• Walmart to take $1B loss after sale of its Argentina business

    Walmart to take $1B loss after sale of its Argentina business

    Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, said on Friday it was selling its retail operations in Argentina to South American supermarket chain owner Grupo de Narváez, pulling back as the country
  • Coty posts surprise profit as demand for beauty products recovers

    Coty posts surprise profit as demand for beauty products recovers

    Coty posted a surprise quarterly profit on Friday as demand for its beauty products and fragrances recovered from lockdown lows and the cosmetics maker kept a tight lid on costs, sending its shares 17
  • Election uncertainty taking toll on online shopping

    Election uncertainty taking toll on online shopping

    Uncertainty around Election Day has put a crimp into online shopping. Consumers have spent less money on the web this week than experts had anticipated, according to a study, raising concerns that
  • Nearly 60 percent of COVID-19 business closures are permanent: report

    Nearly 60 percent of COVID-19 business closures are permanent: report

    Nearly 60 percent of businesses that closed nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic are never reopening again, according to a report. The vast majority of those businesses are restaurants and gift stores, according to Yelp’s Local Economic Impact Report, a monthly survey of business listings. As of Aug. 31, 163,735 businesses were listed as closed, with …
  • Economic damage from coronavirus may not be as bad as expected

    Economic damage from coronavirus may not be as bad as expected

    The coronavirus pandemic may not damage the global economy as badly as previously feared, an influential group says. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Wednesday that it now expects worldwide gross domestic product — a key measure of economic health — to drop by 4.5 percent this year, down from its June forecast …
  • US retail sales climb 0.6 percent as COVID-19 recovery slows

    US retail sales climb 0.6 percent as COVID-19 recovery slows

    US retail sales climbed less than expected last month, another signal that the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic has slowed. Retailers and food-service merchants raked in $537.5 billion in August, a modest 0.6 percent increase from the prior month that came in below experts’ estimates for a 1 percent rise, the US Census Bureau …
  • Hobby Lobby raising full-time minimum wage to $17 an hour

    Hobby Lobby raising full-time minimum wage to $17 an hour

    Hobby Lobby is raising the minimum wage for its full-time workers to $17 an hour ahead of the holiday season. The arts-and-crafts chain will implement the permanent raise Oct. 1, making it the latest big retailer to increase staffers’ pay amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Oklahoma-based company said it last hiked its minimum full-time wage …
  • Senator Marco Rubio seeks review of GNC purchase by Chinese company

    Senator Marco Rubio seeks review of GNC purchase by Chinese company

    US Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican and a China hawk, asked for a national security review of plans by GNC to sell itself to Harbin Pharmaceutical Group. Rubio made the request in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The department leads the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. GNC has said …
  • Fashion retailer Century 21 files for bankruptcy, to shut all stores

    Fashion retailer Century 21 files for bankruptcy, to shut all stores

    Off-price clothing retailer Century 21 — a mecca for generations of fashion-minded bargain hunters — filed for bankruptcy on Thursday and said it will shutter all of its stores for good, blaming insurance companies that failed to pay up during the pandemic. Known for deeply discounted designer goods, the department store has been a retail …
  • Petco owners reportedly weighing $6 billion sale or IPO

    Petco owners reportedly weighing $6 billion sale or IPO

    CVC Capital Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board are exploring a sale or initial public offering of Petco that could value it at $6 billion, including debt, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday. The firms are interviewing potential advisers while reviewing strategic options, with formal efforts around a sale or IPO not expected to kick off …