Customers are increasingly relying on credit cards, falling behind on bills, and gravitating toward private label brands like Liz Claiborne rather than more expensive national names, according to Rosen.

“Our customers are working families in America.” They are the instructors who teach our children in schools, the construction workers who build our homes, and the medical personnel who care for us,” Rosen explained in an interview last week. “And that customer is facing a tougher economic environment.”

The CEO of JCPenney emphasized the snowball effect that inflation has had on family finances, saying that the average household is spending approximately $700 more per month for the same goods and services than they were two years ago.

“That’s tough for a family like that because it means they’re making tradeoffs in everything they can do,” Rosen explained.

Rosen sees indications of this financial stress in the department store’s “very strong” expansion of private brands, which are priced lower than national names. He cited strong private-label sales of garments as well as home products such as kitchenware and small appliances such as blenders and toasters.

Similarly, Rosen stated that, while JCPenney maintains a “strong” portfolio of company-branded credit cards for its clients, credit consumption has climbed and the rate of delinquencies has returned to pre-Covid-19 levels.

This is consistent with what other stores have indicated. Macy’s has issued a warning about rising credit card delinquencies, and the New York Federal Reserve discovered that the rate of new credit card delinquencies had risen above mid-2019 levels.

JCPenney’s statements highlight the perplexing status of the US economy. Even though the likelihood of a recession has decreased and the labor market remains strong, some consumers are suffering.

Dollar General has reduced its sales and profit forecast for the year, citing core customers who are “financially constrained.” Bank of America has discovered that Americans are withdrawing funds from their 401(k) accounts owing to financial difficulties.

Nonetheless, JCPenney claims that these economic concerns play to the company’s strengths.

“I absolutely believe that this is a take-share moment right now,” Rosen declared. “We believe that customers deserve a shopping experience in which they do not have to make those tradeoffs, in which they can still get that great fashion without having to pay a price that makes it difficult to put groceries on the table.”

That is why JCPenney is investing $1 billion in upgrading the old retailer. The self-funded reinvestment program includes everything from new merchandising tools to speed up its supply chain to store renovations such as new technology, fitting rooms, and even a fresh coat of paint.

The $1 billion reinvestment is a watershed moment for a renowned corporation that declared bankruptcy in May 2020. JCPenney was able to emerge from bankruptcy later that year thanks to a rescue from mall owners Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management.

“We’re in a really strong financial position right now, with a clean balance sheet and strong cash flow funding the operations of the business,” Rosen said, adding that no big store closures are planned.

The CEO of JCPenney refused to say whether the department retailer intends to return to the public markets via an initial public offering. However, he indicated that an IPO is not in the near future.

“We think there are a lot of advantages right now to being a private company,” Rosen said, adding that JCPenney’s owners are reinvesting in the firm and have a “long-term perspective” on that investment.

Eric Coomer, Dominion’s former top security official, sued OAN and its correspondent Chanel Rion after they repeatedly peddled unfounded claims that he and Dominion were involved in massive election fraud in 2020 by switching millions of votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.

The terms of the out-of-court settlement, disclosed in a court document, were not immediately available. The filing stated that OAN and Rion “have fully and finally settled the disputes” with Coomer, but provided no other information. According to court papers, the agreement was reached late last week.

OAN’s spokeswoman and attorney did not reply immediately to CNN’s requests for comment. Coomer’s lawyer refused to comment.

According to the recent court filing, other defendants in the action, including Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, have not struck a settlement and are still active defendants in the case.

By reaching an agreement with Coomer, OAN is resolving one of numerous pending cases related to the 2020 presidential election, which might have serious financial ramifications for the little network.

Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, voting technology companies that OAN falsely claimed stole the election against Trump, have filed defamation claims against the conspiracy-peddling channel. Those claims are still in the discovery phase, and unless a settlement is reached, the litigation is projected to last well into next year.

Rion has been at the heart of the network’s pro-Trump propaganda as a correspondent, and she produced a special dubbed “Dominion-izing the Vote,” which propagated baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election results.

Coomer’s Colorado-based litigation compelled numerous top Trump associates to take depositions over their phony fraud accusations. Excerpts made public show how little due diligence these Trump backers performed before spreading the claims on social media and on television, particularly on OAN and Fox News.

Dominion, Smartmatic, and Coomer have gone from being relatively unknown characters to important protagonists in the fight to hold Trump accountable for his electoral falsehoods in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

However, the lengthy litigation has uncovered some disparaging statements Coomer made about Dominion privately, including a 2019 email in which he claimed “our products suck” and a message sent weeks before the 2020 election in which he said the company’s software was “riddled with bugs.”

