y think US will be green in light trading as well (think markets only open till 1 pm est)
monday on the other hand should be interesting
after many days to digest lots of turkey and the recent action of late and reports coming out about black friday traffic etc.
monday on the other hand should be interesting
after many days to digest lots of turkey and the recent action of late and reports coming out about black friday traffic etc.
well they printed today, gold and oil flew too, black friday supposedly exceeded expectations
your daily "tizdoom" update
tread started with following prices
dow 13,265.47
oil 77.50
gold 675
usd 80.75
current prices
dow 12980 -2.15%
oil 98.30 +26.8%
gold 821.60 +21.7%
usd 75.07 -7.03%
your daily "tizdoom" update
tread started with following prices
dow 13,265.47
oil 77.50
gold 675
usd 80.75
current prices
dow 12980 -2.15%
oil 98.30 +26.8%
gold 821.60 +21.7%
usd 75.07 -7.03%
Go foreigners!! we needs your help....see the bold
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Shoppers start holiday marathon
Black Friday crowds spend an estimated $20 billion. The big question for the economy: Will they keep buying?
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Worried retailers and mall operators breathed a sigh of relief after the 2007 holiday shopping marathon off to a robust start Friday.
According to the first early sales estimate, MasterCard Advisors retail analyst Michael McNamara expects Black Friday sales to hit $20 billion. MasterCard Advisors tracks spending made on credit and debit cards as well as cash and check transactions.
McNamara said the estimate represents 5 percent of total expected holiday sales and slightly outpaces last year's Black Friday sales of $19.1 billion.
However, some industry analysts caution that the early buying frenzy could soon peter out - and endanger crucial weekend sales - as millions of pre-dawn shoppers succumb to shopping fatigue.
"The early bird shoppers are definitely out there. But will it last through the day?" said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst with market research firm NPD Group.
Already, Cohen estimates that mall traffic in the early hours appeared to be down slightly compared last year.
"I'm basing this on mall parking lot capacity and the actual lines in front of stores before they opened today," Cohen said. "Last year there were 200 to 300 people waiting for stores to open on Black Friday. This year, it's maybe 100. And when these 100 people get in, that's it. I'm not seeing a second big rush into the store."
To his point, a Wal-Mart (Charts, Fortune 500) store in Union, N.J., seemed to attract a smaller crowd than last year for its 5 a.m. opening. The shoppers who came out rushed to grab toys such as the Bratz fashion dolls and Dora products and electronics like the Polaroid 42-inch LCD TV set for $798 and a Magnavox DVD/VHS player for $69.
"[Today] will be an OK sales day, but the big issue is whether or not we'll get a slowdown midday," said Cohen. "I'm waiting to see how sales do today and the weekend. All three days are important, although I think Sunday will be much quieter than last year."
The day after Thanksgiving is dubbed Black Friday because it traditionally marks the day when retailers finally move out of the red, indicating losses, and into the black, representing profit.
It also sets the tone to the four weeks of gift-buying leading up to Christmas. Moreover, November and December, together, can account for as much as 50 percent of merchants' annual profits and sales.
This year's Black Friday rush is even more critical for retailers, who are facing a tepid sales forecast for holiday 2007. The National Retail Federation expects total holiday sales to grow 4 percent to $475 billion, its slowest growth in five years as millions of American households curtail their spending habits amid a housing downturn and other economic pressures.
If holiday sales come in below 4 percent, experts fear it could result in a retail industry shakeout marked by store closings in 2008.
"Retailers still haven't felt the full impact of the housing slump, sub-prime [mortgage] collapse, credit card problems and fuel prices on American households and their ability to spend," said Tim Finley, former CEO of men's specialty chain Jos. A Bank who is now managing director with turnaround consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal.
Retail analyst Britt Beemer said he, too, expects the shopping momentum to wane by mid-afternoon and in the coming weeks.
"Stores have opened much earlier this year and this will have a negative impact on sales," Beemer said. "If you are up at 4 a.m. to go to J.C. Penney or Kohl's, chances are when you're done, there's no more shopping left for you in the day."
Overall, Beemer expects holiday sales to grow a disappointing 2 percent. "I'm sticking to that forecast unless I see something improve dramatically over the next two weeks."
Specifically for Black Friday, Beemer said retailers did the right thing by using deep discounts to attract the early crowds but he's concerned that merchants may have killed the Friday after-work shopping rush in the process.
Some mall operators, however, took a different view.
Wally Brewster, spokesman for General Growth Properties, which operates more than 200 malls nationwide, said the company had similar concerns to Beemer's when some of its malls held midnight openings last year for Black Friday.
"But when we looked at the combined sales for Friday and the weekend, total sales at malls that opened at midnight showed a higher increase compared to our malls that didn't," Brewster said. "We'll see if that happens again this year."
So far, retailers do have more to cheer than complain about.
