Written by Gary
Gap swings to a loss as sales drop 18% (SPY +0.3%), said strong online sales softened the blow from closed stores.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | European markets are mixed. The CAC 40 is higher by 0.02%, while the DAX is leading the FTSE 100 lower. They are down 0.15% and 0.08% respectively. |
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | San Quentin prison turns to volunteer doctors to help in slow recovery from coronavirus outbreakAt San Quentin State Prison, about two-thirds of the inmates have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Even as new infections decline, it still needs help recovering from the outbreak. |
| Coca-Cola to restructure workforce, sets voluntary job cutsCoke’s restructuring plan comes as the company streamlines its drink portfolio to focus on larger and more popular brands. |
| Cineworld CEO says it had many ‘sold-out’ shows as movie theaters reopened from virus closures“People really missed the cinemas and wanted to go back into the big screen,”Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger told CNBC. |
| Weakened but still dangerous, Tropical Storm Laura continues to pose a threatRemnants of Hurricane Laura unleashed heavy rain and twisters hundreds of miles inland from a path of death and mangled buildings along the Gulf Coast, and forecasters warned an eastern turn would again make the storm a looming threat, this time to the densely populated Eastern Seaboard. |
| Gap swings to a loss as sales drop 18%, says strong online sales softened the blow from closed storesGap Inc. said Thursday its total sales tumbled 18% during the latest quarter, as e-commerce revenue surged 95% from a year ago, but those gains were offset by a 48% drop in store sales during the coronavirus pandemic. |
| 5 things to know before the stock market opens FridayU.S. stock futures rose Friday as the S&P 500 headed for its best August performace since 1986. |
| Coronavirus live updates: Germany’s Merkel warns of tough winter; J&J to begin phase two vaccine trials in Europe next weekThe coronavirus has infected more than 24.4 million people around the world so far, killing at least 832,300 people. |
| Ford and Fiat Chrysler remain under federal investigation in union corruption probeFord remains under federal investigation as part of a multi-year probe into corruption of the United Auto Workers union, according to the case’s top prosecutor. |
| With bid for TikTok, Walmart looks to turn a political turf war to its own advantageAnalysts and industry watchers say TikTok fits into Walmart’s broader strategy to expand its reach with customers, collect valuable consumer data and amp up its e-commerce business to fend off Amazon. |
| Gap’s decision to pivot and make face masks put $130 million in its registersGap said Thursday when it reported quarterly earnings that it brought in $130 million in sales during the latest period for its face masks. That includes sales to individuals and to businesses. |
| Trump to announce $750 million deal with Abbott for at least 150 million rapid coronavirus testsTrump plans to use his speech at the Republican National Convention to announce the deal, a White House official said. |
| 25% of U.S. malls are expected to shut within 5 years. Giving them a new life won’t be easyWhat is going to happen to America’s dead malls? That’s a million-dollar question plaguing retailers and real estate developers. |
| Forget back-to-school bargains: Retailers waiting it out as parents postpone purchasesMany retailers say they are still waiting to see strong demand for back-to-school shopping as parents and students put off purchases of fresh outfits, notebooks and glue sticks. |
| “The Fed Has Become An Awful Echo Of The End-Days Of The Former Soviet Union”“The Fed Has Become An Awful Echo Of The End-Days Of The Former Soviet Union” Tyler Durden Fri, 08/28/2020 – 08:45 By Michael Every of Rabobank As flagged yesterday, the Fed came, they saw, ¦and the Fed did even less than most had expected. After an exhaustive round of œThe Fed listens exercises, after teams of its economists and heavy thinkers got together to find a solution, the multi-year strategic policy framework review came up with ¦a shift to targeting inflation averaging 2% over the long term rather than the medium term and even greater tolerance for low unemployment. That’s it. Not even yield curve control. Not even nominal GDP targeting. Nada. This makes a mockery of those hoping for substantive change after such an exhaustive process. It makes a mockery of those expecting any substantive improvement in the future economic outlook. It makes a mockery of the army of Fed economists and their models and assumptions. As I said yesterday, it’s all political-economy ¦on which note please see here. Yesterday was like a hunter-gatherer coming home to his starving tribe after yet another unsuccessful hunt for wild boar –because he uses a spear with no sharp fli … |
