Stocks Pull Back on Weak Retail Data

  • May 10, 2007
  • Darren Wong

The major indices are all lower this morning after
disappointing retail sales data.  The Nasdaq is leading the
indices to the downside with a loss of 0.8%.  Whole Foods
Market Inc. is leading the Nasdaq 100 lower with a drop of 11%
this morning.

June crude futures are up 0.8%
to $62.02 per barrel. 
June gold futures are down 1% to $675.40 an ounce.  The drop
in gold comes as a result of the strength in the dollar today.

Around Asia, Shanghai’s Composite
Index added 0.9% to close at 4,049.70, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed
fractionally lower to 17,736.96, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
lost 0.5% to 20,746.27.

Our

PowerRatings Heat Map remains on the bearish side as the market continues to
hold near highs.  Taking long positions at this point may hold more risk.  The
weakest sectors today are Transportation, Metals/Mining, Manufacturing, and
Energy.


Click here to see our new list of indicators that includes

Gaps Down 5% or More,

2-Period RSI Below 2,

Stocks Up 10% or More.  Historically proven edges make
these a great place to start making a watch list. 


Stocks in
Motion

Wal-Mart’s
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) April Comps. Slips 3.5%, Guides
May, Q2 Comps (full
story). WMT shares are trading fractionally higher this morning.

Gap
(
GPS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) April Comp. Falls 16%, Net Sales Down
11%; Q1 Sales Rise 3%, Beats Estimate; Guides Q1 EPS (full
story).  GPS shares add fractional gains.

Target
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) April Net Sales Slip 1.8%; Comp. Drops
6.1%; Backs FY07 Outlook (full
story).  TGT shares are up 0.2%.

Whole Foods
Market
(
WFMI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q2 Earnings Fall (full
story).  WFMI shares slide 11%.

Sara Lee
(
SLE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Q3 Profit Surges On Top Line Growth,
Absence Of Charges; Lifts FY07 EPS Outlook (full
story).  SLE shares lose 0.4%.

For more stories as they happen, go to our
Breaking News section.

Market Snapshot

Dow

 -77.20 13,285.67

NASDAQ

 -18.30 2,558.04

S&P 500

 -9.56 1,503.09

 

 NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

 1,119,343,000 820,933,000

Advances

 839 766

Declines

 2204 2098

Up Volume

 241 182

Down Volume

 721 544

New Highs

 119 96

New Lows

 19 54


   



Strongest/Weakest Sectors

Strongest Sectors

Weakest Sectors
Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payors Index (HMO) GSTI Internet Index (GIN)
Amex Airline Index (XAL) Amex Disk Drive Index (DDX)
S&P Retail Index (RLX) Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI)


Economic
News

Trade Balance
-$63.9 bln vs -$59.5 bln consensus

Initial Claims
297K vs 315K consensus

Export Prices ex Ag. +0.4%, prior 0.6%

Import Prices ex Oil +2.9%, prior +0.3%

Darren Wong

Associate Editor

darrenw@tradingmarkets.com