THE BORE
General => The Superdeep Borehole => Topic started by: The Fake Shemp on November 27, 2006, 02:26:03 PM
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Stocks tumble as investors eye retail data
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, delivers rare sales decline
Updated: 47 minutes ago
NEW YORK - Wall Street suffered a sharp pullback Monday as investors returned from the Thanksgiving weekend with questions about the strength of the retail sector following a rare sales decline at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The Dow Jones industrials fell 150 points.
Investors were uneasy after news that Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, suffered a 0.1 percent drop in same-store sales, those from stores open at least a year. Same-store sales are the industry standard for assessing a retailer’s strength, and while retail sales overall were strong last weekend, Wal-Mart’s deficit raised concerns about the strength of consumer spending during the holiday season.
“There is now significant concern that the holiday retail season is going to underperform,” said Gregory Miller, chief economist at SunTrust Banks. “Traffic doesn’t necessarily translate into profits,” he said, referring to reports of crowded stores over the weekend.
Still, with stocks having soared the past two months, some retrenchment was to be expected as investors seek to preserve their profits.
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Investors examining retail reports tried to determine whether an increase in traffic at stores would translate to higher profits for retailers. Consumer spending accounts for two-third of all economic activity, and Wall Street is concerned that weak spending would prevent the slowing economy from achieving a soft landing.
ShopperTrak RTC, which compiles sales data, estimates sales rose 6 percent on Black Friday from a year earlier.
Regardless of the pace of retail sales, however, stocks have posted strong gains in October and November, making Monday’s retreat unsurprising. Some on Wall Street may simply be hoping to hold onto their gains in the final weeks of the year as they look to lock in the performance their portfolios have shown.
“I think there are heightened concerns that the overall economy may be weaker than the markets had been anticipating when they drove the Dow over the top for a few successive periods,” Miller said. The Dow has closed at record levels 18 times since the beginning of October.
Miller also questioned whether retailers have run the risk of hurting profit margins by offering steep discounts to lure shoppers during an increasingly competitive Black Friday.
“The American consumer now expects that the holiday season isn’t just a time to spend a lot of money but a time to get some bargains. They expect the bargains will be significant.”
Wal-Mart was down $1.08, or 2.2 percent, to $46.83 following its first drop in same-store sales in about a decade, while some retailers moved higher following reports of strong traffic in stores over the weekend. Lowe’s Cos. rose 49 cents to $30.49.
J. Crew Group Inc. fell $2.78, or 6.4 percent, to $40.50 after a CIBC analyst lowered her rating on the clothing retailer based on valuation; the stock rose 22 percent last week following a strong profit report.
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OMIGAWD FREAK OUT 0.1 PERCENT DROP
I was gonna say the same thing, black friday seemed pretty quiet around these parts this year.
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poor wal-mart
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My old Staples store made record sales black friday. Lol Walmart.
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Down with Wal-Mart.
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My store did a quarter of a million dollars on Black Friday. We made our entire weekend in 4 hours.
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That's a lot of handbags.
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Yeah we opened at midnight and the lineup just to get in our store was 1/4 mile long.
I wanted to kill myself.
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Yeah we opened at midnight and the lineup just to get in our store was 1/4 mile long.
That's insane.
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Yeah we opened at midnight and the lineup just to get in our store was 1/4 mile long.
I wanted to kill myself.
do people in minnesota not have anything better to do?
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the boycott is working!
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the boycott is working!
WTF are you talking about?
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Boycott Wal Mart! They are evil!
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No they're not. They have good quality at a fair price with an adjacent McDonalds. Plus, they sell DVD's for 5.50, 7.50 and 9.94. You shitbags fuck that up for me, I'm going to cram that shitty movie Team America up your fucking ass and turn it.
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No they're not. They have good quality at a fair price with an adjacent McDonalds. Plus, they sell DVD's for 5.50, 7.50 and 9.94. You shitbags fuck that up for me, I'm going to cram that shitty movie Team America up your fucking ass and turn it.
whaaaat!? team america is awesome you piece of shite! >:(
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Wal-Mart's a shit company that preys on consumer whores and the minimum wage.
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No they're not. They have good quality at a fair price with an adjacent McDonalds. Plus, they sell DVD's for 5.50, 7.50 and 9.94. You shitbags fuck that up for me, I'm going to cram that shitty movie Team America up your fucking ass and turn it.
whaaaat!? team america is awesome you piece of shite! >:(
seconded
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"Team America" and "shitty movie" don't belong in the same sentence, pepe... >:(
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:lol :lol :lol
I've never finished it. I just didn't care for it. It had a few laugh out loud parts, but it just never got me at all.
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what a bastard
matt and trey WILL GET THEIR REVENGE in some form
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what a bastard
matt and trey WILL GET THEIR REVENGE in some form
I would suggest making a watchable sequel :-*
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"Team America" and "shitty movie" don't belong in the same sentence, pepe... >:(
Agreed.
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What about "Team America is definitely in no way, shape or form a shitty movie?"
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The town I am in is keeping Wal-Mart out. God bless em.
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Well i'm not surprised i had a feeling all this preholiday shopping hype was bullshit to get more people in the stores spending. Analysts are nothing more than payed people to give advertisement to the ants in the antfarm. Like a queen telling her court what to do the people do it. But this year people arent falling for the shit. And lots of people are buying less items overall and buying more expensive items this year than in years past.
I guess we can blame PS3's and the 500+ pricetag for the decline in sales :P