From Best Buy to Gap, Retail Carnage Erases $10 Billion of Market Value

(Bloomberg) -- Disappointing earnings reports have cost prominent U.S. retailers $10 billion in market value this week, with stalwarts such as Nordstrom Inc. and Gap Inc. posting some of their worst one-day plunges in decades.

Investors shaved about $1.5 billion off Nordstrom as of midday in New York, with the stock off almost 30% at one point. The cut for Gap was even deeper at about $2 billion, while two days of carnage overtook Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (down about $1.4 billion) and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ($450 million).

Read More: Retailers Plunge as Gap, Nordstrom Highlight Supply-Chain Woes

All of them were dwarfed by Best Buy Co., which has shed about $5.2 billion since reporting results Tuesday that included weaker margins.

Nordstrom posted its biggest drop since at least 1983, wiping out its hard-won gains for the year. Gap suffered a similar fate, and if its decline of 23% holds until the close, it could mark its biggest one-day decline ever.

While the tumble cast a pall on the sector just days before Black Friday that kicks off the crucial holiday season, S&P’s retail index still managed to post an overall gain. Among the bright spots: Guess? Inc. advanced as much as 16% Wednesday after reporting results that beat estimates. 

A day earlier, Dollar Tree Inc. was the S&P 500’s top performer with a 9% rally after posting results that beat some estimates -- and lighting up social media by raising its standard price for items by 25% to $1.25. 

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