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When you look at mall traffic from a broad view, it seems like large-scale shopping centers remain on strong footing.”Traffic to malls increased in Q1 2026 across all three formats analyzed – indoor malls, open-air shopping centers, and outlet malls – largely thanks to strong performances in the first two months of the year,” according to Placer.ai’s March Mall Index.That, however, is not the full story, as some malls have thrived while others have struggled. It’s a situation that has forced retailers like plus-sized women’s fashion retailer Torrid to rethink their store portfolios.Green Street Advisors, a commercial real estate research firm, uses a proprietary grading system to classify malls into A, B, and C tiers based on factors including tenant mix, sales per square foot, location, and physical condition.A malls = Strongest tenant mix, highest sales per square foot, best locations B malls = Mid-tier performance, mixed resilience C malls = Weakest fundamentals, often repurposed or declining“The retail prospects for most malls graded ‘B-’ or below are generally dire; many will be repurposed with another real estate use over the next decade,” Green Street analysts told RetailDive.Torrid closed more stores in Q1Torrid confirmed that it planned to close stores in 2026 in an email to TheStreet’s Kirk O’Neil.“At this time, we know that some store closures are planned,” a Torrid spokesperson said. “However, we do not have confirmed details on exactly how many stores will be affected or which specific locations may close.Those closure have happened throughout the year and have continued in the company’s most recent quarter.”Turning to our store optimization initiative. In Q1, we substantially completed our store optimization program with an additional 20 closures of structurally unproductive locations, bringing the total to 171 closures since we initiated the program,” CEO Lisa Harper said during Torrid’s first quarter earnings call. That’s slightly fewer than the 180 closures the company originally forecast. Select stores, however, could still be closed.”That work is now largely behind us. We have strategically rightsized our store fleet to one that is more productive, aligned and better positioned to serve our customer where and how she prefers to shop with us,” she added.More Retail:Another mall retailer quietly closed over 150 locationsUltra wealthy shoppers flock to this 63-year-old rugged retailer72-year-old mall retailers to close more stores in 2026William Blair analysts Dylan Carden and Anna Linscott supported the chain’s plans to reduce its retail footprint and shift to digital, Retail Dive reported.“The bigger headline here for us is that management is taking a broader cut to store closures, which we believe is a positive step in freeing up capital to invest in new product and marketing to support clear momentum in its online channel,” Carden and Linscott wrote.

Torrid planned to close 180 stores and has almost reached that number.Shutterstock

Torrid faces slowing salesWhile it has been closing stores, Torrid has also been battling an overall decline in sales and a drop in profitability. Some Q1 highlights include:Net sales decreased 7.6% to $245.8 million compared to $266 million for the first quarter of last year.Comparable sales decreased 1.7% in the first quarter.Gross profit margin was 35.3% compared to 38.1% in the first quarter of last year.Net income of $0.4 million, or $0.00 per share, compared to net income of $5.9 million, or $0.06 per share in the first quarter of last year.
Source: Torrid
Harper, however, was pleased with the company’s progress.“We are pleased to report first quarter net sales of $245.8 million, slightly above our guidance, and adjusted EBITDA of $17.6 million at the high end of our guidance range. These results reect disciplined execution across our strategic initiatives and signal progress in positioning us for comparable sales growth in the back half of the year and beyond,” she said in the earnings release. Analysts, however, are mixed, according to a compendium of ratings compiled by Investing.com.”The consensus rating for Torrid Holdings is “Neutral”, based on insights from 4 analysts. 1 analysts recommend buying the stock, 1 suggest selling, and 4 recommend holding,” the site shared.Retailers like Torrid face a retention challengeWhen a retailer closes a store, it runs the risk of losing the customers that shopped specifically at the location. That’s something Harper addressed during Torrid’s Q1 call. “Customer retention through this transition has remained strong with our marketing efforts successfully redirecting traffic both online and to nearby stores. Equally important, the cost savings generated by the closure program are being reinvested directly and strategically into the initiatives designed to reignite growth in our customer file,” she said.TheStreet retail advisor and RTMNexus CEO Dominick Miserandino thinks customer retention amid closing stores is a bigger challenge than many retailers realize. “Retailers abandoning B and C-tier malls think they can seamlessly migrate those shoppers online or to an off-mall lifestyle center, but they are 2 completely different markets,” he told TheStreet.Keeping shoppers requires having a deep connection with them in the first place, he explained. “When you pull out of a regional mall, shoppers don’t download your app or drive 30 minutes away. They simply alter their routine and buy from a competitor. You’re changing the model of in-store experience to e-commerce, and that’s not a quick-and-easy change for many shoppers,” Miserandino added.Related: Internet provider files Chapter 7 bankruptcy, cuts off service

