As expected, the ECB and the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged; the ECB at 4.0 percent. Futures dipped a bit at 8:50 am ET as Mr. Trichet began talking, giving his usual speech on the importance of combating inflation.
Retail sales, very encouraging. In general, April looked better than March, even if you include the early Easter and better weather. There are more beats than misses. The question is whether oil trumps better sales.
Beat: Wal-Mart [WMT 56.83 --- UNCH (0%) 
] , Kohl's [KSS 48.72 --- UNCH (0%) ] , and teen retailers like Abercrombie [ANF 72.66 --- UNCH (0%) ] , American Eagle [AEO 18.36 --- UNCH (0%) ], Buckle [BKE 49.51 --- UNCH (0%) ] and Aeropostale [ARO 32.2 --- UNCH (0%) ] . Aeropostale was terrific, sales up 25 percent, better, far better than up 7.1 percent expected, and they raised their earnings estimate for the first quarter. American Eagle backed first quarter guidance. Bulk sellers like BJ's Wholesale[BJ 38.94 --- UNCH (0%) ] and Costco [COST 72.08 --- UNCH (0%) ] were also strong.
Worse than expected: Limited [LTD 17.62 --- UNCH (0%) ] , Gap [GPS 18.24 --- UNCH (0%) ] , Dillards [DDT 18.77 --- UNCH (0%) ] , Chico's [CHS 6.86 --- UNCH (0%) ] .
JC Penney [JCP 43.998 --- UNCH (0%) ] guided down for May comps.
Toyota [TM 104.76 --- UNCH (0%) ] sees a 40 percent fall in operating profit for the first half of the year. Partly this may be due to higher material costs and a stronger yen, but much of it is also due to worries about a slowdown in U.S. sales growth. They're talking 1 percent growth for the year up to March 2009, well below the growth of previous years.
Yamana Gold [AUY 13.75 --- UNCH (0%) ]reported earnings better than expected.
For Markets, Question Is Whether Oil Trumps Better Sales - Trader Talk with Bob Pisani - CNBC.com
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