Kroger plans to close 60 U.S. stores

Kroger plans to close around 60 U.S. grocery stores over the next 18 months to improve efficiency.

The Cincinnati-based company announced the plan during a corporate earnings call Friday. The company hasn’t said which stores it plans to shutter, but said the closures will happen around the country. It also said employees at impacted stores will be offered jobs at other locations.

“We see this as an opportunity to move these closed store sales to other stores, and we think that should improve profitability,” Kroger’s interim Chairman and CEO Ronald Sargent said during the call.

Kroger is the nation’s largest supermarket chain, with 2,731 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia. It operates stores under multiple brand names, including Smith’s, Ralphs, King Soopers and Fred Meyer.

Kroger’s plan to close stores comes as the company is facing labor unrest over issues including chronic understaffing at stores, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Union members in Southern California began picketing at a Los Angeles Ralphs last week. Workers at King Soopers stores in Colorado also went on strike earlier this year.

New-home sales drop by most since 2022

U.S. new homes sales fell in May by the most in almost three years as incentives fell short of alleviating affordability constraints.

Sales of new single-family homes decreased 13.7% to a 623,000 annualized rate last month, a seven-month low, according to government data released Wednesday. That was below all estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

The latest results show homebuilders are sitting on rising inventories amid mounting economic challenges, including mortgage rates stuck near 7%, higher materials costs due to tariffs and a slowing labor market. While builders are offering subsidies to reduce customers’ financing costs, the concessions are yielding diminishing returns and encouraging many builders to slow construction.

The home sales report showed a slight increase in the number of new houses for sale in May, to the highest level since 2007. That represented 9.8 months of supply at the current sales rate. The number of completed homes for sale rose to 119,000, an almost 16-year high.

The median sales price increased 3% from a year ago to $426,600 last month, marking the first year-over-year price gain in 2025. More limited inventory in the resale market has allowed prices to steadily rise there on an annual basis since mid-2023.

Sales last month in the South, the biggest U.S. homebuilding region, slumped 21%, the most in nearly 12 years. Contract signings in the West and Midwest also fell, while they rose in the Northeast.

European Tesla sales drop for fifth month

Europeans still aren’t buying Teslas with figures out Wednesday showing sales plunged for a fifth month in a row in May, a blow to investors who had hoped anger toward Elon Musk would have faded by now.

Tesla sales fell 28% last month in 30 European countries even as the overall market for electric vehicles expanded sharply, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. The poor showing comes after Tesla’s billionaire CEO had promised a “major rebound” was coming last month, adding to a recent buying frenzy among investors.

Musk had said Tesla was sure to get a boost once the company was done retooling its factories to produce a new version of its biggest seller, the Model Y. But that was finished months ago, and the new models are widely available.

Compiled from Associated Press and Bloomberg reports.