Black Friday sales up, especially online, for Cyber Monday

Last year's headline read Cyber Monday to set record but Black Friday still king in 2017.  It looks like I can be a good environmentalist and recycle it for this year, as CNBC reported this morning Black Friday online sales up 23.6 percent from a year ago.

CNBC's 'Squawk Box' team discusses the retail sale numbers from Thanksgiving weekend.

Looks like Thanksgiving and Black Friday are the new Cyber Monday.

The optimism got started on Friday, when CNBC reported It's not just Amazon versus other retailers this Black Friday, analyst says.

Oliver Chen, senior research analyst at Cowen, and Steve Sadove, former Saks CEO, discuss their retail outlook for the 2018 holiday season.

I knew I couldn't report on online retail without mentioning Amazon.  Also, I shouldn't be surprised about the effects of the demise of Toys R Us showing up as well.

While sales are up, it is an open question that retailers can make a profit from online sales.  That's the issue in E-commerce is compressing retailers' margins: Fmr. Hudson's Bay CEO.

Liz Dunn, founder and CEO of Proforma, and Jerry Storch, former CEO of Hudson’s Bay, discuss retail trends on Black Friday.

Amazon has a narrow profit margin, but I don't know if that's entirely because of its online sales; other activities of the company, such as buying the Washington Post as well as Bezos's space ventures, might contribute to that as well.  Still, I'm glad sales are up.  Enjoy it while it lasts.  The next recession is coming.

That's it for Cyber Monday.  Stay tuned for Giving Tuesday.