Stocks are moving higher as a disappointing ADP jobs report lessened the chance of an interest rate hike.
The report for September showed that 154,000 jobs were added, the slowest amount since April and missing the estimate for 171,000 jobs added. The S&P 500 is higher by 9 points to trade at 2,159, the Dow Jones Industrial average is rising by 88 points to 18,256 and the Nasdaq is higher by 22 points to 5,312. The S&P Retail ETF is adding 35 cents to sell at $43.76.
VF Corp. named its president and chief operating officer Steven Rendle as the company’s next chief executive officer effective January 1. Rendle will replace the current chief executive officer Eric Wiseman, who is staying on as the executive chairman for the board of directors. Wiseman has been with VF Corp. for over 20 years and served as ceo for the past 9 years. VF stock is falling by 33 cents to sell at $55.87, but has dropped 19 percent for the past year. Rendle has been with VF Corp. for 16 years leading the outdoor and sports businesses.
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Ascena Retail Group is speeding up its restructuring plan and delaying its investor day until January. The company is reorganizing its businesses into four operating segments as it attempts to focus on key customer groups. The plan is expected to save approximately $100-$150 million in cost savings by fiscal 2019. The company also named Brian Lynch as the new chief operating officer. Additional management changes took place as leaders were named for each of the new business segments. As a result, a number of other executives were let go, which will cost the company $10 million to $12 million in the first quarter. Ascena said it could recover these costs over the course of fiscal 2017. The stock is rising by over 5 percent to sell at $5.89in early trading, but has declined by 56 percent for the past year.
Kohl’s Corp. has launched its mobile payment option Kohl’s Pay nationwide. The payment option integrates the private label credit card, rewards and discounts that can be applied at checkout. In order to use the payment option, customers must save their Kohl’s credit card information to Kohl’s pay on the mobile app. The mobile app has been downloaded more than 14 million times. Kohl’s stock has fallen almost 4 percent for the past year, but was lifted by over 1 percent to $43.92 in early trading.