Urban living is back in fashion after a brief move away from cities during the pandemic

Thursday, August 19, 2021 Initial Jobless Claims for last week have reached a new post-pandemic low to 348K this morning, nicely beneath expectations and the previous week’s slightly upwardly revised 377K. This brings the three-week average new claims to its own post-pandemic low: 371K. In fact, this morning’s initial claims report notches the new Covid low total 20K below the previous record. Very good news for the labor market. Continuing Claims reached 2.82 million for a post-Covid low of its own. The previous week was upwardly revised from 2.87 million (at the time, this was the post-Covid low) to 2.90 million. This brings the trailing three-month average on longer-term jobless claims to an even 3.00 million. With continuing claims reporting a week in arrears from initial claims, is it too much to expect we might finally go sub-3 million next week? The August Philly Fed survey, on the other hand, was disappointing: 19.4 was the lowest print of the year. This compares to the 48-year high we saw back in April of 50.2; today’s read indicates a slack in productivity we haven’t seen since December of last year. It’s also the fourth month in a row of declines for goods-producing in the country’s sixth-largest city. Is this simply a matter of working down higher inventories, or something else? Retailers reporting quarterly earnings numbers ahead of the bell this morning have performed extremely well, including two big-box names that carried a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and Value-Growth-Momentum score of A into their earnings releases: Macy’s M and Kohl’s KSS. Macy’s posted a 486% positive surprise for its latest quarter, with $1.29 per share clobbering the 22 cents expected, and easily outpacing the 81 cents per share the company made in the year-ago quarter. This marks the eighth-straight quarter of outperforming analysts’ earnings estimates. Revenues of $5.65 billion represents a 10.27% beat over the Zacks consensus. Shares are up more than 6% in early trading, more than 60% year to date. For more on M’s earnings, click here. Kohl’s also performed most impressively in its Q2 report this morning, with $2.48 per share well beyond the $1.30 analysts were expecting. Revenues in the quarter grew 31% to $4.45 billion, ahead of the $4.20 billion expected. This is Kohl’s fourth-straight earnings beat, with a trailing four-quarter average of higher than 100%. Shares have gained 27% year to date, and are up another 2% in early trading. Zacks Rank #3 (Hold)-rated Estee Lauder EL swept past estimates on both top and bottom lines this morning, reporting 78 cents per share on $3.94 billion in revenues — far outpacing the 51 cents per share and $3.74 billion analysts had been looking for. Skin, hair and fragrances were all up in the quarter, while makeup was down a bit. Full-year earnings guidance has now been raised to $7.23-7.38 per share, well ahead of the Zacks consensus $6.29. Shares are up 1% this morning. Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report   Macys, Inc. (M) : Free Stock Analysis Report   Kohls Corporation (KSS) : Free Stock Analysis Report   The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (EL) : Free Stock Analysis Report   To read this article on Zacks.com click here.   Zacks Investment Research   Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

Workers are demanding “pop star” treatment and four-day weekends, the chief executive of property giant JLL has said.

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Russian businessman Andrey Melnichenko ceded ownership of two of the world's largest coal and fertilizers companies to his wife the day before he was sanctioned by the European Union, according to three people familiar with the matter. Melnichenko, who built his fortune in the years following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, gave up his stakes in the coal producer SUEK AO and fertilizer group EuroChem Group AG on March 8, the day of his 50th birthday, leaving his wife, Aleksandra Melnichenko, the beneficial ownership of the companies, the people said. Until March 8, Melnichenko owned the two companies through a chain of trusts and corporations stretching from Moscow and the Swiss town of Zug to Cyprus and Bermuda, according to legal filings reviewed by Reuters.

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Savers who turn on the bank’s ’round ups’ feature during the competition period have the chance to win £1,000.

More than one in four adults in the UK are thinking about what they can do to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.

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