Resources

October 16, 2014 After four consecutive monthly gains, builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes fell five points to a level of 54 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market (HMI), released today. “We are seeing a return to the mid-50s index level trend established earlier in the summer,... Read more »

October 15, 2014 A much anticipated acceleration of small format Walmart stores failed to materialize on Wednesday when the retailer announced plans to curtail domestic new store growth in 2016. Walmart said it would open between 200 and 220 Neighborhood Market stores and 60 to 70 supercenters next year.  Both figures are below the company’s... Read more »

October 15, 2014 The National Retail Federation calculates that September retail sales – excluding automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants – decreased 0.1 percent seasonally adjusted month-to-month yet increased 4.6 percent unadjusted year-over-year.  While seasonal factors were apparent, especially in August’s downward revision, the drop-off in retail sales was worse than expected. “Retail sales were surprisingly... Read more »

October 14, 2014 A recent study from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) revealed significant regional differences in new single-family home characteristics, ranging from price, design features, building materials and even financing.  The new findings come from analysis of the 2013 Census Bureau Survey of Construction. Of the homes built for sale, the most... Read more »

October 10, 2014 Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to see a final surge and set a new monthly record in October as the holiday season approaches, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released late this week by the National Retail Federation. “Increasing congestion at the nation’s... Read more »

October 7, 2014 The 2014 holiday shopping season will be characterized by cautious spending, while economic realities create one of two American holiday shoppers – survivalists and selectionists – according to a new report released from PricewaterhouseCoopers U.S. and Strategy, titled “2014 Holiday Outlook: Top trends, consumer behaviors and implications for retailers.” The report was... Read more »

October 9, 2014 Fred’s CEO Bruce A Efird is confident about the company’s initiatives to reposition the convenience-center model, expand marketing and implement new technology – all factors that he expects will help restore growth in the fourth quarter and next year. Efird added that the initiatives are already producing positive results, despite customer traffic... Read more »

October 9, 2014 Family Dollar’s fourth quarter results were affected by decreased customer traffic, prompting chairman and CEO Howard R. Levine to point out that the company is still in the early stages of its turnaround plan. Levine expects that the strategic actions taken in fiscal 2014 will position the company for better sales and... Read more »

October 9, 2014 Tight mortgage lending standards continue to affect sales for single-family builders across the nation, according to a survey released by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).  Well over half of the single-family builders surveyed indicated that lending standards were “tight” or “very tight,” while only 11 percent indicated that standards were... Read more »