S&P 500 Falls 1% on December Retail Sales Decline of 0.9%

Nichole Harper
14 Jan, 2015
New York City

Three widely followed market indexes in Wall Street declined more than 1% after December retail sales declined more than expected 0.9%. Retail sales in November and October were trimmed as well. Copper price fell 4.5% to a five-year low. JPMorgan net declined.

[R]12:15 PM New York – Three widely followed market indexes in Wall Street declined more than 1% after December retail sales declined more than expected 0.9%. Retail sales in November and October were trimmed as well. Copper price fell 4.5% to a five-year low. JPMorgan net declined.[/R]

Stocks in New York fell sharply after December retail sales declined more than expected and copper and oil price continued weaken.

U.S. Department of Commerce reported retail sales adjusted for seasonality and calendar declined 0.9% to $442.9 billion from November but jumped 3.2% from a year ago month.

In a separate report, the department said inventories at the end of November increased 0.2% from October to $1,763.6 billion and climbed 4.4% from a year ago.

The Department of Labor announced import price index in December dropped 2.5% after decrease 1.8% in November and 1.4% in October. Export prices slumped 1.2% in December following 0.8% fall in November.

On Wall Street trading, Tollbooth Strategy Index slipped 0.9% or 95.85 to 9,767.84.

S&P 500 index fell 18.21 or 0.9% to 2,004.67 and the Nasdaq Composite Index slid 36.97 or 0.8% to 4,624.88.

Market indexes are trading below three-month average and the ongoing plunge in commodities prices have raised questions for the global economic growth.

Copper price in New York trading declined 4.5% to $2.519, fifth daily decline in a row. The immediate month delivery of copper price fell 5% to a five-year low as well in London trading to $5,554.10 a metric ton.

U.S. Movers

CSX Corporation ((CSX)) gained 1.1% or 38 cents to $33.93 after the rail transportation service provider said revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in December jumped 5% to $3.19 billion from a year ago period.

Net earnings in the quarter soared 15% to $491 million or 49 cents a diluted share compared to $426 million or 42 cents from the same quarter last year.

JPMorgan Chase & Co ((JPM)) declined 4% or $2.36 to $56.48 after the financial service provider reported total net revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in December dropped 2% to $23.55 billion from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter declined 12% to $4.93 billion or $1.19 a diluted share compared to $5.28 billion or $1.30 from the same quarter last year.

Wells Fargo & Co ((WFC)) fell 29 cents to $51.57 after the bank and brokerage group reported revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in December jumped 4% to $21.4 billion from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter edged up 2% to $5.7 billion or $1.02 a diluted share compared to $5.61 billion or $1 from the same quarter last year.

European Markets

In London trading, FTSE 100 index declined 2.7% or 179.53 to 6,362.67 and in Frankfurt the DAX index dropped 1.5% or 147.36 to 9,793.64.

In Paris, CAC 40 index slumped 1.7% or 74.74 to 4,215.54.

Burberry Group Plc slipped 1.4% to 1,641 pence after the U.K.-based luxury apparel and accessory retailer said retail revenues in the third-quarter soared 14% to £604 million and comparable store sales in the quarter jumped to 8%.

The company forecasted wholesale segment revenue excluding beauty segment in the second-half ending in March may drop by a mid-single-digit percentage compared to £240 million in a year ago period.

Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA surged 9.6% to €9.47 after the Portugal-based food retailer reported net sales in the year climbed 7.2% to €12.68 billion from €11.83 billion a year ago period.

The company said sales form the Biedronka segment jumped 9.5% to €8.43 billion and total sales form Pingo Doce business increased 1.7% to €3.23 billion but revenues from Recheio segment fell 0.7% to €799 million from a year ago period.

Asian Markets

Nikkei index extended two-day losses over 2.5% and the yen gained to a four-week. Crude oil, iron ore and copper prices continued the decline in international markets.

Stocks in Tokyo declined for the second day in a row as the yen advanced to a four-week high and crude oil, iron ore and copper prices continued the decline.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 291.75 or 1.7% to 16,795.96 and the broader Topix index slid 16.71 to 1,357.98.

The yen strengthened to 117.06 against one dollar.

In Mumbai trading, Sensex Index slipped 78.91 or 0.3% to close at 27,346.82. The CNX Nifty slid 21.85 or 0.3% to 8,277.55.

Bajaj Finance Limited climbed 8.1% to Rs 3,765.75 after the financial service provider said net in the third-quarter surged33.08% to Rs 258.38 crore.

Revenues soared 37.34% to Rs 1,485.39 crore.

LIC Housing Finance Limited dropped 1.9% to Rs 453.95 after the housing finance company said net in the third-quarter increased 5.43% to Rs 344.34 crore.

Net revenues advanced 15.1% to Rs 2,735.78 crore.

PVR Limited slipped 1.8% to Rs 720.35 after the movie house operator plans to buy Chennai-based Sathyam Cinemas for as much as Rs 700 crore.

YES Bank, Ltd rose 0.6% to Rs 786.80 and the financial service provider said net in the third-quarter surged 30% to Rs 540.29 crore.

Net revenues climbed 20.89% to Rs 3,508.47 crore.

Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd, after the restaurant research service provider agreed to acquire the U.S.-based UrbanSpoon.com for a price between $50 million and $60 million. The company did not disclose its acquisition price and recently completed its fourth round of fund raising.

The restaurant guide app developer is active in 22 countries and recently raised $60 million from Info Edge, Sequoia Capital and Vy. In all, the company has raised $113 million and Info Edge is the largest shareholder in the company.

With the acquisition, Zomato anticipates its current monthly traffic to surge closer to 80 million visitors from 35 million.