Crude Prices Counter Bullish Earnings Results

The Dow crossed 13,000 for the first time since May 2008 today, but stocks closed off their highs and the market ended mixed. Stocks got an initial boost following news on the latest Greece bailout package. Meanwhile, outside of Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT - News) there were some pretty good quarterly results out of the retail sector. Somewhat counterbalancing that is the continued rise in crude prices, which touched $106 a barrel. Stocks continue to remain in bull mode.

The Fuel Cell Stocks Index was the top performing tickerspy Index on the day, led by Ballard Power Systems (Nasdaq: BLDP - News) with a 12% gain. The Airline Stocks Index was the day's worst performing tickerspy Index, with US Airways Group (NYSE: LCC - News) down -11%.

Stocks closed the day mixed, with the Dow rising 16 points to 12,966, and the S&P up 1 point to 1,362. The Nasdaq fell -3 point to finish at 2,949. Oil jumped $2.60 to $105.84 a barrel, while gold climbed $32.60 to $1,758.50 an ounce.

In earnings news, shares of Dow component Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, fell -3.9% after the Arkansas-based company said its fourth-quarter profit fell -15% to $5.16 billion, or $1.50 a share, from $6.06 billion, or $1.70, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, Wal-Mart earned $1.44 a share, trailing the $1.45 analysts expected. Total revenue rose 6% to $123.2 billion while same-store sales in the U.S. rose 1.5%. Analysts had expected a same-store sales increase of 1.8%. More than 230 pros held Wal-Mart in their portfolios at the end of Q4 and nearly 2,300 tickerspy members own the stock in their portfolios.

Home Depot (NYSE: HD - News), the largest U.S. home improvement retailer, said its fourth-quarter profit climbed 32% to $774 million, or 50 cents a share, from $587 million, or 36 cents, a year earlier. Analysts had expected EPS of 42 cents. Same-store sales surged 5.7%, easily topping the 3.0% increase analysts expected. Revenue climbed 6% to $16.0 billion. Analysts had expected total sales of $15.5 billion. Georgia-based Home Depot forecast a full-year profit of $2.79 a share on sales of up to $73.2 billion. Analysts were expecting EPS of $2.77 on revenue of $72.5 billion. Shares of Home Depot edged up 0.5%. Seventy pros held Home Depot in their portfolios at the end of Q4 and 1,300 tickerspy members own the stock in their portfolios.

Department store operator Macy's (NYSE:M - News) said its fourth-quarter profit increased 12% to $745 million, or $1.74 a share, from $667 million, or $1.55, a year earlier. Revenue rose 6% to $8.72 billion as same-store sales climbed 5.2%. On an adjusted basis, Macy's earned $1.70 per share, coming in above the $1.65 consensus. The company forecast a full-year profit of $3.25-$3.30 a share. Analysts were expecting EPS of $3.27. Shares of Macy's rose 1.2%.

Shares of optical-networking company Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN - News) plunged -8.4% after the company forecast fiscal first-quarter revenue of $415 million. That's well below a previous forecast of $435-$455 million and the $447.7 million analysts were expecting. The company cited "longer customer deployment and revenue cycles" for the shortfall.

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