effort falls flat before it even gets off the ground," they added.

A conservative New Hampshire lawmaker similarly told Fox News that there is little wider support for the impeachment call.

Read more: There are 12 coronavirus tests you can use from home. Here's how they work and where to order one.

On November 19, Sununu issued a mask mandate by executive order that requires state residents to wear a mask or face covering in public spaces, both indoors and outdoors, when they cannot stay at least six foot away from other people.

"This is not a decision that came lightly," Sununu said. Rising hospitalization rates and increased community transmission pushed him to introduce the mandate, he said.

Prior to that, the state had heavily encouraged mask wearing, but it wasn't compulsory.

The mandate, which came into effect Friday, isn't as strict as some implemented in other states. Staff and pupils, for examples, are exempt while on site in schools.

After Sununu issued the mandate, protesters staged an anti-mask demonstration outside his home in Newfields on Sunday. At least 100 people took part in the protest, chanting phrases such as "Breathe free or die" and "We will not comply."

—Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) November 22, 2020

"I would say that the mask mandate was the final straw," Representative Michael Sylvia, a Republican and one of the backers of the impeachment resolution, told the Concord Monitor. "That is another very clear violation of our rights that we are guaranteed under our Constitution."

Over the course of New Hampshire's history, the House of Representatives has only brought about two impeachments. Both were against Supreme Court Justices.

Sununu and Prout did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• You can register here if you're a Business Insider subscriber for our event on December 3 at 1 PM ET.
• If not, you can sign up to become a subscriber here. 

Landing a job in the ultra-competitive world of private-equity is a challenge, even for the most prepared candidates.

That's only been complicated by a chaotic and unpredictable 2020, in which the private-equity hiring timeline has been upended by the coronavirus pandemic, and the traditional rites of recruiting — coffee-chats, gatherings with headhunters, and fierce superdays — have been delayed instead of shifting online.

Business Insider is breaking down the confusing process with an upcoming live panel discussion on private-equity recruiting, featuring four experienced recruiters from top firms.

Join us on Thursday, December 3, at 1 p.m. ET, as Business Insider's Wall Street reporter Reed Alexander moderates a panel featuring Sarah Diniz, vice president in human resources, Bain Capital; James Cherubim, head of talent acquisition, The Carlyle Group; Matt Breitfelder, global head of human capital, Apollo; and Anthony Keizner, co-managing partner, Odyssey Search Partners.

These top recruiters will discuss how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted private-equity hiring, share tips on how to make it in the industry whether you come from a target or non-target school, and take reader questions. 

You can register here if you're a Business Insider subscriber. 

If not, sign up here to become a subscriber. 

• Moderna's coronavirus vaccine candidate is 94.5% effective at protecting people against COVID-19, according to the company.
• The candidate took under a year to develop and test, which is years faster than previous vaccines.
• The company designed its vaccine candidate in just two days. In contrast, traditional vaccines can take years to design.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Moderna's coronavirus vaccine candidate was found to be 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19 in clinical trials, the company announced last week.

The vaccine's development process was unprecedentedly fast — only the team of Pfizer and BioNTech beat the biotech newcomer in announcing results from a late-stage clinical trial.

The experimental vaccine was also far more effective than expected: The Food and Drug Administration had said it would likely approve a vaccine that showed at least 50% efficacy, and Dr. Anthony Fauci had said he hoped for 70%. (AstraZeneca found its coronavirus vaccine candidate to be 70% effective on average, while Pfizer-BioNTech reported their shot is 95% effective.) 

But perhaps more remarkable is that Moderna designed its vaccine in just two days in January, before some people had even heard of the coronavirus.

That wouldn't have been possible without the technology Moderna has bet on since its founding: messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines.

Messenger RNA is genetic material that tells cells how to make proteins. So Moderna's coronavirus vaccine candidate works by injecting a small piece of mRNA from the coronavirus that codes for the virus' spike protein. This protein helps the coronavirus attach to and invade cells, and it's what antibodies target and neutralize. Moderna's mRNA vaccine spurs the body to produce the spike protein internally. That, in turn, triggers an immune response.

Pfizer's candidate, which the company says is 95% effective, is also mRNA-based.

Utilizing mRNA vaccine technology meant Pfizer and Moderna only needed the coronavirus' genetic sequence to make a vaccine — no live virus had to be cultured and grown in labs. That's why they were able to progress in record time. In contrast, for most traditional vaccine platforms, the process can take years.

"What you could probably do is make this a whole new way of making drugs, vaccines, almost anything," Bob Langer, one of Moderna's founders, previously told Business Insider.

Read more: How the sprint for a coronavirus vaccine transformed Moderna into a $39 billion powerhouse that's poised to reshape biotech

The FDA has never approved an mRNA-based vaccine or treatment before, so to many, Moderna's bet looked risky. But it appears to be set to pay off. Moderna will soon ask the FDA to authorize its coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, and Pfizer has already submitted its application.

If the FDA gives the green light to the shots, mRNA vaccines are poised to set a new industry standard.  

How Moderna got ahead of the coronavirus

On January 6, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel emailed Barney Graham, a vaccine researcher at the National Institutes of Health. Bancel was troubled by a mysterious virus outbreak in Wuhan, China. He then talked with Graham about developing a vaccine for the virus.

Moderna had been working with the NIH since 2017 on vaccines, and had not yet gotten a vaccine approved. Graham agreed.

On January 11, researchers from China published the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus. Two days later, Moderna's team and NIH scientists had finalized the targeted genetic sequence it would use in its vaccine.

Bancel downplayed the accomplishment in an interview with the New York Times.

"This is not a complicated virus," he said. 

By February 24, Moderna had shipped out its first vaccine batches to NIH scientists in Bethesda, Maryland. Researchers administered the first dose on March 16 in Seattle, Washington. That launched the first clinical trial of any coronavirus vaccine.

Moderna's speed may lead some to wonder whether the company sacrificed thoroughness. But that's not the case, according to Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association.

