What to Watch Friday: J.C. Penney Set to Release Earnings

For Friday August 14, TheStreet highlights earnings from another major department store--J.C. Penney (JCP). The company is scheduled to release its latest numbers before the market open on Friday. For fiscal 2015 second quarter, analysts are expecting the retailer to report a loss of $0.48 a share on revenue of $2.86 billion. Investors will be watching its performance as the company continues to work on its long-term turnaround plan. Earlier this month, the company hired executives from Home Depot (HD) and Target (TGT) to step up its game in e-commerce. Former Home Depot's vice president of online, mobile and omnichannel Michael Amend was appointed as J.C. Penney's executive vice president of omnichannel, and former Target senior vice president of global supply chain Mike Robbins recently took on a similar position at J.C. Penney. Friday's numbers will show if the company's turnaround efforts are starting to pay off. Additionally, there are several economic reports due out on Friday. At 8:30 a.m. Eastern, Producer Price Index will come out showing the latest trends within the wholesale markets. At 9:15 the Federal Reserve will release the Industrial Production Index, an indicator of how the economy is doing. Last but not least, the Consumer Sentiment Index is scheduled to come out at 10 a.m. TheStreet’s U-Jin Lee reports from New York.