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Wall Street is steadying on Wednesday as Alphabet and other technology stocks rise. The S&P 500 added 0.3% and was on track to break its two-day losing streak since setting its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 179 points, or 0.4%, as of 12:32 p.m. ET, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9% higher. Googles parent company was one of the strongest forces lifting the market and climbed 8.7% after avoiding some of the worst-case scenarios in its antitrust case. A federal judge on Tuesday ordered a shake-up of Googles search engine but did not force a sale of its Chrome browser. Because Alphabet is one of Wall Streets most valuable companies, its stock movements carry more weight on the S&P 500 and other indexes than the typical companys. Also helping to steady Wall Street was a calming bond market. A day earlier, rising yields for government bonds around the world raised the pressure on the stock market. Yields climbed on worries about governments abilities to repay their growing mountains of debt, as well as concerns that President Donald Trumps pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut short-term interest rates could lead to higher inflation in the long term. Such worries have pushed investors to demand higher yields in order to lend money to governments worldwide. And when bonds are paying more in interest, investors are less likely to pay high prices for stocks, which are riskier investments. On Wednesday, Treasury yields retreated following the latest report on the U.S. job market coming in weaker than expected. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.21%, from 4.28% late Tuesday, for example. The report showed that U.S. employers were advertising 7.2 million job openings at the end of July, fewer than economists had forecast. The number bolsters the growing sense on Wall Street that the job market may be ossifying into a low-hire, low-fire state. A weakened job market could push the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its next meeting, which is scheduled for later this month. Thats the widespread expectation among traders. Lower interest rates could give the job market and overall economy a boost, along with prices for investments. The downside is that they can also push inflation higher when Trump’s tariffs may be set to raise prices for all kinds of imports. Trading on Wall Street was mixed outside of tech stocks, which benefited from the Alphabet ruling. Apple rose 3% after analysts highlighted how the ruling will still allow it to sign lucrative search deals with Google. This is a relief, an outcome that is much better than feared for Google and for Apple,” according to Chris Marangi, co-chief investment officer of value at Gabelli Funds. Macys jumped 17.1% for one of the markets bigger gains after the retailer reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The owner of Bloomingdales delivered the best growth in an important measure of sales in three years, and it also raised its forecasts for sales and profit this fiscal year. American Bitcoin, a bitcoin treasury and mining company linked to the Trump family, shot up 28.1% in its first day of trading on the Nasdaq after completing a merger with Gryphon Digital Mining. Movements for its stock were so frenetic that trading was halted several times in the day’s first hour, and it more than doubled at one point. Campbell’s rose 4.9% after the company behind the Goldfish and V8 brands reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said, though, that customers are continuing to be increasingly deliberate and that tariffs may help drag its overall earnings lower in its upcoming fiscal year. On the losing end of Wall Street was Dollar Tree, even though the retailer reported better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. A chunk of its stronger-than-expected performance came because of the timing of tariffs, which could drag down its results in the current quarter. Analysts also said expectations were high for the value retailer coming into its report. Its stock fell 7.1%, slicing into its gain for the year that came into the day at a stellar 48.6%. In stock markets abroad, European indexes ticked higher following a weaker finish across much of Asia. Japans Nikkei 225 fell 0.9% amid uncertainty about the political future of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. By Stan Choe, AP business writer AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama contributed.
