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Sears booted off S&P 500
Sears Holdings will lose its spot in the S&P 500 after the close of trading on Sept. 4. It will be replaced by chemical maker LyondellBasell (LYB).
As one of America’s oldest retailers, Sears, Roebuck & Co. was one of the original members of the S&P 500 when the index was created in 1957 (69 of the index’s original components are still in the S&P 500 today, according to S&P’s Howard Silverblatt).
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Third quarter off to good start at Target
A 4.2% increase in August same-store sales at Target was at the high end of the company’s forecast range.
The solid showing during August was noteworthy because it came on top of a prior year increase of 4.1% and was attributable primarily to an increase in average transaction size. According to Target, about three fourths of the increase was due to growth in ticket with increase shopper traffic accounting for the remainder of the comp increase.