Research Topic

New York -- Wall Street is reacting to Jos. A. Bank’s news that it is cutting its second-quarter profit and sales outlook, sending shares spiraling downward.

Company CEO R. Neal Black said, “While our total sales declined in Q2, we achieved stability in our gross profit margin rate. Customers did not respond as well to some of our highly promotional, high sales volume marketing campaigns as they did in the prior year.”

Total sales declined 11% in the second quarter.

Washington, D.C. -- U.S. retail e-commerce sales for second quarter 2013, adjusted for seasonal variation, but not for price changes, totaled $64.8 billion, an increase of 4.9% from first quarter 2013. According to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, this figure represented an 18.4% jump from U.S. commerce sales in second quarter 2012.

E-commerce sales in the second quarter of 2013 accounted for 5.8% of total U.S. retail sales of close to $1.13 trillion. Total retail sales grew 0.9% quarter-over-quarter and 4.7% year-over-year.

Yesterday’s release of disappointing sales and profits at Walmart was hardly unexpected, but it heightened concerns about the health of the consumer and sparked a broader market sell-off.

New York -- Consumer confidence unexpectedly dropped in August from a six-year high as Americans faced rising interest rates, according to the University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters preliminary index of consumer sentiment.

The index fell to 80.0 from 85.1 in July, which was the highest since July 2007. The median projection of 68 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for little change at 85.2.

The outlook component fell to 72.9 in August from 76.5 in July, while current conditions dropped to 91.0 in August from 98.6 in July.

HAMPSTEAD, Md. — JoS. A. Bank customers did not respond as favorably to some of the company's marketing campaigns as they did in the prior year leading to a total sales decline of approximately 11% in the second quarter ended Aug. 3.

The company expects earnings for the quarter to be approximately $0.49 to $0.53 per diluted share, compared with $0.83 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2012.

I think it’s exciting to watch retail going back downtown.
 
I remember shopping in big downtown department stores years ago, and I remember when the big retailers began their exodus to suburban malls leaving huge, sad-looking buildings behind.
 
But retail, as they say, follows rooftops, and the rooftops were springing up in suburbia and then further out in edge communities. Today, we all have a number of friends and acquaintances that commute for an hour or more in each direction every day.
 

What a difference 30, 20 or even 10 years make when it comes to consumer behavior. Thirty years ago, “24x7 shopping” meant mail-order catalogs. Smartphones, tablets and social media were barely part of the discussion 10 years ago. While observers attribute the rapid pace of change to technological advances, biology may play an equally important role. Scientists have observed that the human brain is incredibly plastic, even in adulthood, constantly adapting to trauma and environmental shifts.

New York -- As turmoil continues to surround J.C. Penney, one investor is upping his support of the embattled retailer even as two other large investors leave. Regulatory filings on Wednesday revealed that billionaire investor George Soros has added two million shares to his current 19.98 million in Penney holdings.

The latest investment makes Soros Fund Management Penney’s second-largest investor, behind disgruntled hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.