The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- JC Penney names Apple retail exec as new CEO
- Oil rises on economy news
- Reports point to lower food prices, more hiring in US
| JC Penney names Apple retail exec as new CEO Posted: 14 Jun 2011 06:01 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) - J.C. Penney Co., the department store chain, has named Ron Johnson, who pioneered Apple Inc.'s retail stores, its next CEO. He will succeed Myron Ullman III in November, the retailer said Tuesday. During his 11 years at Apple, Johnson led Apple's retail stores and has been credited with developing the popular Genius Bar, where customers can get hands-on technical support for their Mac, iPad or other devices. Johnson, 52, will report to Ullman, who will become executive chairman. Johnson will also join J.C. Penney's board of directors in August. Ullman has been CEO and chairman since December 2004. Apple's retail chain has grown to 300 stores in the U.S. and abroad and has become the gold standard for other retailers looking to make their stores modern and exciting. Johnson joined Apple after 15 years at Target Corp., where he was a merchandising executive who led the team that brought designer Michael Graves' products to the "cheap chic" retailer. Penney's shares rose $4.04, or 13.4 percent, to $34.15 after the announcement. Ullman turns 65 in November. Under his stewardship, Penney has moved from offering mainly store brands to filling its floors with trendy Sephora cosmetics shops and affordable lines like Cindy Crawford Style. Last year, it became the only U.S. retailer to sell Liz Claiborne and Claiborne women's wear. It's also the only department store selling MNG by Mango, a European clothing chain. Penney, which generated revenue of $17.7 billion in its latest fiscal year, has also created a unit devoted to finding new revenue streams. As part of this initiative, the company opened the first 10 Foundry Big & Tall Supply co. stores, six in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and four in Kansas City. Johnson's appointment is a sign that J.C. Penney is positioning itself for a new era in which shoppers increasingly use mobile phones to check prices or shop. In clothing, J.C. Penney has been squeezed by competition from Macy's on the high end and Target and H&M on the cheaper end. Its competitors are also expanding exclusive items to make them stand out. Johnson brings expertise in both "soft goods" like clothing and "hard goods" like gadgets, said Gilbert Harrison, CEO of Financo, an investment banking boutique that specializes in retailing. Latest business news from AP-Wire Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Posted: 14 Jun 2011 06:00 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) - Oil climbed above $99 per barrel Tuesday following a better-than-expected retail sales report, a decline in the dollar and a broad rally on Wall Street. The U.S. government reported that retail sales slipped 0.2 percent last month, the first decline in nearly a year. Lower cars sales brought down the reading. The report still beat analysts' expectations. Excluding car sales, retail sales rose 0.3 percent. The Labor Department also added some upbeat news, saying that food costs were falling. Stocks and oil rallied after the reports came out. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery gained $2.07, or 2.1 percent, to settle at $99.37 per barrel, rebounding from Monday's decline on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude added 93 cents to settle at $119.35 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard and Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq were more than 1 percent higher in late afternoon trading, the best gain for stocks in two weeks. Oil rose against a weaker dollar. Oil is priced in U.S. currency and tends to rise as the greenback falls and makes crude cheaper for investors holding foreign currency. Analyst and trader Stephen Schork noted that despite waning demand in the U.S., oil continues to look like a relatively safe investment when compared with the dollar. The world still needs fuel, and supplies are expected to get tighter this year as China and other emerging nations consume more. "There's some momentum there," Schork said. And crude prices will continue to be supported by production problems in the North Sea, a shutdown in Libyan exports and supply issues in Nigeria. Goldman Sachs said Tuesday that "it is only a matter of time" before excess production from Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries will become "effectively exhausted." That means the market will need "higher oil prices to restrain demand, keeping it in line with available supplies," Goldman analyst David Greely said. In the U.S., motorists have cut back on gasoline purchases for 12 weeks in a row, according to the latest survey by MasterCard SpendingPulse. SpendingPulse, which tracks purchases at thousands of pumps around the country, estimated that Americans bought 389.8 million gallons per day of gasoline last week. That's down 1 percent from the same week a year ago. Gasoline pump prices dropped to $3.696 per gallon (97 cents a liter) on Tuesday, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. The U.S. average is still almost a dollar more than a