Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD) is having a sale today. On its stock. Question is, do you think it's cheap enough to be a value?

I have reservations about buying the current dip. At the time of this writing, shares of the retailer were off by 5.8% to $82.19. Active volume backed the move. Granted, it's not like the stock is at the 52-week low of $59.21. Things aren't that dire. But the company isn't close to the 52-week high of of $125.42, either. And as for the one-year chart, well, I'm not sure the image is one to praise.

U.S. stock futures are lower this morning, as oil prices continued to surge. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 46 points to 12,048 and S&P 500 stock futures fell 7.50 points to 1,298. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 14.50 points to 2,289.

Negative sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.71%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.47%.

Most Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 1.19%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 0.70% and China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.56%.

On Thursday, Dillard's (DDS) announced that it plans to form a wholly-owned real estate investment trust. The company will transfer some of its properties to the REIT and then lease back the properties from the entity. The company said that the move may enhance its ability to access debt or preferred stock and improve its liquidity.

The market is currently pricing REITs at rich valuations, and the transaction will allow Dillard's to better monetize its significant real-estate assets. By transferring these holdings into a publicly traded REIT, Dillard's should be able to unlock additional shareholder value. According to Craig Johnson, an analyst at Customer Growth Partners, "the sum of the parts can be greater than the sum of the whole."

Tuesday morning, Sears Holding (SHLD) released a bit of good and a bit of bad news. Let's start with the bad news.

The retailer announced that its same-store sales dropped 1.7% during December. The company's eponymous Sears stores saw December same-store sales fall 6%, more than offsetting Kmart's 2% growth. The firm blamed the sales drop at Sears on a major decline in sales of consumer electronics, along with appliances and tools.

With about two hours to go before the end of the trading day, Sears Holdings (SHLD) was up over 6% to $74.38. The company cannot be called a shining star in the retail sector. Connie Madon wrote about the business last month, placing it in the laggard category.

But there has been interesting activity today in terms of call options associated with the equity, as noted by TheFly. Here's another point to ponder: Benzinga has highlighted the big volume driving the trade of the common stock. There seems to be some confusion over why this is happening. It can't be the news about the movie-download initiative, right?

It's been a strange marriage right from the start. Kmart, the discounter, joined with Sears, the department store retailer in 2005.
Both lines are in stiff competition with other brands, the USA Today reports. Kmart's competing with Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT), while Sears's competitors include Home Depot (HD) and Lowe's (LOW).

The Kmart-Sears combo has been lagging in the retail sector. On Thursday, Sears Holdings (SHLD) posted a loss of $218 million or $1.98 per share, compared with a loss of $127 million or $1.09 per share in the period last year. Revenue fell 5% to $9.68 billion. Analysts had expected $9.89 billion.

Sears Holdings (SHLD - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company reported Q3 earnings this morning, posting a loss of $218 million, or $1.98 per share, on revenue of $9.68 billion. Analysts had forecast a loss of $1.07 per share on revenue of $9.95 billion. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on SHLD.

This morning, SHLD opened at $63.00. So far today the stock has hit a high of $64.44 and a low of $62.02. As of 12:10, SHLD is trading at $62.44, down $3.76 (-5.7%). The chart for SHLD looks bearish and S&P gives SHLD a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.

Freeport McMoRan (FCX) closed up $1.52 to $84.51. Copper prices closed up 2.54% according to Bloomberg. Overall option implied volatility of 40 is near its 26-week average of 43 according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Sears Holding Corporation (SHLD) closed up $3.62 to $71.77. SHLD October call option implied volatility is at 38, puts are at 54. This is versus its 26 week average of 42, according to Track Data. Active volume suggesting larger price movement. Puts are trading higher than calls on SHLD being difficult to borrow.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Sears Holdings (SHLD - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company posting a second-quarter loss of $39 million, or 35 cents per share this morning. Excluding one-time items, SHLD lost 19 cents per share on revenue of $10.46 billion. Analysts had forecast a loss of 18 cents per share on revenue of $10.62 billion. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on SHLD.

