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Disney announced content from its Pixar and Walt Disney Animation studios as well as live-action projects based on Disney IP during the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California on Friday.
“Wish” is Disney Animations 2023 feature film. It explores how the dreaming star, upon which so many Disney characters have wished upon, came to be.
Pixar will release a number of film and TV series in theaters and on Disney+ including “Elio,” “Win or Lose” and “Elemental.”

In this photo illustration a Pixar Animation Studios logo is seen on a smartphone screen.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

The Walt Disney Company revealed new information about its upcoming slate of animated movies and TV shows during its Pixar and Disney Animation Studios panel at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California Friday.
Animated movies released theatrically have floundered at the box office in the wake of the pandemic. At first, parents were reticent to bring kids back to cinemas, but now it seems that lackluster titles and an increase in children’s content on streaming have contributed to keeping families at home.

Disney has exacerbated this issue since movie theaters reopened, as it has placed the majority of its new Pixar films on Disney+ including “Turning Red,” “Soul” and “Luca.” While these decisions were made at time when vaccinations were either not available to children and moviegoing foot traffic was slow, it trained consumers to expect these titles on streaming.
It’s part of the reason that “Lightyear” had a lackluster opening in theaters this summer. Of course, the film was also hurt by a confusing premise that deviated from what made the Toy Story franchise so special.
Disney revealed ew titles from Pixar and its Walt Disney Animation Studio as well as films associated with its live-action remakes during Friday’s panel. It will also share which films will head to theaters and which will arrive by way of Disney+.

Pixar

Pete Docter, the chief creative officer of Pixar, took the stage at the D23 Expo to announce new titles from the animation studio that will arrive in theaters and on Disney+ in the coming years.
“Elemental,” arriving in summer 2023, tells the story of a bustling metropolis where earth, air, fire and water elements live. But when a fire girl and a water boy develop a connection the two must navigate how to interact while being polar opposites. Director Peter Sohn noted the film also touches on themes of immigration and finding your place in the world.

The company is launching its first ever long-form series on Disney+ called “Win or Lose.” The show is the brain child of two storyboard artists and tells the story of the Pickles softball team in the week ahead of their championship game. Each episode takes place during the same week, but from a perspective of a different main character.
“Elio” is a new project from the studio that centers on an 11-year-old named Elio who is just trying to fit in. His mother is working on a top secret military project to decode alien messages, but its Elio who accidentally makes first contact and becomes the de facto emissary for Earth. The film will debut in spring 2024.
Amy Poehler joined Docter on stage to announce Pixar will be making a sequel to 2015’s “Inside Out.” Riley is now a teenager and there are new emotions joining the mix. The movie arrives in summer 2024.

Disney Animation

Jennifer Lee, chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, announced several new projects from the studio.
To start, Lee said “Zootopia+” will arrive in November. The show is a series of shorts following major characters from the 2016 feature film.
Disney is partnering with Kugali Media to bring “Iwaju” to Disney+. The series is set in Nigeria and follows a young heiress named Tola and a poor boy named Kole. It arrives on the streaming service in 2023.
The studio shared a trailer of “Strange Worlds,” which arrives in theaters Thanksgiving 2022. The film centers on the Clades, a family of explorers, who must rely on each other in spite of their differences to traverse an uncharted and treacherous new land.
“Wish” is Disney Animations 2023 feature film. It explores how the dreaming star, upon which so many Disney characters have wished upon, came to be. The film is set within the Kingdom of Roses and follows Asha, an optimist with a sharp wit. Asha sees a darkness in the kingdom that no one else does, so in a moment of desperation she makes a passionate plea to the stars. This calls down an actual star from the sky named Star with magical wish-granting powers.
Asha is played by Ariana DeBose as Asha and Alan Tudyk as Valentino, a goat. DeBose sang an original song from the film and Tudyk ran through his repertoire of Disney characters including Duke Weaselton from “Frozen,” Hei Hei from “Moana” and King Candy from “Wreck-it Ralph.”

