Retail In Focus–Here’s Why
Stocks are slightly lower
after a morning gap-up. Q4
productivity rose 2.1%. Jobless claims fell 1000 to 310,000, in-line. The 4-week
moving average fell 1500 to 307, 000, the lowest level since October 2000.
Continuing claims were 2.67 million. The ISM was 59.8 February, slightly below
expectations, vs 59.2 for January. Any number above 50 indicates expansion.
Same store sales were generally higher. Eighty-four percent of retailers are
beat expectations for February, which is impressive because of tough comps and
wet weather in the West. Overall, sales are up 4.4% from last year.
Coach
(
COH |
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PowerRating) beat and raised second half guidance. Limited
(
LTD |
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said same store sales fell 4%. Starbucks’
(
SBUX |
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PowerRating)Â same store sales rose 9% in February.
The Wall Street Journal reports that ChevronTexaco
(
CVX |
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PowerRating)
may be interested in buying Unocal
(
UCL |
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PowerRating).
Fannie Mae
(
FNM |
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PowerRating) may required to recognize $2.8 in additional
derivative losses due to new accounting concerns.
The average tax return is $2400, up 9% from last
year. One-half of all returns are now filed electronically.
Strong sectors are: Oil Services
(
$OSX.X |
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PowerRating)
+1.01%Â Â Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
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PowerRating) +0.99%Â Â Natural
Gas
(
$XNG.X |
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PowerRating) +0.75%Â
Weak sectors are:Â Semis
(
SOX.X |
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PowerRating)
-2.00%Â Â Hardware Â
(
$HWI.X |
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PowerRating) -1.52%Â Â Â
Transports
(
$TRANX.X |
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PowerRating) -1.24%
Dow | -21.20 | 10,790.77 |
Nasdaq | -13.87 | 2053.63 |
S&P 500 | -2.85 | 1207.23 |
The dollar is +0.09 at
83.17
Crude Oil is +0.60 at
53.65
Gold is -3.00 to 429.70
ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume is 729 million on the NYSE and 1 billion on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is mixed.
NYSE | Issues | |
Advancing | 1649 | Up Vol 313 |
Declining | 1425 | Down Vol 324 |
1.15 | 1.03 | |
Nasdaq |
||
Advancing | 1227 | Up Vol 234 |
Declining | 1676 | Down Vol 578 |
1.36 | 2.47 |
Stocks in the News
WalMart
(
WMT |
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PowerRating) same store sales rose 4.1% in February; the company
said it will do even better in March.
Astrazeneca
(
AZN |
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PowerRating) said the FDA approved revisions for Crestor.Â
Numis Securities says “The data points out that Crestor suffers from the same
incidence of the rare side effect of serious muscle weakness to other statins,
and from this there would appear nothing to support the critics of the drug.”
Petsmart
(
PETM |
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PowerRating) missed revenue estimates.
Brice Wightman