Bloomberg The owner of the Coach and Kate Spade brands is stockpiling its handbags and other accessories ahead of the holiday season to ensure it can meet consumer demand amid ongoing delays in the delivery of products from suppliers. “We find ourselves in a dynamic where the consumer demand backdrop is strong, while supply chain remains challenging,” Scott Roe, the …

Bloomberg Macy’s Inc surged after the department-store operator reinstated its dividend and raised its sales guidance, a sign that consumers are returning to the apparel market after a lengthy pandemic slump. Same-store sales, a key retail metric, rose 61% for the company’s owned stores in the second quarter, Macy’s said in a statement. That’s above the 43% gain expected by …

Bloomberg Retail sales in Canada rebounded as brick-and-mortar shops were allowed to reopen after months of Covid-19 shutdowns, though early data shows that momentum was short-lived. The value of receipts rose 4.2% in June, Statistics Canada reported in Ottawa. However, that bounce-back was quickly reversed in July with a preliminary estimate showing a 1.7% decline on the month. That brings …

Bloomberg Even a $1.5 trillion selloff may not provide an attractive entry point for equity investors as they grapple with cascading risks in China’s technology sector. A stock rout triggered by Beijing’s widening clampdown has left Tencent Holdings Ltd. trading at a price-to-book ratio lower than during the 2008 financial crisis. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has slumped to record low …

Bloomberg Ask a Wall Street strategist where stocks will go and the answer will almost always be, higher. That’s not the case now. Twelve out of the 21 forecasters tracked by Bloomberg expect the S&P 500 Index to fall into the holidays. The spread between the highest and lowest target is 24%, the third-widest in nearly a decade. The uncertainty …

Bloomberg Oil capped the week with the longest losing streak since 2019 as the dollar strengthened after the Federal Reserve signaled it will start tapering stimulus and the virus resurgence raises doubts about demand growth. West Texas Intermediate futures ended the session 2.2% lower, tumbling for a seventh day and extending the week’s decline to 8.9%. Other raw materials including …

ABU DHABI / WAM The Higher Committee of Human Fraternity (HCHF) is following the situation in Afghanistan with great concern and hoping that the key actors there will advance the aspirations of the Afghan people to live dignified and peaceful lives. The HCHF called for protecting human rights, guaranteeing public and individual freedoms, and, in particular, safeguarding the rights of …

BRUSSELS / WAM The EU will provide €41 million to help low and middle-income countries facing an unprecedented health, humanitarian and socio-economic crisis as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to persist, combined with the imbalance in the delivery of vaccines. To help countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia tackle the consequences of the pandemic, the …

Bloomberg Four of the top five Canadian banks are taking a stricter stance with their return-to-office policies, requiring that workers be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 before coming back to company buildings, while the fifth is moving in the same direction. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and Bank of Montreal joined other major financial firms in requiring …

Bloomberg Standard Bank Group Ltd is aiming to grow its customer base by at least 10 million across the 20 African countries it operates in over the next four years. Africa’s biggest lender is looking to add more digitally engaged customers, forge alliances with distribution partners and expand its product offering as it plots a recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. …