Strong 4th quarter for Macy’s heading into transition year

NEW YORK — Macy’s reported stronger-than-expected sales and profits for the fourth quarter less than a month after it announced a major restructuring.

Shares rose 3% before the opening bell Tuesday but gave up those gains along with the broader markets.

The quarterly report comes three weeks after the department store chain said it was closing 125 of its least productive stores and cutting 2,000 corporate jobs. It also says it is testing new smaller-store formats. The store closures represent one fifth of Macy’s total. They include about 30 that are in the process of closing and account for $1.4 billion in annual sales.

Macy’s, like its peers Nordstrom, Kohl’s and J.C. Penney, is dealing with stiffer competition and shoppers’ changing behavior. Department stores are seeing their customers increasingly favor off-price stores like T.J. Maxx for big discounts on name brands. They’re also renting and buying second-hand goods online.

Home Depot’s same-store sales surge in 4th quarter

Home Depot reported a better-than-expected fourth quarter with strong comparable-store sales. The home improvement retailer also boosted its quarterly dividend by 10%.

Shares rose 3% in premarket trading Tuesday.

“Home Depot’s numbers are important as they, perhaps more than those of other retailers, reflect underlying consumer confidence: the housing market and big-ticket spending are leading indicators of the broader economy,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, said in a statement.

A report released Tuesday, showed that U.S. home prices rose at a faster pace in December, with mortgage rates remaining low and a falling supply of available properties. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index climbed 2.9% in December from a year earlier after posting a 2.5% gain in November.