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Before the opening bell today, we see new numbers for U.S. economic reads the Consumer Price Index (CPI), Retail Sales and the Empire State Index. Short answer: the U.S. consumer appears to be in good shape. June CPI was +0.2%, June Retail Sales +0.6% and Empire State +0.55 for July.
Digging into these numbers a bit, Retail Sales performed even better once we strip out auto sales (+0.7%), and the control group hit 0.5%. The May figure dropped 0.3%, but the forward look is pretty sunny. Charting inflation metrics, CPI retained +0.2% growth in June even with food and energy prices stripped out. This is lighter than the Producer Price Index (PPI) report yesterday, which rose 0.5%. The Empire State Index number is the only weaker figure in the bunch, coming in well below June’s 6.01% to 0.55% for July.
All of these figures point to a favorable scenario going forward. Analysts had been hoping for a rebound in Q2, and thus far it seems to be taking place. And this without a widening maw of inflation indicators to rain on the parade.
Speaking of parades, two more big Wall Street banks have reported Q2 earnings results before the bell today: Citigroup (C - Free Report) posted an impressive earnings and revenue beat while Wells Fargo (WFC - Free Report) just met the consensus estimate on the bottom line while missing slightly on sales.
This continues the big bank narrative thus far (early on) in Q2 earnings season; previously this week we’d seen solid beats from JPMorgan (JPM - Free Report) and PNC Financial (PNC - Free Report) , while BlackRock (BLK - Free Report) modestly underperformed expectations.
New Life for Herbalife
Also this morning, Herbalife (HLF - Free Report) has reached a deal with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the tune of $200 million. Herbalife has agreed to change certain business practices — including Herbalife representatives providing receipts on sales, on which they will be paid by the company. What Herbalife gets in return is a statement from the FTC that the company is considered not a “pyramid scheme” (as activist investor Bill Ackman has long claimed).
Upon the initial news report, HLF shares shot up 12% in pre-market trading. Since they have cooled a bit, but this is a positive development for Herbalife investors and a black eye for short-sellers of HLF. Market futures overall are once again positive this morning: Dow +30, Nasdaq +2.5 and S&P 500 +3.5.
Mark Vickery Senior Editor
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More Big Data, Q2 Earnings Parade & Herbalife
Friday, July 15, 2016
Before the opening bell today, we see new numbers for U.S. economic reads the Consumer Price Index (CPI), Retail Sales and the Empire State Index. Short answer: the U.S. consumer appears to be in good shape. June CPI was +0.2%, June Retail Sales +0.6% and Empire State +0.55 for July.
Digging into these numbers a bit, Retail Sales performed even better once we strip out auto sales (+0.7%), and the control group hit 0.5%. The May figure dropped 0.3%, but the forward look is pretty sunny. Charting inflation metrics, CPI retained +0.2% growth in June even with food and energy prices stripped out. This is lighter than the Producer Price Index (PPI) report yesterday, which rose 0.5%. The Empire State Index number is the only weaker figure in the bunch, coming in well below June’s 6.01% to 0.55% for July.
All of these figures point to a favorable scenario going forward. Analysts had been hoping for a rebound in Q2, and thus far it seems to be taking place. And this without a widening maw of inflation indicators to rain on the parade.
Speaking of parades, two more big Wall Street banks have reported Q2 earnings results before the bell today: Citigroup (C - Free Report) posted an impressive earnings and revenue beat while Wells Fargo (WFC - Free Report) just met the consensus estimate on the bottom line while missing slightly on sales.
This continues the big bank narrative thus far (early on) in Q2 earnings season; previously this week we’d seen solid beats from JPMorgan (JPM - Free Report) and PNC Financial (PNC - Free Report) , while BlackRock (BLK - Free Report) modestly underperformed expectations.
New Life for Herbalife
Also this morning, Herbalife (HLF - Free Report) has reached a deal with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the tune of $200 million. Herbalife has agreed to change certain business practices — including Herbalife representatives providing receipts on sales, on which they will be paid by the company. What Herbalife gets in return is a statement from the FTC that the company is considered not a “pyramid scheme” (as activist investor Bill Ackman has long claimed).
Upon the initial news report, HLF shares shot up 12% in pre-market trading. Since they have cooled a bit, but this is a positive development for Herbalife investors and a black eye for short-sellers of HLF. Market futures overall are once again positive this morning: Dow +30, Nasdaq +2.5 and S&P 500 +3.5.
Mark Vickery
Senior Editor