on January 1, 2010
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Investors looking to cash in on a U.S. retail comeback will need to be as selective as the shoppers who scoured stores and websites for the best deals this holiday season.
When the U.S. economy was humming, investors could place reasonably safe bets on a retail stock price quote, since growing consumption lifted most names, said Patricia Edwards, founder of wealth management firm Storehouse Partners.
"Over the past year and a half, as the economy's gone south, it's really separated the men from the boys in retail," she said. "It is so much more of a stock market quote. You have to absolutely know the companies and walk the stores."
Edwards' stock picks include chains that got shoppers to buy, and with good margins, such as Target Corp (TGT.N), Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), Costco (COST.O) and Kohl's (KSS.N).
She said J Crew Group Inc (JCG.N) did "phenomenally well" with attractive clothing and little discounting that left shelves largely bare the day after Christmas by some accounts, while Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF.N) stores were not crowded.
Other industry experts pointed to clothing chains like Gap Inc (GPS.N), which made a big bet on plaid, and Urban Outfitters (URBN.O), which drew young buyers with sparkly tops and simply constructed blazers, as outpacing rivals this season.
Retailers' profitability throughout the 2009 holiday season likely improved from a historically dismal performance in 2008, when the financial crisis slammed the brakes on consumer spending and forced retailers to discount products deeply. But the jury is still out on whether total holiday sales in 2009 rose or declined from a year ago. More....
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The United States will more than double its security assistance for Yemen and Britain will host an international meeting this month to seek ways of preventing the poorest Arab state from becoming an al Qaeda stronghold.
The moves highlighted mounting Western concern over Yemen after a failed Christmas Day attempt to bomb a U.S. airliner by a Nigerian man who said he had received training and equipment in the country that borders Saudi Arabia.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen branch of Osama bin Laden's network, has claimed responsibility for the attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to ignite explosives hidden in his underwear as his flight from Amsterdam approached Detroit.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday that Yemen presented a regional and global threat as an incubator and potential safe haven for terrorism.
Brown's office said he would host a high-level meeting in London on January 28 to discuss countering radicalisation in Yemen. The talks will be held in parallel with an international conference on Afghanistan the same day.
"The international community must not deny Yemen the support it needs to tackle extremism," Brown said in a statement. More....
on November 18, 2009
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Morrison, which has had its chief executive poached by retailer Marks & Spencer, said falling food price inflation knocked sales growth in its third quarter, but it was still winning customers.
Britain's fourth-biggest supermarket group said on Thursday sales at stores open at least a year, excluding petrol and VAT sales tax, rose 4.3 percent in the 13 weeks to November 1.
That is down from 7.8 percent in the first half and below the average forecast of 4.6 percent in a Reuters poll.
However, the group said the slowdown was due to slowing food price inflation which has been affecting all supermarket groups.
"Our underlying sales performance in the period has been consistent with the good growth we experienced in the second quarter," it said in a statement, adding it served an average 10.8 million customers a week during the third quarter, up by more than 1.6 million from two years ago.
"Our expectations for the current year remain unchanged."
Morrison said on Wednesday Chief Executive Marc Bolland, who has been credited with turning the firm round after its botched takeover of Safeway in 2004, would stay until the end of January and it would look for a successor inside and outside the company.
Its shares, which have lagged the DJ Stoxx European retail index by 17 percent this year as investors favour more cyclical stocks, closed down sharply at 280.9 pence, valuing the business at 7.9 billion pounds.
Morrison has been the fastest-growing of Britain's four big supermarkets for most of the past two years, helped by its focus on low prices, innovative promotions and the popularity of its "Market Street" fresh food counters.