Feb 28, 2017

Target shares in freefall after disappointing holiday sales

Alan Diaz/AP

Target announced its fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday, posting a decline in same-store sales compared with the fourth quarter of 2015. Investors are bidding down the retailer's stock in pre-market trading, with shares falling more than 12%. The firm also predicted future revenue and earnings far below what analysts had been expecting.

Source: Money.net

Why it matters: It'syYet another sign of the retail industry overextended itself in recent years, and the toll that competition from e-commerce has taken on traditional bricks-and-mortar. Long a better performer on Wall Street than its rival Walmart, Target now trades at a relative discount.

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Felix Salmon, author of Capital
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A white-collar crime crackdown

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

America has waited a decade for an aggressive government crackdown on white-collar crime. Now, just before the election, and in the middle of a bull market, it has arrived.

Why it matters: When times are good, investors become more trusting and more greedy. That makes them more likely to put their money into fraudulent or criminal enterprises.

  • After a decade-long bull market, there is no shortage of those frauds to prosecute.
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Ashley Gold
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Lawyers crystal-ball the Google antitrust case

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

The Justice Department's antitrust suit against Google is a strong, straightforward monopoly case, competition lawyers and experts tell Axios. But that doesn't mean it'll be an easy journey for the government.

The big picture: Winning any antitrust case is a heavy lift. It's even more of a challenge to pull off victory in a future-looking case that seeks to make room for potential new competition to flourish.

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Sam Baker, Andrew Witherspoon
48 mins ago - Health

The pandemic is getting worse again

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Data: The COVID Tracking Project, state health departments; Note: Due to a database error, Missouri had a 3 day gap in reporting from Oct. 11-13; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

Every available piece of data proves it: The coronavirus pandemic is getting worse again, all across America.

The big picture: As the death toll ticks past 212,000, at a moment when containing the virus ought to be easier and more urgent than ever, we are instead giving it a bigger foothold to grow from.

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