How The Cold Weather Helped Retailers
Stocks
are flat in choppy trading. Retailer Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported stronger January sales of $18.4 billion with same-store sales
rising 5.7%, way ahead of expectations. Other retailers such as Target
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
Costco
(
COST |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and Kohls
(
KSS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) are also expected to
benefit as the frigid weather in the Northeast boosted sales of winter apparel
and other cold weather goods. Five IPOs opened for trading today with financial
services company Assurant
(
AIZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) leading the way, followed by energy
equities Todco
(
THE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), AssetAcceptance Capital
(
AACC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
drug-maker Renovis
(
RNVS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Bakers Footwear Group
(
BKRS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
The Bank of England raised
interest rates, making Britain’s borrowing costs higher than the rest of Europe
and the US, as the bank seeks to curb rapid borrowing among consumers. The
European Central Bank kept rates in the euro zone steady at 2%, but once again
warned about the strength of the euro. The Group of Seven begins a two-day
meeting tomorrow.
| Dow | +3.48 | 10508.76 |
| S&P 500 |
-3.65 | 1132.36 |
| Nasdaq | -27.50 |
2038.64 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.07%, Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.94%, Internet
(
GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.80%, Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.55%, and Chemicals
(
CEX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.34%,
Weak today are Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -2.01%, and Natural Gas
(
XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.70%, .
Economic news releases included
lower-than-expected productivity that rose 2.7%, and Initial Claims that rose to
365K on a weekly basis.
10-year Notes are +30
at 113 250
The dollar
is -0.35 at 86.67
Gold is -1.80 at 399.90
Crude Oil is -0.46 at
31.53
Volume is 740,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 950,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is Mixed.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1624 | Up Vol 376 |
| Declining | 1472 | Down Vol 340 |
| Ratio | 1.14 | 2.11 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 1530 | Up Vol 461 |
| Declining | 1497 | Dow Vol 481 |
| Ratio | 1.03 | 1.04 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Boeing [BA|BA],
+1.42% at 44.18, Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.42% at 44.17, Du Pont [DD|DD],
+0.93% at 44.14, and Caterpillar [CAT|CAT]
+0.92% at 76.61.
Stocks in the news:
Softdrink manufacturer PepsiCo
(
PEP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported higher profits on strength from its Gatorade and diet softdrinks
divisions. The company earned $897 million on revenue of $8.07 billion.
Akamai Technologies
(
AKAM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
posted fourth-quarter revenue of $45.2 million and narrowed its loss to $2.1
million, down from $3.9 million the previous quarter. Its shares rose 20% on
the positive earnings and positive growth outlook.
Abercrombie and Fitch
(
ANF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
raised earnings forecasts on strong sales for the month of January. It now
expects to surpass previous forecasts of 93 cents a share as same-store sales
rose by 2% for the month.
Sales at BJ’s Wholesale
(
BJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose
by 8.8%, beating Wall Street estimates, with shares jumping 7%. BJ’s also
raised fourth-quarter earnings past previous estimates of 64 cents a share.
Level 3 Communications
(
LVLT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported higher revenues of 988 million from $926 million a year ago, with a net
loss of $121 million. The company also reported possible lower revenue due to
lower demand for its dial-up services as AOL
(
TWX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) noted it will lower its
dialup capacity and purchases.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com