Finance & Capital Management

New York -- Consumer confidence declined more than expected in December, reaching a four-month low as Americans grew concerned about the possibility of higher taxes next year. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment index decreased to 74.5 this month from 82.7 in November. Economists had projected a preliminary reading of 82 for December.

Tesco and Walmart’s Asda division are intense competitors in the U.K. and that was supposed to be the case in the U.S. when Tesco arrived in 2007 with its Fresh & Easy format.

New York -- Canada’s Loblaw Cos. Ltd. plans to spin off the vast majority of its property assets into a real estate investment trust. The retailer said it plans to spin off real estate worth more than C$7 billion ($7.05 billion) into the REIT and sell units of the trust through an initial public offering that it hopes to complete by mid-2013.

Miami Beach, Fla. -- Terranova Corp. has signed a lease with Gap, providing a temporary store for the retailer while it builds its new multi-story location on Lincoln Road in Miami.

Gap will open a new location just off Lincoln Road at 1669 Meridian Ave., two blocks away from Gap’s current location at 1001 Lincoln. The existing Gap will close by early 2013, when Gap will begin redeveloping the building into a two-level, 20,000-sq. ft. flagship store. During construction, Gap will stay open for business at the Meridian Avenue location.

ATLANTA — Perdue Partners has aquired Atlanta-based logistics company Benton Express.

Mississsauga, Ontario -- Walmart Canada on Friday opened its 200th supercenter, in Edmonton, Alberta. Today's grand opening marks a major milestone for Walmart Canada. The company opened its first supercentres in Ontario in 2006. Today, Walmart Canada has supercentres in six provinces and 373 stores nationwide serving more than eight million customers each week.

Walmart is occupying the familiar role of corporate villain again this week as new details emerge regarding a fire that killed 112 people at a Bangladesh apparel factory used by one of the retailer’s suppliers.

Williamsville, N.Y. -- Tops Friendly Markets, a full-service grocery retailer in upstate New York, northern Pennsylvania and western Vermont, today announced that the company has entered into an agreement with the Farrugia family to acquire three Big M supermarkets located in Elbridge, N.Y., Mexico, N.Y., and Jordan, N.Y.

This marks the third acquisition deal this year for Tops and will expand Tops' footprint further into areas of northern and central New York State.