Consumer Cos Down As Retailers Slide -- Consumer Roundup

Shares of most retailers and other consumer-services companies fell as the retail industry continued its painful reinvention.

Abercrombie & Fitch shares fell by more than 20% after the teen retailer disclosed that it was abandoning efforts to sell itself and would try to revive its fortunes as a standalone entity.

Department-store chain Macy's and other major retail chains such as Gap fell sharply, as fears built that Amazon.com's grip on U.S. retail customers was tightening.

A quantitative review of retail-stock behavior suggested that companies with high sales-per-employee showed above-market returns even as the broader sector struggled, said analysts at brokerage Morgan Stanley, in a research note.

Shares of country-club chain ClubCorp Holdings rose after it agreed to a $1.1 billion buyout from private-equity firm Apollo Global Management.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 10, 2017 16:25 ET (20:25 GMT)