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And back up goes Wall Street. U.S. stocks are rallying Monday after President Donald Trump said it will all be fine, just days after he sent the market reeling by threatening much higher tariffs on China. The S&P 500 jumped 1.3% to recover nearly half its drop from Friday, which was its worst since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 483 points, or 1.1%, as of 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.8% higher. Dont worry about China, Trump said on his social media platform Sunday. He also said that Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, doesnt want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!! It was a sharp turnaround from the anger Trump displayed on Friday, when he accused China of a moral disgrace in dealing with other Nations.” He pointed to an extremely hostile letter from China describing curbs to exports of rare earths, which are materials used in the manufacturing of everything from personal electronics to jet engines. Trump said at the time that he may place an additional 100% tax on imports from China starting on Nov. 1. For its part, China urged the United States to resolve differences through negotiations instead of threats. We do not want a tariff war but we are not afraid of one,” the Commerce Ministry said in a statement posted online. Hours later, Trump posted his less confrontational talk about China on Truth Social. The backtrack in anger, which also came before trading began on Wall Street, raised hopes that the worlds two largest economies could find a working relationship that allows global trade to continue. The big moves for the market bracketing the weekend echo its manic swings in April. That’s when Trump shocked investors with his Liberation Day announcement of worldwide tariffs, only to eventually relent on many to give time to negotiate trade deals with other countries. If this time ends up similarly, potentially even after a sharp drop for stock prices, subsiding trade tensions and uncertainty could allow for a rolling recovery to continue into 2026, according to Morgan Stanley strategists led by Michael Wilson. To be sure, the U.S. stock market may have been primed for a drop and was perhaps just looking for a potential trigger. It was already facing criticism that prices had shot too high following a nearly relentless 35% run for the S&P 500 from a low in April. The index, which dictates the movements for many 401(k) accounts, is still near its all-time high set last week. Not only did Trump’s backdown from tariffs help launch stock prices since April, so did expectations for several cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve to help the economy. Critics say the market looks too expensive now after prices rose much faster than corporate profits. Worries are particularly high about companies in the artificial-intelligence industry, where pessimists hear echoes of the 2000 dot-com bubble that imploded. Broadcom jumped 10.2% for Monday’s biggest gain in the S&P 500 after announcing a collaboration with OpenAI. The maker of ChatGPT will design custom AI accelerators, and Broadcom will help develop and deploy them. For stocks broadly to look less expensive, either prices need to fall, or companies profits need to rise. Thats raising the stakes for the upcoming earnings reporting season, with big U.S. companies lining up to say how much profit they made during the summer. JPMorgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson, and United Airlines are some of the big names on the calendar this upcoming week. Fastenal tumbled 6.4% after the maker of fasteners and safety supplies reported a profit for the latest quarter that was slightly weaker than analysts expected. At Bank of America, strategist Savita Subramanian is optimistic that companies across the S&P 500 can deliver a bigger overall profit than analysts expected. Besides reports showing a resilient U.S. economy, she also pointed in a BofA Global Research report to how the U.S. dollar’s weakening against other currencies boosts the value of sales made abroad by big U.S. companies. In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following losses in Asia, which had their first opportunity to react to Trump’s threat from Friday of additional tariffs on China. Stocks fell 1.5% in Hong Kong and 0.2% in Shanghai. China reported its global exports rose 8.3% in September from a year earlier, the strongest growth in six months and further evidence that its manufacturers are shifting sales from the United States to other markets. Stan Choe, AP business writer AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Category:
E-Commerce
Uncertainty over the economy and tariffs is forcing retailers to pull back or delay plans to hire seasonal workers who pack orders at distribution centers, serve shoppers at stores and build holiday displays during the most important selling season of the year. American Christmas LLC, which creates elaborate holiday installations for commercial properties such as New York’s Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall, plans to hire 220 temporary workers and is ramping up recruitment nearly two months later than usual, CEO Dan Casterella said. Last year, the company took on 300 people during its busy period. The main reason? The company wants to offset its tariff bill, which Casterella expects to be as big as $1.5 million this year, more than double last years $600,000. The issue is if you overstaff and then you underperform, its too late,” Casterella said. I think everyones more mindful now than ever. Holiday hiring could fall to the lowest level since 2009 Job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas forecasts hiring for the last three months of the year will likely fall under 500,000 positions. That’s fewer than last years 543,000 level and also marks the smallest seasonal gain in 16 years when retailers hired 495,800 temporary workers, the firm said. The average seasonal gain since 2005 has been 653,363 workers, the firm said. Among other companies cutting holiday payrolls: Radial, an e-commerce company that powers deliveries for roughly 120 companies like Lands End and Cole Haan and operates 20 fulfillment sites. It plans to hire 6,500 workers, fewer than last years 7,000, and is waiting to the last minute to ramp up hiring for some of its