Stocks that are expected to trade actively in the U.S. market on Friday include; Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA), Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF), Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE), Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD), PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT).
Market Level
U.S.: Dow 16,444.76 (-0.11%), S&P 500 1838.13 (0.03%), NASDAQ 4156.19 (-0.23%)
Europe: FTSE 6735.72 (0.66%), DAX 9476.20 (0.58%), CAC 40 4247.35 (0.53%)
Asia Pacific: NIKKEI 15912.06 (0.20%), HANG SENG 22846.25 (0.26%), SHANGHAI 2013.30 (-0.71%), KOSPI 1938.54 (-0.39%)
Commodities: Oil 92.51 (0.94%), NAT GAS 4.022 (0.42%), Gold 1231.80 (0.20%), Silver 19.75 (0.34%), Wheat 582.75 (-0.26%), Corn 410.75 (-0.30%).
Currency: EUR/USD 1.359 (-0.12%), GBP/USD 1.6416 (-0.36%), USD/JPY 104.97 (0.14%).
10 year Treasury bond: 2.967 (0.000).
Economic & Market Update
U.S. market trading range-bound – Stocks on the U.S. markets traded in a range with little change following the lack of enthusiasm among the investors to buy stock as the market has lost the momentum since the record high last year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 17.98 points, or 0.1%, to close at 16444.76. The S&P 500 eked out just its second advance in six trading sessions this year, rising 0.64 poinst, or 0.1%, to 1838.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 9.42 points, or 0.2%, to 4156.19.
European markets up – European stocks were up on Friday followed by the upbeat personal and household goods segment with a positive update from watchmaker Swatch and peripheral eurozone stocks. At 0911 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares climbed 0.5% at 1,322.05 points, with Spain’s IBEX surging 0.8%, Italy’s FTSE MIB added 0.5% and Lisbon’s PSI 20 surging 0.5%.
Asian markets up marginally – The Nikkei benchmark gained marginally on Friday after going through the worst weekly loss since October. The Nikkei dropped 2.3% this week, which happened to be the biggest weekly decline since the period ended October 25th. The Hang Seng Index added 0.3% on Friday and 0.1% this week.
Stocks To Watch
Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA)
Alcoa posted weak fourth quarter adjusted earnings that were below the analysts expectations. The company posted a net loss of $2.3 billion, or $2.19 per share, on revenue of $5.59 billion compared to $242 million, 21 cents per share on revenues of $5.9 billion in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF)
Abercrombie & Fitch revised and updated earnings guidance for the year. Shares of the company surged 13.94% to $37.84 in the after-hours trading session. The company has raised its guidance on the basis of higher than expected sales in the fourth quarter to date. Abercrombie expects yearly earnings of $1.55-$1.65 per share for the year.
Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE)
Park Electrochemical is expected to post third quarter earnings of $0.28 per share on revenues of $44.36 million. Shares of the company declined 1.34% to close at $27.24 yesterday.
Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD)
Sears Holdings posted a decline of 7.4% in the same store sales at Kmart and Sears for the nine week period ended January 6. Analysts expect that departmental store to report a loss in the fourth quarter and full fiscal. Shares of the company tumbled 13.11% to $36.99 in after-hours trading.
PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)
PriceSmart posted low first quarter earnings and shares declined 2.39% to $105.02 in after-hours trading. Revenue for the company came in at $605.6 million compared to analyst expectations of $609.04 million. Sales increased 13% year over year.
