First Quarter Not Looking Good For J.C. Penney And Other Major Retailers

The New York Post published an article on Friday describing how J.C. Penney took emergency measures to protect its bottom line. It seems that April sales were weak, leading the retailer to slash operating expenses in order to salvage its first-quarter earnings report scheduled for release on Friday at 7.00 a.m. First quarter 2016 turned out to be another tough one for the major retailers, with February and March sales way below last year, followed by an April that was not much better. It is possible that J.C. Penney was shielded from the weak sales momentum in the first two months, but I believe that very aggressive promotions at Macy’s, Kohl’s, Nordstrom, etc. suggest each had a difficult quarter from the get-go. As a result earnings for the period are likely to be disappointing. Read more at Forbes.