Blog

July 17, 2014 Driven by increased demand for electronic items and parent’s need to restock their children’s school supplies from last year, families this summer will spend slightly more on back-to-school items than last year.  According to NRF’s 2014 Back-to-School Survey, the average family with children in grades K-12 will spend $669.28 on apparel, shoes,… Read more »

July 14, 2014 It is one of the smaller acquisitions CVS Caremark has done, but the purchase of the 33-unit Miami-based Navarro Discount Pharmacy could have big implications. CVS Caremark late Monday said it reached an agreement with Navarro, the largest Hispanic owned drugstore chain in the U.S., to acquire 33 stores and Navarro Health… Read more »

July 16, 2014 Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes reached an important milestone in July, rising four points to a reading of 53 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today.  Any reading over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than… Read more »

July 20, 2014 Just a month after activist investor Carl Icahn became Family Dollar’s largest shareholder prompting concerns of a hostile takeover, the company reported its third straight quarterly decline in same-store sales. Same-store sales for the third quarter ended May 31 decreased 1.8% because of fewer customer transactions, partially offset by an increase in… Read more »

July 14, 2014 Solid June spending growth was reported for May 31, 2014 through June 30, 2014, compared to June 1, 2013 through July 1, 2013. A slowly improving economy and growing job market have helped drive consumer spending.  Spending growth in June slowed slightly from May but remained positive on a year-over-year basis with… Read more »

July 1, 2014 Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in June for the 13th consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for the 61st consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business. The report was issued today by Bradley J. Holcomb, CPSM, CPSD, chair of the Institute… Read more »

July 10, 2014 Labor markets improved overall across the advanced economies, according to unemployment rates and employment growth data compiled and standardized by The Conference Board International Labor Comparisons (ILC) program for May 2014. Unemployment rates in May fell in four of the nine countries compared, and were unchanged in the remaining five.  Sweden saw… Read more »

July 10, 2014 Retail sales generally improved in June, helped by good weather and big discounts as retailers look to clear inventory for the back-to-school season. Costco Wholesale Corp. reported a 6% increase in June same-store sales, helped by higher fuel prices.  Its results topped Wall Street estimates. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates… Read more »

July 3, 2014 The labor market remains surprisingly and resiliently strong as evidenced by the gain of 288,000 new jobs created in June.  This is not just catch up after a bad winter.  It also reflects some gathering strength in the economy.  More consumer demand could drive more investment in capital (to give workers the… Read more »

July 3, 2014 June was a good month for two of the nation’s largest drugstore operators.  Walgreens reported sales of $6.3 billion for the month, an increase of 8.9% as compared to the same month in fiscal 2013, while Rite Aid realized a 3.9% same-store sales increase for the four weeks ended June 28. Total front-end… Read more »