Monday, April 14, 2014

Morning Movers: Retail Sales, Citi Earnings Boost Stocks

After Friday's pain, stocks looked poised to regain some ground Monday, after a bullish retail sales report from the Commerce Department and positive earnings from Citi boosted futures.

Retail sales jumped 1.1% last month to a seasonally adjusted $433.9 billion, the biggest gain since September 2012, and 0.8% ahead of economists' expectations. February retail sales were revised upward to a 0.7% increase, from a 0.3% improvement.

Citigroup (C) was on the rise, as its first-quarter earnings report was better than expected, and the banking giant announced it was cutting as many as 300 jobs (about 2%) of its workforce.

Edward LifeSciences (EW) climbed as it won the latest round in its patent infringement case against Medtronic (MDT)—a Federal Court ordered preliminary injunction on U.S. Sales of Medtronic’s infringing heart valve, although the company plans to appeal.

J.M. Smucker (SJM) was gaining on news that it raised its share repurchase plan by 5 million shares.

No comments:

Post a Comment