Nordstrom cuts outlook as bad news piles up for retailers

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO
AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Nordstrom are slumping in premarket trading Friday after the upscale department store chain cut its annual profit outlook amid lackluster holiday sales that forced it to slash prices. The Seattle-based chain said that net sales declined 3.5% for the nine-week holiday period ended Dec. 31, compared with the nine- week period ended Jan. 1. For the Nordstrom banner, net sales slipped 1.7%, while net sales at the off-price Nordstrom Rack dropped 7.6%. For the fiscal year, the company now expects earnings per diluted share,excluding the impact of share repurchase activity, if any, to be in the range of $1.33 to $1.53, compared with its prior outlook of $2.13 to $2.43 per share.