For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 5, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Aeropostale (ARO), Buckle (BKE), Abercrombie (ANF), Target (TGT) and Wal-Mart (WMT).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:

Retailers Facing Tough Comps

According to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), US chain store sales for May fell by 4.6%. The ICSC had expected May sales to be drop 3%. Additionally, the 25 retailers that we track experienced a sales drop of 4.8%, and roughly two out of three

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According to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), US chain store sales for May fell by 4.6%. The ICSC had expected May sales to be drop 3%. Additionally, the 25 retailers that we track experienced a sales drop of 4.8%, and roughly two out of three retailers missed sales estimates for the month of May.The year-over-year decline in sales was due in large part to difficult comparisons. At this time last year, Uncle Sam was sending out $600 tax rebate checks to consumers, who used a portion of those funds to go shopping. Of course, rising unemployment, lower wages and a penchant for saving over spending might have had something to do with the weak sales.                                        During May, the winners were specialty retailers Aeropostale (ARO), up 19%, and Buckle (BKE), up 13.4%. Retailers that disappointed were Abercrombie (ANF), down 28%, and ...

Those elusive “green shoots” that economic optimists had been digging up lately were buried under disappointing data from the Commerce Department in Washington yesterday (Wednesday) when it was revealed that retail sales in the unexpectedly dropped in April.

Sales at U.S. retailers dropped 0.4%, the eighth monthly decline in the last 10 months, following a revised 1.3% drop in March that was larger than previously estimated.  Excluding auto dealers, sales fell 0.5%

Economists had expected an increase of 0.5% to 1.0%.  Since July, retail sales have shown increases only in January and February, and those were attributed to post-holiday sales.

The disappointing numbers indicate surging unemployment and the worst housing market in decades could temper consumers’ appetite for spending for years, analysts said. As long as consumer spending is muted, which accounts for about 70% of all economic activity, any recovery from the worst recession in over 50 years is likely to

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In the currency market, the dollar rose against the euro. Late Thursday, the euro was trading at $1.2548 vs. $1.2651 on Wednesday.

The greenback also gained from safe-haven buying, as U.S. stocks withered ahead of Friday’s key jobs data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down nearly 300 points, or 4.1%.

Stock indexes in the U.S. had snapped a five-day slide on Wednesday amid hopes that an economic stimulus plan from China would help jolt the global economy back to life. Commodities and industrials shares surged. But those gains evaporated on Thursday after China’s premier said that no additional stimulus was required to help the nation bounce back from its declining growth.

In other news, MarketWatch reported that U.S. retailers’ February sales showed their best performance in five months, aided by pent-up demand for new spring merchandise, and recent holiday related sales.

Even so, the better-than-expected performance does not mean there’s light at

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Consumers Cut Spending – Feel Good About It

by Jeannette Di Louie, Assistant Editor, Mt. Vernon Research

Editor’s Note:  Our colleagues over at Mt. Vernon research were looking at the retail figures this morning. Some of the things that will be coming out in the next few months will highlight just how bad December and the fourth quarter of last year was. And while Michigan consumer sentiment readings came in slightly higher than expected, obviously spending did not. Apparently consumers felt much better about not spending.

December’s Poor Retail Figures Shouldn’t Have Surprised Anybody

We were all expecting a bad Christmas season for U.S. retailers, and reality didn’t disappoint. Sales for the month of December were just announced this morning, and are the latest reason for the indexes to open lower this week.

In November, sales had dropped 2.1% and they slipped another 2.7% in the last month of the year.

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President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is reportedly putting the finishing touches on an economic recovery plan that could run from $675 billion to $1 trillion, though many experts believe the program will most like range between $700 billion and $800 billion.

Briefings for top congressional Democrats were to start either over the weekend or today (Monday), a senior transition-team official told The Associated Press late last week. President-elect Obama is slated to meet today with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in a Democratic strategy session that is likely to focus on the economic recovery package.

It’s time to look forward, not back. The 111th Congress meets tomorrow (Tuesday), and a comprehensive economic stimulus package is at the top of its agenda.  Hopefully, the lawmakers can put partisan bickering aside (fat chance) and have a bill in place for President-elect Barack

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Barclays: Japan 4Q GDP Will Shrink 12.1%; Holiday Sales Worst Since 1970; American Greetings Buys Recycled Paper Greetings; Consumer Confidence Hits Record Low; China Eastern Gets Additional Funds; Gazprom Gets Paid

An economist for Barclays Capital (ADR:BCS) estimates Japan’s economy will shrink at an annual pace of 12.1% this quarter, nearly a three-fold negative jump from the rate previously predicted. “Given the speed and the length of the contraction, this recession could be the most severe in the postwar era,” Barclays’ chief Japan economist Kyohei Morita said, Bloomberg reported. “We expect negative growth will continue for a fifth straight quarter to the April-June period of 2009.” U.S. ...

Gold added about $20 to its price in Sydney trading first thing on Monday morning. This lasted right up until Hong Kong trading started a few hours later, and then went into a slow decline from there. This decline lasted through London…and then Comex trading in New York. Gold added to its gains in after-hours Globex trading.

Silver followed a similar path until New York opened. The price spike that ensued quickly got extinguished…and silver got sold off for about 50 cents right into the Comex close. From there the price recovered somewhat.

Volume in gold trading on Monday was still pretty light…but three times heavier than Friday’s volume. The HUI tacked on another 3% to the upside. Considering that the U.S. dollar came within an eyelash of gaining two full cents yesterday, I guess we should be thankful that both metals did as well as they did.

As far as changes in

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Mid-East Violence Drives Crude Higher; IndyMac to be Sold by Year’s end; Retailers in for Tough Start to 2009; Six-month Treasury Rate Hits Record Low; Commercial Banks Report $6 Billion in 3Q Revenue

Crude prices rose back above $40 a barrel yesterday (Monday), as Israel and Palestinian forces exchanged fire and casualties mounted in the region. Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose $2.31 cents to settle at $40.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A group of investment firms that includes J.C. Flowers & Co., Dune Capital Management, and Paulson & Co., is set to purchase IndyMac Bank, one of the nation’s largest failed banks, from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) according to CNNMoney. Neither the FDIC nor any of ...

Dragged down by plunging gasoline prices and an auto industry struggling for survival, retail sales fell by 1.8% in November for a record fifth straight month, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

But a historic drop in retail gasoline prices and auto sales may have exaggerated the decline.  Filling-station sales mirrored the recent drop in prices from $4 a gallon in July to less than $2 a gallon recently. Auto sales fell 2.8%, confirming automakers’ assertions that business had sunk to the lowest levels in decades.

Excluding gasoline, which fell by almost 15%, retail sales fell just 0.2%.

In fact, without sales of autos, gasoline and building materials, sales actually rose 0.5%, the most since May.

“The financial markets were braced for a horrific retail sales report for November, but the numbers were actually not so bad,” Mark Vitner, a senior economist for Wachovia Corp. (

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