EmailThe consumer discretionary group is slightly outperforming the broader market in early trade. The retail group is also in the green with the Retail HOLDRS Trust (RTH) 0.3% and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) 0.8%. Trading higher following earnings/guidance: MAT +9.6%, JOEZ +2.6%, KO +2.4%, HST +2%, BRO +1.9%, LEE +1.3%, ELS +0.6%, ... Trading lower following earnings/guidance: EDU -25.5%, CTAS -4.8%. Other notable mentions: IPAR FLAT (Inter Parfums and Burberry continue following Burberry's exercise of option to buy out license on December 31, 2012), PG flat(Bloomberg discusses that PG may exit certain businesses to increase its valuation), HBI flat (reduces borrowing costs of revolving loan facility by 100 basis points), Leaders: NWSA 1% (News Corp's Australian unit has won a taxation case, according to reports), HWD 1.3% (reports that in 2Q2012, the Diavik Diamond Mine produced 1.79 million carats from 0.5 million tonnes of ore processed; Diavik's full-year target production remains at 8.3 mln carats), LTM 1% (positive mention on MadMoney), SIG 1.2% (disclosed it authorized $50 mln increase in existing program to repurchase common shares to $350 mln), WMS 0.9% (WMS Industries forms Williams Interactive to advance iGaming products and services for casino operators and their players ), TIVO 0.8% (TiVo to acquire platform for improving TV advertising effectiveness based on connecting same TV household viewing data and purchase data)... Laggards: TPX -4.2% and SCSS -5.8% (lower following MFRM results), SVU -1.2% (following late spike on WSJ report related to potential buyer interest).
Analyst related: Upgrades: LRLCY 2.6% (upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse), LTD 2% (upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Robert W. Baird), CMG 1.5% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup), ARO 2.7% (upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley), DIS 2.3% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill)... Downgrades: TGT -1.1% (Target downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup), EXPR -1.3% (downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley), LOW -1% and HD -0.9% (downgraded to Neutral at Janney), DNKN -1.7% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan), SFD flat (downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at boutique firm), DHI -0.2% (downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James), KBH -0.7% (downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James), ... Misc: EBAY 2% (initiated with a Buy at Lazard Capital), AMZN 0.4% (initiated with a Buy at Lazard Capital), URBN 2.5% (added to Best Ideas List at Morgan Stanley), BYD 0.6% (initiated with a Sector Perform at RBC Capital), ASCA 1.6%, PENN 1.1%, MPEL 0.5% (initiated with an Outperform at RBC Capital), LVS 1.4% (upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna, initiated with an Outperform at RBC Capital), ISLE 4.1% (initiated with an Outperform at RBC Capital),-F PNK 0.6% (initiated with Sector Perform at RBC Capital), MGM 1.8% (initiated with Sector Perform at RBC Capital), RSH -1.8% (RadioShack tgt cut to $3 from $6 at Barclays ), CVS 0.9% (resumed with a Mkt Outperform at JMP Securities).
