Department stores were left for dead, but they might have a future yet.

• Why it matters: Once a staple of the American shopping landscape, the retail format has fallen on hard times with the bankruptcies of chains like Sears, Lord & Taylor and Stein Mart.

📈 Driving the news: Macy's stock soared 20% today after the retailer delivered its strongest comparable-store sales growth in 12 quarters, fueled by its Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury brands and remodeled Macy's stores.

• Kohl's shares are up 39% over the last month after the company delivered a huge earnings beat and improved sales outlook.

Between the lines: The department store holdouts have been shrinking in size, but signs suggest their core-store strategy is starting to pay off.

• 💎 Macy's has been leaning into luxury: Its Bloomingdale's division is performing well, posting its fourth straight quarter of comp sales growth. And its beauty retail brand Bluemercury delivered its 18th straight quarter of comp sales gains.
• 🛍️ Kohl's, meanwhile, is reversing years of coupon exclusions, expanding the brands eligible for discounts to woo frustrated shoppers and drive store traffic.
• 🗣️ After 14 straight quarters of negative comp sales, Kohl's may return to growth as early as next year, according to TD Cowen retail analyst Oliver Chen.

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Newsmax is suing Fox News in federal court, accusing the network of acting as a monopoly and using its clout to block competitors in the conservative cable news space, Axios' Sara Fischer reports.

• 📄 🚫 The antitrust suit filed today accuses Fox of strong-arming pay-TV providers into signing exclusionary contracts that penalized or prevented them from carrying competitive programming.
• 🕵️‍♂️ The lawsuit also alleges Fox pressured guests not to appear on Newsmax and ran smear campaigns against its executives.

The other side: Fox fired back, saying Newsmax is blaming others for its own inability to win viewers.

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"Such an accomplishment would typically be worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, given its significant impact."

🇺🇸 The CFTC delivered the expected regulatory approval that Polymarket needs to launch in the U.S., the prediction market's CEO said. (Bloomberg)

🌳 Tariff costs sent shares of Dollar Tree down 8% even as the company raised its annual sales outlook. (WSJ)

🛢️ ConocoPhillips plans to cut 20%–25% of its workforce. The independent oil producer, which said it's streamlining its operation, has about 13,000 workers globally. (Reuters)

📦 Amazon is changing how to share Prime benefits. (Axios)

Lululemon isn't just posturing — it's trying to distance itself from its yoga roots with a series of sponsorship deals in sports like racing, tennis and golf.

• 🎾🏌️‍♂️ The yogawear brand, which has historically spurned most traditional sports marketing, has signed tennis star Frances Tiafoe, golfer Max Homa and Formula 1 champ Lewis Hamilton, Bloomberg reports.
• ⚡️ With its stock down 47% this year, the company is hoping to recapture the momentum it had when athleisure sales were soaring.

The company "looked unstoppable for more than a decade with its black yoga pants making their way into what seemed like every woman's closet," and "teens flocked to its casual clothes," Bloomberg notes.

• ⚠️ "But those days are over — at least for now" as rivals like Alo Yoga and Vuori "are grabbing market share" and the company is grappling with tariff costs and changing tastes.

💭 Nathan's thought bubble: It has recently come to my attention that "the legging's dead" and "you're a boomer" if you still wear them — at least according to a New York yoga studio owner quoted in this eye-opening WSJ story.

• I guess I'll have to change my entire wardrobe now.