Consumer stocks are sliding after Wal-Mart reported disappointing results and cut its sales projections, and bank stocks are giving up some of their recent gains.
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About 35 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 16,482.91, up 29.08 points (0.18 percent). The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 8 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,919.
Wal-Mart reported adjusted earnings of $1.49 per share for the fourth quarter, higher than the $1.46 per share expected by Wall Street analysts based on data from Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Walmart is making lots of changes that it says will help it stay competitive in a changing retail landscape.
At the same time, analysts noted that the stagnation in Wal-Mart sales was itself a reflection of the lack of buying power for low-income consumers, afflicted by wage-cutting, cuts in federal and state social programs and continuing mass unemployment and underemployment.
The broader Topix index gained 2.3 percent to close at 1,311.20 with all but three of its 33 sub-indexes in positive territory.
Oil prices fluctuated after a big rally over the last few days.
Limiting the losses were shares of IBM IBM.N , which rose 4.4 percent to $131.71 after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to “overweight” and the company made another health-related acquisition.
IRAN RELIEF: Iran’s oil minister said the country supports “any measure” to boost oil prices and voiced its support for a plan to stabilize and boost prices laid out earlier this week by four influential oil producers.
“Why would I ever go to Walmart.com and shop there when I have lower prices on Amazon and a much higher assortment on Amazon?”
The other big chunk is in its challenging Brazilian market. It’s the latest sign that the economy is still growing and consumers are still spending even though the market has been turbulent. During the same quarter a year ago, the firm earned $1.61 EPS.
In contrast, Amazon said sales rose 26 percent in its fourth quarter, compared with 15 percent sales growth in the first quarter.
ANOTHER DEAL: Logistics company Ingram Micro surged $6.59, or 22.2%, to $36.24 after it agreed to be bought by Chinese shipping company Tianjin Tianhai. Revenue, though, fell to $128.7 billion, missing forecasts.
SECURITY BLANKET: Investors returned again to the safe havens of telecom and utilities stocks. And fiscal 2017 full-year earnings per share are projected be in the range of $4.00 to $4.30, which is largely in line with the 6% to 12% decline from fiscal 2016 that management forecast during Wal-Mart’s investor day presentation in October. The stock fell 80 cents, or 3 percent, to $25.91.
Wal-Mart is moving lower after reporting fourth quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates but on weaker than expected revenues.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. But Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.6 percent to 5,995.82. The 52-week price range for the company is $56.30 – 84.86 and the total market capitalization of the stock is $198.07 billion. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.3 percent to 1,914.85. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4 basis points at 1.779 percent. The euro fell to $1.1116 from $1.1139.
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CURRENCIES: The dollar slipped to 113.86 yen from 114.14 yen.
