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Health Costs, Weak Store Traffic Hinder Wal-Mart August, 14, 2014 The world’s largest retailer is having a hard time returning to growth and doesn’t expect sales to improve in the U.S. for much of the rest of the year. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT -0.66%) cut its earnings guidance for the year after it posted its... Read more »

August 13, 2014 Facing slight headwinds from economic pressures and mounting concerns over global unrest, consumers in July cut back on discretionary spending, reflecting a trend that shows many are juggling their spending between goods and services. NRF retail sales in July, which exclude autos, restaurants and gas, were largely unchanged over June, increasing 0.1... Read more »

August 14, 2014 Kohl’s exceeded analysts’ profit expectations in the second quarter, but it wasn’t due to top line strength and now the company has a lot riding on the back-to-school season. The company’s sales for the second quarter ended August 2 declined to $4.242 billion from $4.289 billion and same-store sales fell 1.3% after... Read more »

August 14, 2014 Nationwide housing affordability dipped in the second quarter of 2014 as several markets saw a firming of home prices, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity (HOI), released today. In all, 62.6 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of April and the end of... Read more »

August 11, 2014 Import volume at major U.S. container ports is expected to hit an all-time record in August as retailers concerned about the lack of a West Coast longshoremen’s contract rush to bring holiday season merchandise into the country, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation.... Read more »

August 8, 2014 Gap posted positive comps in July for the four-week period ended August 2, buoyed by sales at Banana Republic; but preliminary second quarter results show that comparable store sales were flat compared to the same period last year. Net sales in July increased 5% to $1.17 billion compared with net sales of... Read more »

August 7, 2014 Fred’s returned to positive comparable-store sales in July, reflecting stronger trends in general merchandise sales and improved customer traffic. But Fred’s is also exercising some caution and has cut its second quarter outlook.  The company now expects to report a loss for the quarter in the range of $0.15 to $0.20 per... Read more »

August 7, 2014 Costco saw a boost in net sales and same-store sales during the month of July. Net sales totaled $8.55 billion for the four weeks ended August 3, an increase of 9% from $7.87 billion during the similar four-week period last year. Same-store sales increased 5%, while U.S. same-store sales also increased 5%... Read more »

August 7, 2014 Builder confidence in the single-family 55+ housing market for the second quarter is up year over year, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) 55+ Housing Market Index (HMI) released today.  Compared to the second quarter of 2013, the single-family index increased three points to a level of 56, which... Read more »