Look at this mess.......the best use for retail stocks now is toilet paper. GE, the ultimate bellwether, is flirting with the teens. JPM is down to $15. INTC is flirting with single digits. And CSCO is at single digits. This is not just a minor problem.....a statistical blip to be ignored. The markets are showing absolutely no faith in this economy, in this country and in this administration. We are listing badly.
Wake up and smell the coffee. We go down and IT IS the president's fault. Mr. Bush needs to get his act together before its too late. Saddam should be secondary to this mess. This is not about partisan politics. We could very well go into a deep recession that leads to a depression. I don't care that its more fun to drop bombs than to deal with the economy. If he doesn't like it, he shouldn't have run for president.
What a disaster!! I don't know what more to say.
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RETAIL STOCKS
Retail stocks feel weight of port woes
By Jennifer Waters, CBS.MarketWatch.com
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- The euphoria that heated the retail sector Tuesday turned to cold reality on Wednesday as workers prepared to unload backed-up cargo at 29 West Coast ports for the first time in 11 days.
Investors backed away from the sector when they realized that most retailers would soon be facing backlogs that will keep inventory slow through October and the first half of November -- at the earliest.
Coupled with the other grim truth that September's sales numbers, trickling in with a full gush expected Thursday morning, are not for the faint of heart, investors went into a high-gear dumping mode.
That sent nearly every retail stock into a downward spiral. By the time the storm settled at the close, investors had wiped out nearly all of the gains the S&P Retail Index ($RLX: news, chart) racked up after President Bush said he would impose the Taft-Hartley act to immediately put locked-out longshoremen back to work.
The index finished at 254.25, down 4.2 percent.
Electronics retailers led the charge south. Best Buy (BBY: news, chart) gave up 11.1 percent, or $2.25, to a new 52-week low of $17.98, while rival Circuit City (CC: news, chart) subtracted $1.25, or 12.2 percent, to $9. Merrill Lynch trimmed earnings estimates for Best Buy on Wednesday, citing less robust spending trends on higher ticket items. Smaller rival Tweeter (TWTR: news, chart) lost 96 cents, or 14.9 percent, to $5.49. RadioShack (RSH: news, chart) backpedaled by 9.2 percent, or $1.77, to its own fresh bottom of $17.51.
Sears (S: news, chart) tumbled for the fourth consecutive session, hurt more by its own credit division and internal problems than the work stoppage. Shares of the department-store retailer dropped nearly 11 percent, or $3.33, to close at $28.44 -- a new 52-week low.
Also taking deep dips were Target (TGT: news, chart), down 5.2 percent, or $1.46, to $26.75; Gap (GPS: news, chart), lower by 3 percent, or 29 cents, to $9.30; and Big Lots (BLI: news, chart), slumping 7.5 percent, or $1.02, to $12.54.
Grocery-store stocks -- likely to lose plenty because of produce still rotting away at sea -- were smacked. Kroger (KR: news, chart), sank to a new trough of $11.41, down 11.6 percent, or $1.49; Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea (GAP: news, chart) bagged a new fresh low at $7.06, down 44 cents, or 5.9 percent; Albertson's (ABS: news, chart) skidded to its own new bottom mark of $22.90, down $1.10, or 4.6 percent; Safeway (SWY: news, chart) dropped 99 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $21.01; Supervalue (SVU: news, chart) gave up 50 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $15.10; and Winn-Dixie (WIN: news, chart) wandered down to $12.67, off 31 cents, or 2.4 percent.
There were at least two standouts among the tawdry group. On the index, Walgreen (WAG: news, chart) added 21 cents to end at $32.53. The nation's largest drugstore chain promoted David Bernauer to chairman, succeeding the retiring Daniel Jorndt. See full story.
Off the index, Gymboree (GYMB: news, chart) tacked on 32 cents, or 1.9 percent, to end at $16.90 after upping its expectations for the month and the quarter while launching a new high-end baby store concept. See full story.
After the close, Nordstrom (JWN: news, chart) reported that September's same-store sales rose just 1.7 percent, partly because it didn't have an annual fall sale during the period. Nordstrom shares finished at $15.49, down 74 cents, or 4.6 percent.
Hot Topic (HOTT: news, chart) said same-store sales were higher by 5.9 percent against last year's 0.6 percent increase and September 2000's 20.1 percent jump. Hot Topic shares were off 24 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $18.18.
Aeropostale's (ARO: news, chart) comparable-store sales last month fell 2.5 percent. The company's shares fell to a new low of $5.35, down 12.3 percent, or 75 cents.
American Eagle Outfitters (AEOS: news, chart) said its sales at comparable stores last month dived 8.1 percent, warning that if the economy doesn't pick up, third-quarter earnings would range from 31 cents to 34 cents a share, as much as 6 cents under the Thomson First Call consensus of 37 cents a share. The retailer finished the session ahead of the news at $10.29, down 81 cents, or 7.3 percent.
The stinky economy also is having its say with Men's Wearhouse (MW: news, chart). The specialty men's clothing retailer said same-store sales were up 2 percent -- under the 2.5 percent expectation -- and then raised the flag of caution about earnings.
For the third quarter, Men's Wearhouse expects to record a profit of about 10 cents a share, less than half of the 22 cents a share average at First Call. For the full year, earnings should come in at $1 to $1.10 a share, as much as a quarter below First Call's $1.25 consensus.
Men's Wearhouse shares closed the session at its lowest point in two years, $10.77, down 65 cents, or 5.7 percent.
Jennifer Waters is the Chicago bureau chief for CBS.MarketWatch.com. |
