Mortgage demand drops for the primary time in 5 weeks, after rates of interest rise

Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

Mortgage rates moved markedly higher last week, causing overall mortgage demand to drop.

Total application volume fell 0.7% compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. That was the first decline in five weeks.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) increased to 6.75% from 6.67%, with points remaining unchanged at 0.66 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment. That rate was just 8 basis points higher the same week one year ago.

The driver of the drop was refinance demand. It fell 3% for the week but was still 41% higher than the same week one year ago. While mortgage rates aren’t that much lower now than they were a year ago, it may be that refinance volume is so low in general that any slight move makes for a large comparison.

Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home increased 1% for the week and were 6% higher than the same week one year ago.

“Conventional and VA purchase applications drove this week’s increase in purchase activity on a weekly and annual basis. Buyers remained active in the purchase market, helped by gradually improving inventory conditions and a more positive outlook on the economy and job market,” wrote Joel Kan, vice president and deputy chief economist at the MBA.

Mortgage rates have been essentially flat to start this week, according to a separate survey from Mortgage News Daily, as the market awaits the Federal Reserve meeting Wednesday. A rate cut is expected, but some analysts say it may be the last one for awhile.

“Markets know the Fed will cut and that the dot plot (aka rate outlook survey that’s updated 4 times per year and closely watched by bonds) will show a higher rate trajectory than September,” wrote Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily. “What we don’t know is how gloomy of a dot plot or how hawkish of a Powell the market is willing to accept.”

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Ozempic faces scrutiny over potential eye situation threat

A box of Ozempic made by Novo Nordisk is seen at a pharmacy in London, Britain March 8, 2024.

Hollie Adams | Reuters

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Healthy Returns newsletter, which brings the latest health-care news straight to your inbox. Subscribe here to receive future editions.

There may be a new, unintended side effect linked to Novo Nordisk‘s blockbuster diabetes injection, Ozempic. 

Danish health authorities on Monday said they are asking the European Union’s drug regulator to review the findings of two Danish studies linking Ozempic to an increased risk of a rare vision-threatening eye condition in Type 2 diabetes patients. 

The condition is called non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION. It is characterized by vision loss due to decreased blood flow to the front part of the optic nerve, which connects the eye to the brain. 

The disease typically occurs without any pain and most commonly affects people ages 50 and above. NAION affects between 2.3 and 10.3 patients per 100,000 people per year in the U.S., according to some estimates. 

The Danish Medicines Agency said it has kept close tabs on NAION as a possible adverse effect of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, over the last six months. The agency received 19 reports of the condition in Denmark as of Dec. 10. 

But the overall number of NAION cases in Denmark has increased since Ozempic was introduced in the Danish market in 2018, Jakob Grauslund, professor in eye diseases at the University of Southern Denmark, or SDU, said in a release Monday. Denmark used to see around 60 to 70 cases a year but now has up to 150, added Grauslund, who helped conduct one of the studies. 

It’s the latest potential concern about popular GLP-1s such as Ozempic, which mimic gut hormones to regulate blood sugar and tamp down appetite. Demand for the drug class has soared despite hefty price tags and a handful of unpleasant side effects that are most commonly gastrointestinal, such as nausea and vomiting. 

In a statement Monday, Novo Nordisk said after a “thorough evaluation of the studies” and an internal safety assessment, the Danish drugmaker is “of the opinion that the benefit-risk profile of semaglutide remains unchanged.” The company added that patient safety was a top priority. 

The studies, conducted independently by SDU researchers and other institutions, both found that diabetes patients who used Ozempic were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with the condition than those who took another diabetes drug. 

The first Danish study was based on data from more than 400,000 diabetes patients, a quarter of whom were treated with Ozempic and the rest with other diabetes drugs. The second study involved data from more than 44,000 Danish diabetes patients who received Ozempic between 2018 and 2024 and nearly 17,000 Norwegian patients who took the drug between 2018 and 2022. 

