BLBG: U.S. Stocks Little Changed as Retail Sales Miss Estimates
U.S. stocks were little changed, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index recorded two days of losses, as retail sales rose less than estimated in July and a gauge of German investor confidence advanced.
The S&P 500 added 0.1 percent to 1,691.53 at 9:32 a.m in New York.
“The signs seem to be it’s getting better, but not strongly better,” Bill Schultz, chief investment officer who oversees about $1.1 billion at McQueen Ball & Associates in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, said by phone. “We probably need another leg to build on to before this market can get higher. We need evidence of that and this retail sales number doesn’t give you that feeling that things really turned robustly higher.”
The S&P 500 declined 0.1 yesterday, its fifth drop in the past six days after closing at a record on Aug. 2, amid growing speculation the Federal Reserve will pare bond purchases this year as the economy strengthens. Fed officials have been scrutinizing data to determine whether growth is strong enough to curtail stimulus.
Data today showed retail sales rose 0.2 percent in July, following a 0.6 percent gain in June that was larger than previously reported, according to Commerce Department figures. The median forecast of 81 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.3 percent advance.
Fed Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart will give a speech at 12:45 p.m. on the outlook for the U.S. economy. Lockhart said in an interview with Market News International on Aug. 7 that the Fed may reduce its bond purchases as early as September.
‘Pretty Impressive’
“The progress to date is pretty impressive and certainly should be factored into the readiness of the economy to move forward without asset purchases,” he said in the article.
In Europe, shares climbed to the highest level since May after an index of German investor and analyst expectations rose more than estimated in August. Germany is Europe’s largest economy.
Better-than-estimated corporate earnings have also helped U.S. equities rally, with the S&P 500 surging more than 150 percent from its bear-market low in 2009. Of the 448 companies in the benchmark index that have reported quarterly results this period, 72 percent have exceeded analysts’ profit estimates, with earnings rising 2.8 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tom Stoukas in Athens at astoukas@bloomberg.net; Nick Taborek in New York at ntaborek@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net
