Disappointing Retail Sales Weigh

Elena
04 Jan, 2007
New York City

U. S. stocks started trading lower Thursday morning as disappointing monthly retail sales raised concerns about the outlook for corporate profits. Retail chains like Federated Department Store, Gap Inc., Limited Brands Inc., and Target Corp. posted lower-than-expected same-store sales during the month of December. In economic news, the Commerce Department said that November factory orders rose 0.9% following a revised 4.5% decline in October.

[R]9:45AM Market opened lower amid disappointing retail sales.[/R]
U. S. stocks started trading lower Thursday morning as disappointing monthly retail sales raised concerns about the outlook for corporate profits. Retail chains like Federated Department Store., Gap Inc., Limited Brands Inc., and Target Corp. posted lower-than-expected same-store sales during th month of December. Discount retailer Target Corp. ((TGT)) said Thursday its December same-store sales rose 4.1%, slightly below the expected rise of 4.5%. Net sales rose 9% to $9.25 billion. For January, Target forecast a same-store sales gain of 3.5% to 5.5%.

Resource stocks showed considerable weakness, contributing to the early losses. Energy stocks moved further down, as the price of oil extended its recent decline, falling to $57 a barrel. Shares of Exxon ((XOM))declined 1.4%. Similarly, a continued decrease by the price of gold dragged down gold stocks. In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 15.78, or 0.13%, to 12,458.74. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 4.27, or 0.30%, at 1,312.36, and the Nasdaq composite index shed 4.55, or 0.19%, to 2,418.61.


[R]9:30AM NY – 3:00PM London FTSE 100 lower as weak metals hit the market.[/R]
The FTSE 100 in London slipped 0.62% to 6,280 in mid-afternoon session.

Economic news

The service sector in the UK grew at its fastest pace in almost a decade last month, while companies are displaying increasing optimism about the coming year, a survey released on Thursday showed.

Decliners

Kazakhmys, Vedanta and Antofagasta were firmly in negative territory impacted the overall market trend negatively, down 4.69%, 4.40% and 4.10% respectively. Xstrata fell worst, down 5.30% as falling copper prices weighed on the miners.

Oil prices declined 4% on Wednesday to below $59 a barrel due to milder than usual weather in North America, with the conditions set to continue well into next week. BP, Shell and Cairn Energy fell, 0.97%, 1.71% and 4.56% respectively.

Dutch bank ABN Amro downgraded British Gas owner Centrica to hold from buy and reduced its earnings estimates for 2008-09 by 8% and 6% respectively on valuation grounds.

St James'' Park Group, a consortium backed by Polygon Global Opportunities Master Fund, has pulled back of bid talks with English Premiership football club Newcastle United, bringing shares of the soccer club down 8.07%.

Advancers

Online electronic trading platform business FastFill announced that it has received an approach regarding a possible offer for the company, which supported a 13.73% surge in the shares of the company.

In the wake of the sale of Dolcis, clothes and shoes retailer Alexon saw same-store sales for the rest of the group for the 22 weeks ended 30 December decline 4% compared with the previous year. The shares of the company advanced 3.73%.


[R]9:00AM Market futures declined on rate worries and disappointing retail sales.[/R]
U.S. stock futures pointed to a negative market opening on continuous concerns that the Fed Reserve may not cut interest rates in the short term. Market also digested December retail sales which turned out to be lower than previously expected. On the economic news front, the Labor Department reported that 329,000 newly unemployed workers filed applications for jobless benefits, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week, marking the highest level since late November. Thursday''s economic agenda also includes the Institute of Supply Management''s non-manufacturing index for December, weekly energy supplies statistics, as well as November factory orders.

Among companies releasing quarterly results, Monsanto Co. ((MON)), agricultural products maker, said its Q1 earnings surged 53% to 16 cents a share, up from 11 cents last year on strong sales, The company said it sees full-year results at the top end of its previous guidance. The stock fell 2.5% in pre-market trading, as the top end of its guidance range was still below analysts'' expectations. In corporate news, Cisco Systems ((CIS)) said it agreed to buy privately held IronPort Systems for $830 million. S&P 500 futures shed 2.80 points to 1,422.00 and Nasdaq 100 futures declined 5.50 points to 1,773.50. Dow industrial futures dropped 24 points to 12,506.

[R]Initial jobless claims rose more than expected.[/R]
Thursday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended December 30, showing that jobless claims increased by much more than economists had been expecting. The report showed that jobless claims rose to 329,000 from the previous week''s revised figure of 319,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge up to 320,000 from the 317,000 originally reported for the previous week. The Labor Department also said that the less volatile 4-week moving average rose to 317,500 from the previous week''s revised average of 316,250. The report also showed that continuing claims in the week ended December 23 fell to 2.446 million from the preceding week''s revised level of 2.522 million. The data may shed some light on the monthly employment report that is due to be released on Friday. Economists currently expect the report to show that U.S. economy added around 115,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.5 percent.


[R]8:00AM Retailers reported weaker-than-expected December same-store sales.[/R]
Retail companies will be in the spotlight on Thursday, due to the release of December same-store sales. Rainstorms and warmer winter weather are expected to have negatively influenced retailers’ holiday sales. The increasing popularity of gift cards and robust online shopping, which is not included in same-store results, are also considered to have hurt sales. The International Council of Shopping Centers is projecting that December same-store sales will rise at the low end of its 2.5% to 3.5% forecast.

