The U.S. economy grew 2.1% in the fourth quarter, matching estimates at CNBC. "For the full year, the economy grew 2.3%, below the 2.9% increase from 2018 and the 2.4% gain in 2017." Read more   CVS is launching a prescription drug coverage plan in which patients have no out-of-pocket costs for insulin and other expensive diabetes treatments at Fox News. Read more   Nordstrom enters burgeoning used-clothes business by Abha Bhattarai at Washington Post via The Spokesman-Review. "Starting Friday, racks of secondhand clothing will fill a space formerly occupied by Burberry in the company’s Manhattan store. Nordstrom will [...]

  What Walmart and Target need to do to stay on top in a reshaped retail world by Phil Wahba at Fortune. "Both Walmart and Target have begun to telegraph how they plan to build on their success. The two companies will update investors on their respective plans with analyst days, Walmart next month and Target in early March. Each will likely be rolling out new strategies while building on current strengths." Read more   Fortune’s Blue Ribbon Companies 2019: Amazon, Best Buy, Alibaba, Walgreens, Walmart, Costco, CVS, Home Depot & Publix. List   Victoria’s Secret Billionaire in Talks to [...]

  US core capital goods orders post biggest drop in 8 months at CNBC. "Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, fell 0.9% last month, the Commerce Department said." Read more   Nike⁠⁠ (And Some Resellers⁠) Reportedly Suspend Kobe Bryant Merch Sales To Limit Profiteering at Forbes. Read more   How Amazon escapes liability for the riskiest products on its site by Colin Lecher at The Verge. "A recent decision from a federal circuit court has thrown the status quo into doubt. In 2014, a woman named Heather Oberdorf lost vision in [...]

  US core capital goods orders post biggest drop in 8 months at CNBC. "Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, fell 0.9% last month, the Commerce Department said." Read more   Nike⁠⁠ (And Some Resellers⁠) Reportedly Suspend Kobe Bryant Merch Sales To Limit Profiteering at Forbes. Read more   How Amazon escapes liability for the riskiest products on its site by Colin Lecher at The Verge. "A recent decision from a federal circuit court has thrown the status quo into doubt. In 2014, a woman named Heather Oberdorf lost vision in [...]

  U.S. new home sales drop for third straight month in December at Reuters. "The Commerce Department said on Monday new home sales slipped 0.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 694,000 units last, with sales in the South dropping to more than a one-year low." Read more   Walmart is raising starting hourly wage to $12 at 500 stores at AP via USA Today. "Walmart Inc. raised its starting pay to $11 an hour in early 2018. That still lags other rivals like Target. In 2017, Target announced a plan to raise starting hourly wages to $15 by [...]

  Hayneedle lays off 200 employees in Omaha, closes main office at 94th and Dodge at KETV ABC 7. "...leaving 100 people working in Omaha....The Hayneedle business and select functions are being integrated within Walmart.com...In May 2019, 59 Hayneedle employees were laid off at the office at 94th and West Dodge. Another 180 were let go from the customer care location in the Chalco Hills area southwest of Omaha." Video/Read more   U.S. Signals Crackdown on Counterfeit Goods Sold Online by William Mauldin & Alex Leary at Wall Street Journal. "The DHS report, which was reviewed by The Wall Street [...]

  Fairway Files for Bankruptcy, Plans to Sell Five NYC Stores at Spectrum News NY 1. "Fairway Market has announced it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and has agreed to sell five of its 14 stores and a distribution center. The price of the deal with Village Supermarket, owner of the ShopRite chain, is about $70 million and was announced Thursday morning." Read more   The Top 25 Philanthropists In America by Jennifer Wang at Forbes: Walton Family #5 / eBay founder Pierre Omidyar #9 / Bernard & Billi Marcus #21 List   They Changed the Way You Buy [...]

  Costco CEO Craig Jelinek appears on 'Mad Money' at CNBC. "We need a lot of volume going through these, as we call them, warehouses. So that’s really what it’s about,” Jelinek said. “We do a lot with very few units [and] turn a lot of inventory, and it just works the best way for us to do it that way. We will continue to expand our Costcos, but we are not going to have one on every corner.” Read more/Video   Jeff Bezos hack: Amazon boss's phone 'hacked by Saudi crown prince' by Stephanie Kirchgaessner at The Guardian. "Jeff [...]