Thursday, July 10, 2008

Opening View: Wal-Mart Boosts Futures After June Same-Store Sales

Checking in on currencies and commodities, the U.S. Dollar Index is up 0.26% in pre-market trading as investors respond to the latest retail sales data. The rise in the dollar is having little effect on gold this morning, however, as the August futures contract is up $2.20 at $930.90 an ounce in London trading. Finally, crude oil is on the rise again, with the August contract up 62 cents at $136.65 per barrel.

Turning to the retail sector, Costco Wholesale (COST: View sentiment for COSTsentiment, chart, options) reported that same-store sales for June rose 9%, versus analysts' expectations for a rise of 8.2%. The company also reported that total sales for the month rose 12%. Elsewhere, Limited Brands ( LTD: View sentiment for LTDsentiment, chart, options) reported that June's same-store sales fell 9% from the year earlier, versus the consensus estimate for a drop of 7.4%.

The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT: View sentiment for WMTsentiment, chart, options), also released its June sales figures. For the month, WMT said that sales at stores open at least 1 year rose 5.8%, excluding fuel. Analysts were expecting same-store sales to rise 3.8%. Including fuel, same-store sales rose 6.4%. Total company sales for the month rose 11.5% to $39.94 billion. On the heels of these stronger-than-expected figures, Wal-Mart lifted its second-quarter profit target to a range of 82 cents to 84 cents per share.

In other blue-chip news, Boeing (BA: View sentiment for BAsentiment, chart, options) announced a $250-million charge before taxes, or 22 cents per share, for the second quarter. The company blamed the charge on previously announced delays of its airborne and early warning and control program. Boeing reiterated its 2008 earnings guidance of $5.70 to $5.85 per share. Next year's earnings are still expected to be $6.80 to $7 per share.

Finally, Research in Motion (RIMM: View sentiment for RIMMsentiment, chart, options) is apparently struggling with the touch-screen interface on its planned Blackberry Thunder, according to Nomura analyst Richard Windsor. You may remember that tech-blog website BoyGeniusReport.com reported similar news yesterday afternoon. According to Windsor, the implementation of touch on a BlackBerry is much further behind in the development cycle than Nokia's ( NOK: View sentiment for NOKsentiment, chart, options) efforts. "Those who have handled prototypes complain of poor typing, unresponsive keys, bugs in the user interface caused by touch as well as accelerometer issues," Windsor reported. He said that although he is confident the issues will be worked out, the market is unlikely to see Thunder for some time.



Opening View: Wal-Mart Boosts Futures After June Same-Store Sales



NYSE Arca Morning Update

Stocks trading on NYSE Arca at a price more than 15% away from the previous trade day's consolidated close price. (As of 08:30:00 ET)

Stock
Wednesday's Close Current Price Pct Chng Current NYSE Arca Vol
ROH

$44.83

$74.37

66%

734,655

PCU

$99.14

$33.96

( 66%)

1,100

MEND

$14.43

$17.01

18%

1,200

FCSX

$29.91

$24.65

( 18%)

2,417

10 Most Active stocks on NYSE Arca as of 08:30:00 ET

Based on Dollar Volume: Based on Share Volume:
Stock
Dollar Volume
SPY
$236,582,742
QQQQ
$55,448,554
ROH
$54,654,196
CHK
$40,021,662
USO
$25,614,460
IWM
$22,270,762
WMT
$12,830,783
XLF
$12,253,824
AAPL
$9,403,582
FXI
$8,732,707
Stock
Share Volume
SPY
1,887,136
QQQQ
1,228,909
ROH
734,655
CHK
698,056
XLF
627,382
WB
389,285
IWM
333,600
USO
233,120
WMT
218,052
HUN
164,599

ROH:
PCU:
3 for 1 stock split

MEND:
FCSX:




NYSE Arca Morning Update



Pre Market Trading Analyst Calls

These are some of the top DOWNGRADES we are seeing from Wall Street analysts this Thursday morning:

Cox Radio (NYSE: CXR) Cut to Sell from Hold at Citigroup.
Entercom (NYSE: ETM) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ: ROCK) Cut To Sell From Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Luxottica (NYSE: LUX) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Manpower (NYSE: MAN) Cut to Neutral at Banc of America.
Novellus (NASDAQ: NVLS) Started as Sell at Banc of America.
VeraSun Energy (NYSE: VSE) Cut to Sell at Piper Jaffray.
Zumiez (NYSE: ZUMZ) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair.

These are some of the top UPGRADES we are seeing from Wall Street analysts this Thursday morning:

  • Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) Started as Buy at Banc of America.
  • BP plc (NYSE: BP) raised to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC Securities.
  • Eagle Test Systems (NASDAQ: EGLT) started as Buy at Banc of America.
  • KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) Started as Buy at Banc of America.
  • Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
  • PetroQuest Energy (NYSE: PQ) Raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
  • Priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN) started as Buy at Stanford Research.



24/7 Wall St.



Pre-Market Trading Most Active Stocks

NASDAQ - Pre-Market Ten Most Advanced

Active Share Volume Declined

Symbol

Company Name

Market
Close
Last Sale (Pre-Market) % Change
(Pre-Market)
Share
Volume

(Pre-Market)

SunPower Corporation
$61.23 $65.40 6.81% 21,510

Costco Wholesale Corporation
$72.15 $74 2.56% 7,350

Canadian Solar Inc.
$32.38 $33.21 2.56% 13,080

Evergreen Solar, Inc.
$8.76 $8.95 2.17% 11,650

E*TRADE Financial Corporation
$3.02 $3.07 1.66% 15,226

ShengdaTech, Inc.
$8.16 $8.28 1.47% 4,445

Applied Materials, Inc.
$17.85 $18.10 1.40% 9,192

Research in Motion Limited
$117.54 $118.99 1.23% 9,186

Cisco Systems, Inc.
$21.58 $21.81 1.07% 9,800

Apple Inc.
$174.25 $176.05 1.03% 99,609

As of 7/10/2008 8:22:40 AM

NASDAQ - Pre-Market Ten Most Declined

Active Share Volume Advanced

Symbol

Company Name

Market
Close
Last Sale (Pre-Market) % Change
(Pre-Market)
Share
Volume

(Pre-Market)

FCStone Group, Inc.
$29.90 $25.21 15.69% 3,685

Acergy S.A.
$19.60 $18.29 6.68% 11,300

Partner Communications Company Ltd.
$23.72 $23.25 1.98% 5,900

Shire Limited
$48.24 $48.20 0.08% 100,100

As of 7/10/2008 8:22:35 AM



Pre-Market Most Active Stocks - NASDAQ Premarket


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