Live-action

Ahead of reveals about its animated content, Disney unveiled new trailers for “Hocus Pocus 2,” which arrives on Disney+ Sept. 30, as well as “Disenchanted,” the sequel to 2007’s “Enchanted,” out on the streaming service Nov 24.
On the heels of the release of “Pinocchio” on Disney+ on Thursday, the studio announced a slew of new additions to its catalog of Disney live-action remakes.
“Peter Pan & Wendy” starring Alexander Molony as Peter, Ever Anderson as Wendy and Alyssa Wapanatahk as Tiger Lily is slated for release on Disney+ in 2023. Jude Law portrays Captain Hook.
“Haunted Mansion” is slated to arrive in theaters March 10, 2023. Directed by Justin Simien, a former Disneyland cast member, the film is filled with Easter eggs culled from the famous Disney parks ride. During the panel, Simien announced that Jamie Lee Curtis will star as Madam Leota in the film.
Barry Jenkin’s formerly untitled Lion King project is called “Mufasa: The Lion King” and tells the origin story of Mufasa from cub to king. Clips shared with audiences at the D23 Expo shows the same stunning visuals as 2019’s “The Lion King” and will arrive in theaters in 2024.
The company also shared a brief glimpse of “Snow White” due out in theaters in 2024. The film stars Rachel Zegler as the title character and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. Fans erupted in applause when Gadot took the stage. The “Wonder Woman” actress said it was fun to play the villain, having been so often cast in more heroic roles.
Both Zegler and Anderson noted that the studio worked to give classic characters like Snow White and Wendy more agency and provide a modern take on these classic tales.
Rob Marshall, the director of Disney’s remake of “The Little Mermaid,” shared the entire sequence of “Part of Your World” from the film. Halle Bailey’s performance received raucous applause and a standing ovation when she stepped out on stage. The film arrives in theaters May 26, 2023.

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The slowdown in the otherwise red-hot housing boom has been stunningly swift.
The U.S. housing market surged during the pandemic as homebound people sought new places to live, boosted by record-low interest rates.

Now, real estate agents who once reported lines of buyers outside open houses and bidding wars on the back deck say homes are sitting longer and sellers are being forced to lower their sights.
That has both potential buyers and sellers wondering where they stand.
“As recession concerns weigh on consumer outlooks, our survey shows uncertainty has made its way into the minds of many buyers,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com.
Here are the major factors behind the topsy-turvy housing market.

Mortgage rates

The main driver of the slowdown is rising mortgage rates. The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage, which is by far the most popular product today, accounting for more than 90% of all mortgage applications, started this year right around 3%. It is now just above 6%, according to Mortgage News Daily.

That means a person buying a $400,000 home would have a monthly payment about $700 higher now than it would have been in January.

Arrows pointing outwards

High prices, low supply

The other drivers of the slowdown are high prices and low supply.
Prices are now 43% higher than they were at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the S&P Case-Shiller national home price index. The supply of homes for sale is growing, up 27% at the start of September compared with the same time a year ago, according to Realtor.com. While that comparison seems large, it’s still not enough to offset the years-long shortage of homes for sale.
Active inventory is still 43% lower than it was in 2019. New listings were also down 6% at the end of September, meaning potential sellers are now concerned as they see more houses sit on the market longer.

Paul Legere is a buyer’s agent with Joel Nelson Group in Washington, D.C. He focuses on the competitive Capitol Hill neighborhood, and he said he saw listings jump by 20 to 171 just after Labor Day. He now calls the market “bloated.” As a comparison, just 65 homes were listed for sale in March.
“This is a very traditional post Labor Day inventory bump and seeing in a week or so how the market absorbs the new inventory is going to be very telling,” he said. “Very.”
Inventory is taking a hit nationally because homebuilders are slowing production due to fewer potential buyers touring their models. Housing starts for single-family homes dropped 18.5% in July compared with July 2021, according to the U.S. Census.
Homebuilder sentiment in the single-family market fell into negative territory in August for the first time since a brief dip at the start of the pandemic, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Builders reported lower sales and weaker buyer traffic.
“Tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve and persistently elevated construction costs have brought on a housing recession,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz in the August report.

