Are Higher Gas Prices Starting To Affect Consumers?
Stocks are mixed as investors weigh good economic
data with lowered guidance from Wal-Mart. Retail sales surged 1.4%,
double the expectation and the biggest gain since September. Wal-Mart
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WMT |
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missed by a penny at 0.55. Q1 sales rose 9%. The company now sees Q2 at 0.63 –
0.67…”challenging.” Wal-Mart blamed wet weather and higher gas prices.
Moody’s cut Ford debt to BAA2 from A3; the lowest investment grade
rating.
Urban Outfitters
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URBN |
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PowerRating) beat by 0.02. Sales rose 36%.
FedEx
(
FDX |
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Mylan Labs
(
MYL |
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PowerRating) beat by 0.02.
Napster
(
NAPS |
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PowerRating) beat estimates by 0.03 although the Q4 loss grew
almost fourfold from a year ago. This, despite a tripling in revenues.
ETrade
(
ET |
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PowerRating) is lower pre-open after Ameritrade
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AMTD |
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said the company is not for sales.
After the close today, look for Dell to report; the consensus is 0.37.
Strong sectors are: Â SemisÂ
(
$SOX.X |
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PowerRating) +1.06%Â Â Â
Biotech
(
$BTK.X |
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PowerRating) +0.34%Â Â Â Â Disk DrivesÂ
(
$DDX.X |
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PowerRating)
+0.65%
Weak sectors are:Â Â Oil Services
(
$OSX.X |
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PowerRating) -3.01% Â Â
Oil
(
$XOI.X |
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PowerRating) -2.28% Â Â Natural Gas
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$XNG.X |
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PowerRating)
-2.29%Â
Dow | -5.54 | 10,294.71 |
Nasdaq | +4.53 | 1976.08 |
S&P 500 | -1.80 | 1169.31 |
The dollar is +0.51 at
85.45
Crude Oil is -1.35 at
50.60
Gold is -3.00 at 423.70
ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume is 731 million on the NYSE and 742
million on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative.
NYSE | Issues | |
Advancing | 1257 | Up Vol 292 |
Declining | 1758 | Down Vol 360 |
1.26 | 1.44 | |
Nasdaq |
||
Advancing | 1460 | Up Vol 500 |
Declining | 1324 | Down Vol 193 |
1.02 | 1.95 |
Stocks In The News
Brice Wightman
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