‘Fast Money’ Recap: No Man’s Land
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 13 points, or 0.1%, to 10,625. The S&P 500 slipped a fraction of a point, or 0.02%, to 1150, while the Nasdaq shed 1 point, or 0.03%, to 2368.
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Despite today's meandering trading, the major averages managed to drift higher this week. The Dow added 0.6% since last Friday, while the S&P gained 1%. For the week, the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.8%.
Dirk van Dijk, chief equity strategist at Zacks Investment Research, said the dearth of market-moving data during the week kept most stocks trading in a tight range.
"Earnings season is over, and there was really no significant economic data this week. You really had to hunt for things. Today's retail sales report was probably the most important for the week," van Dijk said. "Just not a lot of info."
But that changes next week as a flood of data and a statement from the Federal Reserve's policy-making arm following its regular meeting are due, which will put the spotlight on the banking, housing, industrial and basic material sectors, among others. Capitol Hill will also be in focus as news reports suggested health care and financial regulatory reform news may be made in the coming week.
Stocks lost momentum today after the University of Michigan delivered its preliminary read on March consumer sentiment, which dipped to 72.5 after registering 73.6 in February, hinting shoppers' psyches may have been affected by the struggling labor market and other economic uncertainties. Street analysts had forecast sentiment to hit 74 during the month, according to consensus figures provided by Briefing.com.
"I'm looking at this number thinking it's not telling us much and won't tell us much until we see some job growth," said Chris Low, economist at FTN Financial. "The reality is people look out the window to see if things have picked up."
But a separate report showed February retail sales rose unexpectedly last month. Retail sales rose 0.3% in February, advancing 0.8%, excluding autos. The figures were much better than the decrease of 0.2% that economists had been expecting and for growth of 0.5%, excluding autos. February's sales build on an uptick of 0.1% in January.
Michael James, managing director at Wedbush Morgan Securities, said stalling equities were to be expected today despite the sentiment or retail assessments, considering the recent run-up by stocks. The S&P 500 closed at a 17-month high Thursday, also a key technical level, and the index has improved more than 4% since the beginning of the month. The morning's data, then, only heightened his enthusiasm for the retail sector, saying "the group continues to attract more buyers than sellers."
A few retailer names touched 52-week highs, including Nordstrom(JWN), Macy's(M), Dillard's(DDS) and Saks(SKS). The S&P Retail Index rose 0.6%.
A class of retailer earnings also highlighted the sector today. AnnTaylor(ANN) finished down 0.8% despite beating profit estimates before the opening bell. Quiksilver(ZQK) shares rocketed up 29.9% to $4.04 after outpacing the Street's first-quarter forecasts. Aeropostale(ARO) and Pacific Sunwear of California(PSUN) unveiled opposite results late Thursday, the former recording a 42% profit spike and the latter showing a 17% sales tumble. Aeropostale added 4.2% to close at $28.18, while Pacific Sunwear lost 15.5% at $4.86.
Low said sluggishness in the broader equities may be because "we haven't really had clean data in two months" as a result of harsh weather last month. The creation of this "information vacuum" affected some data more than others, though he says that the retail sales figures are more reliable because they use the entire month for measurement as opposed to any particular week.
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