Retailers Cast Nervous Eye
JC Penney Co. on Friday echoed other midrange department stores in noting the heightened cautiousness of shoppers and posting mixed second-quarter results.</br></br>The retailers serve as a window on how U.S. consumers--already chastened by high gasoline prices, a woeful housing market and high unemployment rates--are reacting to the recent stock-market turbulence fueled in part by the Standard & Poor's Corp. downgrade of U.S. debt.</br></br>"The consumer climate is clearly uncertain and the tumultuous last 10 days or so hasn't given our core customers, the middle-income family, any reason to be more confident," JC Penney Chief Executive Myron "Mike" Ullman said during a conference call to discuss the retailer's results.</br></br>For the second quarter, JC Penney posted flat earnings on lower sales.</br></br>Mr. Ullman added that a drive for value on the part of consumers could end up playing in JC Penney's favor because it caters to such buying habits.