Category:
E-Commerce
Macy’s raised its expectations for the year and reported the first increase in same-store sales since 2022 after the department store chain intensified its focus on modernizing stores and improving the customer experience. Comparable-store sales are considered a good barometer of a retailer’s health and, for the last three years, they had been been a reminder that the storied department store chain had a long way to go. Macy’s reported an 0.8% increase in comparable sales. Industry analysts, who had expected a 0.5% decrease, were caught off guard by the swing and the company’s shares rocketed 19% higher Wednesday. They remain negative for the year, however. The reversal in comparable-store sales underscored how Macy’s campaign to improve customer experience and the merchandise on its shelves has enticed shoppers to buy even as Americans as a whole grow more cautious about spending as President Donald Trump’s trade war raises economic anxiety. Macys is grappling with an uncertain economic backdrop and higher costs, particularly because of the tariffs, and said Wednesday that it even though customers have proven resilient, they remain choosy about what they are buying, and executives are usure how tariffs will affect spending for the remainder of the year. We’re celebrating the second quarter but were being prudent in our guidance for the third quarter and the remainder of the year because we want to see how the tariff environment plays out in totality, Macy’s CEO Tony Spring told investors during a conference call on Wednesday. The company said in May that it was diversifying the origin of its imports and pulling items when the math doesnt work. Spring told analysts that the company is trying to take a surgical approach” when it comes to price increases. The department store has already raised some prices, though Spring did not specify where. He noted in some cases, it has had to cut back on orders on items where it raised prices. We’ve tried to be really thoughtful about what categories can bear the cost and the increases and where weve had to negotiate a little bit harder, he said. Spring said the approach by Macy’s, which also owns upscale Bloomingdales and the cosmetic chain Bluemercury, of running different chains that cater to different types of shoppers, has been an advantage. The company is not as reliant on one product category or one consumer sector, he said. Roughly 50% of customers at the Macy’s has a household income of over $100,000, and for Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury, there’s a larger percentage of shoppers with household incomes over $150,000, Spring told The Associated Press on Wednesday. But he said while the lower income segment spent less, the difference wasn’t sizeable. And tariffs may affect prices broadly. About 20% of the department store’s products came from China at the end of its last fiscal year, according to Macy’s. Private brands sourced approximately 27% from China, down from 32% last year. Macy’s reported net income of $87 million, or 31 cents per share, for the quarter ended Aug. 2. That compares with $150 million, or 53 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were 41 cents a share, well above the 19 cents per share estimated by FactSet. Sales fell to $4.99 billion from $5.09 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts expected $4.7 billion, according to FactSet. Including its licensed businesses, comparable sales rose 1.9% for all of its stores including its licensed businesses. The retailer has closed unprofitable stores while investing heavily in modernizing Macy’s locations, and that appears to be working. Macys first 125 revamped stores achieved comparable sales growth of 1.4%, surpassing the 1.2% gain for all Macy’s locations. The company has been adding more customer service in the fitting areas as well as the shoe department. It’s also been trying to differentiate its luxury business from its rivals by adding exclusive merchandise For the year, Macy’s raised its earnings per share forecast to a range of $1.70 to $2.05, up from $1.60 to $2. Macy’s also expects sales between $21.15 billion and $21.45 billion in 2025, up from $21 billion to $21.4 billion. Wall Street has been projection per-share earnings of $1.79 on sales of $21.18 billion for the year, according to FactSet. By Anne D’Innocenzio, AP retail writer
Category:
E-Commerce
C-SPAN said Wednesday that it had reached a deal to have its three channels air on YouTube TV and Hulu’s live television feed, ending a dispute that had led to a revenue squeeze for the public affairs network in the cord-cutting era. The network said the streaming services would pay the same fee as cable and satellite companies, roughly 87 cents a year per subscriber, and that C-SPAN would continue its no-advertising policy on television. Congress involved itself in the issue, passing a resolution this spring calling on the services’ parent companies Alphabet for YouTube and Disney for Hulu to add C-SPAN to their programming mix. Because congressional sessions and hearings represent a big portion of C-SPAN’s programming, the politicians faced diminished airtime without a deal. At its peak a decade ago, C-SPAN was seen in some 100 million homes with television. The number of homes paying for TV has since dropped to some 70 million, with roughly 20 million of those consumers now getting television through services like YouTube and Hulu, and they weren’t showing C-SPAN. C-SPAN said its revenues had dropped from nearly $64 million in 2019 to $45.4 million in 2023. We are proud that this agreement will give millions more Americans access to our unfiltered coverage of the nation’s political process, said Sam Feist, C-SPAN’s CEO. David Bauder, AP media writer
Category:
E-Commerce
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