| Americans’ Income & Spending Rose More Than Expected In July (Before Handouts Stopped)Americans’ Income & Spending Rose More Than Expected In July (Before Handouts Stopped) Tyler Durden Fri, 08/28/2020 – 08:39 Analysts expected the trend of the last two months to continue in July with personal spending rebounding (though at a slower pace) and personal incomes shrinking back, but both surprised to the upside with a +0.4% MoM rise in incomes and +1.9% MoM jump in spending ( vs -0.2% and +1.6% respectively). |
| Top Beijing Official Warns: Chinese Consumers Will ‘Abandon’ iPhones If US Bans WeChatÂTop Beijing Official Warns: Chinese Consumers Will ‘Abandon’ iPhones If US Bans WeChat Tyler Durden Fri, 08/28/2020 – 08:24 In a rare comment about potentially boycotting American products, China’s foreign ministry spokesman warned Friday if the Trump administration goes ahead with a ban on the popular messaging app WeChat, from mid-September on, then it would result in Chinese consumers ditching iPhones and other Apple products.Â
President Trump’s executive order banning WeChat in the coming weeks would not just stoke further tensions between both superpowers, but also could lead to a massive hi … |
| Correction Watch: Divergences Are Developing Between Large US Stocks & Everything ElseCorrection Watch: Divergences Are Developing Between Large US Stocks & Everything Else Tyler Durden Fri, 08/28/2020 – 08:12 Authored by Bryce Coward via Knowledge Leaders Capital blog, Last week we put out a succinct mid-quarter update in which we highlighted 9 negative inputs into a tactical equity framework. This post builds upon that by calling out 7 rather conspicuous divergences that are developing in the financial markets. |
| Coronavirus: Gatwick passenger numbers collapse by 14.7 millionThe airport says it will take four to five years for air traffic to return to pre-pandemic levels. |
| Coronavirus: Fitness industry ‘devastated’ by lockdownGym owners call for government support similar to the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. |
| Coronavirus: Campaign to encourage workers back to officesIt follows warnings that city centres could become “ghost towns” if more staff do not return. |
| Fantasy sports users consume more sports: StudyFantasy sports users consume more sports: StudyA Kantar & FIFS survey says 59% users have started watching new sports because of their interest in fantasy sports, while 48% of fantasy sports users now watch almost every game irrespective of team or country. |
| Covid has made predicting growth trickierCovid has made predicting growth trickierThe lack of field surveys add to the data complexities, with output in several sectors likely to be estimated and later revised once the hard numbers become available in coming months. Measuring last quarter’s GDP has been the “most challenging exercise in a long time,” Sumedha Das Gupta, an economist at ICICI Bank Ltd, says. |
| Coca-Cola to cut jobs in restructuringCoca-Cola to cut jobs in restructuringCoca-Cola Co said on Friday it would reduce its global workforce as part of a company-wide restructuring. |
| July 2020 Real Personal Income Declined, Real Expenditures ImprovedWritten by Steven Hansen This month there was little coronavirus bounce with inflation-adjusted income declining and a modest increase in expenditures.
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| Need to Know: The Fed might never hike rates again. Here are growth stocks for the long run, according to one strategistThe Fed’s change of policy goals makes it almost inevitable that the next five years will be dominated by a Japan-like environment of low nominal yields, boosting growth stocks, one strategist argues. |
| Earnings Results: Bill.com beats on earnings, CEO predicts work-from-home trends are ‘here to stay’Bill.com Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Renà Lacerte is optimistic that the COVID-19 crisis will drive a longer-term shift toward remote work that increases demand for digital accounting tools. |
| Pandemic PC boom pushes HP sales $1 billion higher than expectedContinuing tech’s torrid earnings streak, HP Inc. shares are rising in premarket trading Friday after the company reported fiscal third-quarter sales that exceeded Wall Street estimates by $1 billion thanks to a pandemic-influenced boom in personal-computer sales. |
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