News about en-us DailyFinance.com: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images By James Davey and Kate Holton Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco, wrote down the value of its global operations by $3.5 billion and announced plans to exit the United States, as it sought to rebuild after a year in which ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: Mike Groll/AP NEW YORK -- U.S. retailers are reporting a key revenue figure rose slightly in March, as shoppers held back on spending because of the cold weather across the nation, particularly the Midwest and East Coast, and continued fears about ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: Chuck Stoody/AP/The Canadian Press Best Buy co-founder and former chairman Richard Schulze is returning to the company as chairman emeritus. The move comes after he considered making a buyout bid for the retailer but never made a formal ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: (Mark Lennihan/AP) A new anti-smoking proposal would make New York the first city in the nation to keep tobacco products out of sight in retail stores. By JENNIFER PELTZ and MEGHAN BARR NEW YORK -- Anti-smoking advocates and health experts hailed ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: Shoppers push their carts at the Costco store in Nashua, N.H., earlier this month. A government report Wednesday is expected to show consumers spent cautiously in February (Charles Krupa/AP).WASHINGTON -- Americans likely spent cautiously in February ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: Produced by Drew Trachtenberg With consumers pinching pennies, why are so many people willing to pay just for the right to shop at one chain? Costco (COST), it seems, has found a magic formula. Most of its customers pay $55 a year in membership ... Read more]]>

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According to MasterCard SpendingPulse, holiday sales posted a paltry 0.7% increase against expectations of a 3-4% gain. That's below the same period last year when sales grew at a 2 % pace.

Analysts looking for a convenient excuse have been quick to blame Hurricane Sandy. But in reality, there's something else much bigger at work here.

That's why I'm actively hunting for shorts in the retail sector right now and will be for much of the first quarter next year.

Following the holiday data and some moderate earnings that incorporate the extra week this quarter, I simply don't think hard- core retail companies like the The Gap (NYSE: GPS), American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO), The TJX Companies ( NYSE: TJX), and Abercrombie and Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) -- which are up 71.3%, 47.41%, 32.2% and 50.67% respectively year to date through Christmas Eve ---will be able to sustain these big up moves.

In fact, there are several real reasons why I think holiday sales were down and consumer spending will continue to drop into 2013, making select retailers good short candidates:

To continue reading, please click here...

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According to MasterCard SpendingPulse, holiday sales posted a paltry 0.7% increase against expectations of a 3-4% gain. That's below the same period last year when sales grew at a 2 % pace.

Analysts looking for a convenient excuse have been quick to blame Hurricane Sandy. But in reality, there's something else much bigger at work here.

That's why I'm actively hunting for shorts in the retail sector right now and will be for much of the first quarter next year.

Following the holiday data and some moderate earnings that incorporate the extra week this quarter, I simply don't think hard- core retail companies like the The Gap (NYSE: GPS), American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO), The TJX Companies ( NYSE: TJX), and Abercrombie and Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) -- which are up 71.3%, 47.41%, 32.2% and 50.67% respectively year to date through Christmas Eve ---will be able to sustain these big up moves.

In fact, there are several real reasons why I think holiday sales were down and consumer spending will continue to drop into 2013, making select retailers good short candidates:

To continue reading, please click here...

