NASDAQ Hits 6-Year High

Stocks are higher on Thursday, with the NASDAQ hitting a 6-year high. Retailers posted same store sales, with vastly different numbers and forecasts coming from many of them. Wal-Mart
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was bullish and raised its forecast, while Macy’s
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and J.C. Penney
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fell behind estimates.

Chicos’ FAS
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reported an 8% decline in September comparable store sales, although total sales rose by 7% (read more).

Nordstrom {JWN|JWN] announced same store sales rose 3.2% but reduced its Q3 EPS and sales growth forecast (read more).

Among today’s gainers, Consol Energy
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hit a 16-month high (read more) and Winnebago
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, which is up more than 10% after reporting earnings (read more).

Gold, silver and copper are all rallying today as the U.S. dollar continues to decline.

Market Snapshot

Dow

72.67 14151.36

NASDAQ

17.31 2828.92

S&P 500

9.37 1571.84

  NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

510,047,410 859,093,683

Up Volume

376,878,860 598,876,165

Down Volume

129,969,350 244,650,957

Advances

2118 1613

Declines

993 1161

New Highs

335 187

New Lows

14 41

Strongest/Weakest Industry Groups

Strongest Industries

% Change

Weakest Industries

% Change
Independent Oil & Gas
+4.53%
-2.60%
Industrial Metals & Minerals
+4.14%
Technical & System Software
-2.23%
Telecom Services – Foreign
+3.92%
Semiconductor – Integrated Circuits
-1.77%


Economic
News

Export Prices (Sep): 0.0%

Import Prices (Sep): -0.2%

Initial Claims (10/06): Actual 308K, Consensus 315K