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Trader Talk
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Retail Sales Offer Some Pockets Of Good News
No additional stimulus from China?
The Street was excited yesterday on talk that China would announce additional stimulus measures today, but the Chinese premier did not offer any additional stimulus details during the opening session of the National People's Congress. They did reiterate their belief that GDP would come in at 8 percent this year.
Commodity stocks like BHP Billiton, Alcoa and ArcelorMittal, which rose yesterday, are down mid single digits this morning.
Alcoa also down as Merrill cut its target price.
Elsewhere:
1) Futures, already weak, took an additional 5-point dip at 8:30 AM ET as revised Productivity numbers for the fourth quarter came in well below expectations, and Unit Labor Costs rose.
2) February retail sales: most were still down, but there were some pockets of positive news.
*Wal-Mart up 3 percent pre-open, did significantly better: same store sales up 5.1 percent, better than the 2.2 percent expected.
*Family Dollar up 8 percent pre-open, also reported numbers well above expectations and guided higher for the quarter ($0.59-$0.61 vs. $0.51 consensus)
*Kohls had results better than expected (down 1.6 percent, vs. expectations of down 4 percent) and said February sales results "exceeded our expectations" as regular price selling offset significantly lower levels of clearance sales.
Also better than expected: Gap, and teen retailers like Aeropostale (merchandise margins increased over last year, inventories were well controlled and on plan), American Eagle, Hot Topic and Wet Seal.
Worse than expected: Abercrombie (sales down 30 percent, way worse than 19.7 percent decline expected), Macy's
3) GM [GM
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] down again as its auditors raised "substantial doubt" about its ability to survive outside of bankruptcy. No surprise here; GM said last month it was likely auditors would raise the question.
4) Wells Fargo [WFC
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] down 8 percent as Moody's warned it is considering downgrading its credit rating.
5) The Bank of England reduced its benchmark rate to 0.5 percent, the lowest ever.
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Questions? Comments?
- The Nasdaq has suffered the most from the EU crisis showing there's risk in the usual tech stocks.
- Targeting more Millennials is just one of the items brewing for consumers in the world of spirits.
- It seems many people may need a reminder of how NOT to act on a plane. Here are a few tips.
- Here are some very unusual roadside stops along American highways that might peek your interest.
- How three generations of Americans are dealing with the finances of retirement.
- Hostage to Headlines
- Facebook Analyst Reports All Over the Map
- More Fallout From the Facebook Fiasco
- Facebook and Morgan Stanley's 99 Problems
- Lousy Economic Numbers, but Stocks Hold Up
- Eurobond Talk: Good News and Bad News
- Hopes Fading for Big Announcement From EU Leaders
- European 'Crisis Tennis' Again
- Facebook IPO 'Conspiracy' Theories Abound
- OK, Facebook Is Embarrassing
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
