Market Insights

Several years ago, the couple down the street -- one of them a landscape architect -- decided to tear out their front lawn and put in a drought tolerant garden. This being Southern California, no one batted an eye. In fact, San Diego Home & Gardens magazine did a photo spread on the project.

An American Hardware Manufacturers Association (AHMA) survey of its members showed significant support for Mitt Romney. The survey, part of the AHMA Industry Confidence survey, also found that most members doubt the constitutionality of the Health Care Act.

Retailers used to be able to count on Americans spending every penny of their tax refund.

A respected real estate consultant believes the Western drought is likely to have an impact on the housing market, including -- unfortunately -- a reduction in demand.

Pending home sales were down slightly in February but remain notably above the pattern in the first half of last year, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, eased 0.5% to 96.5 in February from 97.0 in January but is 9.2% above February 2011 when it was 88.4. The data reflects contracts but not closings.

We asked readers for the single biggest reason to introduce new products. 

Sears Hometown took the biggest tumble at the close of Wednesday, with a -2.79% decline to a price of $6.98.

By Joe Szvetitz

Senior management of this multi-store operation was making business decisions, mostly purchases based on information that they believed was accurate. Having been associated with retail loss prevention for about 40 years has given me a good vantage point to see what actually causes loss or shortage/shrink in a retail location and, honestly, it is not hard to recognize. We all know that the three major contributors to loss are: 1) Employee theft (43.7%); 2) Shoplifting (32.6%); and 3) Paperwork errors (12.9%).