Some buyers are hanging in

Buyers, however, have not disappeared entirely, despite the still-pricey for-sale market and the equally expensive rental market.
“Data indicates that some home shoppers are finding silver linings in the form of cooling competition for rising numbers of for-sale home option,” said Realtor.com’s Hale. “Especially for buyers who are getting creative, such as by exploring smaller markets, this fall could bring relatively better chances to find a home within budget.”

Home prices are finally starting to cool off. They declined 0.77% from June to July, the first monthly fall in nearly three years, according to Black Knight, a mortgage technology and data provider.
While the drop may seem small, it is the largest single-month decline in prices since January 2011. It is also the second-worst July performance dating back to 1991, behind the 0.9% decline in July 2010, during the Great Recession.

Affordability woes

Still, that drop in prices will do very little to improve the affordability crisis brought on by rising mortgage rates. While rates fell back slightly in August, they have risen sharply again this week, making for the least affordable week in housing in 35 years.
It currently takes 35.51% of median income to make the monthly principal and interest payment on the median home with a 30-year mortgage and 20% down. That’s up marginally from the prior 35-year high back in June, when the payment-to-income ratio reached 35.49%, according to Andy Walden, vice president of enterprise research and strategy at Black Knight.
In the five years before interest rates began to rise, that income-to-payment ratio held steady around 20%. Even though home prices surged in the 2020 and 2021, record-low interest rates offset the increases.
“Given the large role affordability challenges appear to be playing in shifting housing market dynamics, the recent pullback in home prices is likely to continue,” Walden said.

A new report from real estate brokerage Redfin showed that while homebuyer demand woke up a bit in August, the latest increase in mortgage rates over the past week put it right back to sleep. Fewer people searched for “homes for sale” on Google with searches during the week ending Sept. 3 – down 25% from a year earlier, according to the report.
Redfin’s demand index, which measures requests for home tours and other home-buying services from Redfin agents, showed that during the seven days ending Sept. 4, demand was up 18% from the 2022 low in June, but still down 11% year over year.
“The housing market always cools down this time of year,” said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist, “but this year I expect fall and winter to be especially frigid as sales dry up more than usual.”

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In 2022, organizations offering employees paid maternity leave dropped to 35% from 53% in 2020, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.
Currently, there isn’t a federal paid leave program, and only 11 states plus the District of Columbia offer the benefit.
However, there may be other options for employees without coverage, experts say.

Hinterhaus Productions

After boosting paid parental leave during the pandemic, many companies are now cutting or reducing the popular employee benefit.  
In 2022, organizations with paid maternity leave dropped to 35% from 53% in 2020, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s employee benefits survey. And fewer than one-third, 27%, now provide paid paternity leave, down from 44% in 2020.  

“A lot of these firms are now trying to get back to pre-pandemic norms,” said Michelle Long, a policy analyst at the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.
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During the pandemic, many companies enhanced offerings beyond what is required by state law, but now “purse strings have tightened” as the economy has shifted, Long said.
Currently, there isn’t a federal paid leave program, and only 11 states plus the District of Columbia offer the benefit, typically funded by payroll taxes, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. 

This is a very, very expensive offering, particularly for small and medium-sized companies.

Johnny C. Taylor, Jr.
President and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management

“This is a very, very expensive offering, particularly for small and medium-sized companies,” said Johnny Taylor, Jr., president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, explaining that some firms may pay wages for the employee on leave and a replacement at the same time.

However, as the labor market softens, “the game is changing a little bit,” he said, and companies are cutting back on previously enhanced paid parental leave policies.

How to prepare if you lose paid parental leave

Whether you’re a current employee or weighing job offers, it’s important to know the details of your company’s parental leave policy if you’re planning to grow your family, Taylor said.
“Oftentimes, the temptation is to take a job with the highest salary without factoring in things like their paid leave offering,” he said. If you’re interviewing, ask for an overview of the company’s full benefits package, he suggested. 
While using vacation time for parental leave is another option, he urged future parents to weigh the pros and cons before depleting paid days off for the year. 
“Nurturing a new baby is not a vacation,” Taylor said. “If you spend all your vacation time doing that, you’re going to burn out.”

