For the quarter ending August 4, J.C. Penney posted losses worse than expected. The department store chain reported a loss of $0.32 per share for the fiscal second quarter, compared to the Wall Street estimate of a $0.05 loss per share.Penney's free cash flow was negative $235 million for the first half of the fiscal year.  

According to a Bloomberg report, people who are familiar with the situation (but wished not to be named since the talks are still private) said that the e-commerce giant is interested in buying Landmark from Wagner/Cuban Cos. After online streaming of movies/TV series and music, Amazon might now be eyeing a ‘physical’ presence in the media business.Landmark Theaters is largely focused on art-house/ independent and foreign films and owns more than 50 theaters in 27 markets

Aldi is looking to sell ‘healthy’. The supermarket chain, known for low-cost food staples and canned goods, wants to expand its natural foods offerings to leverage U.S. consumers' preference tilt towards healthy options. Aldi hopes to increase its fresh food selection by 40%.It would be interesting to follow how far the privately-held firm would eventually be able to hold its own against established players like Whole Foods (now owned by Amazon) in the natural/organic food market. Aldi is the 8th biggest retailer in the world by global revenue in 2016, according to a Deloitte analysis.   

A new round of talks between China and the U.S. is set to happen soon. The Chinese Commerce Ministry announced Thursday that at the invitation of the U.S., a Chinese delegation – led by Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen - will travel to Washington later this month.So far, reconciliation attempts on trade terms between the two nations have achieved little in assuaging trade tensions.

Walmart produced its fastest sales growth in a decade -  a sign that the retail giant is still not ‘Amazon-ed’! Digital sales of Walmart soared +40%, while total store sales increased +4.5% in three months ending July. Walmart's Sam's Club warehouse unit experienced same-store sales growth of 5% - a six-year high.  With sales going strong, it seems the retail behemoth is still far from losing ground to Amazon even after the latter’s acquisition of grocery chain Whole Foods.

Buffett also has done some reshuffling in his airline holdings: they added to Delta Air Lines, Southwest Air and trimmed their holdings of United Continental. As we know, Warren Buffet is a big fan of Wells Fargo – or at least he has been for many years but ever persisting scandals apparently are starting to take tall even on the most religious believers – Berkshire trimmed their holdings of Wells Fargo and increased their holdings of iconic Goldman Sachs.Apparently, Mr. Buffet cannot forget these very profitable preferred convertibles he got from Goldman Sachs during the financial crisis.

Facebook will broadcast La Liga matches in India for free. By signing a deal with Spain's top soccer league, Facebook could be elbowing its way into the sports steaming services market, thereby potentially competing against traditional broadcasters (such as Fox's Star India’s network of over 60 television channels that brings sports, entertainment, and news to Indian viewers). The social networking giant will broadcast 380 first division La Liga matches a year in India and some of the latter’s neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

That means, the soft drink maker is vying for a larger pie in a segment where rival Pepsi is already a strong player.Pepsi’s Gatograde drink accounts for 75% of the US sports drink industry, according to research firm Euromonitor International. Coca Cola’s owning a stake in BodyArmour would mean expanding its offerings of low-calorie drinks that use natural sweeteners/ flavors - something that could potentially boost Coke's total sales, since more and more people have been seeking healthier options in beverages. After the deal, Body Armor will be able to access Coca-Cola bottling facilities, while continuing to operate as its own brand. 

Home Depot rebounds with $30.5 billion worth of sales last quarter – an 8.4% growth from a year ago. This comes after snowy weather apparently dampened the retailer's first-quarter sales.The Q2 sales also edged past the company’s expectations, according to its Chairman and CEO Craig Menear. Given its recent performance, Home Depot seems to still potentially hold its ground against Amazon’s burgeoning clout.  

The total market capitalization of digital currencies declined to $193 billion – compared to $835 billion in January. Is this year going to be the ‘unraveling’ of last year’s crypto exuberance?But given the inherent uncertainties - such as those related to regulation or broader mainstream acceptance - still plaguing digital currencies, volatility is hardly a surprise.  

