Kmart Fights Back
Stocks are
lower with the dollar falling over security threats in Europe.
The British police closed off part of the Eurostar
train. Weekly unemployment claims fell by 6,000 to 336,000 — bringing the
four-week average to 344,000 — but US producer prices in January rose
0.6%. Analysts forecasted a 0.4% increase. Energy prices caused the largest
spike with gasoline prices jumping 14% in January and home heating oil costs up
16.8% after a 6% increase in December.
Kmart
(
KMRT |
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PowerRating) posted
earnings of $276 million compared with a loss of $1.1 billion. Sales tanked
25.8% because of fewer stores. KMRT also said the Martha Stewarts verdict has
not had an adverse impact on her line of products.
Microsoft
(
MSFT |
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PowerRating)
and the European Commission were not able to settle antitrust issues today
but next week, the EU will propose fines
expected to be as high as $1 billion.
| Dow | -81.04 |
10218.56 |
| S&P 500 |
-9.50 | 1113.30 |
| Nasdaq | -27.80 |
1949.95 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
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Chart |
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PowerRating) +4.13%, Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+3.08%, Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
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News |
PowerRating)
+0.47%, and Energy
(
DXE.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.19%.
Weak today are Airlines
(
XAL.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -3.20%, and Networking
(
NWX.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.58%.
Economic news releases today
included Producer Price Index up 0.6%, and the core PPI index up 0.3%,
both 0.2% higher than consensus. Initial claims fell to 336K with leading
indicators flat at 0%.
10-year Notes are -45 at
117 190
The dollar
is -1.13 at 87.92
Gold is +0.61 at 413.20
Crude Oil is -0.28 at
37.90
The euro
is -0.26 at 122.11
Volume is 560,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 766,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative.
| NYSEÂ | Issues | Â |
| Advancing | 1013 | Up Vol      134 |
| Declining | 2079 | Down Vol  409 |
| Ratio | 2.02 | 3.06 |
| Nasdaq |  |  |
| Advancing | 809 | Up Vol     146 |
| Declining | 2158 | Down Vol   599 |
| Ratio | 4.19 | 4.10 |
Top Dow stocks are:
American Express
(
AXP |
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Chart |
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PowerRating), +0.47% at
51.22, Coca-Cola
(
KO |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.32% at 49.05, Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.27% at 51.06, and Home Depot
(
HD |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.24% at 36.50.
Stocks in the news:
Rotal Dutch/Shell
(
RD |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) re-categorized the equivalent of another
$250 million barrels of oil at the end of 2002. The company expects to take a
$20 million charge for this downgrade and will delay the release of its annual
report until May.
Fortune Brands
(
FO |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) expects to beat analysts’ forecasts for its
first-quarter earnings as the company’s shares rose 4%.
Darden Restaurants
(
DRI |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings of $77.9 million on
revenue of $1.24 billion. This was the 38th consecutive quarter where Olive
Garden had rising same-store sales, at 5.4%. Red Lobster suffered a 5% drop in
its same-stores sales.
Planar Systems
(
PLNR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) took a hit after guiding
the Street lower due to higher costs in its medical and commercial business
units. It now expects to earn 7 cents on sales of $57 million.