Weekly retail sales apparently benefit from global warming, equity market blows off mortgage foreclosures, non-farm payrolls, weekly initial jobless claims and delinquencies as that data is old news (i.e. over 24 hours). Hot weather helped boost retail sales while plenty of hot air boosts the U.S. equity market. One month of "positive" retail sales and the market romps 150 points. Look out below if a cool breeze blows across the U.S. next week.
By William Spain
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) - Retail stocks were generally holding steady Wednesday on the back of a relatively robust weekly sales report.
Hot weather helped boost retailers to the strongest year-over-year sales performance - a gain of 3.9% -- since early May, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs.
"The lingering hot weather, as well as a calendar shift, certainly helped to drive seasonal demands on Saturday ahead of the Independence Day holiday," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist. "Sales for the month are expected to increase by 3% to 4% on a year-over-year basis for the fiscal month of June with bias towards a stronger performance for the month."
One loser was Family Dollar (FDO 36.38, -3.06, -7.76%) , which gave up more than 7% to $36.49 after it posted a jump in fiscal third-quarter profit but toned down its full-year outlook.
The company earned $104.4 million, or 77 cents a share, up from $87.7 million, or 62 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The average estimate of analysts polled by FactSet had been 76 cents a share.
Sales for the quarter ended May 29 rose 8.4% to $2 billion. But looking ahead, the company said it expects to earn $2.53 to $2.58 a share, a bit off the current Wall Street view of $2.59.
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