The consumer discretionary group is slightly outperforming the broader market in early trade. The retail group is mixed with the Retail HOLDRS Trust (RTH) up 0.6% and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) down 0.1%.
Trading higher following earnings/guidance: HI +4.3%. Trading lower following earnings/guidance: TIF -10.5%. Other notable mentions: ConAgra (CAG) increases ownership share of Indian Company Agro Tech Foods; becomes majority owner; purchase price for the additional shares was approximately $10 million. Leaders: Boyd Gaming (BYD +6.6%) announced it is terminating the agreement to sell Dania Jai-Alai, after receiving notice from the prospective buyer, Dania Entertainment LLC, that the buyer was unable to close the sale within the time period required by the agreement. Gamestop (GME +1.8%) modestly higher following report suggesting the co may find its best hope in private equity.
Analyst related: Upgrades: Meritor (MTOR +3.7%) upgraded to Overweight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley. Utd Nat Foods (UNFI +3.6%) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies Downgrades: Dillard's (DDS -4.1%) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Sterne Agee. Daimler AG (DDAIF -2.1%) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank. Ascena Retail Group (ASNA -1.7%) downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James. Misc: Vera Bradley (VRA -2.8%) initiated with a Neutral at JP Morgan. Cheesecake Factory (CAKE +1.5%) initiated with an Overweight and DineEquity (DIN +3.9%) initiated with an Equal Weight at boutique firm.






