Topic: How To Invest

Stock Pickers Digest Hotline – Friday, July 21, 2017

Article Excerpt

AMAZON.COM INC., $1,025.67, symbol AMZN on Nasdaq, continues to disrupt the retail industry—and push down shares of retail stocks. Most recently, its purchase of Whole Foods knocked down the share prices of many grocery-related retailers, including Wal-Mart and Costco. This week, firms with significant appliance sales, such as Home Depot (symbol HD on New York) and Lowe’s (symbol LOW on New York), took a big dip. That’s because Amazon reached a deal with the troubled Sears Holdings Corp. (symbol SHLD on Nasdaq) to allow the department store chain to sell its Kenmore-branded appliances on Amazon’s websites. At the same time, the partners will integrate some Kenmore appliances with Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa. That lets users control those “smart appliances” over the Internet. Sears warehouses will continue to house the appliances, with Innovel Solutions, a unit of Sears, continuing to ship and install the goods. Earlier this year Sear sold its Craftsman tool brand to Stanley Black & Decker (symbol SWK on New York, and a..