Author: Helen Thomas

WASHINGTON—U.S. employers continued to add jobs at a steady pace and the unemployment rate fell in November, a sign of stronger economic growth that may intensify debate within the Federal Reserve about reducing central bank bond purchases as early as this month.

U.S. payrolls rose by 203,000 last month, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point to 7.0%, the lowest level in five years. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast nonfarm payrolls would rise by 180,000 and the unemployment rate would tick down to 7.2%. September and October payroll numbers were revised up by a combined 8,000.

Friday’s report may reinforce expectations that the Fed will soon slow the pace of its $85 billion a month in bond purchases. At their October meeting, officials were looking to end the program “in coming months.” The Fed’s program, started in September 2012, is designed to keep long-term interest rates low, boost investment and spur hiring.

*source WSJ.com

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Dec. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) announced that, in connection with its previously announced consideration of a separation of its Lands’ End business, Lands’ End, Inc. filed today a registration statement on Form 10 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sears Holdings intends to spin off its Lands’ End business through the pro rata distribution of all of the shares of common stock of Lands’ End, Inc. We expect that the spin-off will be tax-free to U.S. stockholders except for any cash received in lieu of fractional shares. The spin-off is subject to the approval of the Board of Directors of Sears Holdings and the satisfaction of certain other conditions. Sears Holdings may, at any time until the spin-off, decide to abandon the spin-off or modify or change the terms of the spin-off. Holders of Sears Holdings common stock as of the record date for the spin-off will not be required to make any payment, surrender or exchange any shares of Sears Holdings common stock or take any other action to participate in the spin-off. Additional information concerning Lands’ End and the proposed spin-off is contained in the registration statement on Form 10.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the U.S. increased 0.2 percnt in October to 97.5, following a 0.9 percent increase in September, and a 0.7 percent increase in August.

“The modest rise in the Leading Economic Index in October follows the strong advances recorded in the prior two months, which helps lift the six-month annualized growth rate to 5.1 percent from 3.7 percent in the previous six months,” said Kathy Bostjancic, Director of Macroeconomic Analysis at The Conference Board.  “The recent increase in the index supports our forecast that the U.S. economy is poised to grow somewhat faster at 2.3 in 2014 compared to 1.6 percent in 2013.  Within the details, the sub-indexes contributing positively to growth are the financial, housing and manufacturing variables.  Restraining growth is the ongoing caution of businesses that continue to keep tight reigns on capital expenditures.”

“The U.S. LEI has increased for four consecutive months,” said Ken Goldstein, Economist for The Conference Board.  “Overall, the data reflect strengthening conditions in the underlying economy.  However, headwinds still persist from the labor market, accompanied by business caution and concern about federal bucget battles.  The biggest challenge to date has been relatively weak consumer demand, which continues to be restrained by weak wage growth and slumping confidence.”

The Coincident Economic Index increased 0.2 percent in October to 106.9, following a 0.3 percent increase in September, and a 0.3 percent increase in August.

The Lagging Economic Index increased 0.3 percent in October to 119.7, following a 0.5 percent increase in September and a 0.2 percent increase in August.

Source: The Conference Board

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had decreased sharply in October, declined again in November.  The Index now stands at 70.4, down from 72.4 in October.  The Present Situation Index edged down to 72.0 from 72.6.  The Expectations Index declined to 69.3 from 72.2 last month.

“Consumer confidence declined moderately in November after sharply declining in October.  Sentiment regarding current conditions was mixed, with consumers saying the job market had strengthened, while economic conditions had slowed.  However, these sentiments did not carry over into the short-term outlook.  When looking ahead six months, consumers expressed greater concern about future job and earning prospects, but remain neutral about economic conditions.  All in all, with such uncertainty prevailing, this could be a challenging holiday season for retailers”, said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board.

Consumers’ assessment of overall current conditions decreased slightly.  Those claiming business conditions are “good” edged up to 19.9 percent from 19.5 percent, while those claiming business conditions are “bad” increased to 25.2 percent from 23.0 percent.  Consumers’ appraisal of the job market was little changed.  Those saying jobs are “plentiful” ticked up to 11.8 percent from 11.6 percent, while those saying jobs are “hard to get” decreased slightly to 34.0 percent from 34.9 percent.

