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Best Buy Q2 results fall amid softening demand for gadgets

“There has never been a time like this," said Best Buy CEO Corie Barry answering a reporter's question about what feels different now. Minneapolis-based Best Buy warned in July that sales would fall more than expected. Best Buy reported that net income fell 60% to $306 million, or $1.35 per share, for the three-month period ended July 30. Comparable sales — sales in stores open at least a year — dropped 12.1% compared to a 19.6% increase in the year-ago period. Minneapolis-based Best Buy warned in July that sales would fall more than expected.

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Stocks open higher on Wall Street after a two-day slide

NEW YORK — (AP) — Stocks are opening slightly higher on Wall Street following two days of slumps as investors worry that high interest rates aren’t going away any time soon as the Federal Reserve fights inflation. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in the first few minutes of trading, and other major indexes were also higher. NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street was poised to rebound Tuesday after two days of widespread losses stemming from last week's Federal Reserve pledge to fight inflation by keeping interest rates elevated. Fed officials point to a strong U.S. job market as evidence the biggest global economy can tolerate higher borrowing costs. Wall Street will get several more updates on the economy this week.

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Best Buy trims jobs after it cuts sales and profit outlook

Best Buy Job Cuts FILE - Pigeons walk across a parking lot outside the Best Buy store on Dec. 10, 2020, in Manchester, N.H. Best Buy, the nation's largest consumer electronics chain, is trimming jobs in an effort to adjust to new changes in consumer behavior as the virus wanes. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) (Charles Krupa)NEW YORK — (AP) — Best Buy, the nation's largest consumer electronics chain, is trimming jobs in an effort to adjust to new changes in consumer behavior as the virus wanes. Best Buy declined to say how many jobs it was cutting, but The Wall Street Journal, which was first to report the news, estimated it involved hundreds of jobs at the store level. “We’re always evaluating and evolving our teams to make sure we’re serving our customers," Best Buy said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. Best Buy is slated to report its quarterly results on Aug. 30.

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Best Buy cuts hundreds of store jobs as sales soften, according to report

Black Friday shoppers leave a Best Buy store in Washington, DC, on November 26, 20221. Best Buy is eliminating hundreds of jobs at stores across the country about two weeks after the company said it was seeing weaker sales than expected, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The consumer electronics retailer has made the cuts over the past week, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Best Buy did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. A company spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal that "with an ever-changing macroeconomic environment, including customers shopping more digitally than ever, we have made adjustments to our teams that include eliminating a small number of roles."

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Best Buy cuts sales forecast as inflation tempers spending

NEW YORK — (AP) — Best Buy, the nation's largest consumer electronics chain, cut its annual sales and profit forecast Wednesday, citing surging inflation that has dampened consumer spending on gadgets. Shares of Best Buy fell more than 2% in after-market trading Wednesday. Best Buy said it now expects this year's sales at stores opened at least a year to be down 11%, much steeper than the 3% to 6% drop it originally forecast in May. Still, revenue for the quarter should be roughly 7.5% higher than the second quarter of 2020, it said. Matt Bilunas, chief financial officer at Best Buy, noted that given the economic uncertainty, it's difficult to assess the duration of the weaker sales environment and the impact of its business.

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Fed’s preferred inflation measure rose 4.7% in May, around multi-decade highs

Core personal consumption expenditures prices rose 4.7% from a year ago, 0.2 percentage points less than the previous month but still around levels last seen in the 1980s. On monthly basis, the measure, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased 0.3%, slightly less than the 0.4% Dow Jones estimate. While personal income rose 0.5% in May, ahead of the 0.4% estimate, income after taxes and other charges, or disposable personal income, declined 0.1% on the month and 3.3% from a year ago. Goods inflation rose 9.6% while services prices were up 4.7%, both up 0.1 percentage points from April. The personal saving rate edged higher, rising to 5.4%, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous month.

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Tennessee firefighters rescue trapped brood of ducklings

Juliet firefighter looks into a drain behind a Best Buy store in Tennessee, where five ducklings were trapped. Juliet Fire Department )MT. JULIET, Tenn. — Tennessee firefighters rescued five ducklings that were stuck in a drain behind a Best Buy store, authorities said. Juliet Fire Department were dispatched to the store on Saturday to free the five ducklings, WZTV reported. “Mother duck was very excited to be reunited with her babies and they’re all happily quacking as we speak,” the department wrote on Facebook.

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Holiday trends to watch: Adult Play-Doh; stores that ship

(AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)NEW YORK – The pandemic is turning this into a holiday shopping season like no other. And with more people shopping online, stores are doing double duty as shipping centers to try to get gifts to doorsteps as fast as possible. Meanwhile, Best Buy says that 340 of its stores are being specially designated to handle a higher volume of online orders, though all its stores ship e-commerce packages. Its goal: to have the 340 stores ship more than 70% of its ship-from-store units during the holiday quarter. Typically, 25% of holiday shopping is based on impulse, according to Marshal Cohen, chief industry advisor at NPD Group, a market research firm.

Retail sales grew a slower-than-expected 0.3% in October

NEW YORK – Retail sales in the U.S. grew a sluggish 0.3% in October, even as retailers offered early holiday discounts online and in stores. October's growth was much smaller than in September, when it rose 1.6%, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. It as hoped that retailers would be able to entice Americans who to get a jumpstart holiday shopping and avoid crowds. Online shopping sales rose 3.1% last month, the Commerce Department said. But at clothing stores and sporting good shops, sales fell more than 4%.

Pandemic pushes start of holiday shopping earlier than ever

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)NEW YORK – Add last-minute holiday shopping to the list of time-honored traditions being upended by the coronavirus pandemic. Black Friday has long been the unofficial start to the U.S. holiday season, though retailers have been pushing holiday shopping earlier for the last decade or so. The first big holiday push will come from Amazon, which is positioning its mid-October Prime Day as a kickoff to the holiday shopping season. Even with the early start to the season, holiday sales are expected to deliver smaller gains than in recent years. Joel Bines, who runs the retail practice at AlixPartners, thinks the earlier shopping will stick even when the pandemic is over.

Businesses weigh reopening - or close again - as cases rise

Businesses reopening across states after months of shutdown have been met with fanfare. Its not the reopening businesses were hoping for. Apple, which started reopening its stores May 11, has closed at least 32 stores in hot spots like Florida and Texas. Some businesses have been requiring customers and employees to sign a waiver saying they wont sue if they get sick. Adam Orman, who runs LOca dOro Italian restaurant in Austin, Texas, may delay a planned July 30 reopening for outdoor seating.

US consumer spending up 8.2%, partly erasing record plunge

(AP Photo/Jim Mone)WASHINGTON American consumers increased their spending by a sharp 8.2% in May, partly erasing record plunges the previous two months, against the backdrop of an economy thats likely shrinking by its steepest pace on record this quarter. In May, those stimulus checks were no longer counted as income for most people. Besides whatever unemployment aid states are providing to the 30 million jobless Americans, the federal government is providing $600 a week in additional benefits. Without the stimulus checks or an extension of unemployment aid, it's unclear whether consumers will keep spending freely. It shows that consumers have gradually but consistently increased their spending since the government distributed the stimulus checks in mid-April.

Millennial Money: Secrets of a Black Friday Shopper

Some people cringe at the thought of shopping on Thanksgiving or Black Friday, but I revel in it. You can snag savings throughout November, but despite early deals, retailers like Walmart, Target and Best Buy reserve some of their best bargains for Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. Retailers like Amazon, Best Buy and Kohl's have done this in the past. Years prior, I stood in a two-hour line at Best Buy to purchase a single TV. Select the best deals and stick to those items.