"We're not skipping steps — we actually have better technology," Rizzo told Business Insider. "Why did it take two weeks to cross the Atlantic back in the 1800s? Well, we had to go on a boat. Whereas now, you can get across the ocean in several hours."

The pros and cons of mRNA vaccines

For decades, vaccines contained a dead or weakened version of the virus itself. Then early advances in genetics allowed vaccines to use proteins made by the virus instead. That method was first used in the 1980s to develop a vaccine for hepatitis B.

Companies like Novavax are relying on the protein-based model to create their coronavirus vaccine candidates. But Moderna's business has revolved around mRNA since it started in 2010.

RNA vaccines offer a big advantage: speed. Since they're produced in test tubes rather than cultivated using cells, they're quicker to produce. 

But the vaccines have drawbacks. For one, they require that people get two injections. Pfizer is delivering its two shots three weeks apart, while Moderna's trial participants received two shots four weeks apart. 

The vaccines are also difficult to deliver and store. Pfizer's vaccine needs to be shipped at -94 degrees Fahrenheit, which requires dry ice and special freezers. Moderna's requires a temperature of -4 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a bit colder than the average freezer.

Still, Moderna's market value has risen by over 400% since January, to more than $40 billion.

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• Now through November 30, new subscribers can sign up for a Basic Hulu subscription for just $1.99 a month as a Black Friday deal.
• Hulu is one of the best and most affordable streaming services for TV shows, movies, and live TV. After the promotion ends, the ad-supported Basic subscription costs $5.99 a month. 
• Learn more about Hulu Basic in our breakdown of the service. 
• To potentially save more on Black Friday deals this year, visit Business Insider Coupons to find the most up-to-date Hulu coupons and promo codes.

This Black Friday, products aren't the only things you can save on. Hulu, one of the best streaming services for TV shows, movies, and live TV, is once again offering a can't-miss deal for new subscribers. 

Hulu's Black Friday 2020 deal

Available now through 11:59 p.m. PT on November 30: New subscribers can sign up for the ad-supported Basic Hulu subscription for just $1.99 a month.

That brings the total cost to a little under $24 for the entire year (a $48 savings). After the promotion ends, your subscription will cost $5.99 a month. 

There are a couple of restrictions:

• Only new Hulu subscribers — meaning brand-new subscribers and past subscribers who ended their Hulu plans at least three months prior to the promotion — are eligible for this deal. 
• If you signed up for Hulu's $1.99 promotion that ran during Black Friday last year, you are not eligible for the new deal. 

You may also want to check out the Disney Plus-Hulu-ESPN bundle, which allows you to get all three services for $12.99 a month. Read more about the bundle here. 

Hulu plans and pricing 

How much is Hulu? Normally, the Hulu Basic subscription (ad-supported) costs $5.99 a month, so you'll save $4 a month, or $48 in total for the year. The Premium subscription (ad-free) costs $11.99 a month, and there are also options to add Live TV or other services such as HBO or Disney Plus to your Hulu subscription. 

After the 12-month promotion ends, you'll pay $5.99 a month. 

What's included in the Hulu deal?

If you qualify, you get access to all content on Hulu, which includes original programming like "The Handmaid's Tale," old and new TV favorites like "Grey's Anatomy" and "This Is Us," and movies spanning all genres. The timing of this deal is perfect — there are many entertaining Christmas movies you can start streaming immediately to get in the holiday spirit. 

More Black Friday 2020 streaming deals: 

If you're interested in streaming and entertainment promotions specifically, Sling TV, Peacock. Tidal, Spotify, and Amazon Music also have limited-time Black Friday sales this week.

We're covering all the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals from top retailers here: 

• Best Black Friday 2020 deals 
• Black Friday tech deals 
• Amazon Black Friday deals 
• Best Buy Black Friday deals
• Target Black Friday deals 
• Walmart Black Friday deals 
• Kohl's Black Friday deals 

Read more about Hulu:

• What is Hulu Basic and what shows can you watch?
• What is Hulu Premium and is it worth the extra cost?
• The best Hulu original shows
• How to watch live TV on Hulu

• Donald Trump Jr. announced Wednesday night that he'd been cleared to end his COVID-19 isolation and celebrate Thanksgiving "the way it's meant to be."
• On Friday, Trump Jr. announced that he tested positive for COVID-19.
• It's not clear when Trump Jr. received his positive diagnosis, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend even asymptomatic COVID patients isolate for 10 days.
• A spokesman for Trump Jr. told Business Insider that the president's son is asymptomatic and has been isolating since he received his positive test, which came in "at the start of the week" last week.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Donald Trump Jr. announced he'd tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.

Five days later, Trump Jr. announced he was cleared to be with his family for Thanksgiving: "I got the medical OK I'm all done with the Rona," he wrote on Instagram.

An Instagram video showed Trump Jr. with his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle in front of a turkey dinner Wednesday evening: "So I got cleared, happy to be healthy, and we get to spend Thanksgiving the way it's meant to be," he said.

A post shared by Donald Trump Jr. (@donaldjtrumpjr)

The two bought enough food for "six or seven people," Trump Jr. said, and were eating it on Wednesday "as a little extra celebration."

He added that the meal in the video was their "back up plan." He added that they were "just going to double up on the Thanksgiving day feast," suggesting that couple will have a second Thanksgiving meal Thursday with other people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends against any gathering that brings together people from different households for the holidays.

CDC recommends people sick with COVID-19 isolate for 10 days, even if they're asymptomatic

In a Friday Instagram video confirming his diagnosis, Trump Jr. emphasized that he was "totally asymptomatic" but would "follow the regular protocols."

He suggested it could have been a false positive test, and said that he hoped he could "test a couple times in a row negative before the holidays."

A post shared by Donald Trump Jr. (@donaldjtrumpjr)

According to the CDC, even people who have no symptoms need to isolate for 10 days following the date of their positive test before they can be around others (including household and family members). Experts also warn that a negative test is not necessarily a free pass to spend the holiday with family.

It's not clear when Trump Jr. first learned he had COVID-19.

A spokesman for Trump Jr. told Business Insider Friday that the president's eldest son had been isolating since he received his positive test.

