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• Bath & Body Works laid out a plan to zero in on its core products and make its digital and physical stores feel less overwhelming.
• A slump in consumer sentiment is weighing on many retailers, but Bath & Body Works is underperforming its peers, CEO Daniel Heaf said.

Some stores aspire to be basic. Bath & Body Works is one of them.

Bath & Body Works (BBWI) on Thursday said it's simplifying its approach after its sales dipped 1% year-over-year and adjusted income fell 33% in its latest quarter. The retailer known for soaps, candles and skincare products overlooked its core inventory while trying to woo younger consumers, CEO Daniel Heaf said, and grew too dependent on big-name collaborations and promotions.

To regroup, the company will focus on traditional offerings, prioritize "clean" ingredients, and streamline the way its inventory appears in physical and digital stores, Heaf said on a conference call. The company—and its boss—aims to revive a stock that has cratered in 2025.

"The customer tells us that our proposition in-store is too overwhelming and confusing," Heaf said, according to a transcript made available by AlphaSense. "The outcome that we want is to be able to entice new consumers into our stores and onto our digital platforms. They [should be able to] find what they want easily and fall in love."

Amazon has had some success in attracting high-end brands like Dolce & Gabbana and Estée Lauder. While Bath & Body Works has a more affordable positioning, it cited luxury sellers' move to Amazon as evidence that joining the platform won't weigh on Bath & Body Work's brand.

Bath & Body Works is stepping back from hair care and men's grooming products to focus on the home fragrances and body care products people expect, Heaf said. The brand will continue refining its inventory—and lean into "clean" ingredients—while running fewer, more targeted marketing campaigns, he said. Bath & Body Works is also refining its website and app, and is preparing to launch on Amazon (AMZN).

Bath & Body Works has been lagging behind others in the sector, Heaf said, while acknowledging that consumer caution has made the environment more competitive. The retailer expects fourth-quarter sales to come in lower than last year and has lowered its outlook for the full fiscal year. Its looking to cut costs while giving its so-called Consumer First Formula time to work.

"The whole company is working with the utmost urgency," Heaf said. "But this will take time. [Next year] will be a year of investing behind our brand to strengthen our fundamentals and position our business for sustainable long-term growth."

Shares of the company plunged some 25% after it released its third-quarter results. Bath & Body Works reported $0.37 earnings per diluted share on $1.59 billion in sales, compared to $0.49 earnings per diluted share on $1.61 billion in sales a year earlier.

Investors continue to ditch the stock. Shares were recently off about 3%, putting them down more than 60% so far this year.

This article has been updated since it was first published. An earlier version of the headline misidentified the company covered in the story.

Major U.S. equities indexes gained Friday afternoon as comments from a Federal Reserve official boosted confidence in the likelihood of an interest rate cut in December. The Dow climbed 1.4%, the S&P 500 rose 1.2%, and the Nasdaq was up 1.1%.

Ross Stores (ROST) was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 after the off-price retailer beat earnings and revenue estimates and raised its outlook as bargain-hunting shoppers flocked to its stores. Its shares jumped 7%, leaving them on track to close at a record high.

Shares of Gap (GAP) popped 8% after the company behind Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Athleta also posted better-than-expected results and lifted its guidance on strong demand at its namesake stores.

Intuit (INTU) shares surged 6% after the maker of accounting software reported strong quarterly results as it benefited from demand for its artificial intelligence tools.

Persistent worries about valuations of AI-related firms pressured some tech stocks. Oracle (ORCL) was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 Friday, as shares fell close to 6%, extending their recent decline.

Veeva Systems (VEEV) dropped over 10% as the provider of cloud services for the life sciences industry warned it expects fewer biopharmaceutical firms will use its Vault CRM customer relationship management system. 

Oil futures sank and gold prices gained. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note ticked down to 4.08%. The U.S. dollar was up on the euro, but lost ground to the pound and yen. Major cryptocurrencies extended their selloff.

• Ross Stores shares surged to an all-time high Friday after the off-price retailer posted better-than-expected earnings as bargain-hunting shoppers flocked to its stores. 
• The retailer also boosted its outlook, pointing to momentum going into the holiday shopping season.

Ross Stores (ROST) shares jumped to an all-time high Friday after the off-price retailer became the latest to say it’s seeing sales surge as shoppers search for deals.

