Is this the beginning of the end for price-matching policies?
Introduced in 2013, the policy previously allowed price matching with Target.com, Amazon, and Walmart; under the new rules, only Target.com prices will be matched.
Retail analysts suggest this change reflects Target's ongoing financial challenges and efforts to improve profitability and margins.
The company recently reported a 2.8 per cent drop in first-quarter sales, falling short of Wall Street's expectations.
Target has encountered various financial headwinds, including economic uncertainty from a previous administration's tariff regime, rising inflation, and consumer boycotts.
Here's why Target is ending its long-running 'price matching' policy this month
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
16 minutes ago
- The Independent
Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern confirm merger talks to create coast to coast railroad
Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern acknowledged Thursday that they were in merger talks that would create a single U.S railroad with rails stretching service from East to West Coasts. The Associated Press reported last week that the companies were discussing a tie-up but neither company confirmed until Thursday morning. The potential merger would combine the largest and smallest of the country's six major freight railroads. There's widespread debate over whether such a merger would be approved by U.S. regulators, which have established a high bar for consolidation in the crucial industry. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below. Union Pacific reported Thursday that its adjusted profit grew to $1.8 billion in the second quarter as merger rumors to swirl around the nation's largest railroad. The Omaha, Nebraska, per-share earnings rose rose to $3.03, beating Wall Street expectations and easily topping the $2.71 per-share profit it reported in the same period last year. Analysts were expecting profit of $2.91 per share for the recent quarter. Operating revenue grew 2% over last year, to $6.2 billion, the company said. Union Pacific shares rose about 1% before the bell Thursday, to $233.30 each. They had slumped to around $208 in early April, their lowest level of 2025, as President Donald Trump rolled out sweeping tariffs that threatened to upend global trade. Shares of all U.S. railroads moved higher as well. Sources told The Associated Press last week that Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are in merger talks that would create the a railroad in North America that essentially connects the East and West Coasts. Neither company has commented on the negotiations, which began during the first quarter of this year, according to a person familiar with the talks who wasn't authorized to speak publicly about them. It would combine the largest and smallest of the country's six major freight railroads. There is widespread debate over whether such a merger would be approved by U.S. regulators, which have established a high bar for consolidation in the crucial industry. That is largely because of a disastrous deal that involved Union Pacific. Union Pacific merged with Southern Pacific in 1996 and the tie-up led to an extended period of snarled rail traffic on U.S. rails. Three years later, Conrail was divvied up by Norfolk Southern and CSX, which led to more backups on rails in the East. However, just two years ago the U.S. Surface Transportation Board did approve a deal that created the CPKC railroad, allowing Canadian Pacific to acquire Kansas City Southern for $31 billion. That merger combined the two smallest major railroads in North America, however, but left only six major freight railroads. It was the first major rail merger approved in more than two decades. To be approved, any major rail merger must show it will enhance competition and serve the public interest under the 2001 rules. The CPKC merger was not judged under those rules because Kansas City Southern had an exemption from them as the smallest major freight railroad at the time.
The Independent
16 minutes ago
- The Independent
UnitedHealth says it is under a federal investigation and cooperating
Shares of UnitedHealth Group slipped Thursday after the health care giant said it was under a Department of Justice investigation. The company said it has started complying with both criminal and civil requests from federal investigators and it was cooperating with them. '(UnitedHealth) has a long record of responsible conduct and effective compliance,' the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal said federal officials had launched a civil fraud investigation into how the company records diagnoses that lead to extra payments for its Medicare Advantage, or MA, plans. Those are privately run versions of the government's Medicare coverage program mostly for people ages 65 and over. The company's UnitedHealthcare business covers more than 8 million people as the nation's largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans. The business has been under pressure in recent quarters due to rising care use and rate cuts. UnitedHealth Group Inc. said in February that it wasn't aware of the start of any new activity as the paper reported. The company said Thursday that it reached out to the Justice Department 'after reviewing media reports about investigations into certain aspects of the company's participation in the Medicare program.' UnitedHealth runs one of the nation's largest health insurance and pharmacy benefits management businesses. It also operates a growing Optum business that provides care and technology support. Company shares have mostly shed value since December, when UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in midtown Manhattan on his way to the company's annual investor meeting. The stock price dropped 2%, or $6.13, to $286.50 Thursday morning.
Reuters
16 minutes ago
- Reuters
US weekly jobless claims drop to three-month low
WASHINGTON, July 24 (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits fell to a three-month low last week, pointing to stable labor market conditions, though sluggish hiring is making it harder for many laid-off workers to land new opportunities. The lack of material labor market deterioration likely gives the Federal Reserve cover to keep interest unchanged next week amid signs that President Donald Trump's aggressive tariffs on imports were starting to lift inflation. Trump is pressuring the U.S. central bank to resume its interest rate cuts. "At the moment, the labor market is holding up with financial markets holding their breath," said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS. "The weekly jobless claims give Fed officials no cover whatsoever if they are seriously thinking of cutting interest rates at next week's meeting." Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 217,000 for the week ended July 19, the lowest level since April, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 226,000 claims for the latest week. Claims have declined for six straight weeks and have pulled further away from an eight-month high touched in June. Unadjusted claims decreased by 45,319 to 215,792 last week. Claims in New York state declined 12,303, more than reversing the prior week's jump, which was attributed to layoffs in the transportation and warehousing, public administration and construction industries. There were also sizeable decreases in filings in California, Michigan and Pennsylvania. But applications shot up by 4,902 in Kentucky, likely related to the annual closure of motor vehicle assembly plants for maintenance and retooling for new models. Though there have been some layoffs, employers have been mostly reluctant to lay off workers, opting instead to scale back on hiring while awaiting more clarity on the Trump administration's protectionist trade policy. There is still a chance that claims could push higher. Claims have tended to increase in July, in part due to the temporary motor vehicle assembly plant shutdowns, whose varied timing can throw off the model the government uses to strip out seasonal fluctuations from the data. Though job growth has slowed from last year, the labor market remains stable. Economists expect the Fed will keep its benchmark interest rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range after the end of a two-day policy meeting next Wednesday. The Fed cut rates three times in 2024, with the last move coming in December. Nonetheless, the hesitancy by businesses to boost hiring has left many of those who are out of work to experience long spells of unemployment. The number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, increased 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.955 million during the week ending July 12, the claims report showed. The so-called continuing claims covered the period during which the government surveyed households for July's unemployment rate. Continuing claims eased slightly between the June and July survey weeks. "The good news is that the measure has leveled off since the end of May," said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander U.S. Capital Markets. "The bad news is that the 1.955 million level is 50,000 to 75,000 higher than the prevailing range in late 2024 and early this year." While economists said the elevated continuing claims reading posed an upside risk to the unemployment rate, they mostly expected it to hold steady at 4.1% this month. A decline in labor supply amid reduced flows of immigrants means the economy now only needs to create roughly 100,000 or fewer jobs per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population. The drop in the unemployment rate in June after holding at 4.2% for three straight months was mostly because people dropped out of the labor force. "Looking ahead, we expect the gradual slowdown in immigration to bring the breakeven rate, the rate of payroll job growth needed to keep the unemployment rate stable, down to 70,000 per month by the end of 2025 from our 90,000 estimate of the current pace," Elsie Peng, an economist at Goldman Sachs, said in a note.