"Don tested positive at the start of the week and has been quarantining out at his cabin since the result," the spokesperson said. "He's been completely asymptomatic so far and is following all medically recommended COVID-19 guidelines."

It also recommends against anyone attending or hosting a Thanksgiving gathering with a person who has been exposed to someone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days, which would include Guilfoyle.

Trump Jr.'s girlfriend did test positive for COVID-19 earlier this year.

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• You don't have to wait until tomorrow to score great deals from Walmart. Favorites like Instant Pots and Nest Hubs are already available at discounted prices.
• We're seeing similar deals for these products and more at competing retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Target.
• See more: How to get a free 15-day trial of Walmart Plus, Walmart's Amazon Prime-like membership.
• Insider Reviews is covering all the best deals during Black Friday 2020 and Cyber Monday 2020.

Walmart has been rolling out new Black Friday deals all week, and some of the most popular products are already discounted. We found deals on Instant Pot, Google Nest Hub, Echelon exercise bikes, Chromecast, Graco car seats, and more. 

Headlining Walmart's current sales are some of the lowest prices we've ever seen on Instant Pots. The best Walmart Instant Pot deals right now include 50% off the Instant Pot Duo Crisp with an air fryer attachment lid (down to $79 from $149) and 50% off the 6-Quart Instant Pot VIVA (down to $49 from $100). The Instant Pot DUO 60, which we've determined to the best Instant Pot you can buy, is also on sale for $79 — $20 off its normal price of $99. This is a pretty common discount price that we often see on this model during major sales, so if you're interested in this model, it might be worth it to wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday to see if the price dips even further. 

The Google Nest Hub Max is also seeing a price drop from $229 to $179 (a $50 savings). While its speaker isn't as powerful as the Home Max, it makes up for it with its large 10-inch display that can be used for video calls, home security, web surfing, and streaming. Read our full review of the Hub Max here. We're also seeing a big discount on Google Chromecast, a small device that fits on the back of your TV and enables streaming from Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, and more. The price is down to $18.99, a savings of $11, making this an impactful stock stuffer or gift. 

If you're looking to stay fit this holiday season, the Echelon Connect Exercise Bike is on sale for $497 for a savings of $102. It also comes with a free six-month subscription to its fitness app. This matches the deal we saw during Walmart's competing Prime Day sale back in October.

Walmart and other retailers will continue to add deals throughout the weekend, so keep your eye on all our Black Friday coverage for the best deals. 

Best Black Friday 2020 deals from Walmart

• Get up to 60% off women's clothing
• Get up to 60% off men's clothing
• Get up to 60% off baby and kid's clothing
• Get up to 60% off shoes

How we select the best Black Friday deals at Walmart

• We only choose products that meet our high standard of coverage, from brands we've tested and trust.
• We compare the prices against other retailers like Amazon, Target, and Best Buy and only include the deals that are the same or better (not including promotional discounts that come from using certain credit cards).
• We research price history thoroughly, to ensure that every deal we list is actually worth your time.

• Older retail investors were "partly responsible" for the market's price swings through October and November, while younger traders played "a rather modest role," JPMorgan strategists said Tuesday.
• While the younger group tends to invest in individual stocks and options, the older cohort more often uses funds to invest.
• Older investors have been selling equity funds and buying bond funds through most of 2020, acting as a drag on the stock market, the bank said.
• Retail investors' trading volumes fell from roughly 23% of all market volume in June to just 16% in September. The decline "raises questions about the narrative" that retail investors were behind the market's summer rally, JPMorgan said.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Millennial investors made headlines over the summer, but older investors were a bigger part of driving the market's recent swings, JPMorgan strategists said Tuesday.

A surge in retail-investor trading activity coincided with stocks' climb to record highs in September, leading Wall Street to wonder whether individual traders were a new market driver. First-time millennial and Generation Z investors garnered attention for risky day-trading habits and interest in highly volatile stocks.

But while Wall Street legends including Leon Cooperman and Warren Buffett cautioned younger investors against high-risk plays, older retail traders played a bigger role in the market's recent turbulence, according to JPMorgan.

The older group has been selling equity funds and buying bonds throughout the year and acting as a drag on the equity market, strategists led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said in a note to clients. In turn, the cohort was "partly responsible" for the correction in October and the bounce-back in November, they said.

Read more: Goldman Sachs says to buy these 26 stocks poised to deliver the strongest earnings growth in 2021 as the S&P 500 surges another 20%

Younger investors, who tend to invest directly in individual stocks and options more than funds, appear to have played "a rather modest role" in steering the market, the team added. New York Stock Exchange margin-account data showed buying of nearly $30 billion in September, down from $40 billion in August, suggesting younger investors "played little role" in that month's correction, the strategists said.

While NYSE margin-account data for October hasn't been published, small call-option flows point to a similarly modest impact of younger traders over the past two months, they added.

Falling trading volumes detract from claims that retail investors have taken over the market. Trading volume at retail brokerages surged over the summer as people rushed to profit from economic reopenings and the market's rapid ascent. Trades made through Robinhood, E-Trade, Charles Schwab, and TD Ameritrade accounted for a record high 23% of all US equity market volume in June. But that share fell to 16% in September, landing just above pre-pandemic levels.

Read more: A portfolio manager at $38 billion Baron Funds shares his checklist for investing in the most promising SPACs — and names 3 of the booming 'blank-check companies' he finds attractive now

The sharp decline in retail trading through the third quarter "raises questions about the narrative that US retail investors' buying of individual stocks has been the main driver of the broader equity market rally this year," JPMorgan said.

Now read more markets coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:

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

US stocks waver as worse-than-expected jobless claims nullify reopening hopes

Nikola dives 17% after CEO offers murky commentary on GM deal ahead of December 3 deadline

• Amazon Sidewalk is launching in the US as an opt-out feature that will connect Echo and Ring doorbells to any nearby Alexa device, even those owned by your neighbors. 
• Amazon said Sidewalk uses WiFi from neighbors to create "a shared network that helps devices work better," but some raised privacy concerns. 
• Amazon apologized to UK Alexa owners, some of whom were notified of the US-only launch. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Amazon users are being automatically opted into Sidewalk, a feature that will connect Alexa devices to nearby WiFi networks, even those owned by someone else. 

