Summary: The retail sector is in worse shape today than it was in 2008 during and immediately following the financial crisis. Retailing has been responsible for 10% of the jobs gained during this so-called recovery. Clearly part of the problem is the increase in minimum wage. Why are retailers adding so many jobs when their business is declining?
- A quick little announcement at the beginning of this podcast; I’m going to try to keep the length of these podcasts down to 20 minutes in the future
- It seems we have quite a bit of audience falloff after about 17 minutes
- We’re also skipping our ads at the end in favor of more informative content about Euro Pacific Capital, SchiffGold, Goldmoney and Euro Pacific Bank.
- So I am going to do these shorter podcasts more frequently
- First of all, it’s the RetailPocalypse, which I have been talking about on this podcast that, from my perspective – not just my perspective,
- In reality, the retail sector is in worse shape today than it was in 2008 during and immediately foll0wing the financial crisis
- We got a lot of bad news from the retailers this week
- Including JCPenny and Nordstrom’s – horrible sales from these companies
- We had other retailers earlier in the week that came out with bad news
- Kohl’s Department Store, Dillards
- Kohl’s stock is at 36.5 as I record this
- That stock’s high was $75-$80 in the summer of 2015
- So it’s down 60% or so
- Dillard’s is at a 52-week low today, at just under $47
- That was over $120 – more than a 50% decline
- Macy’s was down another 3% today – a new 52-week low
- Macy’s is at $23.60 -it was a $70 stock
- These are huge markdowns for retail stocks
- Look at Nordstrom’s – down almost 11% today on the bad news
- $41.20 – Nordstrom’s was an $80 stock is one of the best performers
- JCPenny is going to get the prize for the biggest decline overall
- This stock’s been falling for a long time
- It closed today at $4.55
- A lot of people are very complacent – they say, “Oh, it’s no big deal because it’s all about e-commerce
- Everybody is shopping online
- Look at Amazon – Amazon stock hit a new 52-week high today
- All time high, not just a 52-week high
- Jeff Bezos is on the way to being the richest man in the world
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