Future parents may also consider coordinating benefits or taking paid leave separately, suggested Nicole Sullivan, a certified financial planner and co-founder of Prism Planning Partners in Libertyville, Illinois.
“Fully understanding and coordinating all company benefits is another major help — things like flexible spending or dependent care accounts and medical benefits,” she said.
“Many companies have benefits open enrollment in November, so it’s a good time for parents and parents-to-be to review,” Sullivan added.

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Big Tech wants to keep you healthy and make loads of money along the way. Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT) — which already have their hands in many facets of our lives, have been ramping their health-care businesses. They’re all vying for a slice of the more than $4 trillion that Americans spend each year on their health — a number that, according to government estimates , will grow to $6.2 trillion by 2028. While monetizing valuable health data is at the heart of what all the tech firms are doing, Apple and Alphabet are in a battle for your wrist, with connected watches and trackers and their ecosystems around them. On Wednesday, at its product launch event, Apple introduced new watches with added sensors to track more aspects of women’s health. Alphabet already has Fitbit and next month it’s set to unveil its first Google-made smartwatch. At Amazon and Microsoft — and to some extent Alphabet — their health endeavors leverage their massive clouds. Amazon is also using its e-commerce logistics to deliver prescriptions to people’s homes. A key acquisition at Microsoft this year puts that tech giant in the business of software-based transcription, which has broad applications in the medical field. Here’s an in-depth look at and our ranking of what each company is doing in health. We’re owners of all four stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust, whose holdings serve at the Club’s portfolio. 1. Apple Apple’s vision for health care is to create technologies that arm individuals, medical professionals, and institutions with critical data — monitoring and diagnostics to catch irregularities before they become bigger issues. According to Apple , users can store over 150 different types of health data from the Apple Watch, iPhone and connected third party apps in one central view on the Health app. The Apple watch can read your heart rate, mobility, check blood oxygen levels and detect falls, to name a few features. All this data can be gleaned directly from your wrist. This information is sharable too: Users can transfer their health data between family members, health-care companies and providers. During Wednesday’s launch event, Apple introduced its new watch called the Series 8, which includes a new measurement: a more effective temperature sensor to help track women’s health, including when ovulation has occurred. This new feature can help users estimate ovulation dates and spot deviations from their cycles. The Club’s take: We see Apple as the leading Big Tech competitor in health care because of its first mover advantage with its Apple Watch and its ecosystem of products that provide intuitive connectivity. Over time, we think by increasing the health aspects of the Watch, Apple can attract the aging demographic in the U.S. While this demographic may not opt in for an iPhone upgrade, they could upgrade for a new health tracking feature. Overall, the constant monitoring could arguably lead to in-depth medical records that could allow Apple to make further headway into the $7.5 trillion health sector. 2. Amazon Amazon is making inroads in health care by creating efficiencies and making services more accessible to consumers, leveraging its online retail logistics and its cloud. Back in 2018, Amazon bought PillPack , a full-service online pharmacy that delivers prescriptions directly to your door, for $753 million. Through its PharmacyOS, PillPack manages customers’ medications from refills to renewals to shipping. The online dashboard tracks it all and helps people with their insurance copays. On a similar note, Amazon is considering partnering with pharmacies in Japan where patients can access online instructions on how to take medications and get them delivered, according to a report by Nikkei . More recently, in July, Amazon agreed to buy primary care company One Medical for $3.9 billion; if approved, it will be company’s biggest health-care acquisition to date. One Medical offers its members services from anytime online booking for virtual or in-person doctor visits to messaging providers right in its app. The Amazon deal is pending approval by One Medical shareholders, and it’s currently under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. The Club’s take : Amazon’s PillPack acquisition and the planned One Medical purchase are opportunities to innovate and improve the customer experience in the vast health-care field. Amazon prides itself on logistics and fast delivery through its Prime service, which is why we see prescription drug deliveries as a potential service that Amazon can lead. Amazon’s partnership with tech-powered One Medical, when completed, would help reimagine the health-care experience as virtual care is making it more convenient for patients to access services. 3. Alphabet Alphabet can make a difference in health care through its variety of tools and offerings, including its cloud solutions and its Google search engine. The Google Health arm, while not a formal business unit, aims to transform the future of health by collaborating with medical professionals and organizations. As health-care companies accelerate digitization, Alphabet’s services will likely become more prevalent to ensure operational efficiency while keeping patient data secure. Its Verily Life Sciences business seeks to change how health care is delivered by gathering data from a variety of sources to produce personalized health care unique to each individual. Alphabet also has smartwatches and trackers. It bought Fitbit in 2021. While Fitbit devices’ bells and whistles are not as extensive as those of the Apple Watch, the products are less pricey. Alphabet is coming out with the Google Pixel Watch next month, its first-even watch made by Google. There’s no pricing yet. But the company has said the device will leverage Fitbit health and fitness tracking technology. The Club’s take : We are on the lookout to see if Alphabet will follow in Apple’s footsteps in consumer wearable devices with its Fitbit and Pixel Watch. But the big opportunity for Alphabet in health care is through its cloud offerings and its ability to gather and sort massive amounts of data. 4. Microsoft Similar to Alphabet, Microsoft’s cloud services will put the company on the map as a dominant tech player in health as data integration and management become necessities in the health-care industry. Microsoft earlier this year completed its acquisition of Nuance Communications, a leader in transcribing the spoke word using artificial intelligence software. Nuance can capture every word spoken by a patient, allowing clinicians to spend less time taking notes and putting them in files. That patient data in aggregate can be reviewed by AI and used to help in early the detection of diseases. By now, you have probably gathered that transformation in health care relies on further adoption of the cloud. This is why a potential key driver for Microsoft’s role in health care will be its cloud integration in the industry as virtual care services expand. The Club’s take : With digitization becoming more prevalent in all industries, including health care, we see Microsoft’s acquisition of Nuance as a step toward transforming health care services. This partnership can also complement Microsoft’s cloud adoption in the sector. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, MSFT. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

