Retail's Big Week

Most of  the first-quarter earnings season is now in the rearview mirror -- with overall S&P 500 profits up 52% from a year ago. Retailers are some of the last companies up, and they have a big week of reports ahead. Nordstrom, Best Buy, Costco, dollar-store chains Dollar General and Dollar Tree, and mall-based speciality retailers Gap and Abercrombie & Fitch, headline the week.

Good luck to those trying to forecast the results. Investors have been strangely mixed around the retail reports we've seen thus far, my colleague Teresa Rivas writes today: 

Major big box retailers Target and Walmart delivered blockbuster numbers, which led to stock gains. Home improvement giants Home Depot and Lowe’s also posted stellar quarters, although their shares dropped. And the market didn’t show any love for the strong earnings from department store Kohl’s, although rival Macy’s surprise profit garnered its stock a brief pop.

The starkly different reactions has everyone wondering how investors will react to the coming round of reports.​

Best Buy and Costco could be the most interesting: "Both were major pandemic winners—and now both face questions of how long the good times can keep rolling," Teresa writes.

You can read her full preview of retail's big week ahead here.