Black Friday's bargain frenzy kicked off just after midnight as throngs of shoppers shrugged off Thanksgiving Day fatigue to grab early bird sales on flatscreen TVs, clothes, jewelry and toys.
Electronics - especially high-definition plasma and LCD TVs, GPS navigation devices, Apple's iPhone and MP3 players - were expected to be among the most sought-after items.
Many retailers offered "doorbuster deals," which are special sales offered only for the first few hours on Black Friday. Some chains, including Kohl's and J.C. Penney (Charts, Fortune 500), opened at 4 a.m. nationwide.
"We had people camping outside the store from last night. They brought blankets, chairs, tents. They're really excited," said Andre Sam, an employee with a Best Buy (Charts, Fortune 500) store located in Manhattan.
By 8 a.m., Sam said a few of the hot items were already sold out."The $900 Panasonic 40-inch HDTV, the Samsung 40-inch HDTV and the $399 Sony laptop are gone," Sam said.
The first big shopping day of the holiday season also attracted plenty of international shoppers, taking advantage of weakness in the dollar.
This year, mall operator Taubman Centers offered $20 gift vouchers to Canadian shoppers to splurge at its four Detroit-area malls on Black Friday.
Taubman Center spokeswoman Karen MacDonald said the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel already had a 30 minute backup as early as 5 a.m. on Friday.
"Border security told us that nine out of 10 people driving in from Canada were shoppers," MacDonald said.
Elsewhere, Toys "R" Us CEO Gerald Storch told CNNMoney.com that it was "pandemonium" inside the the Toys "R" Us flagship in New York's Times Square when doors opened at 5 a.m.
"The lines outside were twice as long as last year because we're offering 101 doorbuster items, which is four times as much as last year," Storch said, adding that he was "encouraged" by the crowds given this year's spate of toy recalls that affected millions of products.
"I think parents are very smart. They know that with all the additional testing done after the recalls, we're only selling the safest toys," he said.
According to Storch, the hottest sellers were the Microsoft Zune MP3 player, Transformers toys, Hannah Montana dolls, Nintendo's Wii and the Guitar Hero videogame.
North of Atlanta, unusually heavy traffic was seen at 4:30 a.m. ET on exit ramps near malls and big stores in Cumming and Alpharetta, Ga.
Crowds flocked to the Tanger Outlet center in Riverhead, N.Y., as early as 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day for the mall's midnight opening.
"We estimate that more than 10,000 shoppers were already at the center before it officially opened today," Janine Nebons, general manager of Tanger Outlet center, wrote in an e-mail to CNNMoney.com.
"We estimate that more than 10,000 shoppers were already at the center before it officially opened today," Nebons said.
She said some shoppers waited as long as three hours to get into stores such as Coach, while many young shoppers rushed to grab deals on name brands such as Nike, Guess, Lucky Jeans and Juicy Couture.
Sears (Charts, Fortune 500) spokesman John Casey said the crowds at Sears stores exceeded 1,000 on average when doors opened - despite the retailer not offering early bird shoppers free gift cards this year.
"People were rushing to pick up the Sharp 46-inch LCD TV for $999. Jewelry is going like hot cakes and our Craftsman drill for $39.99 is a big seller," Casey said.
Good weather in the Northeast and Southeast also "helped put people in a great mood to shop," he said.
Industry expert Stevan Buxbaum said retailers could catch a break this year because of an extra shopping week between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
"Retailers have a few more days to really drive sales over the holidays. They've worked hard to keep inventories lean and they've set holiday discounts very early," said Buxbaum, who is executive vice president of consulting firm Buxbaum Group.
Merchants with tightly controlled inventory will survive the holidays with decent sales, Buxbaum said. Electronics sellers will be winners "in terms of dollar volume and not necessarily unit volume growth," he said.
Lack of appealing fashion trends could dent clothing sales in the days ahead while some high-end retailers will struggle, especially names such as Coach that represent "aspirational" luxury for mid-income consumers, he said.
Come January, Buxbaum said retailers need to quickly transition into fresh spring merchandise, which they can sell at full price to post-holiday gift card shoppers.
"It's all about 2008 now," Buxbaum said. "Retailers have to be in stock in their core items and keep inventory under control. Maybe they will slow down growth and manage costs through more direct sourcing."
Despite all these challenges, the holiday season overall is still vital for the industry, said Ernst & Young's retail analyst Jay McIntosh.
"You can't completely ignore [it]. Shoppers will reward excellence by buying at stores that have great merchandise, aggressive prices and customer service," he said. "There will be some retail winners."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Shoppers start holiday marathon
Black Friday crowds spend an estimated $20 billion. The big question for the economy: Will they keep buying?
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Worried retailers and mall operators breathed a sigh of relief after the 2007 holiday shopping marathon off to a robust start Friday.
