EmailThe consumer discretionary group is slightly underperforming the broader market in early trade. The retail group is mixed with the Retail HOLDRS Trust (RTH) -0.5% and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) slightly lower.
Trading higher following earnings/guidance: PLCE +8%, PETM +6%, SHLD +4.2%, BKE +2.8%, SSI +1.9%, HOTT +1.5%... Trading lower following earnings/guidance: PERY -19.4%, BONT -6.5%, DLTR -5.7%, WMT -2.8%, GME -1.5%, LTD -1.3%, ROST -0.7%. Other notable mentions: NYT flat (Bloomberg discusses that NYT does have enough cash on hand to go private)... Leaders: ALV 0.5% (Autoliv increases quarterly dividend to $0.50/share from $0.47/share), CSTR 6.7% (is having discussions over possible sale, according to reports; also disclosed it entered into a trading plan to facilitate repurchases of its common stock), EA 7.3% (reports out indicating M&A speculation), BBY 2% (Best Buy Founder Richard Schulze Sends Letter to Board affirming commitment to acquisition)... Laggards: SKX -0.8% (announces legal victory in patent suit), SPLS -0.5% (cautious mention in Barron's, downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup).
Analyst related: Downgrades: BYI -1.8% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank), GNC -2.7% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank), ANF 0.2% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Citigroup)... Misc: FINL 2.2% (added to Top Picks Live list at Citigroup), BKW 1.4% (initiated with an Equal Weight at Barclays).