year ago. Analysts expect the national average to fall as low as $3.50 per gallon this month. In other Nymex trading for July contracts, heating oil added 2 cents to settle at $3.1258 per gallon, while gasoline futures gained 6.78 cents to settle at $3.0646 per gallon. Natural gas lost 6.5 cents to settle at $4.581 per 1,000 cubic feet. Latest business news from AP-Wire Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Reports point to lower food prices, more hiring in US Posted: 14 Jun 2011 05:58 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) - Some relief from high gas and food prices could be on the way. Wholesale food prices fell last month by the most in nearly a year, and gas prices keep dropping after peaking in May. A separate survey suggests America's CEOs are feeling more optimistic and will hire more in the second half of this year. It amounted to welcome news Tuesday after a rough patch that has stoked worries the U.S. economic recovery is slowing. More jobs and lower prices would both give Americans more money to spend on other things and rejuvenate economic growth. Food prices at the wholesale level fell 1.4 percent, the Labor Department said. It was the largest drop since last June. About 40 percent of that decline resulted from steep declines in vegetable and fruit prices. The drop in food prices followed harsh winter freezes, which had driven up prices of tomatoes and other vegetables in February. Even if prices don't fall further, economists say they probably won't go much higher, at least. "That's a good thing for consumers, and it's even better that it comes in parallel with lower energy prices," said Gregory Daco, U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight. Overall, the producer price index, which measures price changes before they reach the consumer, rose 0.2 percent in May. That's much lower than April's 0.8 percent gain and signals that inflation is in check. Gas prices at the wholesale level rose in May by the smallest amount in eight months. At the pump, they're coming down. On Tuesday, the national average was $3.70 a gallon (97 cents a liter), according to AAA. Gas has fallen steadily since the national average almost hit $4 a gallon ($1.05 a liter) in early May. It's still about a dollar more expensive than a year ago. For now, Americans remain cautious about spending. Another report Tuesday showed that retail sales fell 0.2 percent in May. It was the first decline in 11 months and came mostly because Americans bought fewer cars. Auto sales fell 2.9 percent, the sharpest drop in 15 months. The decline was attributed to temporary factors, including fewer incentives offered by dealerships and a shortage of popular fuel-efficient cars because of disrupted shipments after the Japan earthquake. Excluding the drop in car sales, retail sales rose 0.3 percent. That gain seemed to please investors, who were expecting broad declines because of high gas prices. The Dow Jones industrial average, which has fallen six weeks in a row, closed up 123 points, or 1 percent. Mark Vitner, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities, said the retail-sales report shows that household budgets are still tight, forcing people to put off buying expensive items. Sales at electronics and furniture stores dropped in May. Some of the biggest sales gains were reported by thrift shops and other stores that sell used goods, Vitner said, and by online retailers, which many shoppers use to find the best deals. Lower food and gas prices "should provide some near-term relief," Vitner said, "but a sustainable pickup in spending will not likely occur until job growth picks up and the unemployment rate falls." There were some encouraging signs that hiring could pick up in the second half of the year. The Business Roundtable, which represents CEOs for the 200 biggest U.S. companies, said 51 percent of chief executives plan to step up hiring in the second half of the year. Last quarter, the figure was 52 percent said they planned to hire more over the following six months, the highest since the trade group began polling its members in 2002. The survey began in mid-May and ended June 3, the day the government released a report that showed a steep pullback in hiring in May. The unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent in May from 9 percent in April. ManpowerGroup, one of the nation's largest staffing companies, said the proportion of businesses that plan to hire in the next three months is higher than at any time since the end of 2008, during the recession. Melanie Holmes, vice president at ManpowerGroup, said the company's employment outlook is still at only about half the level associated with a healthy economy. The Commerce Department said businesses added to their inventories for the 16th straight month in April, another sign that companies are confident people will spend more in the second half of the year. The pace at which businesses sold those goods was the slowest in 10 months, but economists said it wasn't a concern because inventories are still historically small compared with sales. Companies are unlikely to get stuck with huge stockpiles of goods. Latest business news from AP-Wire Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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