Shandong-based Inzone has opened a new store at Jining Culture Square, which is the retail chain's second outlet in the city. With a business area of about 30,000 square meters, the new store takes a mixed business model that integrates a department store and a large-scale supermarket, providing more than 80,000 Chinese and foreign products. All [...]

Highlighted stocks include Amazon.com (AMZN), BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. (BJ), Carter's Inc. (CRI), Men's Wearhouse (MW) and Target Corporation (TGT)

Initial holiday sales are encouraging, though it is questionable whether the momentum will last or if the discounts will end up hurting profits.

The National Retail Federation estimated that shoppers spent an average of $373.57 over Thanksgiving weekend, an increase of 7.2%. Store traffic was higher as well at 172 million, versus 147 million last year.

comScore calculated that Cyber Monday sales totaled $846 million, a 15% increase over 2007. Nielsen Online said that Monday traffic to online retail web sites was 10% higher.

For both traditional and online retailers, discounts were the name of the game. Stores marked down everything from GPS devices to Jimmy Choo shoes. And many observers, including Zacks' Senior Retail Analyst Rob Plaza, believe retailers will

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Homemart, a building supplies retail chain owned by Bailian Group, has suspended the operation of its two Beijing outlets, Xisanqi store and Sijiqing Bridge store. When asked why operations had been suspended a representative of the company denied that it was due to operating loss. The spokesperson said the two stores were merely closed for business [...]

HP Beats 4Q Forecasts; Carrefour Milks New CEO From Nestle; InBev Officially Closes Anheuser Buy; Home Depot Beats 3Q Estimate; Gulf Bank Loses $1.4 Billion; Mexican Tycoon Interested in Circuit City; Wholesale Prices Plummet

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), the world’s largest maker of personal computers, offered a preview of its fiscal fourth-quarter profits – reporting that it will beat market expectations and raise its fiscal 2009 outlook. “HP is gaining market share in an extremely strong competitive position. They’ve got share gains, combined with very aggressive cost reduction,” Shannon Cross of Cross Research told Reuters. Lars Olofsson, Executive Vice President of Nestle SA, has been named Chief Executive Officer of Carrefour S.A., the world’s second-largest retailer. He’ll ...

US retailer Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) is considering offloading $20 billion in real estate holdings. This will enable the company to focus on its core strategic operations, says Andrew Snyder. And that makes it easier for investors to analyse the business. Andrew expects Target’s stock to jump if this sale is given the go ahead.

This from Today’s Financial News:

Should a retail chain be severely and directly impacted by the fall of the nation’s real estate market? Should retailers divert from their core strategic mission and invest directly in the nation’s real estate market? Those are the questions Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) investors are asking the company today.

According to William Ackman, the boss at Pershing Square Capital Management, the answer in Target’s case is no. He is pushing the company’s management to spin off its nearly $20 billion in real estate holdings into an independent real-estate investment trust

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Ren Ren Le, the Shenzhen-based retail chain, has recently signed a contract with Huijing New City, Xiang'an District, Xiamen to open a new store in 2010. On the completion of the store, it will become the largest supermarket outside Xiamen Island with a total area of 12,000 square meters. Liu Mingfei, general manager for Ren Ren Le's [...]

Wisconsin is a popular tourist destination. The most visited places within the state are: The Wisconsin Dells, House on The Rock, and the Circus World Museum. Some interesting facts about Wisconsin follow:1. Wisconsin’s largest forest product is papermaking, and it employs more than 100,000 people.2. Gravel and construction sand represent 80% of Wisconsin’s nonfuel mineral production.3. Wisconsin’s top agricultural products are dairy beef and calves, and corn4. Workers in the papermaking industry of Wisconsin are the highest paid within the manufacturing industry.5. Wisconsin tourism industry employs 177,000 workers and generated about $6 billion in revenue.6. Wisconsin’s major exporter industries are the computer, machinery, and the transportation. 7. Wisconsin’s main exports go to Canada, Japan, and Mexico. 8. One of the largest ore bodies of zinc copper is located in Wisconsin.9. Wisconsin offers property tax exemptions ...

Wisconsin is a popular tourist destination. The most visited places within the state are: The Wisconsin Dells, House on The Rock, and the Circus World Museum. Some interesting facts about Wisconsin follow:1. Wisconsin’s largest forest product is papermaking, and it employs more than 100,000 people.2. Gravel and construction sand represent 80% of Wisconsin’s nonfuel mineral production.3. Wisconsin’s top agricultural products are dairy beef and calves, and corn4. Workers in the papermaking industry of Wisconsin are the highest paid within the manufacturing industry.5. Wisconsin tourism industry employs 177,000 workers and generated about $6 billion in revenue.6. Wisconsin’s major exporter industries are the computer, machinery, and the transportation. 7. Wisconsin’s main exports go to Canada, Japan, and Mexico. 8. One of the largest ore bodies of zinc copper is located in Wisconsin.9. Wisconsin offers property tax exemptions ...

Wisconsin is a popular tourist destination. The most visited places within the state are: The Wisconsin Dells, House on The Rock, and the Circus World Museum. Some interesting facts about Wisconsin follow:1. Wisconsin’s largest forest product is papermaking, and it employs more than 100,000 people.2. Gravel and construction sand represent 80% of Wisconsin’s nonfuel mineral production.3. Wisconsin’s top agricultural products are dairy beef and calves, and corn4. Workers in the papermaking industry of Wisconsin are the highest paid within the manufacturing industry.5. Wisconsin tourism industry employs 177,000 workers and generated about $6 billion in revenue.6. Wisconsin’s major exporter industries are the computer, machinery, and the transportation. 7. Wisconsin’s main exports go to Canada, Japan, and Mexico. 8. One of the largest ore bodies of zinc copper is located in Wisconsin.9. Wisconsin offers property tax exemptions ...

An article of mine got published on TCS Daily on the evolving political and business landscape in India. The article can be found here. The article is reproduced below as well -

The decade and a half following India’s economic reforms of 1990-91 has been an exciting and transformational one for India and its people, and has also had a significant impact on the entire world. Much good has happened, with increasing growth and prosperity benefiting millions. The world has observed the rise of a large and vibrant middle-class, an aggressive and innovative private sector, and the growth of a soft culture. It is true that severe challenges still remain, caused mainly by massive disparities in income and access to resources, which mean that over 300 million people remain desperately poor, and large parts of the country not benefiting from growth.

A lot of India’s growth and stability today has

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