Retail Stocks Tumble
By MATTHEW LYNCH
July 10, 2008
NEW YORK — Despite an early week of gains made on the back of stable oil prices, markets tumbled Wednesday as investors coped with a new round of earnings fears.
Retail stocks were especially hard hit as the Standard & Poor’s Retail Index fell 3.3 percent to 34.67. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 236.77 points, down 2.1 percent, to 11,147.44, while the S&P 500 dropped 2.3 percent to 1,244.68.
Among those feeling the pain were retailers that disclosed their June comparable-store sales ahead of the pack.
Even shares of Buckle Inc., which announced a same-store sales surge of 28.9 percent, remained relatively flat, down 0.5 percent to $46.47.
Despite Buckle’s endurance, teen retailers were generally among the hardest-hit. Zumiez Inc. slumped 6.6 percent to $17.10, Abercrombie & Fitch tumbled 5.8 percent to $57.18, American Eagle Outfitters slid 4.8 percent to $12.99, Pacific Sunwear of California dropped 4.4 percent to $8.28 and Aeropostale diminished 3.9 percent to $31.96.
In the department store sector, J.C. Penney dove 5.7 percent to $35.67, Sears Holdings Corp. dropped 4.6 percent to $72.54, Macy’s Inc. slid 4.4 percent to $18.04, Kohl’s fell 5.1 percent to $42.18 and Nordstrom Inc. dipped 4 percent to $31.24.
Wal-Mart Stores fell 2.4 percent to $57.67 while rival Target Corp. was off 2.8 percent to $47.32. Vendors suffered a similar fate. Coach Inc. dropped 6.9 percent to $26.80, Liz Claiborne Inc. sagged 5.5 percent to $12.67 and Lululemon Athletica tumbled 6.3 percent to $25.72. Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. dropped 3.8 percent to $35.44 and VF Corp. was off 2.1 percent to $73.69. Warnaco Group emerged with a relatively small 1 percent to decline to close at $42.79.
After the bell Wednesday Hot Topic Inc. reported a 0.3 percent drop in June same-store sales and Zumiez said its June comps fell 3.4 percent. |