TRIVIA

Last week was a week to forget in the US retail sector. Supply problems and higher costs impacted the sales and results of important firms in the sector, such as GAP, Best Buy and Nordstrom, whose reports were well below market expectations.

How much did these companies lose in market capitalization in this black week?

A) US$1 billion

B) US$5 billion

C) US$10 billion

D) US$15 billion

ANSWER

C) The market capitalization of these companies by some US$10 billion. Best Buy alone lost US$5.2 billion, after reporting worse margins than expected. Not all companies in the sector fared badly, however, firms such as Guess and Dollar Tree Inc. reported better-than-expected results and saw significant gains in their share prices. Now, sign of the times: Dollar Tree raised the standard price of its products from US$1 to US$1.25, which helped its results, but inflamed social media against the retailer.