Sidewalk uses Alexa devices, including Echo and Ring video doorbells, to create a "shared network" that will help "devices work better," Amazon said in an email to device owners. It allows nearby devices to use a portion of a neighbor's WiFi bandwidth, so that devices can have more range. 

Amazon said on a launch page: "These Bridge devices share a small portion of your internet bandwidth which is pooled together to provide these services to you and your neighbors. And when more neighbors participate, the network becomes even stronger."

Anticipating privacy concerns, Amazon published a research paper detailing the technology behind Sidewalk and the steps taken to keep users' data private. The company concluded that privacy was one of the "foundational principals" of Sidewalk's design. 

The report's authors said: "By sharing a small portion of their home network bandwidth, neighbors give a little – but get a lot in return." 

Some were still skeptical of whether such a network would keep user data private. Surrey University Professor Alan Woodward, who specializes in cybersecurity, told BBC News that Sidewalk should be an opt-in feature, adding, "It feels wrong not knowing what your device is connected to."

Ian Thornton-Trump, chief information security officer at Cyjax, told Forbes the launch was "deeply problematic from a privacy perspective."

"The 'on by default' approach is not consumer friendly. 'No one rides on my Wi-fi for free,' especially a giant corporation with billions of dollars," Thornton-Trump said.

In an emailed statement, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed that Sidewalk is automatically enabled for existing customers.

The spokesperson said: "But well before Sidewalk launches, we will notify existing customers with eligible Bridge devices so they can consider the benefits of Sidewalk before deciding if they want to change their preferences. After all existing customers are notified, all customers setting up a Sidewalk Bridge for the first time will have the opportunity to enable Sidewalk during device setup. All customers will have the option to change their Sidewalk preferences anytime in their Alexa app or Ring Control Center settings."

As of Wednesday, Amazon was only rolling Sidewalk out in the US, but some UK users reported getting an email about its launch. 

—Amazon Help (@AmazonHelp) November 25, 2020

Amazon apologized on Twitter via its Support account, saying: "I apologize for any confusion. We recently began emailing customers with Echo devices registered in the US to give them more information about Amazon Sidewalk. This service will only be available in the US when it launches."

• There is growing speculation that President Donald Trump could decide to issue himself a presidential pardon before leaving office in January, as a way to shield himself from future prosecution.
• On Wednesday, Trump retweeted a post from GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, which said that the president should pardon "everyone from himself, to his admin, to Joe Exotic if he has to."
• Under the US Constitution, the president has virtually unlimited powers of clemency in federal cases. 
• But experts say that any attempt by the president to pardon himself would likely be construed as an admission of guilt and could be successfully challenged in the Supreme Court.
• A pardon would only apply to federal offenses Trump could be hypothetically found guilty of, and not alleged crimes investigated by state attorneys — like those currently being conducted by Manhattan's district attorney. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In time-honored style, President Donald Trump spent Thanksgiving Eve taking part in the annual presidential turkey pardoning ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.

It's a lighthearted use of the extensive pardoning powers a president holds under the US Constitution.

But speculation is already swirling around a potentially far more serious use to which Trump could put the power, following his decision to pardon former national security advisor Michael Flynn, who in 2017 pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his communications with Russia.

On Wednesday, the president retweeted a post from GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, which said: "President Trump should pardon Flynn, the Thanksgiving turkey, and everyone from himself, to his admin, to Joe Exotic if he has to."

Could Trump use the power to pardon himself? Trump clearly believes he does, as he said in 2018: "As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?"

—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2018

It's an issue he's also discussed with friends and allies, according to Vanity Fair. 

Trump has not been charged with any crimes, but faces at least nine possible lawsuits after leaving office, including a criminal probe into his business activities by Manhattan Attorney General Cyrus Vance.

But the presidential pardoning power only applies to federal crimes, so would not apply to any of the nine lawsuits currently being pursued. 

What the Constitution says

Trump enjoys broad immunities from federal probes as president, and there are currently no known federal investigations being conducted into possible crimes by Trump.

But that could hypothetically change after January 20, when he leaves office. 

The US Constitution says that the president's powers of clemency are broad, and certainly does not rule out the president pardoning himself.

It states that "the president … shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment."

Harvard University law professor Mark Tushnet told Vox in 2018: "A self-pardon for ordinary criminal offenses does not fall within that exception, on my understanding."

The Supreme Court would likely be involved

But given that no president in US history has attempted to use the power to absolve himself, many lawyers think it's a move that would face serious legal challenges, and would likely end up before the Supreme Court. 

There are two key legal precedents that would likely come in to play during such a hearing. 

One is a 1915 Supreme Court ruling that some legal experts say means that an attempt to self-pardon for crimes constitutes an admission of guilt.

So self-pardoning would be a risky move for Trump, and could leave him legally exposed. 

However, Michigan Law professor Brian Kalt wrote in The Washington Post that it is possible to interpret the ruling as not signifying an admission of guilt — so it's a gamble Trump may wish to take. 

There is also the opinion of Mary C Lawton, the acting assistant attorney general during President Richard Nixon's administration, who in 1974 said that under the legal rule that no one can be their own judge, the president cannot pardon himself. 

It's another precedent that Supreme Court judges would likely have to weigh if they ever have to decide on the legality of a Trump self-pardon.

Jeffrey Cramer, a former federal prosecutor who served 12 years at the Justice Department, told Business Insider in 2018 that the Supreme Court would likely deem a presidential self-pardon unconstitutional.

"What's the alternative? The Supreme Court actually saying the president is above the law?" Kramer said.

But there is another last-ditch option open to Trump, if he wants to shield himself from possible federal prosecutions.

In theory, he could step down before leaving office, handing the presidency to Vice President Mike Pence, who would then be able to issue a pardon for Trump that would be free from the problems Trump would face if he issued the pardon himself.

