The Break Is Over. Companies Are Jacking Up Prices Again. at WSJ. "Companies from Levi Strauss to McCormick...say they are raising prices early this year...increases appeared to be stronger than normal for January for electronics, appliances and other durable goods, said UBS economist Alan Detmeister...Columbia Sportswear said it is upping prices of spring and fall merchandise by, on average, a high single-digit percent..." WSJ subs.   Nancy Guthrie kidnapping investigators work with Walmart after identifying suspect’s backpack at AP   Jim, Rob and Alice Walton are now the world’s 8th, 9th and 10th wealthiest people with a combined net [...]

  CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor: January Data Shows Fourth Consecutive Monthly Gain "The Retail Monitor calculation of core retail sales (excluding restaurants in addition to auto dealers and gas stations) was up 0.15% month over month in January and up 5.51% year over year. That compared with increases of 1.6% month over month and 3.58% year over year in December." Press release   Forbes 250: America's Greatest Innovators (Bezos #2, Sinegal #17, Blank #54) Ranked list   Italian tax police carried out searches on Thursday at Amazon’s headquarters in Milan in a new tax evasion investigation at Reuters/CNBC. "The sources said the Guardia di [...]

  US retail sales unexpectedly stalled in December at Bloomberg. "The value of retail purchases, unadjusted for inflation, were little changed after a 0.6% gain in November...Eight out of 13 categories posted decreases, including declines at clothing stores and furniture outlets...outlays rose at building materials stores and sporting goods retailers." Bloomberg subs.   Target increases in-store staffing hours, cuts about 500 other roles to help fix customer experience at CNBC. "In an internal employee memo obtained by CNBC, the big-box retailer said it’s making changes to the way it runs and oversees stores to improve the customer experience...To do that, [...]

  Costco January comp sales (ex. fuel & f/x): US +6.8% / Canada +8.2% / Other Int'l +2.7% / Total Company +6.4% / Digitally-Enabled +33.1% Press release   Spotify Will Soon Offer Physical Books at WSJ. "Beginning this spring, the Swedish streaming service will allow premium subscribers in the U.S. and U.K. to buy hardcovers and paperbacks through its app, in partnership with Bookshop.org." WSJ subs.   This year’s Super Bowl commercials feature AI, weight-loss drugs and celebrities galore at AP   How Victoria’s Secret got its sexy back at Fortune. "(CEO Hillary) Super’s strategy is showing early signs of success. The [...]

  Amazon sets new Prime delivery speed record in 2025 Press release   PayPal shares sink 15% after forecasting weak 2026 earnings; HP’s Enrique Lores named new CEO at CNBC. "Online branded checkout growth decelerated to 1% in the fourth quarter, compared with 6% a year earlier. The company said this was driven by weakness in U.S. retail, international headwinds and tougher comparisons." Read more   Saks Global to exit Amazon partnership during bankruptcy at GlobalData/Yahoo   The Expensive Decision Walmart’s CEO Made That Changed Everything at WSJ. "Doug McMillon...sat down with WSJ ahead of his last day..." 7:15 video/WSJ [...]

  Home Depot lays off 800 workers, says corporate employees will return to office 5 days a week at CNBC. "About 150 of the employees were based at Home Depot’s headquarters in Atlanta and the rest were in remote jobs, with most in the technology organization of the company and some on other corporate teams...Decker said the five-day in-office policy will begin the week of April 6." Read more   Tractor Supply Q4 comp store sales +0.3% Press release   Amazon Found ‘High Volume’ Of Child Sex Abuse Material in AI Training Data at Bloomberg. "Amazon believes it over-reported these [...]

Amazon cuts 16,000 jobs in the latest round of layoffs at AP. "Beth Galetti, a senior vice president at the ecommerce company, made the announcement Wednesday in a blog post...She said U.S.-based staff would be given 90 days to look for a new role internally." Read more   South Carolina is the Nation’s Fastest-Growing State at US Census. "Population growth in the United States has slowed significantly with an increase of only 1.8 million, or 0.5%, between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025..." Census data   ...What the Census Says About the U.S. Population, in Six Charts at WSJ. [...]

  Amazon cuts 16,000 jobs in the latest round of layoffs at AP. "Beth Galetti, a senior vice president at the ecommerce company, made the announcement Wednesday in a blog post...She said U.S.-based staff would be given 90 days to look for a new role internally." Read more   South Carolina is the Nation’s Fastest-Growing State at US Census. "Population growth in the United States has slowed significantly with an increase of only 1.8 million, or 0.5%, between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025..." Census data   ...What the Census Says About the U.S. Population, in Six Charts at [...]