The stock was up nearly 8% over $173 in recent trading, leaving it on track to close at a record high. (Read our daily markets coverage here.) 

Ross Stores posted third-quarter earnings per share of $1.58, beating the consensus of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha by 18 cents. Revenue rose 10.4% year-over-year to $5.6 billion, also ahead of forecasts. Comparable store sales jumped 7%.

Ross Stores is benefiting from a broader shift in favor of bargain-seeking behavior from consumers, echoing strong results from other off-price retailers this week.

CEO Jim Conroy said the company had an "excellent" back-to-school season, and believes its “assortment of compelling brand name values resonated with shoppers," with strong growth across major categories of merchandise, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense.

"It is clear the consumer is prioritizing value and our updated assortment is driving stronger customer engagement," Conroy said.

Conroy said Ross Stores is "optimistic" about the holiday season, and the retailer raised its comparable store sales forecast for the fourth quarter to 3% to 4% growth, with earnings per share in the range of $1.77 to $1.85. Ross Stores said it now sees full-year EPS of $6.38 to $6.46, up from its previous estimate of $6.08 to $6.21.

Just a few days ago, rival TJX (TJX), which operates TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Home Goods stores, also posted strong results and boosted its outlook, citing growth driven by value-conscious shoppers. 

With Friday's gains, shares of Ross Stores have climbed close to 15% year-to-date. TJX shares, which were 3% higher Friday afternoon, have added about one-quarter of their value in 2025.

• Fundstrat's head of digital asset strategy said the weakness in crypto was macro, with crypto traders "front-running" a selloff in stocks.
• But there's a counter view: Interactive Brokers' chief strategist said bitcoin's tumble was the "proximate trigger" for Thursday's intraday reversal in the stock market.

Have you seen the Spider-Man meme? You know—the one where two cartoon Spider-Men point at each other?

That might be a metaphor for the mood in risk assets these days, with some experts suggesting that stocks are to blame for the weakness in crypto markets, and others arguing that crypto is weighing on stocks. Whoever might be right, that investors seem to be reacting to excesses in both may not bode well for either.

The S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq indexes are rebounding a bit Friday, but coin markets continue to bleed. The price of bitcoin has tumbled roughly 8% in the last 24 hours, breaching the $81,000 level, moving closer to April's year-to-date lows.

Interactive Brokers' chief strategist on Friday suggested that yesterday's intraday pivot in broad market indexes happened as bitcoin, which is being used as a "proxy for speculative fever," started to fall below $90,000.

Crypto is sometimes described as a risk asset; at other times, it's seen as a hedge. Whatever your position, the recent slide in the price of bitcoin, the leading crypto coin, has investors debating the question anew, with some saying traders view it as leading stocks lower and others arguing that a softening outlook for tech stocks is weighing on all risk assets.

"I'm not gonna say that bitcoin is the reason that we had the big intraday reversal. Bitcoin was the proximate trigger," Steve Sosnick said in an interview with CNBC, explaining that algorithmic traders are using it as a "lead."

Fundstrat's head of digital assets Sean Farrell, in a Thursday note, felt otherwise about falling crypto prices. "We were just front-running an equity selloff triggered by skepticism around AI CapEx sustainability and potentially a 'Fed Mistake.'" (Investors are closely watching the possibility of a rate cut at December's Fed meeting, with concern that it might stand dragging on markets lately.) Stocks moving lower would be a headwind for coin prices, he added.

Crypto in October suffered the biggest liquidation event in its history, when $19 billion in positions was wiped out between Oct. 10 and 11. The problem was leverage, the use of borrowed funds to amplify returns. The even seems to have shaken confidence in crypto markets. Meanwhile, bubble-talk around AI, and whether the rally in related stocks has reached unsustainable levels, has weighed on stocks, with the major U.S. indexes at risk of logging their worst week since early October.

Almost all of the top 100 coins in market-cap terms have fallen alongside bitcoin over the last 24 hours, according to Messari, a crypto research platform. Altcoins ether and sol are down roughly 9% over that time. But some other crypto-linked assets, including shares of Coinbase Global (COIN) and Strategy (MSTR), are holding up a bit better, down about 1% and 2%, respectively.

• The price of Bitcoin dipped below $81,000 early Friday, its lowest level since April, with the cryptocurrency's slide leaving it on track to post a fourth straight week of declines.
• Uncertainty about an AI bubble and Federal Reserve interest rate policy has contributed to volatility in U.S. stocks recently, along with riskier assets such as crypto.

