The markets provided quite a volatile day today as Federal Reserve Chairwoman, Jannet Yellen offered comments that sounded a little more dovish at a speech in Jackson Hole this morning. Yellen said: "Indeed, in light of the continued solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation, I believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months."
These comments sparked a short lived rally that was mostly erased by days end. The Dow 30, which was up almost 100 at one point, closed lower by 53. The S&P 500 lost 3, and the Nasdaq 100 stayed positive, up 6. Next week traders will look towards consumer confidence numbers for more economic input.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares were higher by 1.29% today as the e-commerce giant announced it is opening more "brick-and-mortar" bookstores. Amazon announced in the financial times that it plans to open physical stores in Chicago, San Diego and Portland, Oregon. The company opened its first bookstore in Seattle last fall. That store sells books and gadgets like Amazon's Kindle e-reader.
GameStop (NYSE: GME) shares plummeted on the open today and remained at session lows on the close. The video game retailer lost 10.63% today after they reported earnings that matched expectations, but revenue came in short of forecasts for the second quarter, due to weaker than expected same-store sales. The company said lack of new video game titles and new information being released about upcoming new consoles hurt sales. They also made mention of game development companies continued push to offer games directly on the consoles themselves.
Ulta Salon (NASDAQ: ULTA) raised its outlook for the year after the beauty products retailer delivered a beat on both its top and bottom lines for the second quarter. Revenue jumped 22% from a year ago, marking its seventh straight quarter of double-digit sales growth. However, investors decided to exit anyways as shares plummeted 6.12% with well above average volume. While ULTA shares still remain quite positive for the year, the decline today erases over a months worth of gains.