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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 (7068)	5/6/2004 3:50:27 PM
From: Smiling Bob	Respond to of 19256

Bush has a zero chance of re-election. Inflation going off the charts, gas has no ceiling, and foreign policies are a complete mess. This phoney economy his administration has created is about to spiral downward. If more people do actually find $7 an hour employment, they won't be able to afford much. Post-Easter Shopping Lull Dents Sales Thursday May 6, 1:12 pm ET By Emily Kaiser CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. retailers' April sales could not keep up with the torrid pace set in the first three months of the year as shoppers took an after-Easter break, but higher prices protected profits, the companies reported on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - News), the world's biggest retailer, said April sales growth reached the low end of its forecast, slightly below Wall Street expectations, but it made no change to its earnings forecast for the just-ended fiscal quarter. Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT - News), Sears, Roebuck and Co. (NYSE:S - News), Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS - News) and Kohl's Corp. (NYSE:KSS - News) also posted April sales growth that fell short of analysts' expectations, but Kohl's maintained its quarterly earnings forecast and Gap said its profits would beat estimates. Department store chain J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE:JCP - News) said April's sales pace was less than half of what it recorded in March, yet it also raised its earnings forecast. Overall, April sales at stores open at least a year -- a key retail measure known as same-store sales -- rose 4.3 percent, missing expectations for a 4.9 percent gain, according to research firm Thomson First Call (News - Websites) . In March, retailers turned in a strong 6.6 percent same-store sales gain. First Call said 59 percent of retailers missed expectations while only 41 percent beat forecasts. However, 18 retailers raised their earnings forecasts and just seven lowered them. The Standard & Poor's retailing index (^GSPMS - News) was down 2.5 percent in midday trading. Wal-Mart, one of the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones industrial average, was down 2 percent, weighing on the broader market. Sanford Bernstein retail analyst Emme Kozloff said the sales figures show that wealthier consumers continued to outspend lower-income shoppers, noting that luxury stores posted stronger growth than off-price chains. Lean inventories and well-received clothing styles helped retailers sell more full-priced merchandise this spring, boosting profitability even as sales growth slowed. Most retailers operate on a fiscal year that ends in January, and will report first-quarter earnings this month. Some analysts say same-store sales growth probably peaked in March, and retailers may struggle with sales growth through the summer now that many consumers have spent fatter income tax refund checks they received this year. Wall Street has been keeping a close eye on steep gasoline prices and the possibility of rising interest rates, both of which could also curb consumer spending. EASTER COMES EARLY Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart posted a 4.4 percent increase in April same-store sales. Analysts on average had expected a 4.5 percent gain. The company had said all month that sales would likely reach only the low end of its forecast for a 4 percent to 6 percent gain because many customers did their Easter shopping in March instead of April. At Target, same-store sales rose 4.9 percent, toward the low end of its forecast for a 4.5 percent to 6.5 percent gain and below Wall Street expectations for 5.4 percent growth. A weak showing at its Mervyn's department stores, which it is considering selling, hurt results. J.C. Penney said its April same-store sales rose 5.3 percent, well below the 11.4 percent gain it reported in March but in line with its forecast. The retailer expects first-quarter earnings in the range of 30 cents to 35 cents per share, above analysts' expectations for 25 cents. Sears said same-store sales fell 1.8 percent as apparel demand remained sluggish. Analysts were looking for a 1.2 percent gain. At Kohl's, same-store sales dropped 4.6 percent, worse than the 1.9 percent decline that analysts had expected. Gap reported a 3 percent same-store sales increase, missing analysts' expectations for 3.9 percent growth, but it said earnings would likely be 31 cents to 32 cents per share, better than the 27 cents that analysts had predicted. biz.yahoo.com