** Apparel and accessories stocks gained ground on Wed as
outlook for brick and mortar retailers brightens amid lifting
social distancing restrictions
** Apparel retailers jumped: Express Inc EXPR.K surged
22.3%, Abercrombie & Fitch ANF.N jumped 10.0%, Gap Inc GPS.N
advanced 4.7%
** Accessories climbed: Fossil Group Inc FOSL.O rose 11.8%
and Under Armour UAA.N gained 5.4%
** On Wed, ANF beat qtrly rev consensus after COVID
restrictions were lifted and predicted Q2 sales will be above
pre-pandemic levels urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2ND2YV
** On May 10, mall REIT Simon Property Group SPG.N
reported Q1 EPS of $1.36, down 4.9% y/y and mall occupancy of
90.8%; SPG was last up 2.0%
** So far this year, the S&P 1500 Apparel, Accessories and
Luxury index .SPLRCTEXT is up 13%, while the S&P 500 Apparel
Retail index .SPLRCRETA has gained >7% over the same time
period
(Reporting by Stephen Culp)
((stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com; 646-223-6076;))