Macy's ups outlook after bounce-back second quarter

Macy’s swung to a profit during the second quarter from its year- ago loss and posted strong sales as newly vaccinated shoppers bought dresses, luggage and other items

NEW YORK -- Macy's swung to a profit in the second on rising sales as newly vaccinated shoppers bought dresses, luggage and other goods. The department store easily beat Wall Street expectations and the company boosted its annual outlook. Macy's shares jumped more than 5% before the opening bell Thursday. Major retailers are rolling out quarterly earnings reports this week, consistently pointing to a return by U.S. shoppers to normalcy as they socialize more after taking shelter over the past year. That also means that the online spending that rocketed during the pandemic is coming back down to earth. Online sales fell 6% compared with last year, when they surged 53%. Still, online sales were up 45% compared with the same stretch in 2019, before the pandemic.