Stocks Flitter on New Retail Data
Updated from 9:40 a.m. EDT
Stocks in the U.S. were lifting tentatively just above the flat line Thursday as traders looked to stem the selloff that hit Wall Street last time out.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was adding 7 points to 12,821, and the
S&P 500
was up roughly flat at 1392. The
Nasdaq
was tacking on 1 point at 2439.
On Wednesday, the major averages in New York had a rough session, and the Dow slid 206.48 points, or 1.6%, to 12,814.35. The S&P 500 dropped 26 points at 1393, and the Nasdaq was off 44.82 points at 2438.49, meaning losses of 1.8% for both.
As the new session got underway, a slight rebound was taking shape.
Wal-Mart
(WMT) - Get Report
was one of the early gainers, rising 0.4% after saying its April same-store sales climbed 3.2% last month, excluding fuel sales, a result that topped expectations.
Total sales for the month climbed 9.8% to $29.18 billion. The world's biggest retailer was just one of many U.S. chain stores reporting numbers during the morning.
Costco
(COST) - Get Report
said comps were up 8% last month, but
Limited
(LTD)
had a same-store sales decline of 5%.
BJ's Wholesale
(BJ) - Get Report
had an increase of 17.8% in comps, and at
McDonald's
(MCD) - Get Report
, same-store sales rose 5% worldwide last month.
Gap
(GPS) - Get Report
was also a positive, lifting its first-quarter profit forecast.
Among the analyst actions, Merrill Lynch downgraded a number of airlines, cutting
Delta
(DAL) - Get Report
,
UAL
(UAUA)
,
US Airways
(LCC)
,
AMR
(AMR)
and
Contintental
(CAL) - Get Report
to neutral from buy.
Crude oil futures were climbing again, this time by 13 cents to $123.66 a barrel in New York. Gold was up $6.50 at $877.70 an ounce.
Treasury prices were higher, with the exception of the 30-year bond, which declined 3/32 in price to yield 4.61%. The 10-year was up 4/32 in price, yielding 3.86%.
Overseas, stocks were mostly to the downside. Tokyo's Nikkei lost 1.1% to 13,943, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.6% to 25,450. In Europe, the London FTSE edged lower to 6260, and the Paris Cac was off 0.5% at 5049. Frankfurt's Xetra Dax shed 0.4% to 7051.
This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.com.