The studies were posted on medRxiv, a website that posts studies before they’ve been reviewed by outside scientists. Both appear to confirm a link first suggested in a Harvard University study earlier this year. 

Still, the authors of the first SDU study said that the absolute risk of the condition among semaglutide users is low. They added that assuming the risk remains constant over time, the results indicate that a diabetes patient taking Ozempic for 20 years would have a 0.3% to 0.5% chance of developing NAION. 

“Although our findings thereby do not rule out the possibility of an increased risk of NAION when using semaglutide for obesity, the low number of observed events suggests that any potential risk is likely of limited absolute magnitude,” the authors of the first study said. 

They added that additional analyses that are designed differently are needed to further investigate whether Wegovy users, who take semaglutide for obesity, also have an increased risk of the condition.

For now, analysts are less concerned about the risk of NAION and its potential to reduce prescriptions of Ozempic.

“Unless semaglutide is found to be unique among GLP-1s in harboring this risk, prescribing [is] not likely to be affected,” TD Cowen analyst Michael Nedelcovych said in a research note on Monday.

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

Latest in health-care tech: Nearly 80% of physicians using telemedicine are doing so weekly, study finds  

If physicians have their way, telehealth is here to stay. That’s according to a new report from Doximity, which found that 83% of doctors would like telemedicine to remain “a permanent part of their clinical practice.”

Doximity runs a digital platform for medical professionals that has been likened to a LinkedIn for doctors. But users can do more than network and read news on Doximity, as the company also offers telemedicine tools like voice calls and video calls.

Since the company has some stake in the game, Doximity published a report on Tuesday that outlines the state of telemedicine in the U.S. and its role in health-care delivery. It surveyed 1,171 of its physician telemedicine users and 131 of its nurse practitioner telemedicine users in August. 

More than 77% of the doctors surveyed said they are using telehealth weekly, and 35% said they’ve incorporated the technology into their daily clinical practice. Nearly 90% of nurse practitioners said they use telemedicine weekly, and 52% do so daily.

“Strong physician support for telemedicine underscores its increasing role in modern health care, with the potential to transform how care is delivered for years to come,” Doximity said. 

Additionally, around two-thirds of physicians said that telehealth had “improved patient outcomes” in their practices, particularly among neurologists, endocrinologists and rheumatologists. Doximity found that endocrinologists, urologists, gastroenterologists, rheumatologists and neurologists were the top adopters of the technology, respectively. 

The most common use of telemedicine in clinical practice is for follow up visits, as 84% of doctors said they will use the technology to carry out those appointments. Next, 60% of physicians said they use telehealth for medication management, 57% said they use it to discuss lab reports or test results with patients and 52% said they use it to help patients manage chronic disease.  

Half of the doctors surveyed said telemedicine had improved patients’ adherence to treatment plans, up from 37% last year. 

Nearly one-third of physicians said the technology has helped them serve more patients per day, and two-thirds said it has helped them better treat their patients. 

Read the full report from Doximity here.

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.

Many New Jersey drones sightings are ‘manned plane being misidentified as drones,’ FBI says

A drone or SUAV, Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

Richard Newstead | Moment | Getty Images

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security said on Saturday that ongoing investigations around reported drone sightings over New Jersey have found “many of the reported drone sightings are, in fact, manned aircraft being misidentified as drones.”

The investigations have also found no evidence that spotted drones have engaged in illegal activity or malicious acts, and that the United States Coast Guard has not found any evidence of foreign involvement offshore.

“At this point, we have not identified any basis for believing that there’s any criminal activity involved, that there’s any national security threat, that there’s any particular public safety threat or that there’s a malicious foreign actor involved in these drones,” a DHS official said.

The FBI has been investigating hundreds of reports of drones operating at night since mid-November, most of which are larger than the ones that hobbyists use.

Officials from the FBI said on Thursday that they had seen “no evidence” that the drone sightings “pose a national security or public safety threat.”

Sightings have occurred over the Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course owned by President-elect Donald Trump, as well as near a military research facility.

