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Strategies & Market Trends : Can you beat 50% per month? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Smiling Bob who wrote (5129)	12/16/2002 12:54:39 PM
From: Smiling Bob	Respond to of 19256

Retailers Bank on Last-Minute Holiday Sales Monday December 16, 12:11 pm ET By Emily Kaiser CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other major U.S. retailers are pinning their hopes on last-minute sales to meet their December targets after another week of lackluster demand cast further doubts on consumer spending in the critical holiday shopping season. With nine shopping days left until Christmas, retailers are likely to pull out all the stops to lure shoppers accustomed to waiting for the best discounts. The Saturday before Christmas is usually the busiest shopping day of the year. Retailers bank roughly a quarter of their annual sales in November and December, and for some specialty retailers such as electronics stores and apparel chains, the period accounts for the bulk of full-year profits. Wal-Mart, which expects a modest 3 percent to 5 percent gain in December sales at stores open at least one year, said on Monday its sales in the week ended Dec. 13 were running near the low end of that forecast as consumers shopped "closer to the event" of Christmas. Bill Dreher, a retail analyst with WR Hambrecht, said the last-minute crunch plays into the hands of Wal-Mart, which keeps much of its inventory on the sales floor instead of in a back-room warehouse. When shoppers flood stores, Wal-Mart will have enough merchandise visible, while other retailers will run the risk of losing customers while they restock, he said. "It's going to be a real problem in that many of these retailers are simply not built for the level of volume that this last week of holiday sales is going to require," he said. "What I think it means is, for all but the leaders such as Wal-Mart and Kohl's, there is certainly going to be little to no upside to the (sales) numbers, and we still have significant downside risk." Analysts widely expect the holiday season to bring only modest sales growth as waning consumer confidence, a sluggish economy and the lingering threat of war with Iraq restrain consumer spending. FEDERATED, PENNEY J.C. Penney Co. Inc., which has been outperforming the sector with aggressive advertising and discounts, said sales at its namesake department stores were on track last week, and December demand was running above expectations. The retailer had said the previous week's sales were running ahead of its forecasts. Federated Department Stores Inc., the parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's, said its same-store sales were on pace to reach the low end of its forecast range of unchanged to down 2.5 percent for the combined November-December holiday sales period. Federated stressed that the volume of sales that typically comes between now and Christmas makes it difficult to give further insights into same-store sales for December. Department stores have been struggling to fend off fierce competition from a crowded field that includes cheaper peers, discounters and specialty retailers. A study released on Monday by Customer Growth Partners found that department stores and "softline" retailers account for only 21 percent of retail sales among the 20 largest non-food-and-drug retailers, down from 41 percent in 1997. Discounters and "hard-line" merchants accounted for some 79 percent of sales, up from 59 percent five years ago. Softlines include clothing and accessories, while hardlines refer to items such as appliances and electronics. "Based on this year's retail sales figures, what we're seeing is a decade-long tectonic market shift across three dimensions -- from softlines to hardlines, from malls to off-mall locations, and from department stores to discounters," said Craig Johnson, president of Consumer Growth Partners. biz.yahoo.com DOW 8563

To: Smiling Bob who wrote (5129)	12/16/2002 1:50:12 PM
From: Smiling Bob	Respond to of 19256

DOW dying a slow death, but death none the less. 8559 and hard to see buying interest coming in yet. Those 2 weeks of losses they are citing still didn't amount to much DROOY acting up as well Guessing other golds doing the same

To: Smiling Bob who wrote (5129)	12/17/2002 10:26:19 AM
From: Smiling Bob	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19256

Brokers Yesterday's pain, today's gain GS 75.50 bid short JPM 25.54 MER 41.45 Or continue holding from yesterday

To: Smiling Bob who wrote (5129)	12/17/2002 11:30:38 AM
From: Smiling Bob	Respond to of 19256

FAOO- more bad news 1.34 x 1.41 now (edit My son reading this and not happy that they may be closing ) FAO Posts Wider 3rd-Quarter Loss Monday December 16, 4:27 pm ET KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa (Reuters) - FAO Inc. (NasdaqNM:FAOO - News), which owns the FAO Schwarz toy stores, on Monday said its third-quarter loss more than doubled, hurt by restrained consumer spending and intense competition among toy merchants. The retailer, which also owns Zany Brainy toy stores, reported a loss of $23.7 million, or 66 cents a share, in the quarter ended Nov. 2. That compared with a loss of $9.9 million in the year-ago quarter. Last month, the company said it would not meet its earnings and revenue targets for the remainder of the year. FAO also cut its earnings forecasts in September. FAO expects a full-year loss, even if it has a solid fourth quarter. Net sales rose to $83.3 million from $57.2 million a year earlier. biz.yahoo.com Message 17997137