Wholesale prices rose 0.2% in December, less than expected at CNBC. "...(rose) less than the 0.4% increase in November and below the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 0.4%...Excluding food and energy, so-called core PPI was flat compared to the forecast for a 0.3% rise. Excluding food, energy and trade services, the measure rose just 0.1%." Read more   Retailers post early holiday results at CNBC. "Lululemon now expects sales to grow between 11% and 12% to between $3.56 billion and $3.58 billion, up from a previous range of $3.48 billion and $3.51 billion...Abercrombie...nudged up its net sales growth outlook to [...]

  Amazon aims to expand advertising business by letting retailers use its ad tools on their stores at CNBC. "The service could provide Amazon with valuable data it can use to bolster its ad prediction and recommendation technology. The company said early customers include health and wellness retailer iHerb, Asian grocery startup Weee! and Oriental Trading Co., which sells toys, party and craft supplies." Read more   Costco December comp sales (ex-fuel & f/x) +9.9%: US +9.8% / Canada +10.3% / Int'l +9.8% / Ecom +35.7% "E-commerce sales in December were positively impacted by an estimated 15 percentage points, due [...]

  Jeff Bezos spotted having dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago at NY Post. "Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was seen sauntering into Mar-a-Lago late Wednesday night to have dinner with President-elect Donald Trump. Bezos walked in with his fiancée Lauren Sanchez for their first dinner with Trump since the soon-to-be 47th president won re-election." Read more   Amazon workers strike at seven U.S. facilities ahead of Christmas rush at CNBC. "Warehouse workers in cities including New York, Atlanta and San Francisco are taking part in the “largest” strike against Amazon, said the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 10,000 workers at [...]

  TODAY - Trump rings bell at NYSE / Cornell & other CEOs in crowd / Trump says Bezos to visit next week   World’s Richest Families 2024 - Waltons Back on Top at Bloomberg. "The Waltons are back on top after Walmart’s stock surge boosted their wealth to $432.4 billion...Nothing about 110 NW 2nd St. hints at the vast wealth coursing through it. The modest brick building in downtown Bentonville, Arkansas, is the home of Walton Enterprises — steward of the greatest family fortune in the world..." Bloomberg subs.   Gen Z wants to shop in person — and [...]

  Costco’s popular Kirkland diapers shifting suppliers at Bloomberg/Orange County Register. "First Quality is replacing Kimberly-Clark Corp. as the maker of Costco’s diapers, with the official change set to happen in January...Earlier this month, Kimberly-Clark CFO Nelson Urdaneta said that the company’s exit of private label businesses, “allows us to dedicate our capacity and our investments to our own technologies and brands to differentiate them.” Read more   Amazon is officially in the online car sales business at TechCrunch. "Amazon is kicking off the new endeavor with Hyundai in 48 U.S. cities...Amazon Autos will function, in many ways, like the [...]

  Costco November comp sales (ex-fuel & f/x): Total company +4.9% / US +4.3% / Canada +5.7% / Other Int'l +7.3% / Ecom -2.5% "E-commerce sales in November were negatively impacted by an estimated 15 percentage points, due to Thanksgiving / Black Friday / Cyber Monday occurring a week later this year versus last year. Total and comparable sales were negatively impacted by approximately one and one-half percent as a result of the shift in E-commerce sales." Press release   Kroger Q3 identical sales without fuel +2.3% Press release   Five Below Q3 comp sales +0.6% Press release   ...Five [...]

  Cyber Monday US spending breaches $13 bln as steep discounts online drive sales at Reuters. "Consumers spent 7.3% more compared to Cyber Monday in 2023. That follows the roughly $10.8 billion Americans spent online on Black Friday this year, according to Adobe, which keeps track of devices that use its software to help power more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites." Read more   Porch Pirates Steal So Many Packages That Now You Can Get Insurance at WSJ. "PorchPals, a subscription-based startup that launches nationwide on Monday, says it will cover the cost of your stolen packages. [...]

  Best Buy Q3 comp sales down 2.9% Press release   Abercrombie expects a strong holiday quarter as growth run continues at CNBC. "Sales rose to $1.21 billion, up around 14% from $1.06 billion a year earlier....For the holiday shopping quarter, Abercrombie is expecting sales growth of 5% to 7%, ahead of the 4.8% growth that analysts had expected, according to LSEG." Read more   Target’s Slide From Cheap Chic to Dull Chore at WSJ. "Middleton remembers the excitement of the houseware collections at Target in decades past and the convenience of picking up contact-lens solution at the same time [...]