clients, chief human resources officer Sabrina Wnorowski said. Bath & Body Works, based in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, said it plans to hire 32,000 workers, lower than the 32,700 a year ago. Among the bright spots: Online behemoth Amazon Inc. said Monday it intends to hire 250,000 full-, part-time and seasonal workers for the crucial shopping period, the same level as a year ago. We saw real strong signals that theres been a cooling in the labor market, even beyond what our expectations were in the first nine months of the year, Challenger’s senior vice president Andy Challenger said. We are having lots of regular conversations with companies about pending layoffs and changes theyre making to their workforce. In addition to overall economic uncertainty, Challenger noted companies are using artificial intelligence bots to replace some workers, particularly those working in call centers. And he’s also seeing companies hiring workers closer to when they need them. Meanwhile, the list of companies staying mum about their specific holiday hiring goals keeps growing. Target Corp., UPS, and Macys are declining to offer figures, a departure from the past. UPS had hired 125,000 seasonal hires last year, while Target announced last year it planned to hire 100,000 workers. Macy’s last year said it would hire 31,500 seasonal workers. Holiday hiring: the first clues to what’s in store for spending Retailers’ hiring plans mark the first clues to whats in store for the U.S. holiday shopping season and come as the U.S. job market has lost momentum this year, partly because Trumps trade wars have created uncertainty that’s paralyzing managers trying to make hiring decisions. The Labor Department reported in early September that U.S. employers companies, government agencies, and nonprofits added just 22,000 jobs in August, down from 79,000 in July and well below the 80,000 that economists had expected. The government shutdown, which started Oct. 1 and has delayed the release of economic reports, could worsen the job picture. In an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues, the White House budget office said Friday that mass firings of federal workers have started. The firings are happening as hundreds of thousands are already furloughed and still others are being required to report to duty without pay. Analysts will be closely monitoring the shutdown’s impact on spending. For now, many retailers say that consumers, while resilient, are choosy about what they buying. Analysts will also be closely watching how shoppers will react as retailers push through price increases as a result of high tariff costs in the next few months, experts said. Given an economic slowdown, holiday spending growth is expected to be smaller than a year ago, according to several forecasts. Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks spending across all payment methods including cash, predicts that holiday sales will be up 3.6% from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24. That compares with a 4.1% increase during the year-ago period. Deloitte Services LP forecasts holiday retail sales to be up between 2.9% to 3.4% from Nov. 1 through Jan. 31. That’s compared to the same year-ago period when retail sales increased 4.2% from the year before. Adobe expects U.S. online sales to hit $253.4 billion this holiday season from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, representing a 5.3% growth. Thats smaller than last year’s 8.7% growth. A more flexible approach Given the uncertainty, companies increasingly want to hire workers closer to when they need them, experts said. In today’s environment, brands are really looking for us to be agile, Radial’s Wnorowski said. Radial is meeting that need of the customer and the consumer with a more flexible and disciplined approach to hiring. So for some of its clients, Radial will now be hiring two weeks before Thanksgiving weekend, the traditional start for the holiday shopping season, instead of four weeks before the kickoff, she said. Radial is also speeding up training of holiday hires due to new technology that’s simplifying their tasks. It used to take a couple of days to train a worker, but now it only takes a couple of hours, she said. Meanwhile, Target said it’s again embracing a three-prong approach. It starts first by offering current workers additional hours and then taps into a separate pool of workers 43,000 who pick up shifts that work for their schedules. The Minneapolis-based company also hires seasonal workers across its nearly 2,000 stores and more than 60 distribution facilities to meet demand, it said. For the past few years, Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer and the largest private emloyer, has been offering the extra hours available during the holidays to its workers, a Walmart spokesperson said, noting it’s worked well and the feedback from customers and workers has been overwhelmingly positive. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said there may be some seasonal hiring on a store-by-store basis, but the majority of stores will dole out those hours to current workers. Late start plus no economic data could create challenges Waiting until the last minute to hire workers could mean a mad scramble to find talent, but companies say that due to the slowing economy, they don’t anticipate having a hard time finding the needed pool. Meanwhile, the temporary halting of the release of economic reports leaves retailers in the dark about forecasting sales and the workers they need to meet the demand. Certainly, for our customers not having access to data will put more of a challenge on their ability to forecast, Wnorowski of Radial said. But well stay very close to them as we go into peak and well adjust as soon we see things changing. Anne D’Innocenzio, AP retail writer
Category:
E-Commerce
