What happened

It was a roller coaster day for Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), the struggling home goods retailer. There was some news affecting the stock as it made its interim CEO permanent, but mostly its swing reflects an exaggerated version of movements in the broad market as stocks opened lower on weak earnings reports from Alphabet and Microsoft then moved higher through the morning on a dovish interest rate decision by the Bank of Canada before falling in the afternoon after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he doesn't see any near-term progress in Iran nuclear talks. 

With Bed Bath & Beyond trying to stave off bankruptcy, the stock is highly sensitive to macroeconomic movements. 

After opening lower, Bed Bath & Beyond stock was up as much as 8% in the late morning. The stock slid through the afternoon and was down 3.8% as of 3:19 p.m. ET.

So what

The biggest news out on the retail stock today was that it named interim CEO Sue Gove as permanent CEO. Gove took over from Mark Tritton in June after Tritton, who was brought on in 2019 to turn around the retailer, was ousted. 

The board unanimously approved Gove's appointment, and independent Chair Harriet Edelman said,

During her tenure as Interim CEO, Sue took consequential actions to increase liquidity and establish the groundwork to improve customer loyalty, traffic, and market share. Her intense focus on cash, and expertise in managing working capital and liquidity are matched by a great operating mind and further complemented by a new leadership team that brings deep merchant, omni, and digital expertise in modern retailing.

The announcement eliminates one question hanging over the company but could also reflect the dire circumstances the company is in, which make it difficult to recruit new leadership.

Now what

The only thing that seems certain for the company at this point is uncertainty. Gove has slashed expenses and raised new financing in an attempt to stabilize the business, but it won't be easy to right the ship. The company lost $800 million in free cash flow in the first half of the year, and the macroeconomic headwinds only seem to be getting stronger. Even sufficient liquidity is no guarantee of a return to financial health.