NEW YORK — Although stocks recovered slightly on Monday after last Friday’s heavy sell-off, the retail sector finished the day’s session down marginally.
After dropping more than 200 points on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 22 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 10,688.77, while the S&P 500 climbed 2.3 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,263.82. The market benefited from investors who prowled for deals following Friday’s slump.
In contrast, the S&P Retail Index ended the day off slightly, down 3.2 points, or 0.7 percent, at 451.76.
Even news that Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. was buying back its U.S. Polo Jeans business from vendor Jones Apparel Group for $355 million did little to buoy retail shares. Shares of Polo ended the day up 1.4 percent at $53.73, and Jones Apparel shares closed up 0.6 percent at $30.89. Polo traded on a volume of 1.2 million, which compares with an average trading volume of 687,000.
Meanwhile, before the market closed, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was upgraded by Goldman, Sachs & Co. Citing the company’s focus on return on invested capital, in part by attempting to draw more affluent consumers to stores and improving service levels, the brokerage firm said in a research report that the retailer’s management “has set its sights on the right strategies that should in concert drive improved store performance for customers and improved stock performance for shareholders.”
Shares of Wal-Mart closed up 0.6 percent on Monday to $45.25.
Stocks pulling down the S&P Retail Index included Saks Inc., which dropped 1.8 percent to $18.30, and Kohl’s Corp., which fell 1.4 percent to $43.03.