The market indices remained uncertain today after the wild ride of the last two days. Retail is the sector in focus as many names have reported already, and more are reporting over the coming days.
The Dow 30 was up 3 (0.02%), the S&P 500 traded flat (-0.01%), and the Nasdaq 100 lost 23 (-0.49%) mostly due to Apple (AAPL )
Kohl's (KSS ) suffered a 9.17% decline today as the department store posted an 87% drop in profit in the first quarter and a surprise decline in sales. It was the first drop in net sales in six quarters. Kohl's reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.31 on revenue of $3.97 billion. Shares broke to new lows on the news.
Ralph Lauren (RL ) added 2.83% today as the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped estimates and its board authorized an additional $200 million stock repurchase program. Ralph Lauren posted adjusted earnings per share of $0.88 on revenue of $1.87 billion.
Wal-Mart (WMT ) gained 0.66% today on above average volume as the retail giant is posturing to become a bigger player in the e-commerce space. Wal-Mart plans to build out its regional delivery network and add more e-commerce warehouses. The company also is looking to implement free 2 day shipping to try and compete more with Amazon (AMZN ).
Shares of Monsanto (MON ) popped 8.47% today as there are numerous reports of a potential takeover. Bloomberg reported that Bayer AG is interested in Monsanto while another site says BASF SE is mulling a bid. Either way, shares popped to new 2016 highs on the rumors.
Speaking of rumors, Apple (AAPL ) broke to new lows today (-2.37%) on the rumors that the tech giant will no longer offer music downloads on its iTunes service. The company claimed that those rumors were false but that didn't help. Shares were weak all day, remaining well under the $100 mark.
