Oct 16, 2017

Nordstrom and Sears lead retail's miserable day

Christopher Matthews

Customers enter Nordstrom's downtown Seattle location. Photo: Ted S. Warren / AP

Though the S&P 500 was in the black on Monday, stocks of retail companies fell broadly, with shares of Nordstrom, Sears, and cosmetics vendor Ulta all losing favor with investors during trading hours.

  • Nordstrom shares lost more than 5% after the company announced it was suspending efforts to take itself private after struggling to find interested investors.
  • Sears tumbled nearly 12% on the news that Bruce Berkowitz, one of its largest investors and a close associate of CEO Eddie Lampert, would be leaving the board of directors.
  • Ulta lost 2.5% of its value, following a decision by Goldman Sachs to downgrade the stock — citing slowing growth in the beauty products space. Other analysts have warned that Amazon threatens cosmetics retailers like Ulta and Sephora.

Why it matters: Sears' struggles have been long-standing, but both Nordstrom and Ulta have been at various points cited as traditional retailers immune to Amazon's on-line power, and poised to avoid the struggles of the broader industry.

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