Customers try Apple Watch devices in the Apple Marunouchi store on September 07, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan.
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The MLB announced several rule changes for the 2023 season.
The league will implement a pitch clock, limit defensive shifts and increase the size of bases.
The league aims to increase the pace and action of baseball while also improving safety.

Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Angels pitches in the fifth inning against the Houston Astros at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on September 03, 2022 in Anaheim, California.
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

The MLB approved several rule changes for the 2023 season that are aimed to speed up the pace of play and increase safety in games, according to a Friday release from the league.
The league will introduce clocks that limit time between batters and between pitches, limit defensive shifts and increase the size of bases in next year’s season.

The announcement came after reports that the league has struggled to bring in attendance above pre-pandemic levels. MLB is also seeking to expand its audience through streaming, such as with its deal with Apple TV+.
Rule changes in recent years have been similarly crafted to increase game intrigue, like starting every extra inning with a man on base.
The new rules include a 30-second timer to speed up time between batters. Pitchers will have 15 seconds between pitches when the bases are empty, but, with runners on base, that time will expand to 20 seconds.
If a pitcher violates the timer, he will be charged an automatic ball. If a batter violates the limit, he will be charged an automatic strike.
The defensive shift rule change is an attempt to increase batting average on balls put in play, particularly from batters who tend to hit mainly to one side of the field. The rule keeps the four infielders within the infield, and prevents them from switching sides. The limit should allow for more offensive action and force defenses to make more athletic plays.

MLB is also increasing the size of bases from 15 inches square to 18 inches square. This gives infielders more distance between themselves and baserunners, in a bid to decrease collisions.
The change also decreases base-to-base distance by 4.5 inches.

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Burger King will spend $400 million over the next two years on advertising and renovating its restaurants as part of a strategy to revive lagging U.S. sales.
The chain’s U.S. menu will also get a facelift.
The strategy has received support from U.S. franchisees, who will have to chip in as part of the strategy.

