S&P Consumer Discretionary Index flat, modestly outperforming the broader market

Story Stocks^® Archive

Last Update: 24-Jul-12 09:41 ET

The consumer discretionary group is slightly outperforming the broader market in early trade. The retail group is mixed with the Retail HOLDRS Trust (RTH) -0.1% and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) 0.1%.

Trading higher following earnings/guidance: SIX +9.1%, UA +8.3%, PCAR +5.1%, ABG +4.2%, JAH +1.8%, PENN +1.4%, VOLVY +0.6%... Trading lower following earnings/guidance: DV -27.5%, BYD -7.7%, WHR -6.4%, CPLA -2.4%, JJSF -1.7%, ITW -0.6%, Near unchanged mark following earnings/guidance: CPB. Education names are under pressure. A few names trading lower include: STRA -6.76%, ESI -5.78%, APOL -3.73%, CECO -3.10%, CPLA -2.62%, BPI -3.14%, WPO -2.68%, LOPE -3.22%, EDMC -2.06%, LINC -2.47%, COCO -2.86%. Other notable mentions: WMT flat (issued statement opposing the proposed Interchange Fee Settlement says 'disappointed in the proposed credit card interchange fee settlement' ), Leaders: WTSLA 0.8% (issued the following statement from its Board of Directors in response letter received on July 23, 2012 from Clinton Group; says 'Company has engaged in a series of discussions with the Clinton Group').

Analyst related: Upgrades: GT 2.6% (upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman)... Downgrades: PAG -5.7% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman), PEET 0.8% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies), RSH -3% (downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS), CMG -1.2% (downgraded to Hold at Argus), PHM -1.5% (downgraded to Negative from Neutral at Susquehanna)... Misc: HSNI -0.5% (initiated with a Market Perform at Wells Fargo), LINTA 0% (initiated with a Market Perform at Wells Fargo), JCP 1.6% (initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer), RRGB -0.4% (initiated with a Hold at Miller Tabak), BKW -0.4% (initiated with a Neutral at Credit Suisse), DRI 0.3% (initiated with a Buy at Davenport ), DNKN 0.5% (initiated with a Neutral at Janney Montgomery Scott ), TRIP 0.3% (Hearing positive mention at Lazard), ZNGA -1% (Hearing cautious mention at Lazard), TXRH -0.8% (initiated with a Neutral at Davenport), EAT -0.2% (initiated with a Neutral at Davenport).