What happened to the bulls? Investors were pulling back in early trading Wednesday after opening the month in record fashion. U.S. stocks appeared set for a second day of selling. Investors weighed the latest figures on private sector employment ahead of Friday's jobs report. Automatic Data Processing reported 212,000 private sector jobs were created in February. That was less than the 220,000 jobs economists were expecting.
Later today, the Federal Reserve will release its Beige Book report on regional economic activity.
Stocks to watch
Among the stocks the Yahoo Finance team will be watching for you today: Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF). The struggling teen retailer posted earnings per share that came in right in line with Wall Street estimates, but revenue missed the mark. Sales fell nearly 14-percent from a year ago on weaker-than-expected same-stores sales growth. The stronger dollar, less demand for its namesake labels and heavy discounting hurt profits during its holiday quarter.
Shares of Bob Evans Farms (BOBE) were down sharply in early trading, off more than 20-percent. The company is scrapping plans to split its restaurant and food business. Instead, it will look at other options for its real estate to enhance shareholder value. The news came as Bob Evans cut its outlook for the year after reporting earnings and revenue that fell short of forecasts.
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Shares of Smith & Wesson (SWHC) were higher in early trading, up more than 9-percent. The gun maker boosted its earnings outlook for the year after reporting earnings and revenue that topped analysts' estimates as demand for consumer handguns picked up following several weak quarters.
We are also keeping an eye on Target (TGT) this morning. The retail giant announced plans to eliminate several thousand employees, in an effort to cut costs by $2 billion dollars.
Would you pay for a laugh?
And Comcast's (CMSCA) NBC Universal is planning to launch a streaming video subscription service focused on comedy. NBC plans to release the platform later this year, and is considering a price point in the $3 per month range. NBC will be the latest to jump on the subscription bandwagon, and will have plenty of competition from the likes of Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN) and YouTube (GOOGL).
Would you pay up for NBC’s comedy offerings? Let us know what you think about that stories or others in the comments section below.
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