Shoppers in Los Angeles are turning to more affordable brands, seeking deals and making their own presents to save money this holiday season, as many tighten their purse strings in anticipation of a weak economy.

The average projected holiday spend by Los Angeles shoppers was $1,627, according to Deloitte’s 2025 holiday retail survey. That’s above the national average but a 14% dip from 2024.

“What we’re hearing is that shoppers here in the L.A. metro area — and nationwide — are feeling uncertain about where the economy is headed,” said Rebecca Lohrey, Deloitte audit and assurance partner.

Californians have struggled more than residents of most other states with the stubbornly high price of housing. At the same time, the often-changing tariff regime coming out of Washington has consumers concerned that prices will continue to rise.

Widespread and high-profile job cuts in the tech industry, which has for decades been one of the state’s most reliable employers, have also helped shake consumer confidence. Some consumers surveyed by KPMG earlier in the year had planned to spend more this holiday season, in part, to get ahead of inflation.

Three-quarters of the shoppers surveyed expect higher prices on holiday goods, and 62% of Los Angeles shoppers expect the economy to weaken in the year ahead, nearly twice as many as a year earlier.

“L.A. shoppers are more likely to hunt for deals, give homemade gifts, reuse wrapping and use tools like social media and AI to plan their purchases,” Lohrey said. “Even with tighter budgets, they’re finding smart, creative ways to make the season joyful without overspending.”

Tariffs, inflation and geopolitical shifts are causing severe economic uncertainty for consumers.

Nationally, 57% of those surveyed expected the U.S. economy to weaken in the next six months, the most negative outlook since Deloitte started tracking economic sentiment in 1997.

This echoes what big box retailers and consumer goods giants have been saying. In August, Walmart said that as it replenishes inventory at tariff prices, it has continued to see costs increase each week, which it expects to continue through the end of the year. PepsiCo said it was introducing products at a cheaper price as consumer budgets remain constrained.

“Not surprisingly, we see more adjustments in middle- and lower-income households than we do with higher-income households,” Douglas McMillon, Walmart’s chief executive, said in an earnings call.

With consumers becoming more value-conscious, the Deloitte survey found that 88% of L.A. shoppers are seeking deals, and 78% are opting for affordable brands and retailers.

This has also meant that about 35% of L.A. shoppers plan on turning to generative AI tools to compare and find the best deals and generate shopping lists.

Consumer price inflation in Los Angeles stood at 3.5% in September compared with the previous year, higher than the national average of 3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

With price increases, 6 in 10 local shoppers are turning to gift cards instead of gifts this holiday season, willing to spend an average of $268 on the cards.

Clothing and accessories are the top categories for those L.A. shoppers who say they’ll self-gift this year.

Swiss drugmaker Novartis opened a new 10,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Carlsbad to make cancer drugs, as part of its promised $23 billion investment push to build out its domestic U.S. facilities over the next five years.

The plant will produce compounds needed for radioligand therapy (RLT), a form of precision medicine that enables the delivery of radiation directly on cancerous tumors while limiting damage to surrounding cells.

“Radioligand therapy is a breakthrough we’ve unlocked at scale, made possible by reimagining how innovation reaches patients,” said Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis. “As the global leader in RLT for more than seven years, we’ve advanced this technology with a deep belief in its power to transform cancer care.”

This Carlsbad manufacturing facility will be Novartis’ third radioligand therapy production site in the U.S., and will help meet future demand for doses for patients in western states and Hawaii.

“The opening of our Carlsbad facility underscores our strong commitment to the U.S. and dedication to bringing this pioneering treatment to patients across the country,” Narasimhan of Novartis said.

The firm said it was also expanding existing sites in North Carolina, Indiana and New Jersey.

The Trump administration has exerted political and regulatory pressure on pharmaceutical companies to reduce drug prices and increase domestic drug production through executive orders and threats of tariffs.

Some companies, such as Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have been engaged in public negotiations and struck deals to reduce the price of popular drugs such as Ozempic and Zepbound. Others, such as Novartis, have promised to beef up domestic investments.

In April, Novartis said it would invest $50 billion in the U.S. over the next five years, and has been setting up domestic supply chains for its high-margin business of radioligand therapy. Of this, $23 billion will be used to build and expand ten U.S. sites.