Following Wal-Mart’s ((WMT)) report of better-than-expected same-store sales, Costco Wholesale and American Eagle Outfitters posted surprisingly strong data. Costco Wholesale Corp. ((COST)) said that December same-store sales rose 9%, higher than the projected 5.7% increase. Total sales rose 14% to $7.24 billion from $6.37 billion a year earlier. Costco stated that the current reporting period included 34 selling days vs. 33 a year earlier, providing a 3% boost to the latest data. J.C. Penney Corp. ((JCP)) also reported positive results, saying December sales at department stores open at least a year rose 2.6%, slightly higher than estimates of 2.4% growth. Total department store sales rose 4.2% to $2.96 billion.

Among retailers releasing disappointing results, Bebe Stores Inc. ((BEBE)) reported a 4% increase in sales at stores open at least a year, missing analyst estimates of an increase by 6.3%. Total retail sales for the five weeks ended Dec. 30 climbed 13.5% to $95.6 million. The apparel retailer cut its Q2 earnings forecast, due to lower-than-expected sales and higher-than-planned markdowns. Limited Brands Inc. ((LTD)) posted a 4% advance by its December same-store sales, coming in below expectations of a gain by 9.3%. Net sales for the period rose 6% to $2.03 billion. Likewise, Federated Department Stores Inc. ((FD)) said sales rose 4.4%, below expectations of a 5.5% rise.

Pier 1 Imports Inc. ((PIR)) said that December comparable sales dropped 10.7%, below forecasts for a 9.4% decline. Total sales fell 10.9% to $242.5 million. Wilsons The Leather Experts Inc. ((WLSN)) said Thursday that same-store sales slipped 23% for the five weeks ended Dec. 3, blaming warmer-than-expected weather. Total sales for the period dropped to $75.7 million from $110.2 million. Gap ((GPS)) was also among the big misses, with sales down 8%, worse than the 5% drop expected by analysts. The retailer also cut its profit forecast for the year. Chico''s FAS ((CHS)) said December same-store sales fell 2% from last-year levels, meeting estimates. Total sales jumped 12% to $193.2 million from last year''s $172.6 million. The specialty apparel and accessories retailer said it expects Q4 earnings of 12 to 15 cents a share, below forecasts of 21 cents a share.


[R]7:30 AM Asian markets mostly fell Thursday, Japan, China gained.[/R]
Asian markets finished mostly lower on Thursday. The Nikkei 225 Average finished the day 0.7% higher at 17353.67. Toyota advanced 1.6% and Nissan gained 1.5%, while Fuji Heavy, the maker of Subaru-brand cars, surged 4.7% on a local newspaper report that top shareholder Toyota will supply compact cars for sale in Europe with Subaru badges. Technology stocks also performed well, with Hitachi up 6.1%, Toshiba gaining 2.6%, Mitsubishi Electric advancing 3.9%, and Sony rising 1.8%.

In China, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.5% to 2,715.71. Air China soared 9.9%, China Southern Airlines advanced 4.2%. Sinopec, the largest refiner by capacity in Asia, surged 9.9% on higher global oil prices. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 1.9% to 20,025.58. China Construction Bank was off 4.9%, Bank of China lost 3.8%, ICBC sank 4.3%, while Bank of Communications tumbled 8.5% and Ping An plummeted 8.8%.

In South Korea, banks and construction shares led losses in the stock market. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, shed 0.9% to 1,397.29. Investors worry that tougher mortgage loan rules will impact negatively bank profit margins and damp the property market. Koomin Bank, the largest Korean bank by assets, shed 1.7%, while Hyundai Engineering & Construction was down 2.3%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX Index 200 declined 1.1% to end at 5,563.90. BHP Billiton fell 4.4% and Rio Tinto shed 4.2% after London Metal Exchange copper declined 4.0% on Wednesday.


[R]6:30 AM Europe declined on Thursday as copper hit commodity exchanges.[/R]
European markets were lower on Thursday. By mid-morning, the U.K. FTSE 100 shed 0.8% to to 6,269.2, Frankfurt Xetra DAX also slid 0.8% to 6,638.72 and CAC 40 in France declined 1% to to 5,557.56.

Decliners

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto shed more than 3% in London as copper prices plunged further. Antofagasta, the owner of three copper mines in Chile, dipped 3.9%. Steelmakers were also down. Vallourec, the French maker of steel tube, shed 3.4%, Mittal Steel slid 4.2% and ThyssenKrupp of Germany shed 3%.

Oil and gas producers declined on a 4% drop in crude prices overnight. Austrian OMV was down 2.4%, Total in France slipped 1.8%, while Repsol of Spain was 1.5% lower.

Carmakers were hit after sales in US fell last month. Volkswagen AG and DaimlerChrysler AG declined as shares of Volkswagen fell 1.4% and DaimlerChrysler, shed 1%. BMW dropped 1.8%. The biggest luxury carmaker in the world had the recommendation on its stock cut to hold from buy at Citigroup Investment Research.

Advancers

Akzo Nobel NV gained 2.3%. The Dutch chemicals maker announced an initial public offering of its pharmaceutical unit Organon is still the preferred option after a newspaper reported today that the company is in talks with at least two private equity firms about the sale of Organon. Carnival Plc, a cruise-ship operator, gained 2.5% as Morgan Stanley raised its share-price forecast on the stock with 15%.

Oil and gold

Crude oil for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange declined $2.73 from settlement price on Friday to a six-week low of $58.32 a barrel. Gold traded in London at $625.25 per troy ounce, down from $635.25 late Wednesday.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar rose against other major currencies in European trading Thursday morning. The euro traded at $1.3101, down from $1.3165 late Wednesday in New York. The British pound traded at $1.9430, down from $1.9505. The dollar bought 119.37 Japanese yen, up from 119.35.