The markets finished the week positive but today the major indices were slightly lower. The Dow 30 was off by 35, the S&P 500 lost 5, and the Nasdaq 100 lost 12. Next week is the Thanksgiving holiday in the states and trading will likely be slow as we near the later part of the week. Scheduled news is also fairly quiet for the first part of next week.
Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) shares suffered a rather large 13.76% decline today as the clothing retailer announced earnings that were way short of Wall Street analysts estimates. Investors also responded to the sales numbers which were also below expectations. On the conference call, the company's CEO called the quarter "challenging because of disappointing performance of its core brand." With today's decline included, shares of ANF are now down over 40% on the year, hovering just off lows.
Gap (NYSE: GPS) also had a rough day today as shares lost 16.61%, erasing over 2 months worth of gains. The clothing retail chain said it "would shut more stores than previously forecast and expected a further drop in traffic during the crucial holiday shopping season." With today's earnings miss it marks the seventh straight quarterly sales decline. Digging deeper into the numbers its clear that demand for its Gap and Banana Republic brands continues to struggle. Analysts will be watching those metrics going forward for further hints at a possible big problem for Gap.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) shares made new 2016 highs today (+0.03%) as the company announced earnings that were above analysts' forecasts. It wasn't all good news though as revenue was one area that missed expectations. According to the financials, new orders rose 25% to $3 billion. That is a small problem as analysts had expected new orders to reach $3.2 billion. Despite the small hiccup, shares continue to push higher, boasting over a 60% gain on the year so far.