It was the route chosen by President Gerald Ford when he pardoned Nixon in the wake of the Watergate crisis.

But it is a move that could well place Pence — who is rumored to be mulling a 2024 presidential run — in political and legal difficulties, according to CNN legal analyst Eliott Williams. 

Ultimately, the fact that a self-pardon is an option being seriously discussed highlights the legal problems that Trump could face when he leaves office. 

• The UK pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is likely to run a second global trial to assess its COVID-19 vaccine's efficacy, its CEO told Bloomberg News on Thursday.
• AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford announced Monday that preliminary results indicated their two-dose vaccine could be up to 90% effective at preventing COVID-19.
• But the team later said an error in the trial left some participants with half-doses instead of full doses.
• Experts said that error cast doubt on the validity of the efficacy rate and warranted further study.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Experts' trust in the validity of AstraZeneca's reported COVID-19 vaccine data has quickly eroded.

AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said on Monday that their coronavirus vaccine was found to be up to 90% effective based on preliminary results from studies of 23,000 volunteers in Brazil and the UK.

But reports of an error during its initial trial prompted a barrage of questions.

On Thursday, the pharmaceutical company's CEO, Pascal Soriot, acknowledged the concerns and said it would likely conduct a second trial of the two-dose vaccine, Bloomberg News first reported Thursday.

"Now that we've found what looks like a better efficacy we have to validate this, so we need to do an additional study," Soriot told Bloomberg News.

The error meant about 2,700 participants got 1 1/2 vaccine doses instead of the intended two. That actually resulted in a higher efficacy rate in that group than among those who got the prescribed amount.

Soriot said that to clarify this discrepancy and meet the public-health community's demand for more data, AstraZeneca would likely run another "international study" to examine the strength of the half-dose/full-dose regimen among more participants.

"But this one could be faster because we know the efficacy is high so we need a smaller number of patients," he added.

Experts question AstraZeneca's data

AstraZeneca is the third company to report positive initial results from late-stage studies. Moderna and Pfizer said earlier this month that their vaccines were found to be 94.5% and 95% effective.

AstraZeneca's efficacy rate, however, was more complicated.

A dosing error during its trial resulted in about 2,700 participants receiving a half-strength dose followed by a full-strength dose. In that subgroup, the vaccine was 90% effective at preventing COVID-19, AstraZeneca said.

But in a group of about 9,000 participants who received two full-strength doses, that efficacy rate dropped to 62%.

Confused experts tried to interpret this broad range in efficacy, but that turned sour when AstraZeneca announced that the most effective regimen was an accident.

Sheila Bird, a biostatistician from the University of Cambridge's Medical Research Council, told Politico on Thursday that "this is a considerable complication" because the half-dose/full-dose regimen "occurred in error" and was not by design.

Moncef Slaoui, the head of the US's Operation Warp Speed vaccine-development program, also pointed out that the small group didn't include any participants over the age of 55, which could explain why the vaccine was more effective at preventing COVID-19.

Others accused the company of "cherry-picking" data to make it seem as if the vaccine had a higher efficacy rate and of not being transparent about how it arrived at its 70% average efficacy figure, Wired reported on Wednesday.

All three vaccine frontrunners are still experimental. None of the companies has published results in a medical journal, and US regulators have not authorized any of the shots for emergency use, let alone given them full approval.

Andrew Dunn contributed reporting to this story.

• Oxford University and AstraZeneca announced on Monday that their vaccine works — but the story soon got messy.
• AstraZeneca's Mene Pangalos said a group of study participants received a lower dose by accident, prompting a wave of criticism from experts.
• There are legitimate reasons to criticise the vaccine, questioning details of the development process and its precise effectiveness.
• But it is important not to overhype the problems — the vaccine has been proved safe and could become a powerful weapon against COVID-19.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

AstraZeneca and Oxford University's high-profile announcement on Monday of a working vaccine has soured in the days that followed.

After promising headline results, it became clear that the development process had been less than perfect, with some participants mistakenly given a smaller dose, which appeared to actually make it more effective.

On Thursday, after a wave of criticism, its CEO admitted there were problems in the process and pledged to run another study. It is a markedly less smooth launch than rival vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

The issues prompted critical columns and a wave of attacks on social media. But it is important to take the news in context.

What AstraZeneca is rightly being criticized for

1. AstraZeneca and Oxford made a mistake — the lower doses were given by accident and the trial was never meant to measure what that achieved, making it harder to know how good the vaccine truly is at that dose.
2. They have not published much detail on their trials — less than Pfizer or Moderna. This means skeptics and critics have more ammunition. (No vaccine-maker has published a peer-reviewed journal paper, which is the gold standard.)
3. AstraZeneca's data is more complicated from the start. Its results are from three separate trials in the UK, Brazil and South Africa, rather than from one big study like Moderna and Pfizer. They had different start dates and used different placebos.
4. The company took several days to respond and commit to undergo another study.

Why not to give up hope

1. Scientists always criticise each other's work — it's how processes are refined and progress happens. For brand new problems like the COVID-19 coronavirus this is especially so.
2. Scrutiny like this is part of the process, and needs to be intense because so much is at stake.
3. It is easy to overhype criticisms, and feed unfounded fears of vaccinations.
4. The results so far suggest that the vaccine works against COVID-19, even if it may take longer to work out exactly how well.
5. The vaccine has significant advantages over its rivals — it is cheaper and is much easier to store and transport — which could ultimately help it reach patients that the other vaccines can't.
6. Mistakes are not always a disaster — for instance penicillin was discovered accidentally.

When you're promising a solution to a serious pandemic that's caused 1.4 million deaths across the world, it's inevitable that the stakes are high. There's legitimate reasons to speak out, but also a balance to strike.

• A new meta-analysis of evidence suggests that 30-40 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per day can "offset" the negative health impacts of sitting at a desk all day.
• This aligns with recent recommendations from the World Health Organization, which 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous physical activity every week to counter sedentary behavior.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

We know that spending hour after hour sitting down isn't good for us, but just how much exercise is needed to counteract the negative health impact of a day at a desk?

