CVS Health beats on fourth-quarter earnings and revenue at CNBC. "Same-store sales rose 3.2% during the quarter, with sales in its pharmacy unit up 4.1%." Read more   A first peek inside Amazon's new grocery store at Bloomberg. "The $800 billion grocery industry is keeping a sharp eye on a strip mall in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. There, sandwiched between a nail salon and a bank branch, Amazon.com Inc. is working on the first in a new chain of grocery stores set to open this year. The company has kept construction inside the store firmly under [...]

  2 police officers injured, suspect dead at Walmart shooting in Arkansas at USA Today. "According to Forrest City police officials, a call was made to authorities from someone inside the Walmart Supercenter, about 50 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee. The caller reported an individual inside the store was making threats, acting suspicious and, as the police chief described it, "talking out of his head." Officers arrived around 10:30 and confronted the man." Read more   International Housewares Association cancels part of its Chicago show because of coronavirus travel limitations by Abdel Jimenez at Chicago Tribune. "The Inspired Home Show will not include an [...]

  Amazon wants to depose Trump, accuses him of ‘bias’ after losing $10 billion Pentagon cloud contract at CNBC. "Amazon Web Services told CNBC in a statement: “President Trump has repeatedly demonstrated his willingness to use his position as President and Commander in Chief to interfere with government functions – including federal procurements – to advance his personal agenda..." Read more   Simon Property Group to acquire Taubman Centers for $52.50 a share in cash at CNBC. "The news sent Taubman’s stock soaring up 52% after it resumed trading following a halt for the announcement." Read more   Mattel closing [...]

  US employers add a strong 225K jobs; unemployment up to 3.6% at AP. "The public’s confidence that jobs are plentiful is helping persuade more people without jobs to begin looking for one. Last month, 61.2% of American adults had jobs, the highest proportion since November 2008." Read more   Lifeblood of Amazon merchants threatened as coronavirus infects Chinese workers at Reuters. "Running out of product on Amazon can wipe out a small business. Amazon’s algorithm gives top billing to sellers with the briskest and most recent sales. That prominent placement helps drive even more sales. “Going out of stock [...]

  US productivity up 1.7% in 2019, best gain in 9 years at AP. "The Commerce Department said Thursday that productivity grew at an annual rate of 1.4% in the October-December quarter, a significant improvement from a 0.2% drop in productivity in the third quarter." Read more   Costco January comp sales +6.6% "For the twenty-two weeks ended February 2, 2020, the Company reported net sales of $68.56 billion, an increase of 7.6 percent from $63.70 billion during the similar period last year." Read more   China to halve retaliatory tariffs on hundreds of US goods worth about $75 billion [...]

  Private payrolls soar in January, the best monthly gain in nearly 5 years at CNBC. "...adding 291,000 in private payrolls for the best monthly gain since May 2015, according to a report Wednesday from ADP and Moody’s Analytics. That was well above the 150,000 estimate from economists surveyed by Dow Jones..." Read more   Macy’s to shutter Cincinnati HQ & 125 stores at The Enquirer. "The company said it will shift an unspecified number of jobs to Springdale, where it has about 480 employees. That number will grow to 950 after the Downtown headquarters closes...The moves are all part of [...]

  Behind Amazon’s HQ2 Fiasco: Jeff Bezos Was Jealous of Elon Musk at Bloomberg. "When Elon Musk secured $1.3 billion from Nevada in 2014 to open a gigantic battery plant, Jeff Bezos noticed. In meetings, the Amazon.com Inc. chief expressed envy for how Musk had pitted five Western states against one another in a bidding war for thousands of manufacturing jobs; he wondered why Amazon was okay with accepting comparatively trifling incentives. It was a theme Bezos returned to often, according to four people privy to his thinking." Tiered subs.   US manufacturing activity rebounds in January at CNBC. "U.S. [...]