]]>

]]> DailyFinance.com: By Amanda Alix There doesn't seem to be anything under the sun that Costco (COST) doesn't sell, including mortgage loans. The retailer's new online financial offering had been in testing mode for the past year, and it has worked so well that it ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: WASHINGTON (AP) - Airlines have canceled thousands of flights, stranding travelers around the globe. Insurers are bracing for possible damages of $5 billion. Retailers face shrunken sales. Hurricane Sandy took dead aim at New Jersey and Delaware on ... Read more]]> ]]> DailyFinance.com: By Annie D'Innocenzio NEW YORK (AP) - Americans slowed down their spending in September as they took a pause after wrapping up their back-to-school buying, according to monthly reports from major retailers released Thursday. Retailers reported ... Read more]]> ]]> DailyFinance.com: A settlement by Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) with merchants last week should make you think twice about putting purchases on plastic. Now, it's going to be easier for companies to add surcharges for credit card purchases -- surcharges that will ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: Gap (GPS) investors should be pretty stoked right now. Shares of the company behind Old Navy, Banana Republic, and its namesake apparel chain have been on fire this year. Gap's stock has climbed higher in five of the past six months, notching an ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: If you want to scare a traditional retailer, whisper the word "showrooming" in its ear. Showrooming -- the booming trend that finds shoppers checking out potential purchases in bricks-and-mortar stores, then whipping out their smartphones to find ... Read more]]> ShopSocially, a social commerce startup, is formally announcing the launch of its social shopping platform and is revealing some of its early insights from its customer lineup. The company has worked with several hundred customers to date, including big-name brands like Sears, The Children's Place, Sport Chalet, CafePress, Ritz, Zales and others. We've also learned that the company had quietly raised an angel round of $550,000 late last year through TiE Angels, which is in addition to the $1.1 million in funding from October 2010. Participating in the round were executives from Apple, Google, and Symantec, several VCs and TiE board members, however the individuals did not want their names disclosed at this time.]]> Apple's Siri has been transforming how people interact with their phones. It taught us that's it's not just OK to talk to our phones, but that, in many cases, it's actually a more useful way to get things done. Along those same lines, a company called Saygent is launching a mobile feedback solution which developers can insert into their application to collect feedback from the app's users. Available as an SDK for easy integration, the toolkit can be used within any type of application. But Saygent is specifically targeting the emerging mobile wallet space to start. The idea with mSay, as it's being called, is that mobile wallet providers (think, companies like Visa, MasterCard, Google Wallet, Intuit, etc.) could use Saygent's solution to collect instant feedback about the merchant immediately following a mobile payment/mobile wallet transaction.]]> DailyFinance.com: Target (TGT) will make a play for fitness enthusiasts with the fall launch of an activewear store based on its C9 by Champion brand, marking the chain's first spin-off retail concept. With C9 Active Apparel, Target is dipping its discount-store toe ... Read more]]> 500Friends, the social loyalty solution for e-commerce retailers, is announcing it has completed a $4.5 million Series A round led by Crosslink Capital, with participation from Intel Capital as well as company CEO (and angel investor) Justin Yoshimura. Founded in 2010, and launched in summer 2011, YC-backed 500Friends' LoyaltyPlus service allows merchants to reward their loyal customers who are tweeting about their purchases, posting to Facebook, referring friends, writing reviews, signing up for rewards programs, and more, all through a white label offering that can be integrated onto the retailer's own site, on either web or mobile.]]> DailyFinance.com: NEW YORK (AP) - Many retailers are reporting solid sales gains for December, capping a decent holiday season, but shoppers bent on discounts exacted a high price. Merchants had to mark down coats and other gifts to get shoppers to buy in a ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: CINCINNATI (AP) - Macy's (M) is raising its earnings outlook for the fourth quarter and full year due to a strong holiday season and says it will double its quarterly dividend to 20 cents a share. The retailer is also increasing its share repurchase ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: Never heard of Uniqlo? Chances are you will in the next year. And it's not the only new brand that could make a splash in 2012. They aren't household names now, but experts say to keep an eye on these seven emerging retailers with hot store concepts ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: The holiday shopping season is wrapping up to be bigger than anyone expected. Now, retailers are holding their breath and hoping consumers will keep spending in the final days before Christmas. Sales from November through Saturday rose 2.5 percent, ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: One expects to confront a barrage of lower-priced impulse items at stores during the holiday season. Clothing chains push accessories like socks and gloves. Department stores sprinkle gift baskets and smaller items in high-traffic areas. The surprise ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: A prominent retail group on Thursday reported a nationwide increase this year in shoplifting and pharmacy thefts, calling the fight to stop store crime "an uphill battle." The Retail Industry Leaders Association blamed an expanding black market for ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: Bold prints, tribal patterns and sporty looks are poised to turn up in America's malls this spring. So said fashion and trend directors from Macy's (M), J.C. Penney (JCP) and Banana Republic (GPS), who weighed in on the salient trends and design ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: Bold prints, tribal patterns and sporty looks are poised to turn up in America's malls this spring. So said fashion and trend directors from Macy's (M), J.C. Penney (JCP) and Banana Republic (GPS), who weighed in on the salient trends and design ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: Step aside, Donna Karan, Tommy Hilfiger and Marc Jacobs. Mass retailers -- from Macy's to QVC -- are grabbing a piece of the Fashion Week spotlight. On Thursday night, New York City will transform into one big after-hours shopping party for ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: The Gap (GPS) is making a run for the $31 billion women's activewear market. Athleta, the sportswear merchant the Gap has pegged for growth, made its East Coast debut with the opening of two stores in New York City this week, sprinting toward its ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: The Gap (GPS) is making a run for the $31 billion women's activewear market. Athleta, the sportswear merchant the Gap has pegged for growth, made its East Coast debut with the opening of two stores in New York City this week, sprinting toward its ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: Edgar Huber will join Lands' End as its CEO, parent company Sears Holdings (SHLD) announced this week. Huber is leaving his post as executive vice president of global development for Liz Claiborne (LIZ). Previously, Huber served as the CEO of Juicy ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: It looks like the retail sector could pull off a respectable back-to-school selling season. Overall, retailers on Thursday reported solid sales for July. Same-store sales -- sales from stores opened at least a year -- grew 4.4% in July from a year ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: In a "back to the future" move, Gap (GPS) has launched a new brand devoted to jeans that look like the ones it sold when it first opened in 1969. The flagging retailer likely hopes the retro styles will help bring old customers back to its stores, ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: The nation's biggest retailers are betting on exclusive lines -- from Macy's (M) Tommy Hilfiger collection for girls to bohemian-inspired fashions from Disney (DIS) star Selena Gomez at Kmart (SHLD) -- to ring up sales for the back-to-school period, ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: The nation's biggest retailers are betting on exclusive lines -- from Macy's (M) Tommy Hilfiger collection for girls to bohemian-inspired fashions from Disney (DIS) star Selena Gomez at Kmart (SHLD) -- to ring up sales for the back-to-school period, ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: We got a lot of reaction to the article about how changes in debit and credit card swipe fees may affect you. Swipe fees are the charges retailers pay when they allow you to use plastic at their store. In reviewing the comments and speaking about the ... Read more]]> DailyFinance.com: Retail stocks surged Thursday, as June same-store sales sparked investor euphoria. The jump probably stood out even more sharply against a still-tough economy for many U.S. consumers. However, if this sudden elation has you thinking about snapping up ... Read more]]>