Good morning, CFOs. Macy’s new Chief Executive Tony Spring talks in food metaphors. One of his favorites: It doesn’t take a lot of baking powder to make bread, but without it you don’t have bread. Translation: Little things can make a big difference.

Spring is trying to apply that philosophy to a classic Wall Street brawl — fighting off investors pushing to control the 166-year-old retailing empire. In December, the investors went public with an unsolicited bid to acquire the company for $5.8 billion. Macy’s rejected the offer, but one of the investors—Arkhouse Management—has launched a proxy fight to overhaul the company’s board.

Spring, who ascended to Macy’s top job Feb. 4 after serving as its president and CEO-elect for nearly a year, unveiled his vision for modernizing the department-store chain earlier this week.

It includes major moves such as closing a large chunk of Macy’s stores. But it is also full of smaller details that have the potential to add up to big changes such as adding sales staff to improve service and more mannequins to enhance visual displays. Spring even wants his staff to evaluate the optimal way to display clothing—hanging or folded.

• Investors Raise Macy’s Buyout Bid

Monday

• Earnings: GitLab

Tuesday

• Earnings: CrowdStrike Holdings, Ross Stores, Target
• The Institute for Supply Management releases its Services Purchasing Managers’ Index for February.

Wednesday

• Earnings: Abercrombie & Fitch, Brown-Forman, Campbell Soup
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
• The Federal Reserve releases the beige book for the second of eight times this year.
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before the House Financial Services Committee as part of the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress.
• ADP releases its National Employment report for February.

Thursday

• Earnings: Broadcom, Costco Wholesale, Kroger
• The European Central Bank announces its monetary-policy decision.
• The Federal Reserve releases the Financial Accounts of the U.S., which includes household net worth data, for the fourth quarter.

Friday

• The BLS releases the jobs report for February.

March 5-6, 2024 | New York, New York

Request an invitation | Participants and program

The era of cheap money is behind us and CFOs must now grapple with how to operate in a high interest rate environment, how fast to invest in artificial intelligence, and how to manage geopolitical tensions and thorny labor relations. With U.S. elections on the horizon, the CFO Network will discuss–through both newsmaking interviews and peer-to-peer discussions–how finance executives are reading the markets, driving the push for greater corporate efficiency and managing the pushback on ESG and DEI. Join WSJ journalists and some of the biggest names in corporate finance to discuss, debate and make headlines.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Martin Small, Senior Managing Director, Global Head of Corporate Strategy and CFO, BlackRock
• Bori Cox, CFO, Consumer and Community Banking, JPMorgan Chase
• Paul Ryan, Vice Chairman, Teneo; 54th Speaker of the House

• Reddit is targeting a valuation of up to $6.5 billion in its highly anticipated IPO, far less than the social-media company was worth a few years ago. 
   
• The U.S. is trying to lure more East Asia industrial giants, even as they face challenges.
   
• Climate investing is booming at BlackRock. Just don’t call it ESG.
   
• As migration hits record levels worldwide, a debate is building among economists over whether some industries are becoming too dependent on foreign labor. 
   
• Bond traders are laying down wagers hours ahead of key readings on the U.S. economy, a sign of confidence that they know how new data will shift markets.
   
• Workers are defending freight railroad Norfolk Southern as an activist investor seeks to oust its leadership.

BorgWarner, an Auburn Hills Mich.-based technology provider for vehicle companies, named Amy Kulikowski as chief accounting officer. She most recently held the same title at Cooper-Standard Holdings, a Northville, Mich.-based manufacturer of sealing and fluid handling systems.

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

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team is 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.