Ross Stores Soars 7%

The stock market opened 2013 with a strong day yesterday. In two days, the S&P 500 gained back everything it lost since mid-October. Today so far, the market is down just a bit.

Retail stocks are having a very good day as many are reporting strong holiday sales figures. In fact, we already have a star stock this year as Ross Stores ($ROST) has gained 7% today. The company raised its fourth-quarter profit estimate to a range of $1.05 to $1.06 per share from the earlier range of 99 cents to $1.04 per share. Comparable same-store sales rose 6% which was far more than the 2.7% analysts were expecting.

Right after breaking $13, Ford Motor ($F) has motored above $13.50. The company said today that its U.S. sales rose 1.9% in December.

The Labor Department reported that unemployment claims rose to 372,000. That’s an increase of 10,000 from last week’s revised number of 362,000. Technically, this report was worse than expected (Wall Street’s consensus was for 360,000), but everyone is focused on the big jobs report for tomorrow. The ADP report, which is done by a private payroll firm, showed an increase of 215,000 jobs. According to ADP, private employers added 1.7 million jobs in the last year.

Wall Street’s consensus for tomorrow’s jobs report is a gain of 157,000.

Posted by on January 3rd, 2013 at 11:01 am


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