Companies ranging from Gap Inc. to J.Jill to Canada Goose and Abercrombie & Fitch delivered disappointing earnings reports in recent days, casting blame for the results on issues such as cool and wet weather, weak traffic at malls, the wrong promotions in stores and overall product missteps. The bad news has sent those stocks, and the broader industry, tumbling. The S&P 500 Retail ETX (XRT) was down nearly 2% Friday afternoon and has fallen nearly 13% this month, putting it on pace for its worst month since November 2008, when the XRT lost 20.25%.
Apparel retailers’ earnings, as a group, are down 24% for the first quarter of 2019, according to an analysis by Retail Metrics. The group had up until now been growing earnings since the third quarter of 2017. In the first quarter of 2018, apparel retailers’ earnings climbed a whopping 26%. The last time the group’s earnings were this bad was the first quarter of 2008, when they fell 40%, Retail Metrics said… CNBC News