Republican Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, who is Trump’s pick for national security advisor, speculated on where these drones could be coming from, including offshore.

“It’s not necessarily somebody that’s just on the other end flying it,” Waltz said on CBS “Face The Nation” Sunday. “They could be following pre-positioned GPS coordinates. They could be coming from offshore. And we need to take a hard look at our homeland defenses.”

Waltz suggested Trump’s interest in an “Iron Dome” for America needs to factor in drones. On his campaign trail, Trump promised to build something like Israel’s Iron Dome, or a “state-of-the-art missile defense shield.”

“President Trump has talked about an Iron Dome for America — that needs to include drones as well. Not just adversarial actions like hypersonic missiles. We need to have an all-of-the-above protection of U.S. airspace,” Waltz said.

— CNBC’s Yun Li contributed reporting.

CORRECTION: This story was revised to reflect that officials from the FBI said on Thursday that they had seen “no evidence” that the drone sightings “pose a national security or public safety threat.”

Usher Reacts To Lady’s Risqué Cherry Recreation Efficiency

Chile! More than once this year, Usher has gone viral for dangling red cherries into the ladies’ mouths. He and his red coat have been on what the internet streets nicknamed “demon time.” And no one—not even the taken ladies—is off-limits for the sexy show segment! Most recently, a woman seemingly celebrating her birthday gagged Usher with how FAR she took a lil’ risqué performance. Queen Naija got the entire thing on camera, including Clarence‘s hilarious reaction!

Auntie Gets Rated X For Usher

As mentioned, Queen Naija and Clarence popped out to Usher’s show for some quality time! During one part of his performance, the singer teased a woman who was wining her hips with his viral cherry game. The woman appeared to be celebrating her birthday, as she had a sparkling crown on her head and a printed, black sheer jumpsuit on. Basically, sis was READY, and Usher made sure to call that out. “She got her tongue out…” he joked.

The woman kept grinding against the barrier until Usher offered up the two cherries. She starts flexing her long tongue while slowly inching toward the dangling fruit. She kept flicking them with her tongue. Sis kept dipping the fruit slightly in and out of her mouth, kissing it and flicking her tongue all over them joints! When she started getting explicit and close to Usher’s fingers, he looked off into the distance with big eyes, raised eyebrows, and a tucked lip, chile! After the birthday woman finally ate the cherries, she did a lil’ body dip for the superstar.

Meanwhile, Queen posted the video to her Instagram Stories, and captioned it “This was crazyyyyy lol,” adding that she was “screaming.” When she flipped the camera to Clarence, he had his mouth WIDE OPEN. Watch the hilarious risqué video below.

Social Media Reacts To The Sexy Cherry Game

After The Shade Room reposted the clip on IG, almost 7,000 roomies weighed in! That included Clarence, who wrote, “Man that look like it hurt lol,” in the comment section.

@theprettygirlsguide joked, “Mind you this probably a HR executive or a school principal or something.” @_tdnw had the same thought, writing, “Mind you this someone mom, friend, coworker, daughter.”

@kylahmonai put the blame on Usher saying, “Usher making his confused face like he ain’t start this sh*t.”

Meanwhile, @sip_of_sin wasn’t here for the birthday lady’s energy! “Am I the only one that finds this disturbing,” they wrote.

One user, @shemiahmonique said it’s time to cancel the cherry segment. “Alright Usher…time to hang this segment up. Flat screen.”

However, some were here for homegirl’s boldness. @lin_derella is one those roomies, who wrote, “Why are yall judging?!?! That lady enjoyed her day and got her monies worth.”

@southernprettyindycity agreed. She wrote, “I am not mad at sis! She said it’s my bday! Usher gone see me! Them tickets was high hell!”

Earlier this week, Usher had the internet streets in tears after the singer tried to feed Tiny some dangling cherries in front of T.I. Summer Waller caught a lil’ bit of the sexy heat, too!

