Retail’s Trump Rally Is More Hope Than Change

A curious thing is happening to America’s struggling retailers: Shares in department stores and specialty retailers have bubbled up since Election Day, outperforming even the broader market, which keeps hitting all-time highs. This marks a drastic change from the past year, in which plunging store traffic and the ongoing consumer flight to e-commerce weighed down shares of the country’s worst-performing store operators. It’s not like those secular trends have reversed. Nor have retailers reported a rash of stellar results, unveiled super-secret plans to topple Amazon, or come up with new businesses or product lines that would suddenly make Americans leap off their couches and head into stores again. Read more at Bloomberg.