A new study suggests about 30 to 40 minutes per day of building up a sweat should do it.

Up to 40 minutes of "moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity" every day is about the right amount to balance out 10 hours of sitting still, the research says — although any amount of exercise or even just standing up helps to some extent.

That's based on a meta-analysis, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM), of nine previous studies that involved a total of 44,370 people in four different countries who were wearing some form of fitness tracker.

The analysis found the risk of death among those with a more sedentary lifestyle went up as time spent engaging in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity went down.

"In active individuals doing about 30-40 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity, the association between high sedentary time and risk of death is not significantly different from those with low amounts of sedentary time," the researchers wrote.

In other words, putting in some reasonably intensive activities — cycling, brisk walking, gardening — can lower your risk of an earlier death right back down to what it would be if you weren't doing all that sitting around, to the extent that this link can be seen in the amassed data of many thousands of people.

People can 'offset the harmful effects of physical inactivity'

While meta-analyses like this one always require some elaborate dot-joining across separate studies with different volunteers, timescales, and conditions, the benefit of this particular piece of research is that it relied on relatively objective data from wearables — not data self-reported by the participants.

The study arrives alongside the publication of the World Health Organization 2020 Global Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour, put together by 40 scientists across six continents. The BJSM put out a special edition of their publication to carry both the new study and the new WHO guidelines.

"These guidelines are very timely, given that we are in the middle of a global pandemic, which has confined people indoors for long periods and encouraged an increase in sedentary behaviour," according to physical activity and population health researcher Emmanuel Stamatakis from the University of Sydney in Australia.

"People can still protect their health and offset the harmful effects of physical inactivity," Stamatakis who wasn't involved in the meta-analysis but is the co-editor of the BJSM, said. "As these guidelines emphasize, all physical activity counts and any amount of it is better than none."

Experts still aren't sure what constitutes 'too much sitting'

The research based on fitness trackers is broadly in line with the new WHO guidelines, which recommend 150 to 300 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous intensity physical activity every week to counter sedentary behavior.

Walking up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, playing with children and pets, taking part in yoga or dancing, doing household chores, walking, and cycling are all put forward as ways in which people can be more active — and if you can't manage the 30-40 minutes right away, the researchers say, start off small.

Making recommendations across all ages and body types is tricky, though the 40 minute time frame for activity fits in with previous research. As more data gets published, we should learn more about how to stay healthy even if we have to spend extended periods of time at a desk.

"Although the new guidelines reflect the best available science, there are still some gaps in our knowledge," Stamatakis said.

"We are still not clear, for example, where exactly the bar for 'too much sitting' is. But this is a fast-paced field of research, and we will hopefully have answers in a few years' time," he added.

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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Black Friday 2020 is a mere day away, but if you're getting a jump on your holiday shopping there are already a lot of good deals on everything from laptops to kitchen appliances ahead of the much-anticipated shopping event.

Retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Kohl's, Macy's, Nordstrom, Sephora,  Target, The Home Depot, Ulta, and Walmart are currently offering several Black Friday deals in stores and online, which means you can snag bargains ahead of November 27. Better still, shoppers can expect another round of deals through Cyber Monday 2020 and even a few days following. 

Highlights include huge markdowns on TVs, Apple devices, headphones, and vacuums.

Suffice it to say, there are plenty of deals to keep track of. Below, we show you the best deals available now and answer all of the questions you have for Black Friday 2020, including how our team of expert product reviewers expects holiday shopping to be different during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Best Black Friday deals available now

Nearly every major store has released new deals in the days leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Below, we've listed the highlights we've found so far. We're also keeping track of all of the store sales happening across the web, from big-box retailers like Amazon and Walmart to direct-to-consumer startups like Casper and Brooklinen.

Best Amazon Black Friday deals

Outside of Amazon's annual Prime Day shopping holiday, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the best days out of the year to find discounted Amazon devices. This year, shoppers can expect hefty discounts on Amazon's ever-growing catalog of smart home products, which include Kindle e-book readers, Fire TVs, Echo speakers, Ring security cameras, and more.

Best Target Black Friday deals

Target has especially strong deals on home goods like mattresses, kitchen appliances like air fryers and Instant Pot cookers, tech like smart home devices and speakers, and more.

Best Walmart Black Friday deals

Walmart, like Best Buy and Target, offers big price drops on everything, including the latest TVs, speakers, headphones, laptops, and gaming gear.

Best Black Friday home deals

Best Nordstrom Black Friday deals

Now through December 1, the popular department store will have deep discounts on women's, men's, and children's clothing, accessories, skincare, makeup, home goods, and more.

Best Buy Black Friday deals

Year after year, Best Buy provides solid price drops on everything, including the latest TVs, speakers, headphones, laptops, gaming gear, and more. Best Buy's Black Friday 2020 sale features a Black Friday price guarantee to help you save all season long, but it's a perk limited to My Best Buy members. 

Best Apple Black Friday deals

Every year, Apple devices seem to find their way into most people's wish lists — for good reason. Apple's iPhones, MacBooks, iPads, and AirPods are some of the most loved devices in the world, and shoppers can expect big discounts on nearly everything Apple has to offer.

Best Black Friday TV deals 

During Black Friday, we expect to see several 4K TVs in myriad sizes drop in price. Black Friday is historically one of the best times to buy a new set, be it a cheap TV or a fancy 4K TV or OLED TV, outside of Amazon Prime Day and Labor Day weekend.

Best Black Friday gaming deals

If you're looking for gifts for the gamer in your life, or want to add to your expanding collection of games and accessories, Black Friday is, without question, one of the best times to shop.

While we don't expect to see any doorbuster deals on the latest consoles from Sony and Microsoft, shoppers can expect tons of markdowns on the Nintendo Switch and its vast library of games, PC gaming hardware and peripherals, and gaming computers.

Best Black Friday headphone deals

This year, shoppers will likely see big discounts on headphones from nearly every brand, including Sony, Beats, Bose, and Sennheiser. Shoppers can expect several noise-canceling headphones and truly wireless earbuds to drop to Prime Day prices.

