Stocks gained ground in early trading on Wall Street after oil prices briefly moved higher on more jawboning about production cuts. Investors, though, quickly grew wary of the talk and oil fell back below $30 a barrel, trimming early stock gains.
By midmorning, the S&P 500 was up by 15 points to 1,879, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead 95 points to 16,069 and the Nasdaq was higher by 58 points to 4,396. The S&P Retail ETF rose 1.3 percent to $39.84.
Tailored Brands Inc. said that fourth-quarter comparable-store sales at its Men’s Wearhouse chain inched up 4.3 percent, but that the Jos. A. Bank unit continued to struggle, with comps down 31.9 percent “primarily due to a decline in average transactions per store.” The firm said its 2015 bottom line would be near the bottom of its previous guidance, calling for adjusted profits of $1.75 to $2. Tailored Brands also noted that the Jos. A. Bank chain was likely in for a “significant non-cash impairment charge.” Investors had been primed for bad news and pushed the stock up 3 cents to $13.32.
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Bebe Stores, Inc. reported that the company suffered a net loss of $5.5 million, or 7 cents a share, for the second fiscal quarter and said it would stop providing guidance. The highly promotional holiday season clearly hurt the specialty retailer. Net sales decreased 5 percent to $122.4 million. Comparable-store sales declined 2.5 percent versus last year’s increase of 8 percent for the same period. Bebe stock was up 3 cents to sell at 39 cents per share.
Skechers and Adidas’ battle over sneakers heated up. Adidas won a bid to block Skechers from selling what it deemed were knockoffs of a well-known Adidas design. Skechers declared that the shoes in question had already been discontinued and suggested they were minor styles in its “vast footwear collection.” Skechers stock gained by almost 4 percent to $31.55. Adidas stock was down 0.03 percent to 91.11 euros, or $102.
On Monday, H&M or Hennes & Mauritz reported that its group sales for January increased by 7 percent including VAT as compared to January of 2015. H&M also noted that January 2016 had one extra Sunday than January 2015. Total sales for the first quarter for the company will be released on March 15. The stock is down almost 1 percent today to 276 Swedish krona, or $32.48.
Prestige Brands said that it is offering $350 million in senior notes due 2024. The company will use the proceeds to redeem outstanding 8.125 percent senior notes due 2020 and to repay the bridge credit facility entered into in connection with the DenTek Holdings acquisition. Prestige Brands stock is up by 1.8 percent to $48.52.
Sequential Brands laid out a new partnership with ONE Jeanswear group to expand distribution for William Rast, the fashion brand cofounded by Justin Timberlake and Trace Ayala. Sequential will broaden the retail footprint with William Rast’s 2016 fall collection. Sequential Brands stock is higher by 1 percent to $5.54.
Elsewhere in the market, gold has pulled back to $1,211.50 an ounce for a drop of 2.2 percent. The Empire manufacturing report, which registers New York’s manufacturing health, dropped by 16.6 points, much worse than the consensus call for a decline of 9.9 points.
Asian markets ended the day on a higher note with China’s Shanghai Composite spiking 3.3 percent as Chinese financial stocks popped. Europe’s market are mixed with Germany’s DAX lower by 0.8 percent, the French CAC is flat and the U.K. FTSE is up slightly.