RELATED: T.I. And Tiny Harris Are Going Viral After Usher Attempted To Feed Her A Cherry At His Recent Concert (VIDEO)

What Do You Think Roomies?

Contained in the rise of Salt Lake Metropolis’s ladies entrepreneurs

This story is part of CNBC’s quarterly Cities of Success series, which explores cities that have transformed into business hubs with an entrepreneurial spirit that has attracted capital, companies, and employees.

Fewer than 15% of businesses in Salt Lake City, Utah, are owned by women, one of the lowest reported proportions in the United States, according to the latest data from the U.S Census Bureau. Still, there are efforts to empower women to start their own companies.

When Tessa Arneson opened a small Pilates studio in 2015, she noticed clients frequently asking for local service recommendations, prompting her to think about creating a network of related businesses.

“My dream was to jump away from corporate America and go and give people a little slice of happiness,” said Arneson, Maven co-founder and CEO.

Through the Pilates studio, Arneson met Rocky Donati, who had recently moved to Salt Lake City from San Francisco. Together, the two worked to create a community of entrepreneurs who could build and grow their businesses near one another in an area of the city called the “Maven District.” 

Cities of Success: Full coverage

“I could see the vision,” said Donati, Maven’s co-founder and chief marketing officer.  She also saw something even bigger. “I could see the potential for bringing women together.” 

Maven has expanded from a single Pilates studio to several different businesses, including a co-working space, a boutique hotel, and more than 130 commercial tenants. Arneson and Donati said 85% of those businesses are owned by women. Back in 2013, the Pilates studio took in around $200,000 a year, the duo said. This year, all of the enterprises they own will generate about $4 million. 

Raising capital for underrepresented founders

Despite an increasing number of women-owned businesses, access to capital remains a significant barrier. Investing in underrepresented startup founders is what motivated Kimmy and Sergio Paluch to launch the venture fund Beta Boom in Salt Lake City. 

Kimmy Paluch, managing partner of venture capital firm Beta Boom.

CNBC

“There’s a lot of untapped potential still. So we’re getting there, but we’re not there yet,” said Kimmy Paluch, Beta Boom managing partner. “The potential I see is to fund more diverse businesses, to fund more women, to fund more people of color, and there are opportunities here.” 

The couple founded the firm in 2018, with a pilot fund of less than $1 million. Its second fund now has $15 million. Beta Boom invests in software companies in health, fintech and future of work, with an average investment of $300,000. It has already put $5 million into companies run by women. “What attracts investors is outcomes, revenue returns. Those are happening here in droves,” Paluch said.

Building a brand with mom influencers

Susan Petersen, founder and CEO of Freshly Picked, a baby and toddler lifestyle brand she started 15 years ago, knows what it means to break down barriers. 

“We have a high demand religion here,” Petersen said of the dominance of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Utah. Another hurdle is that online retail has been a male-dominated field. “So any time I think you have those two things, you have preconceived notions that you have to fight against, you have walls you have to knock down, you have ceilings you have to break — and I’ve had to do a lot of that,” she said. 

Susan Petersen, founder and CEO of baby and toddler lifestyle brand Freshly Picked.

CNBC

In 2009, Petersen started sewing baby shoes for her newborn. She took a shot at selling them first on Etsy and gained marketing traction through numerous “mom influencers” on social media who live in the state. “I would make sure and take care of them and form a relationship with them and they really helped me grow my business,” Petersen said. 

By 2014, when Petersen made a TV appearance on Shark Tank, the business was generating $500,000 a year in revenue. The broadcast fueled more sales and an expansion in her product line, into diaper bags and toys, available online and through boutiques and retailers nationwide, including Target. 

Petersen said revenue is now close to $20 million. She credits some of her success to women who helped her make her dream a reality. “I love how it feels like we’re all in it together,” she said. 

UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty addresses Brian Thompson demise

Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, testifies during the Senate Finance Committee hearing titled “Hacking America’s Health Care: Assessing the Change Healthcare Cyber Attack and What’s Next,” in the Dirksen Building in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 2024.

Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty on Friday mourned the death of Brian Thompson, who led the company’s insurance arm, and acknowledged that the U.S. health-care system is “flawed” and in need of reform. 

“We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it,” Witty wrote in a New York Times opinion piece. “No one would design a system like the one we have. And no one did. It’s a patchwork built over decades.”

UnitedHealth Group’s “mission is to help make it work better,” he said.

“We are willing to partner with anyone, as we always have—health care providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, governments and others—to find ways to deliver high-quality care and lower costs,” Witty added.

The New York Times piece marks Witty’s first public comments since last week’s fatal shooting of Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest private insurer in the U.S. UnitedHealth Group is the nation’s biggest health-care conglomerate based on revenue. Its nearly $475 billion market cap has shrunk since Thompson’s death on Dec. 4.

Luigi Mangione, 26, is accused of fatally shooting Thompson outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan as the CEO headed to UnitedHealth Group’s investor day. Investigators have said Mangione was a critic of the health-care industry, a widely held view among Americans.

The killing has unleashed a wave of pent-up resentment and anger toward the insurance industry, which has become a popular villain blamed for spiraling health-care costs and difficulties accessing care. From denied claims, rising premiums and unexpected bills, to an overall lack of transparency, patients have flooded social media with stories about their own negative experiences with insurance.

Still, the killing comes after a challenging year for the insurers, which are under pressure to shore up profits. This year in particular, companies grappled with higher medical costs due to seniors opting for surgeries they had delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Witty acknowledged UnitedHealth Group’s role in the health-care challenges in the U.S.  

“Health care is both intensely personal and very complicated, and the reasons behind coverage decisions are not well understood,” Witty said, noting, “We share some of the responsibility for that.”

He did not provide specifics around what exactly could be done to reform the industry. But Witty said the company, together with employers, governments and other payers, needs to improve how insurers explain what is covered and how those decisions are made. 

He also noted that behind certain claims decisions “lies a comprehensive and continually updated body of clinical evidence focused on achieving the best health outcomes and ensuring patient safety.”

Witty said Thompson had done his best to help patients navigate the health-care system.

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Swiss Nationwide Financial institution takes leap with 50-basis-point rate of interest reduce amid franc power

A view of the headquarters of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), before a press conference in Zurich, Switzerland, March 21, 2024. 

Denis Balibouse | Reuters

The Swiss National Bank on Thursday cut its key interest rate by 50 basis points, exceeding expectations of a smaller trim amid an ongoing tussle with depressed inflation and a strong Swiss franc.

The move takes the bank’s main rate to 0.5%. More than 85% of economists polled by Reuters had forecast the bank would implement a smaller, 25-basis-point cut.

Switzerland became the first major economy to loosen its reins on monetary policy in March, implementing four reductions this year in the battle to tame the national currency’s appreciation and declines in consumer prices.

“Underlying inflationary pressure has decreased again this quarter. The SNB’s easing of monetary policy today takes this development into account,” the bank said Thursday after its first meeting under new Chair Martin Schlegel. “The SNB will continue to monitor the situation closely, and will adjust its monetary policy if necessary to ensure inflation remains within the range consistent with price stability over the medium term.”

The bank also issued a new conditional inflation forecast below that of September, reflecting a “lower-than-expected” print for oil products and food and predicting “little change in the medium term.”

The new outlook puts average annual inflation at 1.1% for 2024, 0.3% for 2025 and 0.8% for 2026. It assumes the SNB policy rate holds at 0.5% over the entire forecast horizon.

“More cuts are coming, and zero interest rates are on the cards as soon as June. The 0.3% conditional forecast for next year is probably too close to comfort for policymakers, especially given the recent record of revising these down at every single meeting this year,” Kyle Chapman, FX markets analyst at Ballinger Group, said in a note following the decision.

“At the same time, the franc is likely to come under more appreciative pressure as the ECB outpaces the SNB in cutting rates and the uncertainty around a Trump presidency heightens safe haven flows,” he added.