Best Black Friday laptop deals

Whether you're looking for a new laptop for work or searching for a new gaming laptop, you'll have lots of options to choose from during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This year, shoppers can expect big savings on Apple MacBooks and Windows PCs from HP, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, and more.

Best Black Friday kitchen deals

If you're looking for a kitchen upgrade, Black Friday is a great time to shop. Brands like Breville, Cuisinart, Pyrex, and Instant Pot will see huge discounts ahead of and during Black Friday.

Best Black Friday mattress deals

The best mattress brands always offer Cyber Week deals that can save shoppers hundreds of dollars. This year, many started their sales well in advance and will extend them days after Cyber Monday. You may also want to pair your new mattress with a new set of sheets, pillows, or weighted blankets.

Best Black Friday style and beauty deals

Nearly every fashion and style retailer, big and small, will offer wide-ranging sales during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Whether it's a new winter coat or a new pair of slippers, the shopping holiday is an excellent time to shop. 

Of course, there are several stores, like Adidas, Amazon, L.L.Bean, and Ulta, that are currently offering sales you can take advantage of right now.

Best Black Friday holiday decor deals

With lockdowns in place, people are putting more emphasis than ever on installing holiday cheer in their homes this season. Black Friday is a great time to shop huge discounts on holiday and Christmas decor. Kohl's is offering more than 50% off all of its St. Nicholas Square holiday decor line (save an additional 10% with code THANKS), plus you'll get $15 Kohl's Cash for every $50 you spend. Target is also offering big discounts on its popular Wondershop decor, including 20% off Philips & Wondershop artificial trees, plus up to 20% off outdoor lit decor and holiday lighting. You can also find deals on holiday pajamas, Christmas ornaments, and more from retailers like Old Navy, West Elm, Pottery Barn, and others.

Deals by store

• Amazon Black Friday deals
• Apple Black Friday deals
• Best Buy Black Friday deals
• Bombas Black Friday deals on socks and loungewear
• Brooklinen Black Friday deals on bedding, sheets, towels, and more
• Casper Black Friday deals on mattresses, sheets, pillows, and more
• Dick's Sporting Goods Black Friday deals
• GameStop Black Friday deals
• The Home Depot Black Friday deals
• Kohl's Black Friday deals
• Leesa Black Friday deals on mattresses, pillows, and more
• Macy's Black Friday deals
• Nordstrom Black Friday deals
• Rhone Black Friday deals on men's workout clothes and fitness apparel
• Sephora Black Friday deals
• Target Black Friday deals
• Tommy John Black Friday deals on men's and women's underwear and loungewear
• Udemy Black Friday deals on online courses
• Ulta Black Friday deals
• Walmart Black Friday deals
• Wayfair Black Friday deals

Black Friday 2020 FAQs

What is Black Friday? 

Black Friday is an annual sales event that traditionally happens at the end of November and, historically, marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season. The event is one of the biggest shopping holidays of the year — sales are so high that the day can push a retailer into "the black," or solvency.

Shoppers can expect thousands of deals to crop up on over the entire weekend.

Is Black Friday 2020 canceled?

No, but it will be unlike any Black Friday that came before it. This year, Black Friday will be longer and more online than ever.

Nearly every major retailer is offering deals and exclusive offers throughout the month of November if they haven't started already. 

With the ongoing pandemic, the in-store Black Friday experience will look a lot different than in previous years. It's hard to imagine seeing the deluge of people scrambling for doorbuster deals happening this year with safety restrictions in place.

When is Black Friday 2020?

Black Friday is always the Friday after Thanksgiving. This year, Black Friday falls on November 27. 

However, due to increased online shopping and subsequent supply-chain delays related to the coronavirus pandemic, several storefronts, including Walmart and Best Buy, have augmented their schedules. Nearly every retailer is offering new sales and deals leading up to Black Friday. 

Shoppers can expect Black Friday-caliber deals will last through and beyond Cyber Monday.

What time does Black Friday start?

Technically speaking, Black Friday starts at 12:01 a.m. local time on November 27 for online retailers. However, Black Friday sales start whenever each retailer decides their sales will go live.

From what we've seen so far, several retailers will be releasing new deals every week in 2020. 

• Amazon: Amazon's early Black Friday sale is already underway, but the best deals await those who shop on November 27.
• Best Buy: Stores will be closed today, Thanksgiving Day, but the retailer is offering several deals ahead of schedule.
• GameStop: GameStop's Black Friday sale began online on November 25 at 9 p.m. ET. Stores will open at 7 a.m. on Black Friday with extended hours, and the sale will continue through November 29. 
• The Home Depot: The Home Depot's Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are live now through December 2. 
• Kohl's: Stores are closed for Thanksgiving Day, but the retailer's online sale kick off today through Black Friday; the best sales will be saved for Black Friday proper. 
• Macy's: Macy's Black Friday deals are now live across all departments. Macy's stores will be open at 5 a.m. on Black Friday.
• Nordstrom: Nordstrom's Black Friday deals are also live across all departments, now through December 1. 
• Target: The company is offered new deals every week of November for Black Friday this year, with weekly ads dropping each Thursday.
• Walmart: Walmart's Black Friday sale kicks off on today, Thanksgiving Day, at 7 p.m. EST. In-store shopping on Black Friday starts at 5 a.m. local time. 
• Wayfair: Wayfair's early Black Friday bargains are already released, but it's light on bonafide deals. We expect the retailer is saving its best prices for Black Friday. 

How long do Black Friday sales last?

Don't be fooled by the name that suggests it's a single day. It's most definitely not. It's more like a shopping season that begins in early November. 

Black Friday deals have started days and weeks in advance of the actual shopping day and will continue on until Cyber Monday. Better yet, some retailers hold their deals until well after both events to further boost the entire December shopping season.

What should you buy on Black Friday? 

Since it falls a few weeks before the gift-giving season, Black Friday provides excellent opportunities to buy — and save on all your holiday gifts  — before the last-minute rush. 

