The relationship between department store earnings and the economy

Many of the big department store chains announced quarterly earnings this week. We’ll hear from Macy’s, J.C. Penney, Nordstrom and Kohl’s. 

Analysts are not all that optimistic. So just how much can department store earnings tell us about the health of our consumer-driven economy?

Click the above audio player to get the full story from Marketplace’s Adriene Hill.