New-home sales also rose sharply in August to their highest level since September 2006. Sales of newly built homes reached an annual rate of 1.01 million in August 2020, 43.2 percent higher than in August 2019, according to the Census Bureau. New-home sales were also up 4.8 percent compared to […]

People shop at a mall in Beijing on August 14, 2020. Nicolas Asfouri | AFP | Getty Images BEIJING — Chinese consumers stepped up their spending in August, in a sign of further economic recovery from the shock of the coronavirus pandemic. Retail sales rose 0.5% in August from a […]

– By Sydnee Gatewood Iconic department store chain Macy’s Inc. (NYSE:M) reported its second-quarter results before the opening bell on Wednesday. The New York-based retailer, which also owns the Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury brands, posted an adjusted loss of 81 cents per share. This was better than the loss of $1.77 […]

Lego overcame the twin challenges of coronavirus lockdowns and the general gloom in the toy industry to record increases in both sales and profits in the first half. The Danish privately owned maker of plastic bricks said revenues in the first half increased by 7 per cent to DKr15.7bn while […]

(Bloomberg) — Tiffany & Co. returned to profitability in the summer quarter, giving investors hope that its proposed sale to LVMH for $16 billion might still have legs. The jeweler, which saw sales pick up each month between May and July, reported global net sales down 29% in the quarter […]

Bloomberg Remote-Work Boom Mints Another Internet Billionaire (Bloomberg) — The coronavirus pandemic, for all its human and economic tragedy, has spurred a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the technology industry, seized most visibly by the sector’s giants such as Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., and productivity players like Zoom Video […]

The NPD Group chief retail analyst Marshal Cohen on how retailers are being impacted by the coronavirus, specifically missing out on the back-to-school shopping season, which used to be the second-biggest retail period of the year for many brands. Apparel retailer Gap Inc reported a 13% rise in quarterly comparable […]