CASCAIS, PORTUGAL – Burger King signs are seen at the local fast food restaurant.
Horacio Villalobos | Corbis News | Getty Images

Burger King on Friday said it plans to spend $400 million over the next two years on advertising and renovating its restaurants as part of a broader strategy to revive lagging U.S. sales.
The Restaurant Brands International chain unveiled a turnaround plan for its U.S. business in Las Vegas at its annual franchisee convention. The investments are expected to weigh on its adjusted earnings per share for 2022 and 2023 by 10 to 12 cents annually. The company expects the investments to start paying off by 2025.

Wall Street analysts surveyed by Refinitiv expect earnings per share of $3.24 in 2023.
In the second quarter, Burger King reported flat U.S. same-store sales growth, trailing behind rivals McDonald’s and Wendy’s. The burger chain has been reporting lackluster U.S. sales over the last year, causing concern for Restaurant Brands CEO Jose Cil. In his tenure as chief executive, Cil has also spearheaded efforts to revive Canadian demand for Tim Hortons, Burger King’s sister chain.
A year ago, Cil also tapped former Domino’s Pizza executive Tom Curtis as the new president for Burger King’s U.S. and Canadian restaurants. Early changes to Burger King included slimming its menu to speed up drive-thru times and cutting down its paper coupons to push customers to use its mobile app.

Freshening up

Now Burger King is preparing to make even bolder changes. It’s planning to spend $200 million to fund remodels of roughly 800 locations. Another $50 million will go toward upgrading about 3,000 restaurants with technology, kitchen equipment and building enhancements. The company has more than 7,000 Burger King locations in the U.S.
Historically, remodeled restaurants see an average sales increase of 12% in their first year and outperform older locations over time, according to Burger King. The company is hoping that being more selective and strategic with its projects will produce even stronger sales growth, although it could take longer to see results.

“We might see remodels start to hit the market mid-2023 and going forward. It should really be a gradual ramp of the business over the course of the couple of years,” Cil told CNBC.
Burger King will also increase its U.S. advertising fund’s budget by 30% by investing $120 million over the next two years. Those investments will start in the fourth quarter.
“We expect that to start having an impact on sales over the next quarter,” Cil said.
An additional $30 million will be spent through 2024 on improving its mobile app, exceeding the digital fees that franchisees pay to the company for the technology.
Burger King’s menu will also get a facelift. The company said it’s built a multi-year blueprint for menu improvements, which include developing new Whopper flavors, betting on its Royal Chicken Crispy sandwich and investing in more employee training.

Franchisee impact

The strategy has received support from franchisees operating 93% of its U.S. restaurants, according to Burger King. Operators will be chipping in their own money alongside the company for remodels and advertising.
Curtis and his team put together a group of franchisees, representing a range of regions and experience, to come up with the strategy over the last three to six months.
“There were many long nights and plane rides,” Curtis said.
In addition to the money they get from Burger King, franchisees making upgrades to their restaurants are expected to make comparable investments to fund the projects.
The company is also changing its incentive structure to encourage operators to make more extensive remodels, which can be costly and typically require a location to be temporarily shuttered. In the past, Burger King operators who remodeled their restaurants received discounts on their advertising and royalty fees for up to seven years.
The new program will give franchisees cash once the project is completed, and let them choose how much of a discount they get on the royalties they pay to the company.
If profitability targets are met, however, Burger King franchisees will have to pay higher fees toward the advertising fund.

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American Eagle suspended its dividend after echoing other retailer’s issues with excess inventory.
Other retailers have also used steep markdowns to entice inflation-wary shoppers.
The markdowns have cut into retailers’ bottom lines and have prompted many to slash their financial guidance.

American Eagle clothing and accessories retailer American Eagle store seen in Tokyo.
Budrul Chukrut | SOPA Images | Light Rocket | Getty Images

American Eagle this week joined the list of clothing retailers reporting bleak earnings as the industry works to figure out the type of items people want coming out of the pandemic, while also facing softening demand as inflation squeezes budgets.
To clear products off shelves in the meantime, retailers including Macy’s and Nordstrom have turned to markdowns that are cutting into profits.

