are freer now than ever before. |
Beijing is just testing its wings as a global player. This agreement is a major sign of China having achieved that stature. |
Companies (retailers) are being very cautious about their guidance for the second quarter, so we're not completely taking it to heart that these (strong sales) results will carry through, |
Ever since Tiananmen, of course, the U.S. has used human rights both as a barometer and as a weapon against China, |
Gap is experiencing weakness across all its brands, with its merchandise problems exacerbated by its aggressive square footage growth, |
I know people refer to this as Black Friday, but it's probably a Blue Friday. We think it's going to be a season that'll probably be not as strong as last year, but nonetheless we think the consumer is in pretty good shape. |
If they're not hitting the week's plan, they have to do something. |
In every city, the majority of the citizens supported the students and what they were doing, |
It was a little bit slower than it has been, but consumer electronics and home furnishings are still very, very strong, ... If we were truly in a secular slowdown, we would see slowdowns in all categories. |
It was a little bit slower than it has been, but consumer electronics and home furnishings are still very, very strong. If we were truly in a secular slowdown, we would see slowdowns in all categories. |
It's very mixed. When you get into an environment like this, the extremes get magnified -- the good do better and the struggling do worse. It's like quicksand. |
Last year, they did this in conjunction with the Super Bowl, and the main target was the U.S.. This year's target was Europe. It's probably as big a deal in Europe as last year's was here. |
Mike was a prime mover in the contemporary China field -- in some respects, the prime mover -- for much of the past three decades, |
So they're going to downplay Taiwan, they're going to downplay human rights. |
The one thing that everybody kind of has tucked into the back of their minds is that if there is some sort of event that affects a mall between now and Christmas. It's hard to say whether another plane crash like this is going to have much of an impact yet. |