The week of June 8 handed global markets a sharp reminder of how quickly sentiment can shift. Goldman Sachs removed its 2026 Fed rate cut calls. The Nasdaq fell 5% on the May jobs report.Investors who had been positioned for easing scrambled to recalibrate. The wall of worry that has defined markets for the past several months just got a few more bricks.HSBC looked at the same week and told clients to stay long.What HSBC’s Max Kettner said about global stocks on June 8Max Kettner, chief multi-asset strategist at HSBC Global Investment Research, published a note on June 8 reaffirming the bank’s bullish stance on global equities. He argued that the key risks investors are focused on are either largely priced in or overstated, according to Seeking Alpha.More Wall Street:JPMorgan resets S&P 500 price target for the rest of 2026Vanguard challenges the S&P 500 as a one-stop strategyGoldman Sachs resets Broadcom stock forecastThe note doubled down on what has been HSBC’s consistent positioning for months: maximum overweight equities globally, focusing on emerging markets Asia, Japan, and Europe (European banks in particular), alongside a double overweight on emerging market local rates and an overweight on high-yield credit, according to Investing.com.Kettner’s framing of the risk environment is direct.”All of our positioning stuff, both systematic and discretionary, is so far away from sending a sales signal,” he told Bloomberg Television.Why HSBC sees the wall of worry as a market tailwind, not headwindThe central argument in Kettner’s note is that the risks dominating investor conversations are not new information. Concerns about tariffs, the Iran war, inflation, slowing growth, and elevated AI valuations have been visible and discussed for months. Markets that have already processed those risks are not caught off guard when headlines remind investors they exist.That dynamic runs through market history. Bull markets rarely advance because investors feel comfortable. They frequently advance while investors remain worried, because widespread skepticism keeps positioning cautious and positive surprises carry more impact than they would in a consensus-bullish environment.HSBC’s note explicitly pushes back on what it calls growing calls for investor complacency as credit spreads and stock prices approach pre-escalation levels.”Less bad news flow is good enough, in our view,” the bank said, according to Investing.com.

The note doubled down on what has been HSBC’s consistent positioning for months.Nagle/Getty Images

What is actually supporting equities in HSBC’s frameworkBeyond the sentiment argument, HSBC points to specific fundamental supports. High-frequency activity and labor market data in the U.S. are holding up well, with tax refunds running at almost 15% above 2025 levels, providing an additional cushion for consumer spending. That kind of under-the-radar data point matters because consumer spending is the primary driver of U.S. economic activity, according to Investing.com.On the earnings side, HSBC argues the global earnings outlook is more important than the geopolitical backdrop. Companies have generally delivered better-than-expected results throughout 2026, despite elevated interest rates and geopolitical headwinds. That resilience is the foundation that keeps HSBC from joining the more cautious voices on Wall Street.The bank’s geographic positioning reflects a specific view about where earnings momentum is strongest. Emerging market Asia, Japan, and European banks are all in the maximum overweight bucket, while the U.S. is in the overweight category but not the primary focus. That tilt suggests HSBC sees more upside in markets that have not participated in the AI-driven U.S. rally as fully as American tech stocks have.Key context on HSBC’s June 8 positioning and what it means for investors:HSBC upgraded US equities from neutral to overweight on April 28, 2026, citing earnings momentum and easing geopolitical risks; the June 8 note represents the second affirmation of that upgraded stance in roughly six weeks, according to Investing.com.HSBC’s maximum overweight positioning is notable specifically because it comes in the same week Goldman Sachs removed its 2026 Fed cut calls and the Nasdaq fell 5%; the two banks are reading the same data and reaching opposite investment conclusions, and their disagreement frames the central debate in markets right now.HSBC’s strongest regional conviction is in emerging market Asia, Japanese equities, and European banks; this positioning reflects the bank’s view that non-U.S. markets have lagged the AI-driven U.S. rally and represent better value at current prices, Investing.com noted.The bank holds a double overweight on emerging market local rates alongside its equity overweight; this combination suggests HSBC believes rate cuts will eventually materialize in emerging markets, even if the Fed stays on hold, creating a simultaneous opportunity in both EM bonds and EM equities.HSBC’s January 2026 research described the positioning framework as requiring strategic diversification even within a bullish outlook; the June 8 note maintains that view, with the bank explicitly noting that approaching pre-escalation levels in credit spreads and stocks is not a reason to reduce risk, according to HSBC Wealth Insights.What HSBC’s stock market call means for investors watching global equitiesThe significance of HSBC’s June 8 note is partly what it says about the market and partly what it says about where institutional positioning is today. A bank with maximum overweight equities globally does not publish a note saying risk is priced in unless it specifically responds to the question investors are asking after a week like the last one. Kettner is directly addressing the investors who looked at the Goldman Sachs note, the Nasdaq selloff, and the Goldman hike probability increase and concluded that the risk-reward for equities had deteriorated.His answer is that those concerns are legitimate but not new, and that markets pricing in known risks is precisely the environment in which staying long has historically been rewarded. The wall of worry is real. HSBC’s argument, however, is that walls of worry are meant to be climbed.For investors deciding how to position, the disagreement between Goldman’s macro caution and HSBC’s positioning conviction represents the genuine debate in markets right now. Goldman is worried about the rate environment. HSBC is focused on earnings momentum, consumer resilience, and the gap between investor sentiment and actual economic performance.Which one is right will depend on whether the May jobs data represent a turning point or an anomaly, and whether the Fed’s higher-for-longer stance eventually weighs on corporate earnings in a way it has not yet done in 2026.Related: Goldman Sachs CEO sends blunt message to stock market investors