Crytocurrenies are selling off amid heightened uncertainty.

The price of Bitcoin (BTCUSD) extended its recent slide Friday, hitting a seven-month low at below $81,000. It traded recently around $83,300, leaving the world's largest cryptocurrency on track to log its fourth straight week of declines as investors reassess their risk appetite amid broader volatility in financial markets. Bitcoin has lost about a third of its value since hitting a record high of around $125,000 on Oct. 6.

The prices of altcoins such as ether (ETHUSD) and solana (SOLUSD) tumbled along with bitcoin Friday, as did exchange-traded funds tracking the cryptocurrencies. Shares of Strategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, and crypto mining firm Mara Holdings (MARA) also lost ground.

Bitcoin has had just two positive days since Nov. 10, when it traded around $106,000. The cryptocurrency has tumbled in the weeks since as stocks have also declined amid concerns about an artificial intelligence bubble inflating the stock market.

When markets are booming and the economy is doing well, investors may have more appetite for relatively speculative, volatile asset such as cryptocurrencies. They may pull back in favor of safer assets, such as Treasury bonds or gold, during times of heightened uncertainty, however.

Thursday's jobs report—data for September that was delayed by the government shutdown—failed to provide clarity on the future path of interest rates that could have potentially slowed or reversed Bitcoin's recent slide. The report showed more jobs were added than expected, while the unemployment rate also rose when it was forecast to stay roughly flat.

That combination of solid hiring and rising unemployment could add fuel to the fire of arguments both in favor and against the Fed cutting interest rates at its meeting next month, underscoring the uncertainty that is pressuring bitcoin's price, analysts from Bitunix said.

• Gap posted better-than-expected results as sales at its namesake stores led the gains. Comparable store sales increased 5%.
• Gap also raised its outlook as it sees a strong start to the key holiday shopping season.

Shares of Gap took off after the clothing retailer exceeded earnings and revenue estimates and boosted its guidance on strong demand at its namesake locations.

The company, which also operates the Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Athleta chains, reported third quarter fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings per share of $0.62, with revenue up 3% to $3.94 billion. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were looking for $0.58 and $3.91 billion, respectively. 

Gap's enthusiasm about its positioning for the holiday season may give investors looking for clues about consumer health some optimism, with the company shifting its end-of-year sales outlook to reflect more confidence.

The stock was recently up some 5% as broader markets slipped on the last trading day of the week. Read Investopedia's full daily markets roundup here.

Gap's (GAP) overall comparable store sales increased 5%. They rose 7% at Gap, 6% at Old Navy, and 4% at Banana Republic. Comparable sales slumped 11% at Athleta.

The “strength of our third quarter and quarter-to-date performance positions us well for the holiday selling season," said CEO Richard Dixon. The company now sees fiscal 2025 sales increasing 1.7% to 2%, up from its previous estimate of 1% to 2%, and expects its operating margin to grow approximately 7.2%, above its previously issued range.

The news lifted Gap shares into positive territory for the year, offering investors a measure of optimism after an up-and-down 2025.

• Healthcare stocks have substantially outperformed the broader market this month as AI bubble concerns have weighed on tech stocks.
• Professional fund managers are more bullish on healthcare than they've been since December 2022, according to a recent Bank of America survey.

November's Wall Street obsession hasn't been AI. It's been healthcare.

The S&P 500's Health Care Index has risen 5% so far this month, handily outpacing the broader market, which is down more than 4%. Tech, meanwhile, has fallen more than 8% since the start of the month, making it the S&P 500’s worst-performing sector over that time. 

Pharmaceutical stocks have posted the largest gains in the healthcare sector. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) has been best-performing stock in the S&P 500 over the past month, followed closely by Eli Lilly (LLY).

On Wall Street, healthcare is often seen as a defensive sector that investors turn to when uncertainty is high or the economy is on the ropes. Concerns about overvalued tech stocks and have chipped away at investors' risk appetite of late, boosting healthcare in the process.

The latter's shares have risen more than 20% this month, and on Friday the maker of the blockbuster weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound briefly became healthcare's first trillion-dollar company; its market cap currently sits in a territory between Walmart (WMT) and Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA, BRKB).