This morning, SHLD opened at $66.80. So far today the stock has hit a high of $66.80 and a low of $61.89. As of 12:10, SHLD is trading at $62.25, down $5.00 (-7.4%). The chart for SHLD looks bearish and S&P gives SHLD a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.

Walmart (WMT) is a big-cap, blue-chip business in retail, one that competes with Sears Holdings (SHLD) and Target (TGT), among others. It's generally considered one of the safer, although considerably more boring, names in the universe of equities. However, could it be a defensive play in this economy?

Difficult to say for certain. As I've said before, I don't care what stock you hold in your portfolio, it'll go down if the markets become very choppy, defensive reputation or not. And Walmart isn't necessarily the first idea you think of when you think defensive. Usually, you might come up with a Coca-Cola (KO) or a Kraft (KFT) ... something with food involved, something that sells products consumers use and need every single day and can buy at multiple locations, not just at one single shopping source.

Below are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks. Click through to the original posts for more details.

• Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) shares sold off after it posted a narrower Q1 net loss, but same-store sales rose.
• Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) swung from a year-ago loss to a Q2 profit that was better than expected.
• Deere & Co. (DE) reported better-than-expected Q2 earnings and improved sales, and raised its full-year outlook.
• Dell Inc. (DELL) posted better-than-expected Q1 earnings, but the gross margin was disappointing, and shares fell.
• GameStop Corp. (GME) higher Q1 earnings beat consensus estimates but same-store sales declined.
• Gap Inc. (GPS) said its higher Q1 earnings beat expectations while revenue fell in line with estimates.

Retailer Sears Holding (SHLD) announced this morning that its first-quarter profit dropped 38%. The company blamed the drop on increased discounts that it used to promote, appliances along with dropping demand for its tools and home electronics.

During the first quarter, Sears earned 14 cents per share, which is down from 21 cents per share last year. Adjusted earnings checked in at 16 cents per share, which topped the consensus estimate of 12 cents per share. Quarterly revenue fell to $10.05 billion, which is short of the consensus estimate of $10.22 billion.

U.S. stock market futures fell sharply lower Thursday morning, indicating Wall Street is set to extend Wednesday's declines. Concerns over European debt persisted and the new unilateral regulations by Germany continued to shake markets. Investors also digested news the Senate vote on Wall Street financial regulation failed as they awaited employment data out of the U.S.

Overseas, Asian markets fell Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei dropping 1.5% and China's Shanghai index down 1.2%. Geopolitical concerns as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea grew, didn't help sentiment there.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT), perhaps the most famous retailer in the world, whose competitors include Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST), Sears Holdings (SHLD), and Target Corporation (TGT), is actually in the green as I compose this opening sentence during the afternoon trading session. Can you believe it? A stock actually in the green! After an earnings report, no less! It is currently higher by $1.62, or 3%, to $54.35. The traders are loving it, because volume is above average with a couple hours left to go before the bell tolls.

Wal-Mart hasn't been the most exciting stock over the last twelve months. The range hasn't been too wide, with a 52-week low of $47.35 and a 52-week high of $56.27. And the stock has sort of meandered around in something of a sideways pattern (you do get a dividend with the shares, though, so there is a total-return situation going on).

Call it Christmas come early: Last week we learned that stocks posted an average gain of about 9% for March retail sales. We also learned consumer spending in the U.S. rose in March by the most in five months, and many economists are predicting continued spending acceleration as the economy adds more jobs and gets back into the groove.

Already we've seen some red hot runs in the retail sector in anticipation of the consumer's return. Several consumer-related exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been tearing things up on Wall Street lately -- lapping the broader market at least four times over!

There are lots of great individual retail stocks out there -- and no shortage of reasons to buy Walmart (WMT). But the fact is that blue chip retailers can often lag the broader sector, and small-cap retailers can sometimes be too volatile for many investors.