Following on JC Penney's strong holiday sales news, a group of retailers reported holiday sales for the November-through-December period were generally better than anticipated. More importantly, five companies raised guidance for the quarter (Most retailers have a November-through-January quarter.):
1) American Eagle: sales were down 2 percent, better than "mid-single digit" declines expected for the quarter, and they guided higher,
2) Aeropostale: sales fell 9 percent, not as bad as feared, and fourth quarter loss will be less than previously indicated,
3) Stage Stores: sales rose 6.5 percent,
4) Cato : sales were up 6 percent, better than the 4.5 percent gain expected,
5) Zumiez: sale jumped 8 percent.
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You've got to believe that lower gas and better employment numbers were factors in these better guidance numbers.
Even those that did not raise guidance reported sales better than expected:
1) Barnes and Noble: sales up 1.7 percent,
2) Pier One: revenues rose 8.2 percent,
3) Urban Outfitters: sales jumped 4 percent.
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Signet Jewelers saw sales rise 3.6 percent and reaffirmed guidance, with management saying, "we resisted deep promotions."
Costco core comps were up 8 percent, versus estimates of up 6.6 percent. Lower gas sales brought down the ticket a bit.
I'm eager to hear from Macy's and Target, which did release holiday sales numbers this time last year.
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Elsewhere, S&P futures surged 15 points shortly after 9 p.m. ET last night. The head of the Chicago Federal Reserve, Charles Evans, gave a speech saying it would be a "catastrophe" to raise rates. That is no surprise from Evans the uber-dove, but this year he is a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, which likely explains the outsized reaction.