Macy's shares soared Tuesday morning after the company far exceeded profit estimates. The retailer also said it reached an agreement to sell some of its real estate assets to Brookfield Asset Management. Joining The Long and The Short to discuss is Melissa Gonzalez, CEO, and Founder of The Lionesque Group and Melissa Armo, Founder of The Stock Swoosh.
Armo says she's pleasantly surprised by Macy's gaining such a big lead at the beginning of the year. She believes tax reform will also help a lot of the retailers, including Macy's, throughout 2018. However, she thinks Macy's still needs to figure out a way to bring more foot traffic to the stores. Gonzalez is excited about Macy's improving e-commerce business and the decision to scale back the discounts and flash sales.
Plus, is real estate retail's next big asset? Gonzalez says it's a smart move to partner with Brookfield Asset Management and sell off some office space, similar to what Lord & Taylor did with WeWork. However, Macy's ultimately needs to bring more customer experiences to the store to compete with the elephant in the room, Amazon.
UAW president Shawn Fain said the union would strike at a small number of Ford, General Motors and Stellantis factories, but that if the Big Three "continue to give us insulting offers, then our strike is going to continue to grow."
Hundreds of Milwaukee bar patrons who hoped to score free drinks through its offer to pay their tabs whenever the New York Jets, and former Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, lose had to pay up after the Jets got an overtime win despite an injury that took Rodgers out of the game.
The HBCU Transformation Project, a coalition of 40 historically Black colleges and universities, on Wednesday announced a $124 million gift from philanthropic funders Blue Meridian Partners to increase enrollment, graduation rates and employment rates for the schools' graduates.
