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A Home Depot location in Mexico City, on Jan. 15. LUIS CORTES/Reuters Home Depot Inc HD-N on Tuesday left its annual forecasts unchanged even as quarterly results topped Wall Street expectations, raising concerns about demand heading into the holiday season amid a slowing housing market. Shares in the largest U.S. home improvement chain slipped in early trade, with the number of transactions falling in the quarter as surging inflation deterred do-it-yourself customers. Mortgage rates have more than doubled since the start of 2022, cooling the housing market that boomed in the pandemic. Home Depot reiterated its full-year outlook, which Jefferies analysts said implied its fourth-quarter earnings would come in below Wall Street. Although demand from contractors, builders and other professional customers remained strong, DIY customers who had splurged on paint, tools and gardening equipment last year cut back on spending in the third quarter of this year. “Home Depot is not immune to a ...

A pedestrian walks past a shop in Paris, on Nov. 25. EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images Europe’s retailers are hoping Black Friday discount day will get shoppers spending, though it is taking place against a backdrop of a worsening cost-of-living crisis and the distraction of the soccer World Cup. Retailers across Europe fear the overall Christmas trading season could be the worst in at least a decade as shoppers cut back, while the costs of doing business show no sign of abating, squeezing profit margins. Double-digit inflation has dented consumers’ purchasing power and their confidence is also at or close to the gloomiest on record as soaring energy bills add to the spiralling cost of living. But to help budget their finances, consumers have begun their Christmas shopping early this year and many are still shopping on Black Friday. Some consumers may, however, have other priorities, with Wales, England, the Netherlands and Poland all in action on Friday at the World Cup. Britons will...

Shoppers visit a Best Buy on Black Friday, in Toronto, on Nov. 26, 2021. Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press Best Buy, BBY-N one of the country’s largest consumer electronics retailers, is laying off about 0.7 per cent of its workforce, estimated to be about 700 employees. Anna LeGresley, a spokeswoman for Best Buy Canada, says the job losses come as the chain works to “support our stores and serve our customers.” LeGresley says some staff have also moved to different stores. It’s unclear whether the restructuring includes any store closures. Best Buy did not share whether the job losses are in both Canada and the U.S., or whether the layoffs include corporate office employees in addition to retail workers. While stores often shed temporary staff after the busy holiday season, the layoffs appear to be more than usual. At the end of fiscal 2022, Best Buy employed approximately 105,000 employees in the U.S. and Canada, according to the company’s annual report. It said its workforce is abo...