Walmart Recorded Solid Earnings, But What’s The Stock Doing?
Stocks are trading lower
this mid-day. Â Once again mixed economic data, rate hike fears,
and geopolitical developments have stocks pulling back.
Initial jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 302K. Consensus was calling for
315K. This was the lowest level in four years. Import prices in January
increased by 0.9%, this was above consensus of a 0.7% rise. Excluding energy,
import prices rose by 0.2%. Leading economic indicators for January fell by
0.3%, this was slightly more than estimates calling for a 0.2% fall. Lastly, the
Philly Fed Index rose to 23.9 in February from 13.2 last month. This was much
better than estimates calling for a reading of 17.5.
Walmart posted fourth quarter results that beat expectations. The
world’s largest retailer reported earnings of $3.16 billion or 75 cents a share
compared to last year’s results of $2.72 billion or 63 cents a shares. However
CEO Leo Scott claimed that the retailer was not aggressive enough in their
merchandising plan. Further he added that “We would have been better off
if we had traded lower markdowns for sales”. Shares of Walmart are now
fractionally lower after giving back earlier gains.
Strong sectors are: Gold Bugs
(
$HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.09%Â
Gold & Silver
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.84%Â Homebuilders
(
$HGX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.23%
Weak sectors are:Â Disk Drives
(
$DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.31%Â Â Internet
(
$DOT.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.22%Â Â Â Insurance Â
(
$INSRX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-1.12%Â
| Dow | 10,789.66 | |
| S&P 500 | 1204.50 | |
| Nasdaq | 2074.16 |
The dollar is -0.84 at
83.48
Crude Oil is -0.11 at
48.22
Gold is +3 to 427.00
8.77 million on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1160 | Up Vol 246 |
| Declining | 1940 | Down Vol 426 |
| 1.04 | 1.01 | |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1580 | Up Vol 777 |
| Declining | 1555 | Down Vol 1045 |
| 1.01 | 1.34 |
Stocks in the News
Baker Hughes
(
BHI |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a higher fourth quarter
profit helped by high oil and gas prices.
Ing Group
(
ING |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted a higher-than-expected rise in 2004 net
profit.
Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings of 37 cents per share. That
was one cent better than expected.
Broadwing Corp
(
BWNG |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted a revenue gain of 54% for the quarter
ended December.
Brocade
(
BRCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)Â announced earnings of 10 cents a share. It was
two cents ahead of expectations.
American Pharmaceutical
(
APPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported eight cents better than
expected earnings of 38 cents per share.
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Brice Wightman