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Source: Harvard Health Publishing

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) fell after the young adult clothing retailer’s sales missed forecasts and it gave a soft outlook for the current quarter as its smaller brands struggled. 

The parent of the American Eagle, Aerie, Unsubscribed, and Todd Snyder brands said second-quarter revenue rose 7.5% to $1.29 billion, about $20 million below the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.39 were in line with expectations. 

Sales at its American Eagle stores gained 7.9% to $827.6 million. They were up 9.3% to $415.6 million at Aerie. However, other brand sales slumped 47% to $57.5 million. 

The news sent American Eagle's shares down about 3%. The stock is down for the year, though less than 1%.

CEO Jay Schottenstein said the company was operating in “a dynamic macroeconomic environment,” and will “remain disciplined and focused on delivering profitable growth and long-term shareholder value.”

AEO is anticipating third-quarter revenue to be flat to up slightly from last year's $1.3 billion, and operating income to be in the range of  $120 million to $125 million. Visible Alpha predictions were for revenue of $1.31 billion and operating income of $137 million.

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A lady has shared the conversation she had with her furniture maker who had the n£rve to declare his feelings for her.

The guy after finishing the wardrobe for the lady has messaged her professing his love for her. So she asked him to send a picture of himself so she can use for POV.

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Contracts for buying houses were expected to tick up in July amid lower mortgage rates—instead, they fell to their lowest in decades.An index of pending home sales volume, an indicator of future homebuying activity, fell 5.5% in July to its lowest level at least since the National Association of Realtors began keeping track in 2001, the association said Thursday. Forecasters had expected it to rise 0.1% instead, according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and .The sudden plunge in pending home sales deepened the freeze of the housing market, which has been plagued by high mortgage rates, high prices, and low numbers of homes for sale. 

Forecasters have expected things to improve following a dip in mortgage rates this summer. The average rate offered for a 30-year fixed mortgage this week was 6.46%, down from 7.22% in early May, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. 

Mortgage rates have fallen as financial markets anticipate the Federal Reserve is set to cut its influential fed funds rate in September, rolling back its campaign of anti-inflation interest rate hikes. The economy has also continued to add jobs, keeping more potential buyers in the market. But that didn’t translate into more people signing on the dotted line. "A sales recovery did not occur in midsummer," association chief economist Lawrence Yun wrote in a press release. "The positive impact of job growth and higher inventory could not overcome affordability challenges and some degree of wait-and-see related to the upcoming U.S. presidential election."

Another possible factor is buyers may be waiting for home prices to fall as well. By some measures, home prices have continued to hit record highs. 

“Many buyers, though eager, still cannot afford to participate in today’s market, and home sales, including pending home sales, still lag year-ago levels,” Hannah Jones, senior real estate analyst at Realtor.com, wrote in a commentary.

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In a bid to address what it described as growing trend of unreasonable pricing of consumer goods and services and the unwholesome practice of market associations resulting in exploitative procing, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) on Thursday gave traders and other market stakeholders one month moratorium to crash the prices of goods, Nairametrics is reporting.

The Executive Vice Chairman of the FCCPC, Mr Tunji Bello gave the moratorium at a one-day stakeholders engagement on exploitative pricing on Thursday in Abuja. Bello, who recently took over as the boss of FCCPC said the Commission will begin enforcement after the moratorium.

According to the FCCPC boss, the meeting was called in response to the growing trend of unreasonable pricing of consumer goods and services and the unwholesome practice of market associations.

Citing an example of such exploitative pricing, the FCCPC boss said the Commission’s finding that a fruit blender known as Ninja was being sold at a popular supermarket in Texas for 89 dollars (N140,000.00) but the same product was displayed for N944,999.00 in a supermarket in Victoria Island, Lagos. Bello wondered the basis for the arbitrary hike in the price of the blender compared to the Texas, United States of America.

He said the unwholesome practices including price fixing was threa ening the stability of the economy. “Under Section 155, violators whether individuals or corporate entities face severe penalties including substantial fines and imprisonment if found guilty by the court. This is intended to deter all parties involved in such illicit activities. However, our approach today is not punitive. I, therefore, call on all stakeholders to embrace the spirit of patriotism and cooperation. It is in this spirit that we are giving a moratorium of one month (September) before the Commission will start firm enforcement,” he said.

Bello said the government was aware of most of the problems raised by the market stakeholders. “We have heard and you have genuine issues and government has the responsibility to address the problems but generally, let us talk to ourselves too. There are also gang ups to exploit consumers by traders,” he said.

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