Tempur Sealy Spikes on Mattress Firm Bankruptcy Report
Tempur Sealy International Inc. (TPX) shares jumped 9.5% on Wednesday, Oct. 3, following a report from Reuters that rival Mattress Firm is planning to file for bankruptcy soon.
Mattress Firm is the country's largest mattress retailer with about 3,000 brick-and-mortar locations, though the company has been losing market share in recent years to online competitors.
Tempur Sealy pulled its Tempur-Pedic products from Mattress Firm stores last year.
Mattress Firm recently cited "ineffective brand marketing" as one of its key strategic issues in a public lender update. The company also noted that it was experiencing a shift in supplier relationships and "merchandising decisions that negatively impacted profitability."
Along with Tempur Sealy, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) could also be a beneficiary of the impending consolidation of the mattress industry. Amazon recently launched AmazonBasics Memory Foam Mattress as a private label option for mattress shoppers.
Amazon's mattress comes in twin, full, queen, king and California king sizes and starts at $130. Amazon joins other companies like Casper, Leesa, Yogabed and Purple looking to take market share from Mattress Firm.
EBay Wants Amazon to Stop Illegally Poaching Its Sellers
eBay Inc. (EBAY) wants Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) to stop illegally poaching sellers for its marketplace through eBay's own messaging system, according to The Wall Street Journal, which viewed a cease-and-desist letter from the company.
EBay sent the letter on Monday, Oct. 1, alleging that Amazon has about 50 sales representatives worldwide that sent more than 1,000 messages to sellers on its platform. EBay began investigating the matter after it was alerted by a seller.
The cease-and-desist letter claimed that Amazon was violating California's Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act as well as the company's own user agreement.
Premarket
U.S. futures are climbing Wednesday morning as the Dow Jones Industrial Average looks to build off of a record closing level during Tuesday's session.
Dow futures are climbing 0.28%, indicating an open 76 points higher, while S&P futures are rising 0.32%, indicating an open 10 points higher, while Nasdaq futures are rising 0.37%, indicating an open 28 points higher.
Asian markets were mixed with Asian benchmark Shanghai Composite gaining 1.06%, while the Hang Seng and Nikkei dropped 0.13% and 0.66%, respectively.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 was rising 0.61% and the CAC 40 rose 0.6% with about four hours left in trading. The DAX was closed Wednesday.