Broadly speaking, the move is largely a reflection of investors' search for the perception of safety in the stock market. Wall Street has been all about AI for the better part of three years, but that enthusiasm has cooled in recent weeks as investors drew parallels between today’s AI boom and the Dotcom Bubble of the late 1990s.

Those similarities—elevated valuations, gargantuan investments in a nascent technology, and vendor financing deals—have given students of history pause. After all, it took the Nasdaq 15 years to recover after the Dotcom Bubble burst in 2000. Nearly half of professional money managers consider an AI bubble the market’s biggest tail risk, according to Bank of America’s November Global Fund Managers Survey.  

What luster tech stocks have lost recently, healthcare appears to have gained. Fund managers increased their allocations to healthcare stocks by 20 percentage points this month, more than any other asset class in BofA’s survey. Investors haven't been this bullish on the sector since December 2022. 

Investors often favor healthcare when anxiety is running high on Wall Street or Main Street. When times are tough, people can cut back on travel, entertainment, and even trade down on certain essentials, but they're less likely to stop taking medications or seeing doctors. The necessity of healthcare is one reason traders view the sector as a defensive play.

While Wall Street is warming up to healthcare, the trend could undoubtedly turn. President Donald Trump has been a vocal critic of the sector, railing against "money sucking Insurance Companies" and vowing to "knock out the middleman," referring to the pharmacy benefit managers that negotiate drug prices with drugmakers, insurers, and pharmacies.

He's also pushed drugmakers to lower drug prices on TrumpRx, and threatened to impose steep tariffs on pharmaceutical products imported by companies without a U.S. manufacturing presence.

Healthcare could also end up the beneficiary of a short-lived rotation. Most analysts were encouraged by Nvidia's (NVDA) strong earnings report Wednesday, which many expected to revive the AI trade. Investors have felt differently in recent days, but several tailwinds, including potential interest rate cuts, robust earnings growth, and benefits from this year's "One Big, Beautiful Bill," could still woo wary investors who've decamped for safer stocks.

• A key Federal Reserve official indicated he was open to lowering the central bank's key interest rate at the Fed's next meeting in December.
• Odds of a rate cut jumped significantly after the remarks and now seem more likely than not, according to financial markets.
  
• Fed officials have been torn between lowering rates to boost the faltering job market or keeping them higher for longer to fight inflation.
  

The odds of the Federal Reserve lowering borrowing costs in December have suddenly flipped from unlikely to more likely than not after the words of a key federal official. 

John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, shook up the outlook for the Fed's key interest rate Friday. He made comments indicating he was open to lowering the fed funds rate at the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee in December to help bolster the job market.

His remarks made a rate cut seem far more likely: financial markets were pricing in a 73% chance of a December rate cut on Friday morning following Williams's speech, up from 39% the day before, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, which forecasts rate movements based on fed funds futures trading data.

The Fed's 12-member policy committee has been sharply divided over whether to cut rates to breathe some life into an increasingly sluggish job market, or to keep them higher for longer to fight inflation that has run above the Fed's target of a 2% annual rate for more than four years.

Lower interest rates could juice the economy at a critical moment, when the job market is weakening. However, they could also stoke inflation, which the Fed would have to respond to by raising interest rates more in the future.

There is "room for a further adjustment in the near term to the target range for the federal funds rate," Williams said at a conference in Chile.

The fed funds rate influences interest rates on all kinds of debt. Lower rates can encourage borrowing and spending and hiring, while lower rates do the opposite, and can help supply and demand rebalance to cool down high inflation.

News of the day for Nov. 21, 2025

Futures are higher after the president of the New York Federal Reserve boosted hopes that the Fed could be in a position to cut interest rates again; bitcoin is extending a two-week slide that has pushed the cryptocurrency to its lowest levels since April; Nvidia shares are wavering in premarket trading after tumbling yesterday despite a stronger-than-expected earnings report; Gap shares are rising after the clothing retailer reported solid third-quarter results and boosted its outlook; and Intuit's shares are rising after the TurboTax parent said AI is boosting its sales. Here's what you need to know today.