According to the first early sales estimate, MasterCard Advisors retail analyst Michael McNamara expects Black Friday sales to hit $20 billion. MasterCard Advisors tracks spending made on credit and debit cards as well as cash and check transactions.
McNamara said the estimate represents 5 percent of total expected holiday sales and slightly outpaces last year's Black Friday sales of $19.1 billion.
However, some industry analysts caution that the early buying frenzy could soon peter out - and endanger crucial weekend sales - as millions of pre-dawn shoppers succumb to shopping fatigue.
"The early bird shoppers are definitely out there. But will it last through the day?" said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst with market research firm NPD Group.
Already, Cohen estimates that mall traffic in the early hours appeared to be down slightly compared last year.
"I'm basing this on mall parking lot capacity and the actual lines in front of stores before they opened today," Cohen said. "Last year there were 200 to 300 people waiting for stores to open on Black Friday. This year, it's maybe 100. And when these 100 people get in, that's it. I'm not seeing a second big rush into the store."
To his point, a Wal-Mart (Charts, Fortune 500) store in Union, N.J., seemed to attract a smaller crowd than last year for its 5 a.m. opening. The shoppers who came out rushed to grab toys such as the Bratz fashion dolls and Dora products and electronics like the Polaroid 42-inch LCD TV set for $798 and a Magnavox DVD/VHS player for $69.
"[Today] will be an OK sales day, but the big issue is whether or not we'll get a slowdown midday," said Cohen. "I'm waiting to see how sales do today and the weekend. All three days are important, although I think Sunday will be much quieter than last year."
The day after Thanksgiving is dubbed Black Friday because it traditionally marks the day when retailers finally move out of the red, indicating losses, and into the black, representing profit.
It also sets the tone to the four weeks of gift-buying leading up to Christmas. Moreover, November and December, together, can account for as much as 50 percent of merchants' annual profits and sales.
This year's Black Friday rush is even more critical for retailers, who are facing a tepid sales forecast for holiday 2007. The National Retail Federation expects total holiday sales to grow 4 percent to $475 billion, its slowest growth in five years as millions of American households curtail their spending habits amid a housing downturn and other economic pressures.
If holiday sales come in below 4 percent, experts fear it could result in a retail industry shakeout marked by store closings in 2008.
"Retailers still haven't felt the full impact of the housing slump, sub-prime [mortgage] collapse, credit card problems and fuel prices on American households and their ability to spend," said Tim Finley, former CEO of men's specialty chain Jos. A Bank who is now managing director with turnaround consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal.
Retail analyst Britt Beemer said he, too, expects the shopping momentum to wane by mid-afternoon and in the coming weeks.
"Stores have opened much earlier this year and this will have a negative impact on sales," Beemer said. "If you are up at 4 a.m. to go to J.C. Penney or Kohl's, chances are when you're done, there's no more shopping left for you in the day."
Overall, Beemer expects holiday sales to grow a disappointing 2 percent. "I'm sticking to that forecast unless I see something improve dramatically over the next two weeks."
Specifically for Black Friday, Beemer said retailers did the right thing by using deep discounts to attract the early crowds but he's concerned that merchants may have killed the Friday after-work shopping rush in the process.
Some mall operators, however, took a different view.
Wally Brewster, spokesman for General Growth Properties, which operates more than 200 malls nationwide, said the company had similar concerns to Beemer's when some of its malls held midnight openings last year for Black Friday.
"But when we looked at the combined sales for Friday and the weekend, total sales at malls that opened at midnight showed a higher increase compared to our malls that didn't," Brewster said. "We'll see if that happens again this year."
So far, retailers do have more to cheer than complain about.
Black Friday's bargain frenzy kicked off just after midnight as throngs of shoppers shrugged off Thanksgiving Day fatigue to grab early bird sales on flatscreen TVs, clothes, jewelry and toys.
Electronics - especially high-definition plasma and LCD TVs, GPS navigation devices, Apple's iPhone and MP3 players - were expected to be among the most sought-after items.
Many retailers offered "doorbuster deals," which are special sales offered only for the first few hours on Black Friday. Some chains, including Kohl's and J.C. Penney (Charts, Fortune 500), opened at 4 a.m. nationwide.
"We had people camping outside the store from last night. They brought blankets, chairs, tents. They're really excited," said Andre Sam, an employee with a Best Buy (Charts, Fortune 500) store located in Manhattan.
By 8 a.m., Sam said a few of the hot items were already sold out."The $900 Panasonic 40-inch HDTV, the Samsung 40-inch HDTV and the $399 Sony laptop are gone," Sam said.
The first big shopping day of the holiday season also attracted plenty of international shoppers, taking advantage of weakness in the dollar.
This year, mall operator Taubman Centers offered $20 gift vouchers to Canadian shoppers to splurge at its four Detroit-area malls on Black Friday.
Taubman Center spokeswoman Karen MacDonald said the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel already had a 30 minute backup as early as 5 a.m. on Friday.