Consumers’ expectations, which had decreased sharply in October, declined further in November.  Those expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months increased slightly to 16.6 percent from 16.0 percent, while those expecting business conditions to worsen decreased to 16.8 percent from 17.5 percent.  However, consumers’ outlook for the labor market was more pessimistic.  Those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead fell to 12.7 percent from 16.0 percent, but those anticipating fewer jobs also decreased to 21.7 percent from 22.6 percent.  The proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to increase declined to 14.9 percent from 15.7 percent.  Those expecting a decrease in their incomes rose slightly to 15.9 percent from 15.5 percent.

Source:  November 2013 Consumer Confidence Survey, The Conference Board

• The amount of money that consumers spent over the Thanksgiving weekend is estimated to have slipped 2.7% to $57.4B, the National Retail Federation says.
• The drop is in contrast to estimates that Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales at brick-and-mortar stores rose 2.3%.
• The average consumer spent $407.02 over the whole weekend, down 3.9% from last year.
• The number of shoppers increased to 141M people from 139M.
• The fall in spending came after retailers warned of a difficult holiday season and was due to the aggressive bargains on offer, a trend that is expected to continue.
• However, the NRF maintained its forecast that retail sales will grow 3.9% for the whole holiday whole season.
• Online sales climbed 17.3% on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, ComScore estimates, noting that the latter day attracted a record $1.2B in spending. The research firm expects Internet sales to rise 16% for the whole of the holiday season.
• The most visited sites on Black Friday were those of Amazon (AMZN), eBay (EBAY) Walmart (WMT), Best Buy (BBY) and Target (TGT).
• Total e-commerce sales hit $20.6B in the first 29 days of this holiday season, up 3.1% from last year, although this year includes more days.
• Today is Cyber Monday, which the NRF reckons will attract 131M shoppers vs 129M last year. But as with Black Friday, Cyber Monday has started a day early, with J.C. Penney (JCP) and Macy’s (M) among those who began related promotions yesterday. Target has gone further and created “Cyber Week.”

Bentonville, Ark., November 25, 2013 – Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) today announced that its board of directors elected company veteran Doug McMillon, 47, to succeed Mike Duke, 63, as president and chief executive officer, effective February 1, 2014. McMillon was also elected to the company’s board of directors, effective immediately.

“This leadership change comes at a time of strength and growth at Walmart,” said Rob Walton, chairman of Walmart’s board of directors. “The company has the right strategy to serve the changing customer around the world, and Doug has been actively involved in this process. The company has a strong management team to execute that strategy.”

Walton continued, “Doug is uniquely positioned to lead our growing global company and to serve the changing customer, while remaining true to our culture and values. He has broad experience – with successful senior leadership roles in all of Walmart’s business segments – and a deep understanding of the economic, social and technological trends shaping our world. A merchant at heart, Doug has both a long history with our company and a keen sense of where our customers globally are heading next. He has also shown strong leadership on environmental sustainability and a commitment to using Walmart’s size and scale to make a difference in the lives of people, wherever they might be.”

“The opportunity to lead Walmart is a great privilege,” McMillon said. “Our company has a rich history of delivering value to customers across the globe and, as their needs grow and change, we will be there to serve them. Our management team is talented and experienced, and our strategy gives me confidence that our future is bright. By keeping our promise to customers, we will drive shareholder value, create opportunity for our associates and grow our business.”

“Mike put in place the building blocks for the next generation Walmart and today the company is stronger, more global and more unified across all our stores, mobile and online,” said Walton.  “He also reinvigorated the productivity loop and delivered strong financial performance. During his tenure the company made critical investments in talent and technology to expand Walmart to even more customers globally and stepped up its progress on social and environmental issues.  Mike also has a strong commitment to diversity, and has been especially engaged in advancing women throughout organization. He set a tone at the top to never be satisfied, to always accelerate and do better, while remaining true to the culture that has been core to the company’s success.”

“This is a great company and it has been an honor to help advance Sam Walton’s vision of giving people around the world a better life,” said Duke. “Our associates make it all possible and I’ve learned so much from them. No matter where I traveled, our associates continued to inspire me with their commitment to living our values, serving our customers and taking care of each other.”

Duke will continue serving as chairman of the executive committee of the board and, in the tradition of his predecessors, stay on as an advisor to McMillon for one year. The company plans to make an announcement on McMillon’s successor as CEO of Walmart International by the end of the fiscal year.

