America saw fewer moves than ever in 2024, Axios' Sami Sparber writes from an industry analysis of census data.

• Only 1 in 9 people (11%) changed residences last year — a record low in data going back to 1948.

📍 New Jersey (8%) and New York (9%) had the lowest shares of movers in 2024, according to Point2Homes, an online house-rental platform.

• Residents moved most in Alaska, Oklahoma, and Colorado, each around 14%.

🚚 The intrigue: Many who do move are going further afield, usually for housing affordability, climate resilience or job opportunities.

• 19% of movers in 2024 changed states. 71% relocated to a different city.

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U.S. and Ukrainian officials will negotiate outside Miami this morning at Steve Witkoff's exclusive Shell Bay golf club, before President Trump's envoys head to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.

• Why it matters: The U.S. and Ukraine are working to finalize understandings on the U.S. peace plan, which has been heavily revised over several days of talks to be more palatable to Kyiv. Witkoff, Trump's envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, are expected to present that document to Putin on Tuesday.

Between the lines: President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff and lead negotiator, Andriy Yermak, who was expected to lead the Ukrainian delegation, resigned Friday after anti-corruption authorities raided his home.

• The corruption probe has reached deep into Zelensky's inner circle and rattled his government. Yermak, long seen as the second-most powerful person in Ukraine, texted associates on Sunday that he was "going to the front" in eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian contingent, now led by national security adviser Rustem Umerov, is already in Miami ahead of the meeting.

• The U.S. team includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Witkoff and Kushner.

🔮 What to watch: During talks in Geneva last Sunday, the sides reached agreements in principle on all but two issues: territory and security guarantees.

• A senior U.S. official said the White House wants to close the gaps on those last two issues today: "The Ukrainians know what we expect from them."

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As the U.S. grows more diverse, a quiet civil war is unfolding within American Christianity over who deserves empathy, Axios' Russell Contreras reports.

• Why it matters: Conservatives, ranging from evangelical pastors to Elon Musk, have started framing empathy not as a virtue but as a vulnerability on immigration, racial justice and LGBTQ rights.

✝️ By the numbers: Around 80% of U.S. adults said empathy was a moral value that underpinned a healthy society, according to the wide-ranging survey by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in October.

• Only 16% said empathy was a dangerous emotion that undermines "our ability to set up a society that is guided by God's truth."

🎧 What they're saying: "Empathy as hoisted up as the highest virtue — or even a virtue at all — gets us into a really big mess," conservative author Allie Beth Stuckey said on a "Family Talk" podcast. She wrote a book last year, "Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion."

• "Empathy is dangerous. Empathy is toxic. Empathy will align you with hell," pastor Josh McPherson, a conservative men's ministry influencer, said on his "Stronger Man Nation" podcast.
• Elon Musk said on Joe Rogan's podcast this February that Western empathy toward the suffering of others is being "weaponized" and linked it to civilizational decline, even though he thought empathy was good.

The other side: "In the Christian tradition, to have anybody argue that a spirit of empathy is somehow a vulnerability... is insane," Father Brendan Busse, pastor of Dolores Mission Catholic Church in Los Angeles, tells Axios.

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America is running out of pennies far faster than expected — and retailers are scrambling with rounding rules, cash-register math headaches and what some call a "legal minefield," Axios' Kelly Tyko reports.

• Why it matters: Ending penny production was supposed to simplify cash payments. Instead, it's colliding with the holiday rush and legions of math-averse Americans.

😵‍💫 Many shoppers don't understand what happens when $4.73 becomes $4.75.

• "The growth of stores that are out of pennies is exponential," Austen Jensen of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) tells Axios.

What's happening: Stores are posting signs, retraining cashiers, spending millions on tech fixes and — in many cases — rounding down to avoid disputes, thus eating the cost.

• Some retailers have launched "penny drives," and Jensen expects more after the holidays.

Zoom out: The Food Industry Association says the shortage creates legal and compliance challenges, especially for SNAP transactions that require exact pricing. That makes rounding legally tricky.

• The burden falls hardest on low-income and older Americans.

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ChatGPT — released Nov. 30, 2022 — turns 3 today.

⏳ Those three years have felt like 30 in terms of the chatbot's infiltration into our lives. If you believe the AI accelerationists, there are few signs of slowing down, Axios' Megan Morrone writes.

• As AI models evolve, chatbots will make fewer mistakes, requiring humans to adapt from fixing AI errors to directing AI agents' work.

🧠 Understanding how to manage AI will be the key skill. And any good manager knows that delegating all of their concrete tasks to direct reports means that their own skills quickly atrophy.

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Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), one of President Trump's tightest allies, said he'll retire from Congress rather than seek reelection next year, Axios' Andrew Solender and Kate Santaliz report.

• Why it matters: Nehls, a former sheriff first elected in 2020, joins a rapidly growing group of House members in both parties who have decided to call it quits, either to run for higher office or leave politics entirely.

Within hours of his announcement, his identical twin brother, Trever Nehls, said he plans to run for the seat.

• Read on.

Shoppers in the Northeast and West are projected to outspend the national average of $1,552 per person — which includes gifts, travel and entertainment, Axios' Sami Sparber writes from PwC research.

• "Households with children are expected to spend more than twice as much as those without, PwC writes. "Households with children under the age of 18 are ... shelling out $2,349 on average, more than double the $1,089 spent by those without kids."

⚡ Just in: Black Friday retail sales growth picked up this year as shoppers shook off economic uncertainty and weak sentiment, Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes.

• Friday's retail sales excluding autos rose 4.1%, per Mastercard SpendingPulse. That's stronger than last year's 3.4% growth.

Adobe Analytics, which tracks e-commerce, said U.S. consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online Friday, marking a 9.1% jump from last year, AP reports.

• 🕰️ Traffic particularly piled up between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. local time nationwide: $12.5 million passed through online shopping carts every minute.
• 🥧 Consumers spent a record $6.4 billion online on Thanksgiving Day, per Adobe.
• 🎮 Top categories that saw an uptick in sales across both days included video game consoles, electronics and home appliances.
• 💡 AI-powered shopping services and social media ads were big influences.

💻 What to watch: Cyber Monday — tomorrow! —will be the next key indicator of retail's health.

• Go deeper: "AI helps drive record $11.8 billion in Black Friday online spending" (Reuters)

New England has a new holiday sensation: a lobster nativity scene.

• The region loves coastal kitsch, and if we can squeeze more nautical imagery into the holidays, we will, Axios Boston's Mike Deehan writes.

Rosemary Quantick, an English immigrant on Cape Cod, designed the set to honor her adopted home.

• The set has taken off more in recent years, thanks to billboards near a popular holiday market.

The price: $114.90 for a full set. Individual ornaments go for $25-$32.

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