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon

Swiss franc

The U.S. dollar had risen by 0.4% against the Swiss franc by 9:17 a.m. London time, while the euro gained 0.57%

Subdued inflation

Swiss inflation came in at 0.7% year-on-year in November, compared with an annual print of 0.6% in October. Widely viewed as a safe haven amid political turbulence in the euro zone, the franc has largely resisted surrendering ground despite the SNB’s rate trims. Its rally has loomed over the outlook for Swiss export opportunities that are already curtailed by tepid demand abroad and weak sales orders.

In October, the business climate index produced by industry association Swissmechanic fell to its weakest level since January 2021, with the body noting expectations of further declines in orders, sales and margins in the fourth quarter.

Fellow industry association Swissmem in November reported a continuing downturn in Switzerland’s tech sectors, stressing: “Key indicators do not point to a recovery any time soon. Against such a backdrop, efforts at the political level must be intensified in order to facilitate access to growing markets for the Swiss export economy. In concrete terms, the free trade.”

The broader economy recorded “below-average growth” of 0.2% in the third quarter, following 0.4% in the previous three-month stretch, official figures revealed at the end of November, weighed down by the industrial sector.

Market focus will later in the session turn to a meeting of the European Central Bank, which is also widely expected to trim its rates by 25 basis points.

John Fetterman Teaches The Media A Lesson About Democrats

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said while talking about Trump’s nominees that everything can’t be a freakout, or people will tune out, which is what many Democrats have already done.

Fetterman told CNN’s Manu Raju:

If you really, really want to freak out, that’s your prerogative, but you’re going to have plenty of time to do those things. But me, for me personally, I’m going to be picking my battles. Do you think that voters don’t want to hear Democrats complain about everything Trump

is doing? Well, I mean, sure, sometimes we want to push back against core values or other things, but if everything’s a freakout, then people can just tune you out.

So at some point, if you don’t just pick your spots, then no one’s going to just pay attention at that point. Now, he also told me that on the nominees themselves, he’s kind of doing the same thing.

Video:

John Fetterman on how Dems should handle Trump: “If everything is a freak out, then people can just tune you out. … So, at some point, if you don’t just pick your spots, then no one’s going to just pay attention at that point.”

He said he was going to wait to see if GOP can… pic.twitter.com/gaZCOOcaHn

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 9, 2024

What Sen. Fetterman was talking about was the fatigue that comes with paying attention to Trump. The mainstream media thought that Democrats would be afraid and come running back to them. Instead, many Democrats don’t want to hear it and have turned out.

They may come back when something big is happening, but they probably won’t get interested again until the midterm election.

As Fetterman said, everything can’t be a freakout or people will stop paying attention.

Trump is going to run another four seasons of his stale and tired reality TV show masking as a presidency. It doesn’t mean that we all have to tune in and pay attention.

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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Activist Barington takes purpose at Macy’s, seeks spending, real-estate fixes

People walk past the Macy’s Herald Square flagship store on November 29, 2024 in New York City. 

David Dee Delgado | Getty Images

Activist investor Barington Capital revealed Monday it has a position in Macy’s and wants the company to cut spending, explore selling its luxury brands and take a hard look at its real estate portfolio.

It marks the fourth activist push at the struggling department store in the last decade.

Macy’s shares rose roughly 3% on the news in premarket trading. The activist has partnered with private equity firm Thor Equities in its push, according to a Barington presentation. The two investors did not disclose the size of its stake.

The activist said it believes Macy’s can trim back its inventory and sales and administrative costs, according to a slide deck the firm shared. Barington said in the presentation that while the business continues to generate cash, management has chosen to spend nearly $10 billion on capital expenditures while neglecting buybacks or dividends.

Macy’s shares have underperformed the S&P 500 and Retail Select indexes over the last 10 years. Barington pointed to smaller department store operator Dillard’s, where it also criticized management, as an example of effective capital allocation. Dillard’s has a market cap of more than $7 billion and says it operates 273 stores in the U.S.