"Border security told us that nine out of 10 people driving in from Canada were shoppers," MacDonald said.
Elsewhere, Toys "R" Us CEO Gerald Storch told CNNMoney.com that it was "pandemonium" inside the the Toys "R" Us flagship in New York's Times Square when doors opened at 5 a.m.
"The lines outside were twice as long as last year because we're offering 101 doorbuster items, which is four times as much as last year," Storch said, adding that he was "encouraged" by the crowds given this year's spate of toy recalls that affected millions of products.
"I think parents are very smart. They know that with all the additional testing done after the recalls, we're only selling the safest toys," he said.
According to Storch, the hottest sellers were the Microsoft Zune MP3 player, Transformers toys, Hannah Montana dolls, Nintendo's Wii and the Guitar Hero videogame.
North of Atlanta, unusually heavy traffic was seen at 4:30 a.m. ET on exit ramps near malls and big stores in Cumming and Alpharetta, Ga.
Crowds flocked to the Tanger Outlet center in Riverhead, N.Y., as early as 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day for the mall's midnight opening.
"We estimate that more than 10,000 shoppers were already at the center before it officially opened today," Janine Nebons, general manager of Tanger Outlet center, wrote in an e-mail to CNNMoney.com.
"We estimate that more than 10,000 shoppers were already at the center before it officially opened today," Nebons said.
She said some shoppers waited as long as three hours to get into stores such as Coach, while many young shoppers rushed to grab deals on name brands such as Nike, Guess, Lucky Jeans and Juicy Couture.
Sears (Charts, Fortune 500) spokesman John Casey said the crowds at Sears stores exceeded 1,000 on average when doors opened - despite the retailer not offering early bird shoppers free gift cards this year.
"People were rushing to pick up the Sharp 46-inch LCD TV for $999. Jewelry is going like hot cakes and our Craftsman drill for $39.99 is a big seller," Casey said.
Good weather in the Northeast and Southeast also "helped put people in a great mood to shop," he said.
Industry expert Stevan Buxbaum said retailers could catch a break this year because of an extra shopping week between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
"Retailers have a few more days to really drive sales over the holidays. They've worked hard to keep inventories lean and they've set holiday discounts very early," said Buxbaum, who is executive vice president of consulting firm Buxbaum Group.
Merchants with tightly controlled inventory will survive the holidays with decent sales, Buxbaum said. Electronics sellers will be winners "in terms of dollar volume and not necessarily unit volume growth," he said.
Lack of appealing fashion trends could dent clothing sales in the days ahead while some high-end retailers will struggle, especially names such as Coach that represent "aspirational" luxury for mid-income consumers, he said.
Come January, Buxbaum said retailers need to quickly transition into fresh spring merchandise, which they can sell at full price to post-holiday gift card shoppers.
"It's all about 2008 now," Buxbaum said. "Retailers have to be in stock in their core items and keep inventory under control. Maybe they will slow down growth and manage costs through more direct sourcing."
Despite all these challenges, the holiday season overall is still vital for the industry, said Ernst & Young's retail analyst Jay McIntosh.
"You can't completely ignore [it]. Shoppers will reward excellence by buying at stores that have great merchandise, aggressive prices and customer service," he said. "There will be some retail winners."
yeah main hope this holiday season is wealthy foreigners shopping here cause of crappy dollar
--------------------------------------
The world shops America
Tourists flock to Manhattan on Black Friday to take advantage of the weak dollar as well as holiday sales.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Happy Vendredi Noir! Or Schwarzer Freitag! Or Viernes Negro!
Walking around midtown Manhattan on Black Friday, you heard shoppers speaking in a smorgasbord of languages.
With the U.S. dollar as weak as it is - the greenback hit a new low against the euro on Friday - it appears that many Europeans flocked to the Big Apple to go bargain hunting, to the delight of retailers.
Sarah T., who works at the information booth in the Manhattan Mall, which includes stores such as Aeropostale (Charts), Radio Shack (Charts, Fortune 500) and Charlotte Russe (Charts), said that overall traffic during the morning of Black Friday was about the same as last year but that there were far more many tourists at the mall than a year ago. And she said many of them were leaving with armfuls of bags.
<!-- REAP --><!--startclickprintexclude--> Black Friday shoppers out in force
<!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- /REAP -->At the Victoria's Secret in Herald Square, a greeter standing at the front door wore a Santa hat...and a button that said "Hablo Espanol." A spokeswoman for Victoria's Secret parent company Limited Brands (Charts, Fortune 500) in Columbus, Ohio, said it was good news to hear that the company's stores were popular with tourists.
And the line for the visitors' center at the Macy's iconic store in Herald Square was longer than the lines ay many cash registers.
"We are definitely seeing an influx of European, Canadian and South American consumers," said Terry Lundgren, the chairman and CEO of Macy's Inc (Charts, Fortune 500). "These economies view the dollar as being on sale."