Stock futures turned higher this morning after New York Fed president John Williams said that he seems room for the central bank to cut its benchmark interest rate again "in the near term." Financial market participants have grown increasingly skeptical that the Fed could trim its benchmark rate for the third straight time at the December policy committee meeting, as Fed officials have expressed varying views in their public remarks recently. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were up 0.5% recently, rebounding from declines earlier in the premarket session. The major indexes closed sharply lower on Thursday amid lingering concerns about the sustainability of the AI trade, putting the S&P 500 and Nasdaq on track to post their biggest weekly losses since April. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of consumer loans, was at 4.07% recently, down from 4.10% at yesterday's close. Gold futures were holding steady at around $4,060 an ounce.

Bitcoin is extending a two-week slide that has taken the digital currency to its lowest levels since April, as investors reassess their risk appetite amid the broader volatility in financial markets. Bitcoin was at $83,500 recently, up from an earlier low $80,500 but down from an overnight high of around $88,000. Crypto related stocks are also losing ground this morning. Shares of Strategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, were down 2%, while shares of crypto mining firm Mara Holdings (MARA) and crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) also retreated. Bitcoin has had just two positive sessions since Nov. 10, when it closed the day at nearly $106,000.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares bounced between losses and gains this morning after closing sharply lower yesterday despite reporting earnings that blew past Wall Street expectations. Analysts provided bullish comments after Nvidia's report, but concerns persist about the possibility of an AI bubble. Many analysts said that Nvidia's results should assuage the concerns that have weighed on the stock and the broader market recently. Others, however, noted that Nvidia's ability to make money selling chips is not the main question; it's whether the companies buying those chips will ever get a return on their massive AI investments. Nvidia shares were up about 1% in recent premarket trading, recovering from steep earlier losses along with the broader market.

Gap (GAP) shares are surging ahead of the opening bell after the clothing retailer reported better-than-expected quarterly results. The company reported third-quarter sales of $3.94 billion and earnings of 62 cents per share, topping analysts' estimates. Comparable store sales rose 5% from a year ago, also above estimates and a seventh straight quarter of comparable sales growth, the company said. CEO Richard Dickson said the company's three largest brands—Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic—are seeing strong momentum heading into the holiday season, leading the retailer to narrow its sales outlook to the high end of its previous range, and lift its forecast for operating profit margin. Gap shares were up about 7% in recent premarket trading.

Intuit's (INTU) stock is gaining ground Friday, a day after the TurboTax parent beat estimates in its financial report for the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Intuit reported revenue of $3.89 billion and adjusted earnings of $3.34 per share, 25 cents higher than analysts had expected. Intuit CFO Sandeep Aujla said the company is seeing success with adoption of its AI features among its existing client base, and said the increasing automation is helping boost sales, per The Wall Street Journal. Intuit shares were up nearly 4% recently. Earlier this week, Intuit announced a partnership with OpenAI to integrate TurboTax into ChatGPT and give users financial and tax guidance.

Take A Number: A Striking Figure In Economic News Today

• More than a third of car buyers said tariffs prompted them to change their buying plans, with the vast majority stating that they bought sooner than they had planned, according to a survey.
  
• Tariffs have had a limited impact on vehicle prices so far because automakers have eaten the costs.
  
• The survey highlighted the far-reaching effects of tariffs on the economy.
  

Tariffs influenced the buying decisions of more than a third of car buyers this year, showing the far-reaching effects of President Donald Trump's sweeping import taxes.

That's according to market research firm J.D. Power, which found 36% of buyers factored in tariffs when purchasing a new vehicle this year, and 87% of those bought sooner than they had planned as a result. Buyers of vehicles made in Europe and Japan were most affected, according to the survey of 32,616 car buyers released Wednesday.

The report also hinted at the impact of tariffs on prices, as 15% of respondents reported paying more than they had planned.

The survey shows how the new import taxes have changed the spending patterns of American consumers. When the buying habits of the general population shift, it can have far-reaching effects on the U.S. economy.

Car buyers rushed to make purchases this spring to get ahead of Trump's car tariffs, which took effect in May.

Tariffs haven't yet driven up consumer prices as much as anticipated, since automakers have avoided passing the costs to customers. But forecasters expect that consumers will soon have to take on a share of the cost, which will hit hard, given that many are already struggling to afford a new car.

In August, Cox Auto predicted vehicle prices would rise 4% to 8% as manufacturers raised prices on 2026 models.

The survey underscores how far and wide the import taxes, Trump's signature trade policy, have sent shockwaves through the economy. Economists say the tariffs have raised prices and dragged down job creation across industries, among other effects.