Some clichés stick around for a reason – and right now, “sell in May and go away” looks like a perfectly accurate evaluation of this month on Wall Street.
The Dow has now fallen in nine of the past ten sessions, with the S&P 500 on an eight-of-ten losing streak, as investors continue to worry about Europe in general and Greece in particular.
Several new U.S. economic reports have a shot at influencing investor sentiment today, starting with April housing starts at 8:30am ET. Economists look for a 4.7 percent boost following a 5.8 percent increase in March.
At 9:15am ET, we’ll get the latest figures from the Federal Reserve on industrial production, with consensus forecasts calling for an April increase of 0.6 percent. Production had been unchanged in March.
At 2pm ET, the Fed is out with the minutes from the most recent FOMC policy meeting, and as usual, investors will look for even the slightest hints that a QE3 might be on the horizon.
Retail earnings reports dominate this morning’s otherwise light earnings calendar, with Target (TGT), Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), and Staples (SPLS) all out with quarterly numbers. We’ll also get quarterly results from Deere & Co. (DE). Another retailer, Limited Brands (LTD), will be out with quarterly results after today’s closing bell.
J.C. Penney (JCP) leads our list of stocks to watch, getting pummeled in after-hours trading after it reported an 18.9% drop in first quarter same store sales, a much bigger drop than Wall Street had expected. It also omitted its dividend, in what some view as at least an initial rejection of new CEO Ron Johnson’s makeover strategy.
General Motors (GM) makes the watch list on two fronts: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) has revealed a 10 million share stake in the automaker, according to the company’s latest 13F filing. GM also revealed that it does not plan to continue advertising on Facebook (FB).
That filing also reveals a new Berkshire stake in Viacom (VIAB), as well as increased stakes in Wal-Mart (WMT), Wells Fargo (WFC), Bank of NY Mellon (BK), and DirecTV (DTV). It’s cut its stakes in Intel (INTC), Kraft Foods (KFT), Procter & Gamble (PG), and Dollar General (DG).
Grocery store chain Safeway (SWY) has raised its quarterly dividend by 21 percent to $0.175 per share from $0.145.
Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) shares could be under some pressure today, as the drugmaker announces plans for a new common stock offering. It did not, however, say how much stock it might sell and at what price.
Liberty Media (LMCA) has upped its stake in Live Nation Entertainment (LYV) to more than 25 percent from about 20 percent, according to a new SEC filing. Liberty has already received regulatory clearance to buy as much as 35 percent of Live Nation.
BHP Billiton (BHP) is predicting a continued slump in commodity prices, a factor that’s prompting the mining giant to cut back on investment plans that would have seen about $80 billion go towards new projects by 2015.
THQ (THQ) reported a fiscal fourth quarter loss, as the videogame maker tries to avert a stock de-listing. THQ is facing an uphill battle with a weak market and stronger, larger rivals like Electronic Arts (EA) and Activision Blizzard (ATVI).
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