• by Sarah Mahoney , 4 hours ago

Lowe’s and the Home Depot are both looking to get a jump on holiday spending, kicking off Black Friday sales a month earlier than most retailers. And with special deals on holiday gifts and seasonal décor, the companies hope to inject a little seasonal spirit into their sales. Both chains have lowered their annual sales forecasts, battling category blues, including the stalled housing market, and tariff-pressured material costs.

Lowe’s says it is combining early holiday promotional offers with new perks for members of both MyLowe's Rewards and MyLowe's Pro Rewards. Among this year’s gift ideas: a HomeCare+ gift card, which offers homeowners twice-a-year help for just $99, including maintenance services like air filter replacements and dryer vent cleaning.

For fans of the Elf on the Shelf tradition, there’s the standard elf, wearing a tool belt. You can also take the elf outdoors with a 5-foot posable version this year. In décor, Lowe’s is expanding the Rudolph universe: Bumble, Hermey the Elf and Yukon Cornelius are making a comeback, while newcomers Sam the Snowman and Clarice are joining.

Home Depot is moving into wearables, with its first-ever Holiday Sweater. A cross between an ugly sweater and a Home Depot apron, the $30 sweater comes with plenty of pockets, stocked with a screwdriver, tape measure, headlamp, level and light clips.

Also new this year: holiday-themed two-gallon buckets, at $3.

In décor, Home Depot is emphasizing smarter tech. The Hubspace app integration, for example, lets users customize holiday displays directly from a smartphone. It's also supersizing Santa with app-controlled animatronics.

Both companies’ stock prices have been touching 52-week lows, a sign investors don’t expect America to dive back into DIYing anytime soon. Still, many analysts aren’t worried, even as higher interest rates further dampen housing sales.

“Over time, Home Depot should consistently capture sales growth, bolstered by an aging housing stock, rising home prices, and a shortage in home inventory (consumers updating the homes in which they remain),” writes Jaime Katz, an analyst who follows the sector for Morningstar. “In our opinion, perpetual improvements in the omnichannel experience should support the firm's competitive edge, even if existing-home sales and turnover remain depressed in the near term."