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US imposes steel, aluminum tariffs on EU, Canada, Mexico; Samsonite CEO resigns

TOP NEWS

* The Trump administration has begun a battle royal with some key U.S. allies over steel and aluminum tariffs after moving to lift temporary exemptions on tariffs for the EU, Canada and Mexico, intensifying a trade dispute that could hit a broad swath of industries. The 25% tariff on U.S. steel imports and 10% tariff on aluminum imports went into effect at midnight for Canada, Mexico and the EU, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told reporters May 31. The two North American Free Trade Agreement partners and the 28-country trading bloc had been provided temporary exemptions that expired June 1, and President Donald Trump decided to not renew those exemptions.

* Travel luggage retailer Samsonite International SA said Ramesh Tainwala has resigned as CEO and executive director for "personal reasons," with the move coming about a week after activist investment firm Blue Orca Capital LLC targeted the luggage maker in a report. Kyle Gendreau, Samsonite's CFO and also an executive director, was appointed to replace Tainwala. He will continue to oversee finance and treasury matters until the board identifies his successor.

TEXTILES, APPAREL AND LUXURY GOODS

* H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB's off-price marketplace, Afound, will open its first two physical stores in the Swedish cities of Stockholm and Malmö on June 14 and 16, respectively. Afound's e-commerce platform also will be rolled out in parallel with the debut of the two stores. In a separate release, H&M said it launched its online shop in Saudi Arabia and UAE on May 31.

* Athletic apparel retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. raised its EPS guidance for full year 2018 after reporting results for the first quarter ended April 29 that exceeded analysts' expectations. For the full fiscal year, Lululemon projects its diluted EPS in the range of $3.10 to $3.18, up from the range of $3.0 to $3.08, which the company forecast in March. Net revenue is projected between $3.04 billion and $3.08 billion, up from prior expectation of $2.99 billion to $3.02 billion. For the first quarter, diluted EPS came in at 55 cents, higher than the S&P Capital IQ mean consensus normalized EPS estimate of 46 cents.

* U.S. President Donald Trump said he was considering pardoning Martha Stewart, Reuters reported. Stewart, who was arrested by the authorities in 2004 under charges of insider trading, founded media and merchandising company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which was acquired in 2015 by Sequential Brands Group Inc.

E-COMMERCE

* China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will invest billions of dollars to build a smart logistics network that will improve delivery efficiency at lower cost, executive chairman Jack Ma said at the Global Smart Logistics Summit in Hangzhou, China. Ma shared his prediction that the logistics sector in China, which delivers 130 million parcels generated by e-commerce per day, would eventually grow to handle 1 billion parcels per day.

* Chinese e-commerce retailer JD.com Inc. unveiled plans to open 1,000 restaurants fully staffed by robots by 2020 in a bid to compete against Alibaba's partially-automated eateries, the Nikkei Asian Review reported. The first restaurant is slated to open in August, but its location is yet to be announced.

* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s online marketplace Taobao pledged to incubate more than 365 small and medium-sized enterprises by the close of the fiscal year, ending March 2019. According to Taobao Global Head Wei Meng, the program's goal is to help at least one overseas brand per day to generate over 10,000 Chinese yuan in daily gross merchandise value.

* Muji, owned by Japanese retailer Ryohin Keikaku Co. Ltd., rolled out its flagship store on JD.com Inc.'s platform, in a move to reach Chinese customers online. The two retailers intend to strengthen their partnership via expanded omnichannel integration, which includes products and membership programs.

HYPERMARKETS AND SUPERCENTERS

* Walmart Inc. launched in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn an SMS-based shopping service called Jetblack, the first service to launch from the retail giant's technology incubator, Store No. 8. Members of the program can order items by texting the platform, which will then shop and deliver their purchases to them with no extra charge. Jetblack will shop for customers' everyday needs from Walmart and its e-commerce unit Jet.com, but more specialized products will be sourced from other local stores.

* Costco Wholesale Corp.'s fiscal third-quarter net income beat analyst expectations as the U.S. wholesale retailer's same-store sales grew faster than expected. Net income attributable to Costco for the 12 weeks ended May 13 totaled $750 million, beating both the mean consensus estimate for GAAP net income of $743.8 million compiled by S&P Capital IQ and the $700 million the company reported for the same quarter one year ago. Diluted EPS for the quarter was $1.70, meeting the Capital IQ consensus estimate for GAAP EPS of $1.70.

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The day ahead

Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.

In Asia, the Hang Seng increased 0.08% to 30,492.91, while the Nikkei 225 decreased 0.14% to 22,171.35.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 was up 0.71% to 7,732.26, and the Euronext 100 was up 1.14% to 1,060.98.

On the macro front

The motor vehicles sales report, the employment situation report, the PMI Manufacturing Index, the ISM Manufacturing Index, the construction spending report and the Baker-Hughes Rig Count report are due out today.

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