Lundgren said that, in addition to the company's flagship Macy's, the Bloomingdale's stores on 59th Street and in SoHo in Manhattan were both experiencing a boost from tourists, as were Macy's locations in Chicago and San Francisco.
The fact that the dollar has plunged to such low levels could help retailers if the American consumer pulls back this holiday shopping season. Economists are worried that the subprime mortgage crisis could cause people to think twice about spending as much on gifts as they have in years past.
But for those who are enjoying the strength of the euro, pound, yen and other currencies against the moribund dollar, Black Friday provides an added reason to go on a shopping binge. Tourists not only get more bang for their buck, so to speak, but also get to buy things at the steep discounts for which Black Friday is known.
"Of course I'm looking to take advantage of the weak dollar. And it's a bonus that you have the Black Friday sales as well," said Catherine Chapman, who was visiting the U.S. from Scotland.
<!-- REAP --><!--startclickprintexclude--> Gallery: Black Friday madness
<!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- /REAP -->She said she was looking to spend a decent amount at Macy's and in other stores in New York and said that it was worth flying across the pond to get some deals. It helps, she said, that her friend works for Virgin Atlantic. So she was able to get a cheap flight.
But some shoppers looking to cash in on the weak dollar didn't have to fly to New York. They could just drive over the border.
Howard Schacter, the chief partnership officer for Steve & Barry's, an apparel retailer that has a store in the Manhattan Mall, said that the strength in the Canadian dollar, often referred to as the loonie, has helped the company's sales recently.
"For us, the big boost we're seeing is that a higher number of people from north of the border are coming to our stores in the U.S.," Schacter said. Steve & Barry's has 240 stores in the U.S. and several of them are located in Michigan near the border with the Canadian province of Ontario.
He added, though, that Steve & Barry's stores have been seeing a higher number of international shoppers overall, not just from Canada, in the past few months and that the number has been steadily increasing.
<!-- REAP --><!--startclickprintexclude--> Dollar hits new low against euro
<!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- /REAP -->And with the dollar showing no signs of rallying significantly anytime soon, retailers may enjoy a steady stream of customers from outside the U.S. for the foreseeable future.
"International consumers have been making a regular point to visit New York and the U.S. to shop during the past few months and that should continue in 2008," Lundgren said.
Whether or not increased sales to shoppers from outside the U.S. will be enough to make Black Friday and the rest of the holiday shopping season a success, in light of all the concerns about the health of the U.S. consumer, remains to be seen.
But retailers certainly should be prepared to say "gracias," "danke," "arigato" and thanks in many other languages if fourth quarter sales turn out to be better than expected.
--------------------------------------
The world shops America
Tourists flock to Manhattan on Black Friday to take advantage of the weak dollar as well as holiday sales.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Happy Vendredi Noir! Or Schwarzer Freitag! Or Viernes Negro!
Walking around midtown Manhattan on Black Friday, you heard shoppers speaking in a smorgasbord of languages.
With the U.S. dollar as weak as it is - the greenback hit a new low against the euro on Friday - it appears that many Europeans flocked to the Big Apple to go bargain hunting, to the delight of retailers.
Sarah T., who works at the information booth in the Manhattan Mall, which includes stores such as Aeropostale (Charts), Radio Shack (Charts, Fortune 500) and Charlotte Russe (Charts), said that overall traffic during the morning of Black Friday was about the same as last year but that there were far more many tourists at the mall than a year ago. And she said many of them were leaving with armfuls of bags.
<!-- REAP --><!--startclickprintexclude--> Black Friday shoppers out in force
<!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- /REAP -->At the Victoria's Secret in Herald Square, a greeter standing at the front door wore a Santa hat...and a button that said "Hablo Espanol." A spokeswoman for Victoria's Secret parent company Limited Brands (Charts, Fortune 500) in Columbus, Ohio, said it was good news to hear that the company's stores were popular with tourists.
And the line for the visitors' center at the Macy's iconic store in Herald Square was longer than the lines ay many cash registers.
"We are definitely seeing an influx of European, Canadian and South American consumers," said Terry Lundgren, the chairman and CEO of Macy's Inc (Charts, Fortune 500). "These economies view the dollar as being on sale."
Lundgren said that, in addition to the company's flagship Macy's, the Bloomingdale's stores on 59th Street and in SoHo in Manhattan were both experiencing a boost from tourists, as were Macy's locations in Chicago and San Francisco.
The fact that the dollar has plunged to such low levels could help retailers if the American consumer pulls back this holiday shopping season. Economists are worried that the subprime mortgage crisis could cause people to think twice about spending as much on gifts as they have in years past.
But for those who are enjoying the strength of the euro, pound, yen and other currencies against the moribund dollar, Black Friday provides an added reason to go on a shopping binge. Tourists not only get more bang for their buck, so to speak, but also get to buy things at the steep discounts for which Black Friday is known.
