Foot Locker lowers full-year outlook again, pauses dividend as 2Q sales fall on cautious consumers
Foot Locker is cutting its full-year outlook again and pausing its quarterly dividend as sales dropped in its fiscal second quarter with consumers continuing to be more cautious about their purchases. Shares tumbled more than 27% before the market open on Wednesday. The footwear and clothing retailer said quarterly sales declined to $1.86 billion from $2.07 billion. That’s short of the $1.88 billion that analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research were calling for. Same-store sales, a key indicator of a retailer’s health, dropped 9.4% in the quarter.
Stock market today: Wall Street drifts higher ahead of pivotal profit report from Nvidia
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting ahead of a profit report that could show whether the frenzy this year around artificial-intelligence technology is deserved or overdone. The S&P 500 was up 0.3% early Wednesday, holding steadier amid what’s been a dismal August. The Dow edged rose 73 points, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.4%. Advance Auto Parts helped lead the S&P 500 after naming a new CEO, while easing Treasury yields took some pressure off the stock market. The main event will come after the closing bell, when chipmaker Nvidia will report how much it made during the spring.
UPS workers approve 5-year contract, capping contentious negotiations that threatened deliveries
The union representing 340,000 UPS workers says its members voted to approve the tentative contract agreement reached last month. The vote results announced Tuesday put a final seal on contentious labor negotiations that threatened to disrupt package deliveries for millions of businesses and households nationwide. The Teamsters said that 86% of the votes casts were in favor of ratifying the national contract. Voting on the new five-year contract began Aug. 3 and concluded Tuesday. After negotiations broke down in early July, UPS reached a tentative contract agreement with the Teamsters just days before an Aug. 1 deadline.
Dollar Tree and Family Dollar agree to take steps to improve worker safety at the bargain stores
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. regulators have announced a settlement with the company that runs Dollar Tree and Family Dollar aimed at improving worker safety at thousands of the bargain stores across the country. Labor Department officials cited issues at the stores including blocked exits, unsafe storage of materials and improper access to fire extinguishers and electrical panels. The department says that the chains operated by Dollar Tree Inc. are required make changes to correct within two years violations cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Dollar Tree and Family Dollar have also agreed to pay $1.35 million in penalties to settle existing contested and open inspections of similar alleged violations — and face hefty violations for any future offenses.
Kohl’s beats on 2Q profits as department store cuts inventory amid cautious consumer spending
NEW YORK (AP) — Kohl’s reported on Wednesday that both profits and sales declined in the second quarter as the department store wrestles with shoppers’ cautious spending in a challenging economy. But the results beat Wall Street expectations as the department store chain cut inventory and expenses. The company also reaffirmed its annual guidance. Shares rose more than 2% in premarket trading. Kohl’s, based in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, is among the last group of retailers to report second-quarter results in an earnings season that has shown how still-high inflation, despite some easing, and higher interest rates are forcing shoppers to to cut back on discretionary items like clothing in order to afford their larger grocery bills.
Peloton 4Q sales top Street, but posts bigger-than-expected loss partly on recall costs
Peloton managed to beat sales expectations during its fiscal fourth quarter, but the exercise equipment maker reported a bigger loss than anticipated partly due to recall costs and a shift in consumer spending. Shares plunged more than 27% before the market open on Wednesday. Revenue fell to $642.1 million from $678.7 million, but topped the $640.5 million that analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected.
Two tankers collided in Egypt’s Suez Canal, briefly disrupting traffic in the vital waterway
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian authorities say two tankers have collided in the Suez Canal, briefly disrupting traffic through the global waterway. The Suez Canal authority says the BW Lesmes, a Singapore-flagged tanker that carries liquefied natural gas, suffered a mechanical malfunction and ran aground while transiting through the canal. The Burri, a Cayman Island-flagged tanker which carries oil products, collided with the broken down vessel. The Suez Canal authorities say they managed to refloat and tow away the BW Lesmes, and also managed to remove the Burri from the waterway. Wednesday’s incident is the latest case of a vessel reported stuck in the crucial waterway, causing disruption to global trade.
Four years into crisis, Lebanon’s leaders hope tourism boom will help bypass reforms in IMF bailout
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s political elites are pushing a recovery plan for the country’s financial collapse that would allow them to sidestep tough reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund. But economic experts and former officials say that would largely shift the burden of paying to bail out the financial system away from senior politicians, their families and associates — and onto ordinary Lebanese. The IMF plan would audit banks and force them to sell assets and merge, putting the losses on powerful shareholders. Instead, politicians are hoping a boom in tourism, remittances from abroad and, eventually, revenues from new gas discoveries will bolster the economy.
As oil activities encroach on sacred natural sites, a small Ugandan community feels besieged
BULIISA, Uganda (AP) — Bagungu people who farm and worship in an oil-rich, remote region in Uganda are worried about the future of their sacred natural sites. Custodians who care for these hallowed places say oilfield development is hurting the spiritual power of at least 32 sites in the area. They are concerned it will only get worse as oil companies work toward the goal of making Uganda an oil producer by 2026. Their traditional beliefs are seen as peculiar in this Christian-majority country, contributing to the sense of injustice that’s now driving a campaign to protect their sacred sites from oil activities. Uganda is estimated to have recoverable oil reserves of at least 1.4 billion barrels.
