Stocks look Home-ward
Stocks look Home-ward
18/11/2003 13:51
Home Depot's earnings, CPI report to highlight U.S. stock trading in Tuesday's session.

Home Depot's better-than-expected earnings and the consumer inflation report due before the opening bell will be the main attractions for U.S. investors Tuesday after the week got off to a slow start.


At 6:15 a.m. ET, futures pointed to a higher open for the major indexes.

Home Depot Inc., the world's largest home improvement retailer, said early Tuesday its third-quarter profit rose and topped estimates on a strong gain in same-store sales.

The company reported net income of $1.15 billion, or 50 cents a share, compared with $940 million, or 40 cents a share, a year earlier. Same-store sales rose 7.8 percent, compared with a year-earlier decrease of 2 percent.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 46 cents, according to Reuters Research.

Among U.S. stocks trading in Europe, shares of Home Depot were slightly higher.

The company's results will come a day after archrival Lowe's (LOW: Research, Estimates) posted better-than-expected earnings and reaffirmed its outlook for the final three months of its fiscal year. Lowe's lost 72 cents Monday to $57.91.

Other retailer results expected before the start of trading include office products seller Staples (SPLS: Research, Estimates), luxury goods merchant Saks (SKS: Research, Estimates) and warehouse operator BJ's Wholesale (BJ: Research, Estimates).

Before trading begins, the Labor Department will issue its report on consumer prices for October. Even though the wholesale inflation report last Friday came in well above forecasts, economists surveyed by Briefing.com still expect the CPI to have risen just 0.1 percent, both in total and excluding food and energy costs. CPI rose 0.3 percent in September, 0.1 percent ex-food and energy.

The Dow Jones industrial average started the week with a 0.6 percent loss, with investors jittery about terrorism after car bombings in Turkey over the weekend. The Nasdaq composite index slipped 1.1 percent (see chart for details).

Asian-Pacific stocks Tuesday recovered a little of the prior session's big losses as terrorism fears abated slightly; Tokyo's Nikkei index gained 1.1 percent. European markets were higher in early trading. (Check the latest on world markets)

Treasury prices edged lower in early trading, sending the 10-year note yield up to 4.20 percent from 4.19 percent late Monday. The dollar was slightly higher against the yen, but slightly lower versus the euro.

Brent oil futures slipped 15 cents to $28.90 a barrel in London. Gold, which retreated Monday after getting within a dollar of $400 an ounce, regained some ground in early trading.

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