logo-loader

Wall Street: Stocks edge higher, retailers in focus

Last updated: 01:05 12 Mar 2014 AEDT, First published: 02:05 12 Mar 2014 AEDT

rsz_macys_531f26e045b34

American shares made minor gains on Wall Street amid a drawn-out standoff between the Ukraine and Russia.

Moscow has said it is drafting counterproposals to a US plan for a solution to the crisis. It comes a week before the region holds a controversial referendum on whether to become part of Russia.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 1,880, while the benchmark Dow Jones index was up 0.15% at 16,444.

Retailers were hitting the headlines across the pond. Urban Outfitters shares fell 5% to $35.53 as its earnings failed to live up to Wall Street’s lofty expectations.

The retailer reported a 9% fall in underlying sales in the latest quarter.

Department store group Macy’s however is up 2.2% at $59.42 after an upgrade from number crunchers at Wells Fargo.

The broker now rates the shares ‘outperform’ from ‘market perform’.

Macy’s has “won the battle of the mid-tier department stores, demonstrating the company has the brands consumers want, has leverage with those brands and is nimble with promotions”, the broker wrote.

JC Penney rose 8.3% to $9.12 after Citigroup upgraded the department store chain to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’.

“We acknowledge that JCP is early in this go-forward phase but we like the risk/reward given our conviction that just making basic changes will support guidance for growth in 2014,” said Citi’s analysts.

“Street doesn't believe JCP can generate positive sales but we do.”

Elsewhere, Facebook shares registered new all-time highs of $72.37, up 0.5%, while Baron Capital has brought a quarter of the shares on offer in Manchester United, working out at just 2.5% of the club when the Glazers’ 90% holding is taken into consideration. 

UK MARKETS

Heavyweight banking stocks were out of favour with investors who reduced their holdings in stocks exposed to geopolitical tensions.

Barclays (LON:BARC) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) were the biggest two fallers, down 3.3% and 2.6% to 234p and 311p respectively.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said today RBS might have to up sticks and move to England should Scotland vote for independence.

“It's a distinct possibility but I shouldn't prejudge it. It depends on their arrangements as well,” the Canadian said.

Fellow state-owned lender Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) was also on the losing side, down 0.6% at 81p, as tensions rise between the Ukraine and its larger neighbour, which still occupies Crimea.

The FTSE 100 was flat at 6,689, with Sports Direct (LON:SPD) the biggest riser, up 3.4% at 836p.

It comes as the sporting goods retailer unveiled plans to reward its founder and executive deputy chairman Mike Ashley for the recent sales triumphs with eight million shares currently worth around £65 million.

The options would vest in July 2018 if certain performance targets are met, including underlying earnings (EBITDA) of £330mln and £410mln for the next two financial years.

In the last five years, shares have jumped more than 1,200%, valuing the company Ashley founded in 1982 at around £5 billion.

Aviva (LON:AV.) rose 2.8% to 523p after some upbeat City comments from the likes of Nomura and RBC Capital, which removed its ‘underperform’ recommendation in favour of a ‘sector perform’ tag.

Reckitt Benckiser (LON:RB.) was also on the rise when Bank of America Merrill Lynch said the Cillit Bang-to-Durex group has the opportunity to double its sales over the next five to ten years.

On the mid-cap index, African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) slumped 15% on plans from Barrick Gold to dump around 13.5% of its stake in its subsidiary.

Barrick Gold will still own around 60% of the company following the move.

Fears over China’s waning growth have hit iron ore stocks, namely London Mining (LON:LOND), down 7.2% at 74.3p.

In the small-cap universe, Plethora Solutions (LON:PLE) shares raced up as it reported positive progress in the US for its lead product, PSD 502 for premature ejaculation.

The firm's recent meeting with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now “unambiguously defined the path” to a successful submission for making a drug application for 502.

The company now forecasts more than US$1 billion a year in peak prescription sales from the spray.

Investors hailed the news, sending shares up 29% to 11.6p each.

Share plc (LON:SHRE), the company behind the Share Centre trading platform, was up 21% at all-time highs of 35p after it proposed a higher dividend of 0.52p a share after seeing pre-tax profits rise 157% to £1.7mln.

CloudBuy (LON:CBUY) made a 6% gain to 51.25p after winning an e-procurement contract in India.

The deal is to implement the firm's private purchasing portal for construction group Sarth Surfacrete.

Also among the junior gainers were Sound Oil (LON:SOU), up 19% at 6.55p, and Ceramic Fuel Cells (LON:CFU), up 24% at 2.63p.

 

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

12 hours, 18 minutes ago