1. Goldman Sachs profits drop 19% (so do bonuses)
2. Bad holiday sales crush Best Buy stock
Like denim cargo shorts, J.C. Penney is just way, way out of style now. Shares of the struggling department store chain J.C. Penney (JCPN.Q) dropped 1.6% Thursday after announcing it's cutting 2,000 of its 116,00 employees, and closing 33 of its 1,100 stores as part of its big-time, super-duper turnaround plan.
The takeaway is that we all know JCP had a really bad 2013, and the stock is down more than 60% in the last year (it's been trying to rebrand itself since firing former/terrible CEO Ron Johnson). But this latest round of cuts is over holiday sales, which came in well below its optimistic projections. Christmas isn't just fun for stocking toys -- it's when retailers are supposed to make 20%-40% of their annual sales.
- Housing Starts
- Reuters/UMich Consumer Sentiment Survey
- Earnings: Morgan Stanley