The company announced that it will set up additional radioligand therapy manufacturing facilities in Florida and Texas, and will establish its second global R&D hub in San Diego.

“We commend Novartis for supporting our broader mission of bringing manufacturing capacity in the United States,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said in a press release on Monday. “Our unique partnership approach is working.”

Tech scion David Ellison marked his 96th day running Paramount by disclosing an upbeat financial outlook for next year and a plan to reduce an additional 1,600 workers.

Monday’s conference call with analysts was the first time Ellison, Paramount’s chairman and chief executive, directly addressed Wall Street after merging his production company, Skydance Media, with Paramount in August — an $8-billion deal that ushered the Redstone family from the entertainment stage.

One of Ellison’s top priorities will be to reverse decades of under-investment in programming. Paramount plans to increase content spending by $1.5 billion next year, including nearly doubling the number of movies that it releases. The Melrose Avenue studio intends to boost output from eight releases to 15 that are planned for next year.

Investing in technology is another priority, which Ellison referred to as one of its “north stars.” Executives want to build streaming service Paramount+ as the economics crumble for Paramount’s once profitable cable television division, which includes Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central. Paramount also owns CBS stations and the CBS broadcast network.

Paramount announced it will be hiking streaming subscription fees — Paramount+ plans now are offered at $7.99 a month and $12.99 a month — although executives declined to say how much. The goal is to turn its streaming operations profitable this year.

Paramount said the workforce reduction of 1,600 people stemmed from the company’s divestiture late last month of television stations in Chile and Argentina. This comes on top of 1,000 job cuts last month, primarily in the U.S. The company said one of its goals was to operate more efficiently.

More than 800 people — or about 3.5% of the company’s workforce — were laid off in June, prior to the Ellison family takeover.

Ellison and his team have been looking to reduce the company’s workforce by 15%.

On Monday, Paramount executives said they should be able to realize about $3 billion in cost cuts — $1 billion more than initially advertised. The company’s goal is to complete its cost reductions within two years.

The earnings report comes as Paramount has been pursuing Warner Bros. Discovery, a proposed merger that would unite two of Hollywood’s original film studios and bulk up Paramount by adding the HBO Max streaming service, a larger portfolio of cable channels, pioneering cable news service CNN and the historic Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank.

Paramount executives declined to discuss its dealings for Warner Bros. Discovery, which has rejected three offers, including a $58-billion bid for the entire company. Ellison’s father, billionaire Larry Ellison, has agreed to back Paramount’s bid.

However, his son spoke broadly about its motivations for any acquisition during the conference call.

“First and foremost, we’re focused on what we’re building at Paramount and transforming the company,” David Ellison said. “There’s no must-haves for us. …. It’s always going to be, how do we accelerate and improve our north-star principles?”

Total revenue for Paramount’s third quarter was $6.7 billion, flat compared with the year-earlier period. Paramount reported a net loss of $257 million for the quarter.

Paramount+ and other streaming services grew by 1.4 million subscribers to 79 million, although 1.2 million of those consumers benefit from free trials. Quarterly Revenue for the streaming operations, including Pluto TV, was up 17%.

The cost-cutting comes as Ellison, 42, has accelerated spending in other areas, including agreeing to pay $7.7 billion for the rights to UFC fights and $1.25 billion over five years to Matt Stone and Trey Parker to continue creating their “South Park” cartoon.

His team, including former Netflix programming chief Cindy Holland, also lured Matt and Ross Duffer, the duo behind “Stranger Things,” away from Netflix. Paramount also paid $150 million to buy the Free Press and bring its co-founder, Bari Weiss, to the company as CBS News editor in chief.

The company also signed a 10-year lease on a film and television production facility under construction in New Jersey, a move that will give the entertainment company access to that state’s tax incentive program.

In a blow, however, Taylor Sheridan, the prolific creator behind the “Yellowstone” franchise, will be packing his bags. Sheridan, who is under contract with Paramount through 2028, made a deal to develop movies and future shows for NBCUniversal after executives he worked with at Paramount departed the company when Ellison took over.

For 2026, the company expects to generate total revenue of $30 billion and adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization of $3.5 billion.

Shares closed at $15.25, up 1%, before the earnings were announced.