Macy's Tumbles 7% On Margin Warning, Dragging Other Retailers Down With It

Shares of Macy's Inc. slid more than 7% Tuesday to lead S&P 500 decliners, after the company said gross margins will be weaker than they forecast in February. The company made the comment at an investor meeting, according to media reports. It immediately sparked a selloff among department store chains that quickly spread to other retailers. The sector is in a midst of a period of slowing sales and customer traffic as many shoppers move online, mostly to Amazon.com Inc. . Kohl's Corp. fell 6.9%, Nordstrom Inc. was down 4.5% and Dollar General Corp. tumbled 3.8%. Dollar Tree Inc. fell 3.6% and L Brands Inc. was down 3.4%. The S&P 500 was down 0.2%.