Target Reports 32% Growth In Online Sales The Same Day Trump Blames Amazon For Retailers' Woes
President Donald Trump took to Twitter early Wednesday to accuse e-commerce behemoth Amazon of "doing great damage" to retailers and killing industry job growth.
Amazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers. Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt - many jobs being lost!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 16, 2017
The online retailers' shares slipped by less than 1% during pre-market trading in response to the public reprimand, MarketWatch reports.
That same morning, Target posted strong Q2 earnings that beat analyst estimates. Online sales jumped 32% with a 2.1% gain in customer traffic, Target reported. At the same time, Urban Outfitters shares showed similarly positive gains of more than 20% after its big earnings exceeded Wall Street expectations, CNBC reports.
These retailers' strong reports, coupled with the huge jump in retail sales experienced in July, suggest continued strength in the retail industry despite the growing pains some physical retailers have experienced adjusting to e-commerce. U.S. retail sales in July reached a seven-month high, suggesting the economy may continue to gain momentum in the third quarter, Reuters reports.
