12:30pm (EST)
The bulls are in the green after a better-than-expected jobless claims report and news that the trade deficit narrowed significantly in July as exports climbed to the highest level in nearly two years. The U.S. international trade balance level for July came in at $42.8 billion versus estimates of $46.8 billion.
As a result, the Dow is showing a gain of 67 points and is at 10,454 while the S&P 500 is higher by 10 points to 1,108. The Nasdaq is advancing by 16 points to 2,245.
The S&P has traded to a high of 1,110 and its 200-day moving average is at 1,115. We have pegged a top of 2,250 for the Nasdaq and the index has traded to a high of 2,251.
McDonald’s (MCD, $73.73, down $2.35) is down 3% despite reporting higher August same-store sales. The company said same-store sales increased 4.9% for the month, up from a 2.2% pop from a year ago. Specifically, here in the States, Mickey D’s experienced a 4.6% rise in same-store sales, up from a 1.7% increase in August 2009.
Same-restaurant sales rose 7.8% in the company’s Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions. Great numbers, but for some reason analysts were disappointed with same-store sales for France, which increased 2.2% but dropped from a 3.5% increase a year ago. Go figure.
At any rate, McDonald’s just went on sale with today’s drop. Shares were approaching their 52-week high of $76.26 before the news which was set last week and should rebound if the bulls can push past resistance levels. We will certainly be adding this one to our Watch List for a future trade.
In earnings news, Men’s Warehouse (MW, $22.04, up $1.04) is trading higher after topping Wall Street’s expectations. The company reported a profit of $43 million, or $0.80 a share, versus $40 million, or $0.75 a share, in the year earlier period. Men’s would have earned $0.83 a share but they wrote-off nearly $3 million in charges as revenue jumped 2% to $537 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.77 a share on revenue of $536 million.
We have a special update in our Members Area on what the current action means and we have added a couple of more trades to our Watch List as we get ready for the market’s next move.
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