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Hey there weekday warrior,
Macy’s done f*cked up.
Enjoy the next 4 minutes and 13 seconds of blue-chip news and commentary.
Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,
+ US stocks “rose on Monday as small caps rallied near new highs and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 400 points amid a broad sense of optimism over President-elect Donald Trump's choice of Scott Bessent for Treasury secretary.” (Yahoo! Finance)
+ The 10-year yield “retreated on Monday as investors weighed President-elect Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary pick and eyed a key inflation reading due later in the week.” (CNBC)
+ Oil “fell more than $2 a barrel on Monday after multiple reports that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the terms of a deal to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, citing unnamed senior U.S. officials.” (Reuters)
+ Bitcoin's “quest for $100,000 hit an impasse as sellers took control and pushed BTC price under $93,000.” (Cointelegraph)
+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24 hours were: 1) MicroStrategy -4.3% 2) Archer Aviation +23.8% 3) Nvidia -4.1%
The market moves you need to know about…
+ BlackBerry? *takes long drag of cigarette* I haven’t heard that name in years. The maker of the Crackberry hasn’t gotten this much love since meme-stock mania circa 2021. Unfortunately, this time around, its stock popped after it won a harassment lawsuit brought by a former female exec who claimed she was paid less than her male counterparts for the same work. The “win” sent shares up 9.3% on the day.
+ Speaking of companies past their prime… shares of Eastman Kodak soared 18.6% after President Trump tapped the company to make generic drug ingredients the company said it is considering terminating its pension plan. Turns out the pension is overfunded by nearly $1B and the film maker can access more than $500M if it shuts it down (don’t worry, it would pay former employees).
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Annnnd it’s gone
Source: Giphy
Macy’s: good at parades… very, very bad at financial controls.
The storied department store that will usher in the holiday season later this week with its Thanksgiving Day parade is about to get a visit from the Shortseller Enrichment Commission.
Yesterday, the company announced it had to delay its full-year earnings report after somebody cooked its books… for the past 3 years.
According to Macy’s (-2.2%) a lone wolf in the accounting department hid up to $154M in delivery expenses dating back to 2021.
The department store said it was wrapping up an investigation into the disgruntled and/or incompetent lad (or lady) who handled “small package delivery expense accounting.”
Macy’s has yet to indicate whether this was an “Office Space” type situation (think: fraud) or if said rogue accountant was just a University of Phoenix dropout. It’s unclear if they pressed charges… but the accounting savant is now an ex-employee (I’ll save you the LinkedIn search, I already did some sleuthing, and it appears he/she has gone dark…).
What’s equally unclear is what, if any, finance controls are in place over at Herald Square…
But it wasn’t all horrific news…
… there was some bad news mixed in too.
While it plans to delay its full-year financials, Macy’s shared some of its Q3 numbers… and, yeah, maybe they should have kept those to themselves, too.
Comparable sales fell 2.4% in the third quarter of 2024.
+ “F*ck you, pay me.” - POTUS to Mexico and Canada
We got our first look at Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs. The President-elect took to Truth Social (Elon gotta be big mad) to announce plans to enact 25% tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian goods “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”
Oh, and Donny Politics chimed in later, adding that he plans to hike taxes on Chinese imports by 10%.
+ Tell me you hate your kids without telling me…
On Monday, Warren Buffett said he plans to give away another $1.1B of his wealth to his family’s four foundations. But just in case that didn’t give the Buffett children daddy issues, Warren also penned a note railing against generational wealth. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you make your kids go full Menendez brothers.
You might recall that WB already pledged to give away 99% of his fortune, because, as he laid out in his letter Monday, he doesn’t trust “the priorities, intelligence, and fidelity of successive generations to deal with the distribution of extraordinary wealth.”
+ Kohl's board: "We're firing our CEO"
Kohl's investors: "So you're bringing in someone from a brand that's at the forefront of retail innovation, right? Right?!"
Tim Kingsbury just got "stepped down" as CEO of Kohl's (+7.6% // -4.8% after hours)… because, well, have you been to a Kohl's lately? He'll be replaced by Michaels’ CEO Ashley Buchanan. Listen, I'd never judge a guy named Ashley running a craft store frequented by crazy cat ladies, but you can...
The news of a change at the top shouldn't come as a total shock. Kohl’s shares have fallen 45% during Kingsbury’s tenure (plus an additional 17% if you count the time he had the interim tag). Sales have fallen for the last 10 quarters.
Just wait until Ash finds out his bonuses are paid in Kohl’s Cash…
+ “Ya’ll got any more of that CHIPS Act money?” - Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger
The last time Intel (+1.5%) got news this good, McDonald’s still had Snack Wraps on the menu. The Commerce Department is about to cut the chipmaker one of those oversized Publisher’s Clearing House checks for $8B as part of the CHIPS Act. The cash will allegedly be earmarked for “manufacturing”…
+ Macy’s (-2.2%) management be like, “you guys, we have an idea on how to recoup that missing $150M.” NBC is reportedly this close to closing a deal with Macy’s to retain rights to its Thanksgiving Day Parade… for $60M per year. It’s currently paying $20M.
+ ‘Do I have a trust fund?’ Viral ‘teenager texts’ highlight how little some kids know about money. I text my mom this all the time, hoping she forgot or something…
+ The McRib is returning for the holidays. Why isn’t it sold year-round? Spoiler: it all depends on hog futures…
FYI, TWC might be compensated if you click on the links above. So, what are you waiting for? Start clicking.
⏩ Today we’re keeping an eye on…
+ Best Buy, Abercrombie, Analog Devices, Macy's, Burlington Stores, and Dick's report before the bell
+ CrowdStrike, Dell, HP, Workday, and PagerDuty report after the close
+ The FOMC minutes drop. Remember when those mattered? Bring me back…
Yesterday, I asked, “You can only have one traditional Thanksgiving food item at Thanksgiving dinner. All the rest go away. Which is it?”
Stuffing put on an absolute clinic. Followed by turkey and mashed potatoes.
Here’s what some of you had to say (and my thoughts in italics)…
Green bean casserole: “I would say mashed potatoes but I need gravy, so green bean casserole it is”
Turkey: “But it better be injected and fried like GOD intended it to be consumed.”
Other: "Any form of smoked red meat. Turkey is garbage it’s time that America recognizes that."
Stuffing: “I selected Stuffing, but the answer is Dressing. You bake it outside of the bird because you fry the turkey. Some people were not raised down South.” Roll Tide!
Other: “Brown rice” Who hurt you?
Stuffing: “Those answering Cranberry sauce need to be removed from your mailing list”
Other: “Sinful potatoes- hash browns, pound of bacon, velveta cheese and mayonnaise.” RFK Jr. about to make this illegal.
And here’s today’s question…
Yesterday we talked Thanksgiving dinner. So, what's the GOATed Thanksgiving dessert?
Oh, and one more thing…
What did you think about today's newsletter?
Does this look like the face of a guy you should take financial advice from?
No, it’s the face of an individual who is financially irresponsible/dumb enough to be talked into spending money on a family photo shoot that he could have just done with his iPhone. So, act accordingly...
This is not financial advice. Nothing in this newsletter is an investment recommendation. All content is created for entertainment, educational, or informational purposes only. Do your own research, or do yourself a favor and hire a professional.