Consumer Stocks Down After Macy's Warning - Consumer Roundup

Shares of retailers and other consumer-services companies fell after embattled department-store chain Macy's warned on its profit growth. At a presentation to investors, Macy's executive said gross margins this year would be weaker than forecast in February. It was the latest blow to chain stores who have seen their decline accelerate in the last couple of years due to the dominance of Amazon.com and online retail in general. The Treasury market and the stock market are sending different signals about expectations for growth, said analysts at brokerage Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research, in a note to clients. There are some signs that Friday's relatively weak jobs report was not telling the whole story, however, and analysts at brokerage Jefferies pointed to Tuesday's JOLTs (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) report as evidence that the economic boom was still alive and well. The number of U.S. job openings hit a new high in April, according to a Labor Department report. Jolts data showed an increase of 259,000 job openings for a total of 6.04 million.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 06, 2017 16:42 ET (20:42 GMT)