Urban Outfitters & Macy´s lead Wall Street

U.S. stocks traded higher Thursday as the Dow Jones Industrial

Average climbed 8.4 points to 12426, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 4.3 points to 1282, and the Nasdaq Composite index climbed 21 points to 2670. Among the companies whose shares actively traded in the session were Urban Outfitters, Macy's Inc., and J.C. Penney Co.

After reporting record sales in December, shares of Urban Outfitters traded down 2.04 per cent during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $27.83 (Rs 1,468). Urban Outfitters has a 52 week low of $21.47 (Rs 1,132) and a 52 week high of $39.26 (Rs 2,071). The stock’s 50-day moving average is $26.81 (Rs 1,414) and its 200-day moving average is $27.05 (Rs 1,427). The company has a market cap of $4.013 billion (Rs 21,200 crores) and a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.95.

Macy's benefited from its efforts to tailor merchandise to local markets, reported trade media. It posted a 6.2 per cent increase in December, beating Wall Street's estimate of 5 per cent. For November and December combined, revenue at stores opened for a year rose 5.7 per cent. The exclusive department stores said it would doubled its quarterly dividend to 20 cents a share, and its board approved a $1 billion (Rs 100 crores) stock buyback program.

Finally, J.C. Penney posted a 0.3 per cent rise in comparable-store sales when a 0.1 per cent decline was expected, but said comparable-store sales for the fourth quarter will be down slightly compared with a year earlier because of a softer sales performance during the holiday season. The retailer slashed its fiscal fourth-quarter guidance as a result. IN comparison, Nordstrom Inc. (JWN, $50.23, +$0.15, +0.30 per cent) posted an 8.7 per cent increase when 5.1 per cent was projected and Saks Inc. (SKS, $9.60 (Rs 506), -$0.24 (Rs 13), -2.44 per cent) met expectations with a 5.8 per cent rise.