Most people think of Amazon as a retailer, a cloud provider, a streaming service. Very few think of it as the company that just sent an overlooked 175-year-old glassmaker soaring in a single session, on the day of a partnership.On June 8, 2026, Amazon (AMZN) announced a multiyear, multibillion-dollar agreement with Corning Incorporated (GLW) to supply the optical fiber, cable, and connectivity solutions powering Amazon’s expanding U.S. data center infrastructure. Corning closed June 8 at $187.54, up 5.61% on the day, according to Yahoo Finance.GLW is up 114.91% year-to-date and 273.87% over the past year. The stock has been anything but overlooked by investors paying attention to the AI infrastructure buildout. The June 8 Amazon deal just made the thesis impossible to ignore.”This agreement with Amazon represents a significant milestone for Corning and for American manufacturing,” said Wendell P. Weeks, Chairman, CEO, and President of Corning.Why the Amazon-Corning deal matters for data centersThe agreement goes beyond a supply contract. Amazon will work with Corning to expand its Fiber Optic Technician Training Program at Catawba Valley Community College in North Carolina. The program will create 1,000 new advanced manufacturing jobs at Corning’s North Carolina facilities and hundreds of additional construction jobs to expand those facilities, according to the Amazon announcement.AWS CEO Matt Garman described the strategic logic directly. “This multibillion-dollar agreement with Corning continues our commitment, channeling investment into American manufacturing and creating 1,000 new jobs at their facilities near our data centers,” Garman said. “We’re also partnering to train North Carolinians for highly skilled roles in fiber optics and fusion splicing.”More Tech Stocks:Morgan Stanley sets jaw-dropping Micron price target after eventNvidia’s China chip problem isn’t what most investors thinkQuantum Computing makes $110 million move nobody saw comingThe geographic proximity detail matters. Corning’s North Carolina manufacturing is being expanded near Amazon’s data centers, shortening the supply chain and reducing the logistics friction that slows large-scale infrastructure buildouts. For a company that has committed to investing $10 billion in North Carolina cloud infrastructure, locking in a domestic fiber-optics supplier adjacent to those facilities is as much a supply chain decision as a sourcing one.The deal arrives as AI data center demand creates unprecedented strain on fiber optic supply.Every GPU cluster, every storage rack, every network switch in a hyperscale facility requires optical connectivity. Corning is one of the few companies with the manufacturing scale to supply at the volumes Amazon requires.

Amazon-Corning deal program will create 1,000 new advanced manufacturing jobs at Corning’s North.AFP via Getty Images

