Consumer spending dipped 1% as winter storms raked the US
(AP Photo/Steven Senne)WASHINGTON – Consumers spending and personal incomes both fell sharply in February as severe winter storms disrupted shopping in many parts of the country and the government wrapped up distribution of $600 relief payments. Consumer spending fell 1% last month, the Commerce Department reported Friday, the biggest drop since last April when spending tumbled 12.4% as the country was broadsided by the global pandemic. Consumer spending, which is closely watched because it accounts for 70% of economic activity, jumped 3.4% in January. Personal incomes, which provide the fuel for future spending, surged 10.1% the same month as the U.S. doled out $600 checks. The government reported that personal savings totaled a sizable $2.41 trillion with the saving rate, saving as a percentage of after-tax income, at 13.6%.
Gap is in trouble; spinning off Old Navy up in the air
Perhaps more troubling, Gap said that sales at Old Navy stores open at least a year slipped 4% during its most recent quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. For investors, the lack of a clear succession plan atop Gap and weakness at Old Navy are signs of trouble. "Weaker results at the [Old Navy] business reduce the upside potential to the value of a standalone entity," Dana Telsey, analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, said in a note to clients Friday. Old Navy, born in 1994, has been the top prize in Gap's often inconsistent brand portfolio. Old Navy reached $1 billion in annual sales in its first four years by hawking trendy, low-priced clothes.
Old Navy plans to open 800 new stores
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(CNN) - Old Navy outlined plans Thursday to open 800 new stores, its first major announcement since the Gap, its parent company, announced it would spin off the lower-priced brand. Old Navy had 1,140 stores at the end of its fiscal year in February. Old Navy expects to open up around 75 stores a year, focusing away from struggling malls. The Gap said in February that it plans to spin off Old Navy into a public company in 2020. Old Navy will open stores at a moment when most of the industry is doing the opposite.
Retailers among 2019's worst stocks
Spencer Platt/Getty Images(CNN) - Looking for more proof of just how hard it is for traditional retailers to compete in a world that's increasingly dominated by Amazon? Nordstrom and Gap are the worst-performing stocks in the S&P 500 so far this year. Several other big brick-and-mortar retailers are among the market's biggest losers of the first half of 2019. All of those companies have recorded sluggish sales and profits as consumers increasingly shop online. And Home Depot, which faces less competition from Amazon and online shopping in general, is up more than 20%.