It's nearly guaranteed that you'll get great value for your money on certain products during Black Friday — but some products tend to see better discounts at other times of the year. If you go in knowing what you're looking for, you're less likely to be ripped off by a fancy-looking coupon or to spend money on products you don't need.

Shoppers can expect tons of great deals — including so-called "doorbusters" — online before and early on in Black Friday. During the event, prices will drop to all-time lows, often beating out prices we see over the course of the year. The sale covers every product category: tech, home and kitchen, fashion, and smart home. 

This Black Friday, shoppers should expect to see similar offers to the ones we saw on Amazon Prime Day, except more wide-ranging.

We recommend focusing on the following product categories if you want the best deals: 

• TVs
• Smart home devices
• Gaming consoles and video games
• Kitchen appliances

Historically, Black Friday has been a great time to purchase big-ticket electronics — especially larger TVs. Whether you're looking for a top-of-the-line Samsung set or LG OLED, or a budget-friendly TCL or Hisense model, Black Friday will likely deliver several deals.

Much like Amazon Prime Day, we expect to see tons of discounts on smart home products. We'll see Amazon Echo products drop to their lowest prices ever, plus several discounts and bundles on Google's recently released products.

This Black Friday is happening after the latest Xbox and Playstation consoles releases. While we're unlikely to see any markdowns on the consoles, we may see a few bundles crop up. We will likely see modest discounts on games for all consoles, and huge bundles for last-generation consoles. 

If you're looking for a kitchen upgrade, Black Friday is a great time to shop. We'll see big discounts on Instant Pot pressure cookers, KitchenAid appliances, pots and pans, plus everything else you'll want for the upcoming holiday season.

Of course, the deals found during Black Friday are incredibly wide-ranging. We expect there to be several deals on diapers, toilet paper, and other household essentials and toiletries.

Is Black Friday or Cyber Monday better?

It's complicated, and it matters much less this year.

For those unfamiliar, Cyber Monday traditionally comes three days after Black Friday, on Monday. However, we've seen Black Friday and Cyber Monday slowly merge and expand to a weeklong, or even a monthlong affair. Different products receive better discounts on each day, and the deals that each retailer offers will vary.

This year, with most Americans shopping online, it's more critical for shoppers to know where and what time to shop, not what day. 

A good rule of thumb to follow: If you think you see a good deal, (e.g., one we recommend) create the order as soon as possible. While you can always cancel or return a product, it's impossible to take advantage of an inactive, or expired deal.

Suppose you purchase a discounted product during Black Friday and see a more significant markdown at another retailer come Cyber Monday. Don't sweat it.

You can ask the original storefront to match the price (some automatically refund you the difference), or you can return or cancel the order, then place a new order with a better price. Some orders won't even ship during the weekend, which makes it easy to cancel orders.

For those who can shop in-person during Black Friday, we've found that it's better to shop on Black Friday in these situations:

• For expensive products
• For major stores
• For this year's products
• If you plan to do all your shopping in stores (if it's available in your area) instead of online

It should go without saying, but this year's in-store experience will be a lot different from last year. If you so choose to shop on Black Friday in-person, make sure to read up on the safety guidelines provided by each storefront.

What stores have Black Friday deals? 

Outside of a few notable exceptions like REI, nearly every major retailer and direct-to-consumer company will offer markdowns during the event. Shoppers should expect deals from Walmart, Best Buy, Dell, Amazon, Adorama, Lowe's, The Home Depot, and more.

As we do every Black Friday, we are sifting through all of the offers and rounding up the best deals from your favorite retailers. 

Will there be Black Friday shipping delays?

Shipping delays and major shopping holidays go hand in hand, and this year is no exception. Experts suggest that consumers may see low inventory problems and shipping, during Black Friday and the weeks following. 

While we do expect shipping delays, several retailers, including Walmart, Target, and Best Buy, are hoping to alleviate some of that stress by offering in-store pickup and contactless curbside pickup. This means shoppers can grab their orders at a nearby location if the store has it in stock. 

When do Black Friday ads come out?

Every year, shoppers eagerly await Black Friday advertising to get a sneak peek at the deals each retailer will offer. Shoppers use these "ad scans" to help create their Black Friday game plan.

With Black Friday arriving tomorrow, shoppers can already preview the sales available from storefronts like Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. We'll update this section to include all of the available ad scans as soon as they become available.

Here are the most important ad scans currently available: 

• Amazon: The online retailer previewed its plans for Black Friday with a press release. There, Amazon announced that it would kick off its Black Friday sale on November 20, with discounts on tons of products, including Amazon-branded goods, Echo devices, Ring smart home products, and more.
• Best Buy: Best Buy's Black Friday offers are currently live on their website. Be on the lookout for the "Deal available today" banner for markdowns you can take advantage of now, with new deals refreshing regularly until Black Friday.
• GameStop: Shoppers can start finding discounted games and consoles early via  gamestop.com and through the GameStop mobile app starting November 25 at 8 p.m. CST, and in-store starting November 27 through November 29.
• Home Depot: Now through December 2, The Home Depot is offering discounts on appliances, home improvement tools, holiday decor, and more.
• Kohl's: Kohl's pre-Black Friday sale kicked off on November 22. Shoppers can save an additional 15% off select products and pick up $15 Kohl's Cash for every $50 spent. Starting Thursday, November 26 through Black Friday, Kohl's will release several limited-time "Super Deals" wherein the retailer will offer its best discounts.
• Target: While some doorbusters won't be available until tomorrow, Target is offering several Black Friday deals right now. Shoppers can find all of the deals available now and during Black Friday in the released ad. 
• Walmart: To find the ad scan, first find your local Walmart via the local directory. Once you get to the "Store Overview" page, find the "Weekly Ad" section.

How we select the best Black Friday deals

• We only choose products that meet our high standard of coverage and that we've either used ourselves or researched carefully.
• We'll compare the prices among top retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart and include only the deals that are better than all others offered (not including promotional discounts that come from using certain credit cards). 
• All deals will be at least 20% off, with the occasional exception for products that are rarely discounted or provide an outsize value.