Pending home sales drop to the lowest level on record in January at CNBC. "Pending sales dropped 4.6% from December to the lowest level since the National Association of Realtors began tracking this metric in 2001." Read more   Bath & Body Works Q4 net sales down 4.3% Press release   ...Bath & Body Works forecasts tepid annual results on tariffs, spending concerns at Reuters. "Bath & Body Works forecast fiscal 2025 net sales growth of to 1% to 3%, largely below analysts' estimates for a 2.8% rise, according to data compiled by LSEG." Read more   The frontloading [...]

  US consumer confidence plummets in February, biggest monthly decline since 2021 at AP. "The Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index sank this month to 98.3 from 105.3 in January. That’s far below the expectations of economists, who projected a reading of 103, according to a survey by FactSet...Markets on Wall Street immediately drooped..." Read more   Home Depot Q4 comp sales +0.8%, U.S. +1.3% Press release   ...Home Depot earnings beat estimates, as retailer breaks comparable sales losing streak at CNBC. "In an interview with CNBC, CFO Richard McPhail said “housing is still frozen by mortgage rates.” [...]

  Walmart U.S. Q4 comp sales (ex-fuel) +4.6% / Walmart Int'l Q4 net sales growth +5.7% Press release   ...Walmart shares drop as retailer says profit growth will slow at CNBC. "In an interview with CNBC, CFO John David Rainey described consumer spending patterns as “steady” and said “there’s not any sharp changes that we’ve seen.”...About two-thirds of what Walmart sells is made, grown or assembled in the U.S. Yet if tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada take effect, he said Walmart is “not going to be completely immune.” Read more   Sam's Club Q4 comp sales (ex-fuel) +6.8% [...]

  Forbes: America's Best Large Employers (Trader Joe's #2 / Costco #42 / HEB #55 / WinCo #67) Full list   Inside Amazon’s Messy Push to Bring Everyone Back to the Office at WSJ. "The space crunch has led the e-commerce giant to postpone the mandate at dozens of offices around the U.S., including in Houston, Atlanta and New York City. Workers assigned to some locations are still waiting to hear when they can actually go to the office full-time. Others who are back in five days don’t have any teammates in the same location. They find themselves jockeying for parking, [...]

  Shopify beats on fourth-quarter revenue, but gives mixed guidance at CNBC. "Revenue in the fourth quarter jumped 31% from $2.14 billion in the same quarter a year earlier...Net income nearly doubled to $1.3 billion..." Read more   Kroger cuts hundreds of jobs at Cincinnati headquarters, other local facilities at Local 12. "...eliminated a couple hundred jobs as it shuts down or lowers the priority of projects the company has opted not to continue because they aren’t working out, according to sources with knowledge of the cuts who asked not to be identified. Most of the people whose jobs have [...]

  Amazon Can’t Seem to Make Its Physical Stores Work at WSJ. "...with the Amazon Go store in Woodland Hills, Calif., closing this month, the retailer has shrunk its Go portfolio by about half since early 2023, to 16 stores in four states...It has closed dozens of its other branded retail stores in recent years, including bookstores, fashion outlets and its “4-star” locations stocked with bestselling items from its website." WSJ subs.   China launches limited tariffs at AP. "John Gong, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, called the response a “measured” one. “I [...]