- A barrage of disappointing sales reports and guidance cuts from retailers is roiling the broad sector.
- The department store sector is ground zero for the damage. Kohl's (KSS -18.1%), Macy's (M -14.5%), Nordstrom (JWN -8.9%), Dillard's (DDS -9.3%) and J.C. Penney (JCP -7.3%) are all down sharply.
- Chains also bleeding include Cato (CATO -9.6%), Tailored Brands (TLRD -6.3%), L Brands (LB -7.5%), Ascena Retail (ASNA -5.7%), Francesca's (FRAN -6.5%), Stein Mart (SMRT -4.7%), Stage Stores (SSI -5.8%), Urban Outiffters (URBN -4.4%), DSW (DSW -3.8%), Express (EXPR -3.8%), Citi Trends (CTRN -4.3%).
- Apparel makers Fossil (FOSL -6.5%), G-III Apparel (GIII -6.6%), Sequential Brands Group (SQBG -5.5%), Vera Bradley (VRA -4.2%) and Coach (COH -2.5%) are also getting punished.
- If there's one warning to encapsulate the retail weakness it came from L Brands which cited an alarming drop in merchandise margins. It's hard to believe that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) didn't have something to do with that development. By the way, Amazon is up 2.06% on the day.