NOTE: Bios of Doug McMillon and Mike Duke are available at: https://corporate.walmart.com/. A high resolution photo of Doug McMillon is also available for downloading from the site.

Interesting little tid-bit in The Home Depot’s recent SEC filing for the period ending August 4, 2013.

Interconnected Retail – Our focus on interconnected retail is based on building a competitive platform across all commerce channels. As of the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2013, approximately one-third of our online orders were completed in a store, either through Buy Online, Pick-Up In Store (“BOPIS”) or Buy Online, Ship To Store (“BOSS”). When these customers come into our stores to pick up their online orders, approximately one-fifth of them purchase additional items. We also continued the roll out of MyInstall, an online functionality that will provide installation services customers with specific installation information, dynamic tracking to keep them informed of the status of the installation, e-mail notifications for appointments and a point of contact to process order changes.

TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Hudson’s Bay Company (TSX:HBC) (“HBC” or the “Company“) is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed its previously announced acquisition (the “Acquisition“) of all of the outstanding shares of Saks Incorporated (“Saks“) for US$16.00 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately US$2.9 billion, including debt.

With the Acquisition, HBC creates a premier North American fashion retail business centered on three iconic retail brands — Hudson’s Bay, Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue. The combined Company will operate a total of 320 stores, including 179 full-line specialty department stores, 72 outlet stores and 69 home stores in prime locations throughout the U.S. and Canada, along with three e-commerce sites.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined moderately in September, decreased sharply in October.  The Index now stands at 71.2 (1985=100), down from 80.2 in September.  The Present Situation Index decreased to 70.7 from 73.5.  The Expectations Index fell to 71.5 from 84.7 last month.

“Consumer confidence deteriorated considerably as the federal government shutdown and debt-ceiling crisis took a particularly large toll on consumers’ expectations.  Similar declines in confidence were experienced during the payroll tax hike earlier this year, the fiscal cliff discussions in late 2012, and the government shutdown in 1995/1996.  However, given the temporary nature of the current resolution, confidence is likely to remain volatile for the next several months”, said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board.

Consumers’ assessment of current conditions declined moderately.  Those claiming business conditions are “good” decreased to 19.0 percent from 20.7 percent, however, those claiming business conditions are “bad” edged down to 23.0 percent from 23.9 percent.  Consumers’ appraisal of the job market was less favorable than last month.  Those saying jobs are “plentiful” was virtually unchanged at 11.3 percent from 11.4 percent, while those saying jobs are “hard to get” increased to 35.8 percent from 33.6 percent.

Consumers’ outlook for the labor market was also more pessimistic.  Those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead decreased to 15.3 percent from 16.1 percent, while those anticipating fewer jobs increased to 22.7 percent from 19.1 percent.  The proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to increase rose to 15.8 percent from 15.1 percent, however those expecting a decrease rose to 15.4 percent from 13.9 percent.

Source: October 2013 Consumer Confidence Survey, The Conference Board

Waterloo, ON- 2013-November-5 – Open Text Corporation (NASDAQ: OTEX) (TSX: OTC), a global leader in Enterprise Information Management (EIM), announced today that it has entered into an agreement and plan of merger (Merger Agreement) to acquire GXS Group, Inc. (GXS), a leader in business-to-business (B2B) cloud integration, pursuant to which GXS will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of OpenText. For more information, please see the informational presentation under the investor section of www.opentext.com.
About the Transaction(1)

• Purchase price of $1.165 Billion
• Financing commitment of $800m Debt, $265m Cash
• Equity of $100m, or 2.1 to 2.4% of OpenText’s outstanding common shares
• Purchase price is 2.4x GXS Fiscal Year 2012 revenues
• Targeting to onboard GXS to the OpenText operating model within 2 years
• Targeting to be accretive to adjusted earnings for Fiscal Year 2014
• Targeting the transaction to close within 90 days
• Subject to customary closing conditions

“The next generation of enterprise software is Enterprise Information Management,” said OpenText CEO Mark J. Barrenechea. “Today’s GXS announcement strengthens the Information Exchange pillar with the addition of market leading cloud-based B2B integration services, it expands the EIM buying centers and it strengthens EIM with the addition of cloud-based Managed Services. I look forward to welcoming GXS employees, customers and partners to OpenText in the near future.”