Fed And Markets Excuse Retail Bloodbath – Ep. 248

Summary: The retail sector is in worse shape today than it was in 2008 during and immediately following the financial crisis. Retailing has been responsible for 10% of the jobs gained during this so-called recovery. Clearly part of the problem is the increase in minimum wage.  Why are retailers adding so many jobs when their business is declining?

* A quick little announcement at the beginning of this podcast; I'm going to try to keep the length of these podcasts down to 20 minutes in the future
* It seems we have quite a bit of audience falloff after about 17 minutes
* We're also skipping our ads at the end in favor of more informative content about Euro Pacific Capital, SchiffGold, Goldmoney and Euro Pacific Bank.
* So I am going to do these shorter podcasts more frequently
* First of all, it's the RetailPocalypse, which I have been talking about on this podcast that, from my perspective - not just my perspective,
* In reality, the retail sector is in worse shape today than it was in 2008 during and immediately foll0wing the financial crisis
* We got a lot of bad news from the retailers this week
* Including JCPenny and Nordstrom's - horrible sales from these companies
* We had other retailers earlier in the week that came out with bad news
* Kohl's Department Store, Dillards
* Kohl's stock is at 36.5 as I record this
* That stock's high was $75-$80 in the summer of 2015
* So it's down 60% or so
* Dillard's is at a 52-week low today, at just under $47
* That was over $120 - more than a 50% decline
* Macy's was down another 3% today - a new 52-week low
* Macy's is at $23.60 -it was a $70 stock
* These are huge markdowns for retail stocks
* Look at Nordstrom's - down almost 11% today on the bad news
* $41.20 - Nordstrom's was an $80 stock is one of the best performers
* JCPenny is going to get the prize for the biggest decline overall
* This stock's been falling for a long time
* It closed today at $4.55
* A lot of people are very complacent - they say, "Oh, it's no big deal because it's all about e-commerce
* Everybody is shopping online
* Look at Amazon - Amazon stock hit a new 52-week high today
* All time high, not just a 52-week high
* Jeff Bezos is on the way to being the richest man in the world