Dow gained 118, decliners over advancers 5-4 & NAZ went up 49. The MLP index slid back 1+ to the 189s & the REIT index was off 1+ to the 481s. Junk bond funds fluctuated & Treasuries were being purchased. Oil slid lower but held above 80 & gold was off 3 to 1863.
AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)
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Consumer spending accelerated in Oct as shoppers kicked off the
holiday shopping season earlier than usual due to the supply chain
bottlenecks. Retail sales, a measure of spending at restaurants,
stores & online, rose 1.7% last month, according to the Commerce
Dept. The forecast expected a 1.4%
increase. The reading was 16.3% above year-ago levels. Sep's reading was revised up by 0.1 percentage points to 0.8%. Sales at nonstore retailers surged 4% while sales at electronics & appliance stores climbed 2.8%. A
3.9% spike in sales at gasoline stations came as prices at the pump
climbed by more than 60% from the previous year to a 7-year high. Meanwhile, sales at food services & drinking places were unchanged. Retail sales excluding autos rose 1.7% month over month compared with the 1% gain that was expected.
Retail sales accelerate as supply crisis causes early start to holiday-shopping
Walmart (WMT), a Dow stock & Dividend Aristocrat, reported another qtr of higher sales, as prices rose for some products & consumers shopped early for the winter holidays. Comparable
sales, those from US stores & digital channels operating for at
least 12 months, increased 9.2% in the qtr compared
with the same period last year. US e-commerce sales rose 8% from a
year ago, when shoppers flooded online because of the pandemic. More shoppers visited stores than they did in the same period last year,
with traffic up 5.7% & spending per trip up 3.3%, a sign that
shopping habits may be normalizing after last year's extreme shifts in
buying behavior. "We gained marketshare in grocery in the U.S., and more customers and
members are returning to our stores and clubs around the world," said CEO Doug McMillon. He added
that WMT has enough products to serve customers over the holiday
season at a time when supply-chain snarls are making some products hard
to find on store shelves. Sales beat expectations of around a 6.7% increase. Adjusted EPS for the qtr hit $1.45. WMT raised its full
year guidance for EPS to around $6.40 compared with a
previous range of $6.20-6.35. The stock dropped 3.60.
If you would like to learn more about WMT, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/WMT?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Walmart raises forecast and says they're ready for holiday shoppers
Home Depot (HD), a Dow stock, results were better than expected in the
latest qtr, a sign that the home-improvement retailer could be
avoiding the worst effects of the supply-chain snarls reverberating
across the economy. At
stores that have been open for at least a year, sales grew by 6.1% in
Jul-Oct, including by 5.5% at stores in the US. That trend
built upon strong growth a year earlier, when the pandemic began
driving people to invest more in their homes. Total sales were $36.8B were up by 9.8% year over
year & were more than a 3rd higher than in the same stretch of
2019, before Covid-19 emerged. CEO Craig Menear said the company has been able to operate with
"flexibility and agility" as it works to meet heightened demand. As retailers struggle to find workers & move goods thru world-wide logistics networks, many have had to think fast to ensure shelves remain well-stocked. HD is among the major US retailers that have chartered their own container ships in recent months to move goods from overseas. Sales growth boosted its bottom line, pushing profits
higher. The company logged quarterly EPS of $3.92, compared with $3.18 in 2020's Q3. The forecast called for EPS of $3.35 & sales of $34.9B. The stock jumped 21.05 (6%).
If you would like to learn more about HD, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/HD?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Home Depot sales increase, company could avoid effects of supply issues
While stocks are having a good day, the advance could have been more impressive given the the news reports. More decliners than advancers is not a welcome sign. The massive spending bill in Congress is still stock in the mud & looks to be be going nowhere. More importantly, the specter of high inflation is spooking investors. Investors keep buying safe haven gold.
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