Best Buy: Tomorrow's Headliners
NEW YORK (
) --
Best Buy
(BBY) - Get Report
will be in focus Thursday when the electronics retailer opens the books on its fourth quarter.
is expected to post a profit of $1.79 a share, which would be up from earnings of $1.61 a share in the year ago quarter. Sales are expected to top $16 billion in the quarter, which would be a year-over-year increase of 8%.
In addition to Best Buy,
ConAgra
(CAG) - Get Report
and
McCormick
(MKC) - Get Report
will report quarterly results before the start of trading.
After Thursday's closing bell, several other names will post quarterly numbers, including
Oracle
(ORCL) - Get Report
,
Accenture
(ACN) - Get Report
and
Finish Line
(FINL)
.
On the economic front, the Labor Department will post initial jobless claims data for last week at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Economists are predicting a small decrease in new claims, down to 450,000 from 457,000 the week before.
The parade of appearances by
Federal Reserve
members will continue Thursday, with Chairman Ben Bernanke set to appear before the House Financial Services Committee to speak about exit strategy.
Bernanke had been scheduled to appear on Capital Hill on Feb. 10, although the hearing was delayed due to inclement weather.
Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto will also speak Thursday.
-- Written by Robert Holmes in Boston
.
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