The headline says it all today. Earnings season for US retailers has kicked off with three of the biggest chains hitting home runs with their latest results.
Walmart crushed the street on EPS ($1.69 vs street $1.21) and same store sales (6.0% vs street 0.9%). Home Depot buried expectations on EPS ($3.86 vs street $3.08) and sales ($37.5B vs street $35.0B). Macys posted a surprise profit when a loss was widely expected ($0.39 vs street -$0.41), its same store sales soared (62.5% vs street 44.9%), and management raised its full year sales forecast ($21.7B-$22.2B up from $19.7B to $20.7B).
Walmart, Home Depot, and Macys are up 3.3%, 2.1%, and 6.0% respectively in premarket action today. Tomorrow brings results from competitors Lowes and Target.
US index futures are up 0.2% to 0.5% this morning, clawing back most of yesterday’s 0.2%-0.4% major US index losses. European markets are posting moderate gains with the FTSE up 0.4% and the Dax up 0.2%. Asia Pacific markets were strong with the Nikkei gaining 2.1% and the Hang Seng rising 1.4%. Energy markets are mixed with WTI crude oil up 0.4% but natural gas down 0.5%. Metals are higher with copper climbing 1.0%, and silver soaring 1.4%.
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SIA Wealth In The Media
Chief Market Strategist Colin Cieszynski recently appeared on BNN Bloomberg where he discussed commodity prices, inflation, relative strength and tactical rotation within equity markets.