In a statement on Monday, Macy’s stood by its plans to close struggling namesake stores and invest in the stronger parts of its business.

“We remain confident in our Bold New Chapter strategy,” Macy’s said in the statement. “We look forward to engaging with our shareholders, including Barington and Thor.”

The department store operator announced in February that it would shut about about 150 – or nearly a third – of its namesake stores by early 2027. It plans to invest in the roughly 350 locations that remain and invest in its stronger chains, higher-end department store Bloomingdale’s and beauty retailer Bluemercury.

Barington wants Macy’s to beef up its share buybacks and consider selling off its Bluemercury and Bloomingdale’s brands.

Barington, like other activists that have preceded it, also believes that Macy’s should take a fresh look at its real estate portfolio. Barington values it at anywhere from $5 billion to $9 billion, echoing analyses done by other activist investors. Barington said Macy’s should create a separate subsidiary, which could in turn charge rent to Macy’s parent company while the subsidiary’s management assessed how to maximize value from those assets.

Macy’s has become an activist target again as sales at the company’s namesake stores decline and it continues to close many of the mall anchors.

In the most recent quarter that ended Nov. 2, Macy’s said the company’s sales fell 2.4% to $4.74 billion. Comparable sales for its owned and licensed businesses, plus its online marketplace, dropped 1.3%.

Macy’s postponed releasing full results for the quarter as it faces scrutiny for another reason. The company said it is investigating after it discovered an employee intentionally hid up to $154 million in delivery expenses on its accounting books for nearly three years. It said it plans to share full results and its outlook by Dec. 11.

Selling real estate as Macy’s closes stores could free up cash for the business. Macy’s owns many of its mall-anchor stores, but has not said which locations it has sold. In late November, it said asset sale gains in the most recent quarter totaled $66 million and were higher than its expectations.

In recent quarters, Macy’s has started to report the sales performance of stores that will remain open once it closes the latest round of namesake locations. That cuts out some mall stores that are struggling. At the Macy’s stores that will remain open beyond early 2027, comparable sales were down 0.9% on an owned-plus-licensed basis, including the third-party marketplace.

Barington has mounted campaigns at other big consumer names, including toymaker Mattel, The Children’s Place, Hanes and Steve Madden. Thor Equities is a retail-focused private equity firm, and was part of the buyout group which acquired Hurley several years ago.

Correction: A previous version of this article misnamed the private equity firm that Barington Capital has partnered with. It is Thor Equities.

Why Sister Wives’ Kody Brown’s Spouse Robyn Brown Is “Actually” Pissed off

Janelle Questioned How Kody Handled the Family Money

Griping about the family’s inability to pay off Coyote Pass, Janelle said Kody claimed to have “all these other debts.” And, yet, she’s watched him snap up other assets like trailers and home décor. “I see all the art on their walls,” she said of Robyn and Kody’s home. “I see all these things. And that’s fine, I have money and I’ve spent it on things, too.” (For his part Kody said much of his cash went to buying cars—”Basically had a fleet”—and insurance for the kids.)

And while Janelle acknowledged she wasn’t sure how Kody and Robyn handled their finances, “I used to always be surprised at how nice her backyard was. It was completely finished. And there was always, like, stuff at her house. And I was like, ‘Wow. Huh.'”

Bottom line, she said, “He doesn’t prioritize what I need or what I want.” And that issue eventually wore her down. “I think after a while, I began to see it, and my kids were getting very angry about it, like my adult children. Like, ‘What the hell, Mom?'”

Robyn’s take, however, was that she was very careful with her budget after her first marriage fell apart. 

“I used to be not so great with money,” she shared during the Sept. 22 episode. “When I was young, I had hard knocks, and then I learned during my divorce really how to budget myself very, very well.” As for her fellow sister wives, she said, “You just must have had a different priority of where your money was going to go than I did, that’s all.”