This follows the doubling of tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum imported into the U.S., coupled with U.S. allegations that Turkey has imposed an “unjust detention” on a pastor over his alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party and the Gulenist movement. Erdogan berated the "explicit economic attack" by the U.S. against  his country, and urged the Turkish population to buy Samsung Electronics Co. or locally made Venus Vestel smartphones – versus American products such as iPhones.   

While Apple, Spotify, Facebook, Instagram and others have quickly banned Alex Jones, Twitter is still thinking. Twitter also requested that the names of participants in the meeting should not be disclosed fearing the hate mail to these individuals.We hope that Twitter will quickly move towards meaningful compromise.

Amazon is already worth over $930 billion and needs to climb a little over 7% to hit $1 trillion. The mark does not look too far-fetched, given Amazon’s stellar performance in recent times.It posted a record $2 billion of earnings over Q2 2018 – thanks to its burgeoning cloud computing segment, rapidly growing advertising business and strong Prime subscription numbers. Analysts are reportedly betting on a 32% surge in sales for the company and a potential tripling of earnings per share for the year.

It looks like Saudi Arabia’ sovereign wealth fund might have had a role behind Elon Musk’s decision to take Tesla private. In a blog on Monday, Musk wrote that Saudi Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund’s managing director nudged Musk about why Tesla was not yet private in a July 31 meeting.Not too long after the July 31 meeting, Musk tweeted on August 7  about wanting to go private with Tesla and confirming that he had “funding secured” at $420 per share. Musk also confirmed that the Saudi Arabia fund has invested in almost 5% stake in Tesla.

Russia will continue to sell off U.S. Treasuries, as mentioned by Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. Between March and May, Russia trimmed its U.S. Treasury holdings by $81 billion, which is 84% of its total US debt holdings. Siluanov’s statement on Russian state television network Russia One comes amidst the recent round of U.S. sanctions on Russia under a chemical and biological warfare law. 

Turkey’s central bank relaxes reserve requirements amid the nation’s currency plunge. For Turkish commercial banks, reserve requirement ratio has been cut by 250 basis points for Lira (for all maturity brackets), and that for non-core foreign-exchange liabilities by 400 basis points for up to 3-year maturities.These are expected to add around $6 billion, 10 billion lira, and $3 billion equivalent of gold liquidity to the financial system, as mentioned by the central bank. However, capital controls to limit hard currency outflows will not be implemented, according to the nation’s Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak .

Eric Werner, associate director of enforcement for the SEC’s Fort Worth regional office, introduced Jay Clayton, SEC Chairman, with a story about the first time he met the chairman, who was engaged in a “heated discussion about the legitimacy and viability of cryptocurrencies” with an attorney. “I was taken aback, honestly, about how much thought he had given to this space and the issues surrounding that,” said Werner." Clayton’s commitment to discussing cutting-edge topics like cryptocurrency is a positive sign to enthusiasts as lawmakers grapple with how to approach the technology.

Ryanair had to cancel 400 flights on Friday, following pilot strikes.  The budget airline canceled flights in Germany, Ireland, Belgium and Sweden, affecting about 15% of the carrier's scheduled flights. Staff strikes occurring lately are due to conflicts between Ryanair with its employees over labor demand and worker contracts.

The count of working oil rigs in the country increased by 10 this week to peak at 869 - their highest point so far this year, according to data from Baker Hughes. Since January, U.S. rig fleet has grown by more than 115 rigs since January.This should mitigate supply concerns following U.S. President Donald Trump’s restoring of sanctions on Iran and withdrawing from the nuclear deal with the nation.

The World Bank is turning to blockchain to raise funds. The international financial institution will be issuing blockchain bonds – the first of its kind - to raise upto 100 million Australian dollars ($73 million).World Bank has hired Commonwealth Bank of Australia to manage the issuance of the bond, which is nicknamed “bond-i”. Blockchain, which is the technology undergirding bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, allows direct transaction between people/organizations without requiring an intermediary or third-party in between.