"Of course I'm looking to take advantage of the weak dollar. And it's a bonus that you have the Black Friday sales as well," said Catherine Chapman, who was visiting the U.S. from Scotland.
<!-- REAP --><!--startclickprintexclude--> Gallery: Black Friday madness
<!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- /REAP -->She said she was looking to spend a decent amount at Macy's and in other stores in New York and said that it was worth flying across the pond to get some deals. It helps, she said, that her friend works for Virgin Atlantic. So she was able to get a cheap flight.
But some shoppers looking to cash in on the weak dollar didn't have to fly to New York. They could just drive over the border.
Howard Schacter, the chief partnership officer for Steve & Barry's, an apparel retailer that has a store in the Manhattan Mall, said that the strength in the Canadian dollar, often referred to as the loonie, has helped the company's sales recently.
"For us, the big boost we're seeing is that a higher number of people from north of the border are coming to our stores in the U.S.," Schacter said. Steve & Barry's has 240 stores in the U.S. and several of them are located in Michigan near the border with the Canadian province of Ontario.
He added, though, that Steve & Barry's stores have been seeing a higher number of international shoppers overall, not just from Canada, in the past few months and that the number has been steadily increasing.
<!-- REAP --><!--startclickprintexclude--> Dollar hits new low against euro
<!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- /REAP -->And with the dollar showing no signs of rallying significantly anytime soon, retailers may enjoy a steady stream of customers from outside the U.S. for the foreseeable future.
"International consumers have been making a regular point to visit New York and the U.S. to shop during the past few months and that should continue in 2008," Lundgren said.
Whether or not increased sales to shoppers from outside the U.S. will be enough to make Black Friday and the rest of the holiday shopping season a success, in light of all the concerns about the health of the U.S. consumer, remains to be seen.
But retailers certainly should be prepared to say "gracias," "danke," "arigato" and thanks in many other languages if fourth quarter sales turn out to be better than expected.
we'll see how the entire weekend goes
and i'm sure your locale is a great indication of overall activity
why such the angst against me
you are free to do your holiday shopping i have no problem with it not my cup of tea, whatever floats your boat
lighten up man :toast:
and i'm sure your locale is a great indication of overall activity
why such the angst against me
you are free to do your holiday shopping i have no problem with it not my cup of tea, whatever floats your boat
lighten up man :toast:
well black friday itself beat expectations (8.3% gain in sales yoy vs. 4-5% expected) we'll see how weekend overall went reports of that should come out monday sometime
---------------------------------------------------------------
Retailers Post Robust Start to Holidays
Sunday November 25, 7:45 am ET
By Anne D'Innocenzio, AP Business Writer
Nation's Retailers Post a Robust Start to the Holiday Season, Research Group Says
NEW YORK (AP) -- The nation's retailers had a robust start to the holiday shopping season, according to results announced Saturday by a national research group that tracks sales at retail outlets across the country.
According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets, total sales rose 8.3 percent to about $10.3 billion on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, compared with $9.5 billion on the same day a year ago. ShopperTrak had expected an increase of no more than 4 percent to 5 percent.
"This is a really strong number. ... You can't have a good season unless it starts well," said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak, citing strength across all regions. "It's very encouraging. When you look at September and October, shoppers weren't in the stores."
In a separate statement released Saturday, J.C. Penney Co. reported "strong performance across all merchandise categories," including fine jewelry, outerwear, and young men's and children's assortments.
But the department store chain cautioned, "while we are encouraged by our strong start, it is still early in the holiday season, and we are mindful of the headwinds consumers are facing."
J.C. Penney, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other major retailers are expected to report same-store results for November on Dec. 6. Same-store sales are those at stores opened at least a year and are considered a key indicator of a retailer's strength.
The upbeat reports were encouraging since merchants have been struggling with anemic sales in recent months, as shoppers, particularly in the middle and lower-income brackets, were becoming more frugal amid higher gas and food prices and an escalating credit crunch.
In an apparent sign of desperation, the nation's stores ushered in the official start of the holiday shopping season on Friday with expanded hours, including midnight openings, and a blitz of early morning specials that were more generous than a year ago. J.C. Penney and Kohl's Corp. opened at 4 a.m., an hour earlier than a year ago.
The strategy appears to have worked, as shoppers jammed stores in record numbers for early morning deals on Friday. Martin noted that judging by the strong figures on Friday, stores were able to sustain strong sales throughout the day. He said he's counting on strong traffic throughout the weekend as many stores, including Macy's Inc., are continuing with special deals.
While Black Friday -- so named because it was traditionally when the surge of shopping made stores profitable -- starts holiday shopping, it is not considered a bellwether for the season. However, merchants see Black Friday as setting an important tone to the overall season: What consumers see that day influences where they will shop for the rest of the year.
