• Stocks ended the day down slightly, perhaps in part thanks to weekly jobless claims released by the Labor Department. The number spiked to 360,000, up 32,000 from the prior week. Separately, the Labor Department says consumer prices fell again in April, this time by a seasonally adjusted .4%. Meanwhile the Commerce Department says housing starts slide by 16.5% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 853,000.

    Wal-Mart (WMT) drifted almos 2% lower on a disappointing earnings report released before the opening bell. The retail king missed estimates for the quarter posting profits of $1.14 a share when consensus was for $1.15. Revenue was a whopping $114.2-billion, but $2-billion short of estimates. Wal-Mart also lowered its guidance for the quarter ahead. The company has been dealing with complaints that its store shelves are empty because there aren't enough workers to restock them. Wal-Mart is also testing new ways to fight increasing competition from online sellers like Amazon.

    Kohl's (KSS) closed almost 5% higher after posting surprising profits ahead of the opening bell. The Wisconsin-based department store chain says it earned 66-cents a share when consensus was for 57-cents. However, those profits are down from a year ago and the company missed on revenues. Kohl's credits its earnings beat to improved gross margins and expense management. But the company says same-store sales fell 1.9% from the same period last year.

    Cisco Systems (CSCO) finished the day more than 12% higher on its Q1 earnings report which came out after yesterday's closing bell. The company says profits were up 14% over last year, to 51-cents a share on more than $12.2-billion in revenue. The company credits growth in its newer businesses like software and services. It says they offset weakness in more traditional networking equipment. Prior to today's gains Cisco was up just 4% since the start of 2013.

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  • A day after topping $900 for the first time ever, Google shares were taking a bit of a breather Thursday, recently trading down 1.2% to $905.

    Meanwhile, Tesla shares continued their phenomenal run, jumping 6% to over $90 in recent trading following last night’s news that founder Elon Musk will invest $100 million of his own money into the firm, which announced plans for a 2.7 million share secondary offering.

    In the accompanying video, I discuss these two red-hot stocks with Barry Ritholtz, CEO of Fusion IQ and author of The Big Picture blog. Ritholtz has no position in either name but no shortage of opinions either:

    Google

    Ritholtz is impressed with Google’s technological prowess and strategy of “throwing stuff against the wall to see what works.” In this regard, the search giant has a big advantage over Apple, which he says “has to hit a home run every time or nearly hit one.”

    Related: Stop Asking: Google Is Not the New Apple

    Still, Ritholtz is concerned about a potential problem in

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  • Thursday’s economic data was mixed: weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rose while housing starts in April unexpectedly fell. The Labor Department reported that the number of people who applied for new unemployment benefits jumped 32% to 360,000 in the week ending May 11, the highest level in a month and a half. But the average of new claims over the past month remained near a five-year low.

    Construction on new homes in April fell 16.5% -- the lowest level since November – to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 853,000, according to the Department of Commerce. April housing starts were 13.1% above the April 2012 rate of 754,000.

    The number that most economists were watching was Thursday’s CPI report. Consumer prices slipped 0.4% in April because of a sharp decrease (8.1%) in gasoline prices. Food prices rose 0.2%. CPI increased 1.1% over the last 12 months, the smallest 12-month increase since November 2010. Core CPI – which excludes volatile items like food and energy – inched up

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  • Lock up the dogs and hide the children. Something wicked will this way come tonight when JC Penney (JCP) allows its earnings to slither out of Dallas. Unlike many earnings reports there isn't a lot of suspense on this one: the company is going to miss and it's going to be ugly. Official estimates are for a loss of 74-cents on revenues of $2.74b compared to a 75-cent loss on $3.2 billion for the same period last year.

    How individual investors feel about the results depends entirely on their entry price. JCP stock has risen almost 25% in the last month in a knee-jerk burst of enthusiasm after the firing of former CEO Ron Johnson, an investment by the Soros group, and a $1.75 billion debt deal that ensured the retailer's survival for at least another year.

    Those are the good things. On the downside is everything else about the company. The current CEO is the guy Johnson replaced. That means, unlike new bosses who come in to "clean house," Myron "Mike" Ullman actually has a vested interest in Penney's former business model. That being the case, Wall Street's reaction to tonight's earnings report isn't about economics but vision. Specifically, how does Ullman plan to reassemble a company stuck halfway between a radical overhaul that's left stores literally in shambles.

    Brian Sozzi of Belus Capital Advisors has been sneaking around the stores taking videos lately and he doesn't like what he sees. "I'm seeing a hodge podge of strategies," frets Sozzi. The stores are an amalgamation of Johnson's hipster colors and lack of discounts coupled with Ullman's hyper-promotional brand of retailing. No one knows what to make of the stores at this point, including management.

    Read More »

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