Macy's (M) closed a losing quarter with an upbeat holiday forecast, saying it will have fresh merchandise for the holidays, but just enough to avoid big markdowns. And it boosted its forecast for the fourth quarter and the full year, based on better-than-expected results.

The department store company posted a net loss of $35 million, or 8 cents per share, a penny more than the analysts' estimate, but an improvement over a $44 million loss for the same period last year. Total sales of $5.28 billion were down 3.9% below last year, and 3.6% lower on a same-store basis.

Unemployment, which jumped to a 26-year high of 10.2% in October, will continue to be a dark cloud looming over the U.S. economy through at least next year, according to World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

"If you have large-scale unemployment remain, say about [the] 10% level you have in the U.S., you're going to see feedback effects," Zoellick is quoted by Bloomberg News as saying. His comments are hardly a surprise.

AIG (AIG) CEO Robert Benmosche has threatened to step down from the top job only three months after taking it as he struggles to deal with heavy government oversight and restrictions on pay to employees, according to the Wall Street Journal. Shares declined over 1.5% in premarket trading.

UPS (UPS), which is often seen as a bellwether to the economy, now expects growth in its volumes next year as the global economy gradually recovers, its CEO said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. UPS will hike shipping rates for 2010. He also expects the holiday season to be slightly better than estimated. Shares rose over 2% ahead of the bell.

Macy's Inc. (M) reported a smaller third-quarter loss as the department store operator benefited from tight inventory controls and a move to localize merchandise by region, leading it to raise its full-year outlook.

The outlook, however, didn't go as high as analysts expected, and shares fell 76 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $18.67 in premarket trading.

American International Group Inc. (AIG) posted its second straight profit Friday morning of $455 million, or 68 cents a share, as investment losses narrowed and catastrophe costs declined. But revenue fell at life and property-casualty operations. Shares fell over 10 percent ahead of the bell.

Starbucks (SBUX), late Thursday, reported higher earnings, saying adjusted profit of 24 cents per share, beating the 21-cents-per share estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters mostly due to cost cutting measures. The coffee chain lifted its fiscal 2010 adjusted earnings guidance due to improving traffic in its stores. Shares jumped about 4 percent in premarket trade.

This holiday season, the big draw in online shopping will be the free shipping. Consumers are demanding it, and with this year's bareknuckle competition, retailers have no choice but to give it to them.

Four out of five retailers will offer free shipping with minimum purchases this holiday, according to a survey by Shop.org, the online arm of the National Retail Federation. And 57.4 percent will offer no-minimum free shipping offers sometime during the season.

As soon as the recession is over, we'll stop brown-bagging lunch, but we'll keep cooking supermarket-brand food at home. In other words: Most of this talk about frugality being the new normal, retailers say, is just talk.

A survey of retail professionals finds that Americans will go back to their free-spending ways once they think the recession is over, except in those areas where they were already trimming back during the good times. The recession sped up some psychological changes for shoppers that were already under way, such as a new love for store brands and discount shopping, according to the survey, conducted by Dechert-Hampe & Co., a consulting firm for consumer goods manufacturers and retailers.

Martha Stewart has never shied away from a tough situation, but it looks like the domestic mogul feels the need to put a soft spin on some hard stuff she said about her former friends at Kmart.

A month to the day after the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO) trashed the store chain in a live TV interview, her company issued a statement about her remarks. It wasn't quite an apology, but probably as close as Kmart is going to get.

Some of the companies making headlines today:

Alcoa (AA) unofficially kicked off earnings season late Wednesday, being the first of the Dow industrials to report results. It said it earned $77 million, or 8 cents per share in the quarter. Though it was 70% lower that last year's earnings, it was better than expectations. Alcoa also forecast 11 percent growth in global aluminum demand in the second half of 2009, largely on the back of robust growth in China. AA shares jumped 6% in pre-market trading.

PepsiCo (PEP) said Thursday that its fiscal third-quarter profit rose 9 percent to $1.72 billion, or $1.09 per share, in part on cost-control efforts, even as revenue dropped 1 percent to $11.08 billion on weak beverage sales. Analysts expected profit of $1.03 per share.

Today, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York granted a petition against Ellen Tracy LLC for a Chapter 7 involuntary petition for bankruptcy. The petition was filed by three creditors seeking nearly $4 million in claims. The creditors were manufacturers of Ellen Tracy products.

The confusing thing, however, is that the entity being forced into bankruptcy, Ellen Tracy LLC, is a former licensee of the Ellen Tracy name which ceased its operations some time ago. It has nothing to do with the brand anymore. Brand Matter LLC, on the other hand, is the entity that owns, manages, markets and licenses the intellectual property of Ellen Tracy.

Guess there's a lesson to be learned here: Never let a licensee use your brand's name in the name of its legal partnership.

NEW YORK (Oct. 4) - There has never been a better time to be a consumer. America is on sale.

The Great Recession has caused massive job losses and hardship for millions, but it has also fostered a shoppers' paradise. Anyone who still has the means to spend can find unheard-of deals.

Prices on everything from clothes to coffee to cat food are dropping, some faster than they have in half a century. Items rarely discounted -- like Tiffany engagement rings -- are now. The two biggest purchases most people make -- homes and new cars -- are selling at steep price reductions.

Some of the companies making headlines today:

ConAgra Foods (CAG) said Tuesday that its fiscal first-quarter profit dropped 63 percent because of a gain last year, but adjusted results beat analysts' estimates and it also raised outlook.

CarMax (KMX) said its fiscal second quarter profit surged on higher sales and a one-time gain related to its auto financing business. It earned $103 million, or 46 cents per share, but the results included a net gain of 10 cents per share related to its financing division. Sales rose 13 percent to $2.08 billion. The company handily beat estimates. Shares jumped nearly 7 percent ahead of the bell.

Martha Stewart has built a reputation for never doing anything halfway. And that includes biting the hand that used to feed her.

In an interview on CNBC Wednesday morning to talk about her new deal with Home Depot Inc. (HD), she had a few not-so-good things to say about Kmart, its parent company and its chairman, Edward Lampert.

"Better than expected" is the new catchphrase for retailers, most of whom posted August sales that were weak but not as bad as many had forecast.

Sales reported Thursday showed that shoppers continue to focus on must-have items such as food and toiletries, while luxury sales are dragging. Shoppers are still bargain hunting, even amid back-to-school sales and state tax holidays designed to send consumers back into the malls.

Most analysts believe that back-to-school shopping revenue is second only to the year-end holiday season for producing sales. This year, retailers are disappointed by the school-shopping season, at least up to now. Nationwide, average family spending on back-to-school items, not including expenses for college students, is expected to drop from $600 to $550, according to The Tampa Tribune.

While a sharp drop in retail spending during August may not cripple the retail industry and cause store closings, if the problem extends into October and November, the 2009 holiday season could look like a repeat of last year. Retail industry sales were down 2.2 percent last year, marking the worst drop since 1970.