Last year, retailers had a good start during the Thanksgiving weekend, but many stores struggled in December, and a shopping surge just before and after Christmas wasn't enough to make up for lost sales.
This year, the Washington-based National Retail Federation predicted that total holiday sales would be up 4 percent for the combined November and December period, the slowest growth since a 1.3 percent rise in 2002. Holiday sales rose 4.6 percent in 2006 and growth has averaged 4.8 percent over the last decade.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Retailers Post Robust Start to Holidays
Sunday November 25, 7:45 am ET
By Anne D'Innocenzio, AP Business Writer
Nation's Retailers Post a Robust Start to the Holiday Season, Research Group Says
NEW YORK (AP) -- The nation's retailers had a robust start to the holiday shopping season, according to results announced Saturday by a national research group that tracks sales at retail outlets across the country.
According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets, total sales rose 8.3 percent to about $10.3 billion on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, compared with $9.5 billion on the same day a year ago. ShopperTrak had expected an increase of no more than 4 percent to 5 percent.
"This is a really strong number. ... You can't have a good season unless it starts well," said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak, citing strength across all regions. "It's very encouraging. When you look at September and October, shoppers weren't in the stores."
In a separate statement released Saturday, J.C. Penney Co. reported "strong performance across all merchandise categories," including fine jewelry, outerwear, and young men's and children's assortments.
But the department store chain cautioned, "while we are encouraged by our strong start, it is still early in the holiday season, and we are mindful of the headwinds consumers are facing."
J.C. Penney, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other major retailers are expected to report same-store results for November on Dec. 6. Same-store sales are those at stores opened at least a year and are considered a key indicator of a retailer's strength.
The upbeat reports were encouraging since merchants have been struggling with anemic sales in recent months, as shoppers, particularly in the middle and lower-income brackets, were becoming more frugal amid higher gas and food prices and an escalating credit crunch.
In an apparent sign of desperation, the nation's stores ushered in the official start of the holiday shopping season on Friday with expanded hours, including midnight openings, and a blitz of early morning specials that were more generous than a year ago. J.C. Penney and Kohl's Corp. opened at 4 a.m., an hour earlier than a year ago.
The strategy appears to have worked, as shoppers jammed stores in record numbers for early morning deals on Friday. Martin noted that judging by the strong figures on Friday, stores were able to sustain strong sales throughout the day. He said he's counting on strong traffic throughout the weekend as many stores, including Macy's Inc., are continuing with special deals.
While Black Friday -- so named because it was traditionally when the surge of shopping made stores profitable -- starts holiday shopping, it is not considered a bellwether for the season. However, merchants see Black Friday as setting an important tone to the overall season: What consumers see that day influences where they will shop for the rest of the year.
Last year, retailers had a good start during the Thanksgiving weekend, but many stores struggled in December, and a shopping surge just before and after Christmas wasn't enough to make up for lost sales.
This year, the Washington-based National Retail Federation predicted that total holiday sales would be up 4 percent for the combined November and December period, the slowest growth since a 1.3 percent rise in 2002. Holiday sales rose 4.6 percent in 2006 and growth has averaged 4.8 percent over the last decade.
Cuzz, go ez on Tizdoom.
He wants a depression because he thinks that'll help OB Wan Paul :think2:
Whatever
like a depression can materialize in 2 months
:lolBIG:
anyway it has little to do with ron paul although it won't hurt him the dollar tanking and economy slowing as that's his general outlook/prediction as well
that said i think chances of depression are very minute
but a pretty sizable recession looks like its in the cards
its not about what i want....just my predictions....i'll be a bull when i think the time is right
maybe i'm wrong...
:lolBIG:
anyway it has little to do with ron paul although it won't hurt him the dollar tanking and economy slowing as that's his general outlook/prediction as well
that said i think chances of depression are very minute
but a pretty sizable recession looks like its in the cards
its not about what i want....just my predictions....i'll be a bull when i think the time is right
maybe i'm wrong...
china ready to spend some of those USD they got laying around
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China to join bidding for Rio Tinto with offer of 200 bln usd - report
| 25 Nov 2007 | 06:37 AM ET Font size:
BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China will join the bidding for Rio Tinto with an initial offer of about 200 bln usd, Beijing-based weekly China Business reported over the weekend. Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, the newspaper said China's newly launched sovereign wealth fund - China Investment Company - will join hands with Baosteel, Shougang group, Angang group and some other firms controlled by the central government to make the bid. "China will start its move very soon," a source was quoted as saying. No further information was provided. Rio Tinto earlier this month rejected a merger proposal from BHP Billiton which valued Rio Tinto at about 142 bln usd.
BHP Billiton's takeover bid for Rio Tinto aroused concerns among China steelmakers, which fear a combined entity will have too much power over iron ore pricing.
