Good morning. The latest retail trends from Jennifer Williams reporting from the ICR conference; former Fed officials, global central bankers slam the Powell probe; plus, Google parent Alphabet’s value tops $4 trillion.

The critical holiday shopping period may be old news for consumers, but for retail executives gathered in Orlando this week, it’s an inescapable topic of discussion.

Companies including Urban Outfitters, Five Below, Vince Holding and American Eagle Outfitters released sales figures for the latest festive season ahead of ICR’s annual conference in central Florida, where the WSJ Leadership Institute’s CFO Journal met with CFOs and retail executives who studied the holiday season data to get a sense for what may be ahead.

On CEO and CFO Martin Hoffmann said that the sportswear company had a “really good” holiday period, giving it confidence heading into 2026. “The brand is hot. Our full-price share is very high. And so we are actually elevating even more on the premium side,” he said.

Other retailer highlights from ICR:

• Urban Outfitters

By the numbers: The company behind its namesake brand as well as others including Anthropologie, Free People and Nuuly saw net sales increase 9% for the final two months of 2025 compared with a year earlier. Retail segment sales for the period were up 7%, with comparable retail sales increasing 5%, thanks to mid-single-digit growth in both digital channel sales and retail store sales.

Beyond the holidays: “We’re always anxious to get out of the holiday season, where the consumer is back to buying for themselves and buying based on fashion and want,” said Frank Conforti, the company’s co-president and chief operating officer. “And so far, the post-holiday season has performed really well, especially [regular] price, across all brands and channels.”

• Five Below

By the numbers: At value retailer Five Below, the holidays were similarly strong. Net sales during the two months starting Nov. 2 increased by around 23%, to $1.47 billion, compared with the year-earlier period. Comparable sales increased by 14.5%.

What did well: The growth was driven by both traffic and sales and it came across stores, income levels and demographics and in 14 of the 18 departments the company operates in, said CFO Daniel Sullivan.

Quotable: “So this notion that we are relying on a single trend, a single item, is simply not what we’ve seen,” he said. “And this isn’t unique to the holiday, by the way. We saw this over the course of the second half of the year.”

• Boot Barn

By the numbers: The western-wear chain’s shoppers similarly turned out during the holidays. Net sales of about $706 million were up 16% for the three months ended Dec. 27 compared with a year earlier, according to preliminary results released this month. Same-store sales increased roughly 5.7%.

Holding back on price hikes: “We had one moment in time when we could raise prices prior to the holiday shopping season,” said CEO John Hazen. “Given how well business was performing and my fear of disrupting the store operations team, we decided to hold exclusive brand pricing all the way through holiday.”

What’s ahead?: “Now that we're in January, we are going to pivot to raising prices” on the company's own exclusive brands, likely in a low-single-digit range, Hazen said.

—Jennifer Williams

📆 Earnings

• Bank of New York Mellon
• Delta Air Lines
• JPMorgan Chase

📈 Economic Indicators

The National Federation of Independent Business releases its Small Business Optimism Index for December.

The BLS releases the consumer price index for December.

The Census Bureau reports new-home sales for both September and October as it catches up on economic data that was delayed by the government shutdown late last year.

There’s another member of the $4 trillion market-cap club. At least, for now.

Google parent Alphabet’s value topped $4 trillion, making it the latest tech company to cross that threshold as investors reward the internet-search leader for its artificial-intelligence gains.

Four technology companies have traded at market capitalizations of $4 trillion. Nvidia is still above that mark. Apple and Microsoft, both of which crossed the $4 trillion threshold last year, now have market capitalizations of $3.8 trillion and $3.6 trillion, respectively.

***

Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell sparked unease on Wall Street on Monday.

Rebukes from former Fed and Treasury officials and an outcry from some investors came quickly.

Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen and other former officials from Democratic and Republican administrations rushed to defend Powell and the Fed’s ability to set monetary policy free from political influence, calling the investigation “an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine that independence.”

Also, a group of central banks from around the world issued a statement in support of Powell, an unprecedented step that underlines how seriously they view the threat to the independence of the U.S. institution.

Here’s more reaction:

• Richard Bernstein, chief executive officer of Richard Bernstein Advisors: “There is nothing good to come of challenging the independence of the world’s most-important central bank.”
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska): “The stakes are too high to look the other way: If the Federal Reserve loses its independence, the stability of our markets and the broader economy will suffer.”

🎧 Podcast: What the DOJ Probe Means for Fed’s Future Leaders

📰 Other headlines

• Abercrombie, Urban Outfitters Have Strong Year-End Sales. Investors Aren’t Sold.
• Financial Stocks Fall After Trump Calls for Credit-Card Rate Cap
• Paramount Plans Proxy Fight to Push Hostile Warner Bid
• Meta Creates High-Powered Team to Oversee AI Infrastructure Buildout
• Behind the Unraveling of Apple’s Credit-Card Partnership With Goldman Sachs
• How the U.S. Is Tightening the Reins on Federal Student Loans
• TSMC Plans U.S. Expansion in Proposed Taiwan Tariff-Relief Deal
• The Battle Over Who Runs the Panama Canal Ports Is About to Be Decided
• In Pivot on Affordability, Trump Unveils Barrage of Proposals to Address Costs

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Duolingo, the Pittsburgh-based language-learning platform, named Gillian Munson as its next CFO, succeeding Matt Skaruppa who is stepping down after nearly six years with the company. Munson assumes the role after serving on Duolingo's board since 2019 as chair of the audit, risk and compliance committee. She was most recently finance chief at Vimeo and previously held CFO positions at Iora Health and XO Group. Munson will step into the CFO role effective Feb. 23, while Skaruppa will remain finance chief until then, after which he will assume an advisory role.

XOMA Royalty's top finance executive, Thomas Burns, is leaving the Emeryville, Calif.-based biotechnology royalty aggregator to pursue other opportunities. Jeffrey Trigilio, who most recently served as chief financial and operating officer of Obsidian Therapeutics, will succeed Burns as CFO. Burns, who joined XOMA in August 2006, has been senior vice president of finance and finance chief since March 2017.

—Robb M. Stewart and Colin Kellaher contributed to today’s Ledger.

The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics including corporate tax, accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team comprises reporters Kristin Broughton, Mark Maurer and Jennifer Williams, and Bureau Chief Walden Siew.

You can reach us by replying to any newsletter, or email Walden at walden.siew@wsj.com.