BLOOMBERG Retail was Europe’s top-performing sector last year, but already there are signs that gains this year will be much harder fought. Marks & Spencer (M&S) Group Plc, whose shares more than doubled in 2023, slid about 6% as strong growth in holiday sales proved an insufficient catalyst for those banking on further upgrades to guidance. The retailer noted economic ...

  BLOOMBERG The opening of Costco Wholesale Corp’s first store in southern China has drawn massive crowds, with customers queuing for hours as the country’s economic slowdown fuels a budget shopping boom. Tens of thousands of people lined up outside the warehouse club’s latest outlet in Shenzhen, a tech hub neighboring Hong Kong, before its doors opened on January 12, ...

BLOOMBERG Burberry Group Plc slumped after the UK trenchcoat maker slashed its profit forecast, a fresh sign that demand for luxury goods, particularly in the US, is waning. The British retailer wiped nearly £100 million ($128 million) off its profit outlook in the starkest sign yet that after an unprecedented surge in luxury sales during the pandemic, the bubble has ...