What Corning’s Q1 2026 results reveal about AI infrastructureThe Amazon deal lands on top of a Q1 2026 earnings report that demonstrated Corning’s AI tailwind is real and accelerating, according to the company’s April 28 earnings release:Core sales of $4.35 billion, up 18% year over yearCore EPS of $0.70, up 30% year over yearOptical Communications sales up 36% year over yearSolar sales up 80% year over yearTwo additional hyperscaler agreements signed, each similar in size and duration to the recently announced up-to-$6 billion multiyear deal with Meta
Source: Corning First-Quarter 2026 Financial
That Meta deal was already a landmark for Corning. The announcement that two more hyperscale customers signed comparable agreements in Q1 signals that the AI data center fiber buildout is not a one-customer story.Related: Corning stock falls as its story gets more complicated”In total, we have powerful momentum across our Market-Access Platforms,” Weeks said in the Q1 release.For Q2 2026, Corning guided for core sales of approximately $4.6 billion — up 14% year over year — and core EPS of $0.73 to $0.77, up approximately 25% year over year. The guidance includes a $30 million headwind from a maintenance shutdown at the solar wafer facility, which means the underlying fiber optics trajectory is even stronger than the headline number implies.What Corning’s Amazon deal means for investorsMy review of Corning’s deal pipeline reveals a company that has quietly assembled a roster of the world’s largest AI spenders as long-term customers. Meta. Amazon. Two additional unnamed hyperscalers. The Springboard plan, which has already grown core sales 33% and core EPS 79% from its Q4 2023 starting point, is being extended through 2030, according to Corning.The market has been rewarding this story. An 114% year-to-date return and a 273% one-year gain are not metrics associated with a company that the market is overlooking. But the Amazon deal signals something qualitatively important. The largest hyperscaler in cloud infrastructure has committed multiyear, multibillion-dollar volumes to Corning at a time when domestic fiber supply is becoming strategically critical.For investors watching the AI infrastructure trade, the Corning story is a reminder that the picks-and-shovels beneficiaries of the buildout extend well beyond semiconductors. Every data center that gets built needs connectivity. And Corning is increasingly the company that provides it.Related: Bank of America resets Amazon stock forecast on key product launch

Lower wine consumption since 2020 has forced major wine companies like E. & J. Gallo to shut down facilities and lay off employees.The industry’s annual revenue has declined by $19.7 billion, or 21%, to $74.3 billion in 2025 since generating $94 billion in 2020, according to Silicon Valley Bank’s State of the US Wine Industry Report. “Boomers are drinking less, and there are fewer of them every day,” wrote Rob McMillan, executive vice president and founder of the Silicon Valley Bank Wine Division, which is a division of First Citizens Bank.“They are replaced by the younger cohorts who aren’t as much in love with wine as their elders,” McMillan, author of Silicon Valley Bank’s State of the US Wine Industry Report, wrote.

E.J. Gallo Winery is closing its historic, 80-year-old grape crush facility in California.Shutterstock

Gallo Winery closes crush facilityThe largest U.S. wine company E.J. Gallo Winery said it will close its Turner Road West grape crush facility in Lodi, Calif., which a winery co-op originally opened in 1946, and lay off about 20 workers at the site, Wine Business reported.Gallo will continue operating its Tetra Pak blending and bottling, as well as finished good distribution, at its nearby Turner Road East facility in Lodi.The wine company had recently added a 200-milliliter Tetra line at Turner Road East.”Gallo has decided to suspend crush operations at its Turner Road location,” E.J. Gallo said in a statement. “This decision reflects available capacity in our other wineries in the region.””Impacted employees have been personally notified and are receiving individualized transition support, including the opportunity to explore other roles within the organization.”Workers voted for unionThe closure announcement comes just weeks after 37 of the company’s 43 eligible employees at 5852 West Turner Road in Lodi on May 20, 2026, voted in favor of union representation by the United Food Commercial Workers, Wine Distillery and Allied Worker, Local 186D union, according to a National Labor Relations Board filing.Gallo purchased the Turner Road facilities in 2021 from Constellation Brands, which in 2001 had acquired the facilities from the iconic Sebastiani wine family.The Turner Road West grape crush facility serves growers who don’t have their own production operations.Gallo closed other facilitiesGallo has been reducing its holdings this year, which has included the closing of its Ranch Winery in St. Helena, Calif., and laying off all 56 by April 15, 2026, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice it filed with the California Employment Development Department on Feb. 12.Gallo also filed WARN notices to lay off 37 other employees by April 15 at four of its wine facilities, including Louis M. Martini Winery and Orin Swift Tasting Room in St. Helena, Calif., and J Vineyards & Winery and Frei Ranch in Healdsburg, Calif.“Gallo is aligning parts of our operations with our long-term business strategy to ensure we remain well positioned for future success,” the company said in a statement reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.“As part of this process, we made the difficult decision to reduce certain Wine Country operations. These changes are driven by market dynamics, evolving consumer demand and available capacity across our wineries,” the statement said.Winemaker sold wineriesThe wine industry downturn since 2020 led Gallo to close Courtside Winery in San Miguel, Calif. in July 2025, according to the Chronicle. The wine company also sold its Wild Horse Winery in Templeton, Calif., and its Edna Valley facility in San Luis Obispo, Calif., in 2024.Gallo’s business since 2020 hasn’t been all about divesting as it also purchased Four Roses Bourbon for $775 million in early February 2026, The Spirits Business reported. It also purchased Gen Z-inspired winery, Whiny Baby, in September 2025, VinePair reported.Related: 57-year-old fast-food seafood chain closed over 700 locations