Consumer Biz Review: JC Penney Gets Slammed More, Pepsi Goes Old School

Thursday’s comments by Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) president Ed Bastain, regarding the capacity reduction on certain Atlantic and Pacific flight, were elaborated Friday. Bastain now calls the cuts a “proactive measure”, and says Delta’s total capacity will be down 3 percent to 4 percent, with routes across the Atlantic decreased by 5 percent after Labor Day, and Pacific routes reduced only slightly.

J.C Penney (NYSE:JCP) gets its credit rating downgraded by S&P from BB to BB-, along with bearish remarks as well. Ron Johnson’s pricing strategy of fewer discounts is said by the agency to be causing a weak performance that will last through the current year.

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Shares of Foot Locker (NYSE:FL), and to a lesser extent, Nike (NYSE:NKE) move up following the former’s impressive earnings beat. Investors seem to like FL’s key margin gains and sales momentum, and it appears that they also like the fact that Nike’s new products are doing well with consumers, and that its shelves are quickly emptying.

Can you tell which is Pepsi and which is Coke? PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) intends to bring the classic advertising ploy back, called the Pepsi blind taste test. The tack began 35 years ago, in the effort to differentiate Pepsi from arch rival Coke, and the 2012 version will begin in Canada this summer, aided by 600 square foot trailers loaded with high-tech equipment.

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