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China to join bidding for Rio Tinto with offer of 200 bln usd - report
| 25 Nov 2007 | 06:37 AM ET Font size:
BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China will join the bidding for Rio Tinto with an initial offer of about 200 bln usd, Beijing-based weekly China Business reported over the weekend. Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, the newspaper said China's newly launched sovereign wealth fund - China Investment Company - will join hands with Baosteel, Shougang group, Angang group and some other firms controlled by the central government to make the bid. "China will start its move very soon," a source was quoted as saying. No further information was provided. Rio Tinto earlier this month rejected a merger proposal from BHP Billiton which valued Rio Tinto at about 142 bln usd.
BHP Billiton's takeover bid for Rio Tinto aroused concerns among China steelmakers, which fear a combined entity will have too much power over iron ore pricing.
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2007/11/read-it-here--1.html
Read it here 1st: Profits Flip Negative for Q3
Sunday, November 25, 2007 | 08:09 AM
in Data Analysis | Earnings | Valuation
On Friday, Merrill Lynch's David Rosenberg notes that with "90% of the companies reporting, third-quarter earnings per share dropped 8.5% from the third quarter last year."
As we noted last Monday, S&P 500 Profit Flips Negative for Q3.
Here's an excerpt via Barron's Alan Abelson:
"With the tally now encompassing 90% of the companies reporting, third-quarter earnings per share dropped 8.5% from the third quarter last year. A bad enough showing in itself, it's even worse when compared with a 9.6% gain in the second quarter over the corresponding '06 period and 11.6% when the whole world was smiling a year ago. It's the worst performance since that dispirited fourth quarter of 2001, hard on the heels of 9/11.
It won't shock you, we're sure, to learn that financials took a real profits pummeling (down 33% from the year-earlier total) topped (if that's the word) only by the shares of companies that cater to consumers with more than a dollop of discretionary income to spend, which were off 39%.
David stresses that profits drive the business cycle -- capital spending and employment feed off them. And he sighs: "It has always been thus." Hence, he's ineluctably forced to the conclusion that a recession in the economy "is either here or no more than two quarters away." And he goes on to note the last two times corporate earnings skidded to a comparable extent into negative terrain were in the fourth quarters of 1989 and 2000 (both instances, we might add, proved the beginnings or a prelude to something ugly in the stock market as well as the overall economy).
There's a tendency, David notes, especially prevalent among the considerable number of die-hard optimists, "to strip financial-related earnings out of the pie" because financials now account for 30% of corporate profits and crow about how good everything else is. Well, everything else isn't so hot and, as David observes, "stripping out financials is like stripping out California, Florida, New York and Texas from GDP."
Read it here 1st: Profits Flip Negative for Q3
Sunday, November 25, 2007 | 08:09 AM
in Data Analysis | Earnings | Valuation
On Friday, Merrill Lynch's David Rosenberg notes that with "90% of the companies reporting, third-quarter earnings per share dropped 8.5% from the third quarter last year."
As we noted last Monday, S&P 500 Profit Flips Negative for Q3.
Here's an excerpt via Barron's Alan Abelson:
"With the tally now encompassing 90% of the companies reporting, third-quarter earnings per share dropped 8.5% from the third quarter last year. A bad enough showing in itself, it's even worse when compared with a 9.6% gain in the second quarter over the corresponding '06 period and 11.6% when the whole world was smiling a year ago. It's the worst performance since that dispirited fourth quarter of 2001, hard on the heels of 9/11.
It won't shock you, we're sure, to learn that financials took a real profits pummeling (down 33% from the year-earlier total) topped (if that's the word) only by the shares of companies that cater to consumers with more than a dollop of discretionary income to spend, which were off 39%.
David stresses that profits drive the business cycle -- capital spending and employment feed off them. And he sighs: "It has always been thus." Hence, he's ineluctably forced to the conclusion that a recession in the economy "is either here or no more than two quarters away." And he goes on to note the last two times corporate earnings skidded to a comparable extent into negative terrain were in the fourth quarters of 1989 and 2000 (both instances, we might add, proved the beginnings or a prelude to something ugly in the stock market as well as the overall economy).
There's a tendency, David notes, especially prevalent among the considerable number of die-hard optimists, "to strip financial-related earnings out of the pie" because financials now account for 30% of corporate profits and crow about how good everything else is. Well, everything else isn't so hot and, as David observes, "stripping out financials is like stripping out California, Florida, New York and Texas from GDP."
I swear, if our forefathers had had tizdoom's bleak outlook, we'd still be living caves with no indoor plumbing -- ya know, kinda like our enemies. In a single lifetime, Americans went from horse and buggy to landing a man on the moon (as "unconstitutional" as it was).
Meanwhile, back in the 7th century...
Can you grow a strong beard, tizdoom? Sounds like you and a few others in this here forum would fit right in.
Meanwhile, back in the 7th century...
Can you grow a strong beard, tizdoom? Sounds like you and a few others in this here forum would fit right in.