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“The retail environment’s not pretty,” Jeffries analyst Corey Tarlowe told CNBC. “Inventories have been elevated. There’s billions of dollars of excess apparel inventory that’s floating out around there right now, and that’s a problem.”
On Wednesday, American Eagle said it was suspending its dividend after comparable sales in the latest quarter fell 6% from a year ago. Chief Operating Officer Mike Mathias pointed to a “slowdown in demand” caused by the macroeconomic environment. Jen Foyle, the company’s chief merchandising officer, said American Eagle’s priorities are “adjusting our assortments and rightsizing inventory.”
The need for markdowns to move inventory hurt American Eagle’s bottom line, with the company posting earnings of 4 cents per share for the quarter ending July 30. That fell short of the 13 cents per share expected by analysts.
On Thursday, Nordstrom Chief Financial Officer Anne Bramman also said at the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference that discounts have been “a lot deeper” than the company had expected and that it could “take a couple quarters” to properly readjust. The department store operator in August had reported stronger sales for its second quarter, but slashed its financial forecast for the year citing a glut of inventory and slowing demand later in the quarter.
Rival Macy’s also last month slashed its revenue and earnings forecast for the year, with Chief Financial Officer Adrian Mitchell noting “weakening apparel sales over the quarter as the consumer faces higher costs on essential goods, particularly grocery. At Thursday’s Goldman conference, Mitchell said that the company has “taken the markdowns necessary” to help clear inventory.

Other retailers including Wal-Mart, Target, Gap and Kohl’s have faced similar problems with bloated inventories. Target cited its deep discounting to get rid of excess inventory when it reported a 90% decline in quarterly profit in August. Chief Financial Officer Michael Fiddelke said there was “softness” in apparel and other discretionary categories.
Noting an inflation-wary consumer, Wal-Mart employed similarly aggressive markdowns to move items like clothing out of stores, which led to a significant cut in profit expectations.
Gap and Kohl’s, meanwhile, are looking to avoid some markdowns with a “pack-and-hold” strategy for certain items, which allows them to reserve excess inventory until demand rises.
By 2023, Tarlowe the analyst said retailers might be able to adjust more quickly to demand as the supply chain normalizes. But for now, he said companies are struggling to adjust their offerings.
“All that product that was initially ordered for soft and cozy trends is now coming in. These retailers have been stuck with it. They’re forced to clear it out. It’s not in the right categories,” Tarlowe said.

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The company’s profit fell from a year earlier in what it described as a “challenging” quarter.
CEO Mark Smith said the industry experienced its first normal summer slowdown in three years.

An attendee walks through the Smith & Wesson booth at the NRA’s annual meeting.

Shares of Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. were down Friday morning after the company said demand for its guns returned to pre-pandemic levels. 
The firearms maker on Thursday had reported net sales to $84.4 million for its fiscal first quarter, a decrease of 69% from the same time last year. Smith & Wesson Chief Executive Officer Mark Smith blamed the “challenging” quarter on the return to normal demand levels and the company needing to correct inventory levels.

“The industry experienced our first normal summer slowdown in three years,” Smith said in a press release. Additionally, he said manufacturer orders were “artificially depressed” as the company’s partners sold through existing inventories.
Demand for guns had surged in late 2021 and early 2022 amid the pandemic and societal civil unrest related to police killings of unarmed Black people and the presidential election. 
Analysts agreed with Smith’s assessment of the normalization of firearm demand.
“Although disappointed with results that missed our estimates, we think the company remains disciplined in its approach to long-term growth and prudent management of channel inventory,” a Lake Street analyst said in a note.
Smith & Wesson has also been the subject of congressional scrutiny after lawmakers criticized the way gun manufacturers have marketed their products, especially to young men. 

For its fiscal quarter ended July 31, Smith & Wesson reported a net income of $3.3 million, dropping from $76.9 million in the year-ago period. 
Smith & Wesson’s stock was down about 6% in morning trading. The company’s shares were down about 25% so far this year as of Thursday’s close.

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