U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, staying strong ahead of a second day of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s close testimony.
Tech stocks once again took the lead, with the Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC) rising as much as 1.4% and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rising nearly 1% during the session to a new all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.5%.
Stocks have risen over the past two sessions as the market appreciated Powell’s questions from lawmakers about the economy and monetary policy, but there were no bad news or surprises. Although he said a rate cut was likely before the end of the year, he insisted on reiterating the central bank’s message that it was in no hurry to ease policy.
On Thursday, this time before the Senate Banking Committee, the Fed chair reiterated the central bank’s intention to cut interest rates as long as inflation data continues to show cooling.
Economic data on Thursday showed the number of jobless claims for the week ending March 2 was unchanged at 217,000. The number of continuing applications is just over 1.9 million, an increase of approximately 8,000 from the previous announcement. The key non-farm employment report is expected to be released Friday morning.
Meanwhile, gold (GC=F) rose for the fifth straight day, hitting a new high above $2,160 as the prospect of a rate cut gives fresh impetus to a record rally.
Among companies, shares of Victoria’s Secret (VSCO) plummeted more than 25% after the lingerie maker’s sales outlook fell short of expectations.
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Long hours in the penalty box: Victoria’s Secret
Amazon (AMZN) bra purchase transaction.
Victoria’s Secret (VSCO) suffered truly disastrous financial results last night, similar to what happened just hours earlier at fellow mall resident Foot Locker (Florida). This is the right move, as the intimate apparel company’s stock price has plunged nearly 30% premarket.
Management cited sales trends in February that had not improved from the 6% decline in the fourth quarter.
JPMorgan analyst Matt Voss (who downgraded VSCO today) added the following section to a research note to clients that caught my attention. VSCO appears to be losing more market share to Amazon, but the company is unlikely to win this battle. In my opinion, the problem is structural.
“It’s worth noting in the underwear industry data that management believes the sports bra category outperforms non-sports (i.e. structured bras), with sports bras outperforming non-sports (i.e. structured bras) by 30% overall in the broader underwear addressable market. 70% (compared to VSCO).So, in addition to sportswear companies such as Lululemon, management is also looking to expand its He pointed out that the overall underwear market in the fourth quarter declined by mid-single digits.In the sports bra category, (LULU) gained market share.
Despite VSCO/Florida’s terrible quarter, there are retailers within the mall that are winning.
Here’s what Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) CEO Fran Horowitz told me on Wednesday after delivering yet another quarter of double-digit sales.
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