Dominion famously settled with Fox News for $787 million earlier last year after suing the right-wing network over similar election-related claims.

The Disney-Charter Communications brawl, which occurred during the US Open and NFL season, revealed years of tension between distributors and content providers.

ABC, ESPN, and other major Disney-owned channels were pulled off the air for Charter’s 15 million Spectrum subscribers over Labor Day weekend, angering viewers and raising existential questions for the cable industry as it became clear this was not the usual carriage battle.

Charter wants Disney to offer its users free access to its attractive direct-to-consumer offerings or more bundling options. Charter claims it pays a premium for Disney programming ($2.2 billion in 2023), although most of the buzzy content is on Disney+, not linear channels.

The battle has shown how streaming has destroyed cable and satellite providers’ economic models, with Charter admitting that “the current video ecosystem is broken” and unsustainable.

“This is not a typical carriage dispute,” Charter added. “It is significant for Charter, but we think programmers and the video ecosystem are even more important.”

Charter believes it is being charged a top-tier premium for second-quality content while Disney utilizes its lucrative carriage arrangement to construct a service that will destroy the cable bundle. It wants the remainder of the Magic Kingdom unlocked or the House of Mouse to offer more flexibility in the standard bundle so customers who don’t want ESPN don’t have to pay for it.

Disney definitely sees things differently. It feels it is still developing premium content for its linear channels and invests heavily in DTC programming, which it considers a separate offering. It says it has suggested “creative ways” to give Disney DTC to Charter users. Disney wondered why it would give Charter users free access to its premium DTC programming.

Disney stated, “Our linear channels and direct-to-consumer services are not one and the same, per Charter’s assertions, but rather complementary products.” Our linear networks continue to invest in unique content, including live sports, news, and appointment viewing. We invest multi-billion dollars in exclusive programming for our direct-to-consumer services, which complement our linear networks.

Share prices of media heavyweights fell across the board last week after reports of the unusual battle between the two entertainment giants, indicating that the outcome could affect the whole sector. CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is down 9%, Paramount Global is down almost 8%, Comcast and Fox Corporation are each down 3%.

When the issue will be rectified is unknown. CNN has discovered that Disney CEO Bob Iger has been personally involved in the problem, discussing a resolution with Charter CEO Chris Winfrey. The two parties may reach a deal, but when is unclear.

Disney is now encouraging users to move to Hulu + Live TV while Charter is encouraging customers to sign up for FuboTV at a discount, suggesting negotiations aren’t nearing a settlement.

Charter has likewise taken a firm line: either it will transform the television industry’s economics or leave.

“The Walt Disney Company and Charter have the opportunity to work together on transforming the industry for the long-term benefit of both companies and their customers,” Charter said. Without them, we must switch models to value our connectivity ties. We either move forward with a collaborative business model or move on.”

In a case that has been closely watched by the industry and which briefly boosted the price of bitcoin by nearly 7%, a three-judge panel of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in Washington ruled last week that the SEC was wrong to reject Grayscale’s proposed bitcoin ETF without explaining its reasoning. The ruling came in response to a case in which the SEC rejected Grayscale’s proposed bitcoin ETF without explaining its reasoning.

The court’s judgment mandates that the SEC conduct an investigation into Grayscale’s application, despite the fact that the agency still has time to file an appeal against the judge’s ruling. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated one week ago that it was analyzing the verdict.

In a letter that was sent to the SEC on Tuesday, Grayscale’s legal firm DavisPolk stated, “We hope you will agree that the best use of resources now is for the (SEC) to issue an order approving” the product. The letter was written in response to a request that was made by Grayscale.

An exchange-traded fund that tracks the spot price of bitcoin would allow investors to have exposure to the cryptocurrency market without requiring them to actually hold bitcoin. All spot bitcoin ETF applications have been turned down by the SEC on the grounds that applicants have not demonstrated that they can shield investors from being manipulated in the market.

However, it has given its approval to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that are based on bitcoin futures because of a market monitoring arrangement it has with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which is where the majority of bitcoin futures trade. Since both products are dependent on the price of bitcoin’s underlying asset, Grayscale suggested that the same infrastructure should be sufficient for its spot ETF.

The court of appeals came to the conclusion that the SEC had dismissed Grayscale’s application in an arbitrary manner since the SEC never articulated why the two arrangements were significantly different from one another.

According to what DavisPolk wrote, “if there was any other reason that could be offered in an attempt to differentiate” the two different kinds of items, “we are confident that it would have surfaced by now.”