There’s an ear-piercing war brewing at the mall. Claire’s, the biggest player in the market, has hit hard times, leaving room for upstarts to impinge on its territory. For 60 years, Claire’s has billed itself as a place for kids and teens to get their first piercings. The company says it has pierced more than 100 million ears since 1978. But after declaring bankruptcy in August (its second bankruptcy in seven years), Claire’s was acquired by the holding company Ames Watson for $140 million. These new owners have plans to turn the business around, including drastically shrinking its retail footprint which had ballooned to more than 1,000 stores. It recently announced it is shuttering upwards of 290 locations across the country. And Rowan, an ear-piercing startup, has told Fast Company that it is planning to start taking over some of these locations starting with a store in New Hampshire and outside of Boston. [Photo: courtesy Rowan] Building a piercing empire Claire’s continues to be a large player in the ear-piercing world. Last year it generated upwards of $2 billion in revenue, but it has also accumulated $500 million in debt from a leveraged buyout. It has struggled to pay off this debt because its profits have declined due to slowing foot traffic at mall and increased tariffs. But more broadly, while many millennials still remember Claire’s fondly from their own teenage years, the retailer has not evolved to meet the needs of today’s consumers. The stores feel like a warehouse, crammed with cheap trinkets. The ear-piercing experience doesn’t feel particularly luxurious, as retail staff perform the procedure while also manning the checkout. As Claire’s has declined, many other alternatives have popped up, including Louvisa, a Claire’s-like brand from Australia; Studs, a startup focused on older teens and adults; and Banter, a piercing-focused brand owned by the jewelry giant Signet. Rowan, which was founded in 2017, is trying to unseat Claire’s as the go-to destination for a person’s first piercing. Louisa Schneider, Rowan’s founder and CEO, has worked hard to create an in-store experience that is clean and comfortable, particularly for children and their parents. It’s unique in the market for employing licensed nurses to perform the piercing, and it is able to pierce the ears of babies, which is an important rite of passage in many cultures. [Photo: Sandra Wong Geroux/courtesy Rowan] The startup, which generated $70 million in revenue last year, sees an opportunity in Claire’s downfall. It raised a $20 million series B in 2021, bringing its total funding to $25 million, and is working to expand its retail footprint. Now, it is quietly moving into many of Claire’s former locations. By the end of the year, Rowan expects to operate more than 100 ear-piercing studios and employ more than 800 people, more than half of which will be nurses. A better experience While Rowan and Claire’s overlap in some ways, the two businesses are also quite different. Claire’s is a retailer that specializes in selling cheap jewelry and knickknacks that are particularly appealing to the tween set. Ear-piercing is not its primary business, but for decades, the service has been a way to get customers through the door. Many millennials, who fondly remember getting their ears pierced at Claire’s, now bring their own kids to get their ears pierced for the first time. Louisa Schneider [Photo: courtesy Rowan] In contrast, Rowan’s entire business is focused on ear-piercing, which is the main source of the brand’s revenue. Schneider launched the business because she found a lot to be desired in the traditional mall ear-piercing experience. “When it came to my own daughter, I wanted the piercing to be the most important function of the person performing it, rather than an afterthought,” says Schneider. “But in many stores, overworked retail staff were being asked to perform a piercing, which is really a medical procedure. And they’re oftentimes dealing with a very young person.” At Rowan, Schneider has hired a team of licensed nurses who perform the piercings with either a needle or a device. It has small format stores that serve as piercing studios, with comfortable chairs where the procedure happens. [Photo: courtesy Rowan] The company also sells a wide range of earrings, most of which have a higher price point than those sold by Claire’s. Rowan spends a lot of time making sure that its products are hypoallergenic, to prevent irritation on newly pierced ears. Rowan also has an high-end line of 14k gold earrings, some of which are embedded with diamonds. But the majority of its revenue comes from the piercing service, which costs $35 for one ear and $50 for two ears, plus the cost of the jewelry. “We test all of our earrings to ensure they contain minimal nickel, brass, and other metals that are allergy inducing,” says Schneider. “We’re not a fashion jewelry store. Our focus is entirely on protecting newly pierced ears.” A growing market Until recently, piercing tended to be a service tacked on to jewelry stores, but over the past decade, it’s become clear that there is a market for ear-piercing as a stand-alone service. Studs, another startup, has also built a business around ear-piercing, but it only performs the service on people who are 13 and older. Rowan, on the other hand, tends to attract younger clients. “To have multiple piercings is now very common, even compared to 10 years ago,” says Schneider. “We’re seeing the demand for safe piercings go up.” [Photo: courtesy Rowan] Rowan is expanding its store footprint rapidly. Unlike some of its competitors, it’s a service that must happen in person, so it is imperative for the company to have brick-and-mortar stores. Schneider says that it has been able to take over many former Claire’s locations. While Claire’s has stores of many sizes, and in many locations, Schneider is rather selective with Rowan’s locations. It seeks out small-format stores, and also locations in the more premium parts of the mall, close to high-end brands. “Many Claire’s locations are near food courts,” Schneider says. “You’ll usually find Rowan close to the Apple store or Lululemon.” But while Rowan aspires to impinge on Claire’s territory, it is still much smaller than Claire’s. It generated $70 million last year, which is a small fraction of Claire’s $2 billion. But Claire’s has an uphill battle ahead to become profitable. It’s new owners have said that while the Claire’s brand is strong, it’s business model is “broken” and needs to be reimagined. Meanwhile, Schneider wants to stay laser focused on catering to the needs of its customers. “There are so many products you can get online now, but the reason you go to a store is because of the customer service,” she says. “That’s where we want to stand out.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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