There's a chill in the air and a slight up-tick in confidence. Holiday discounts are coming a bit earlier, too. For retailers, this has been a great combination, leading to the second consecutive month in which retail sales increased.

This follows more than a year of drops. Consumers aren't going crazy, but they are loosening their wallets a little bit. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of the U.S. economy, and the coming holiday season is where the action is -- for the retail sector and, consequently, for everyone else.

Continue reading Retail sales: Signs of life, but not yet a rising tide

Retail sales: Signs of life, but not yet a rising tide originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Baird upgraded the Auto & Truck Suppliers sector to Market Overweight from Market Weight citing valuations, lowered expectations, industry dynamics and a potential bottom in economic indicators. The firm upgraded Accuride Corp (NYSE: ACW) and Magna International (MGA) to Outperform from Neutral.
  
• Merriman upgraded shares of Oplink Comm (NASDAQ: OPLK) to Neutral from Sell on valuation, as they believe Friday's sell-off fully reflects near-term operating concerns and that share price downside from here is limited.
  
• Cowen raised The Wet Seal (NASDAQ: WTSLA) to Outperform from Neutral and has increased confidence that the new management's operational changes and cost cutting initiatives will lead to EPS upside.

• BT Group (NYSE: BT) was raised to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
  
• Societe Generale raised Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) to Buy from Hold and ENI SpA (NYSE: E) to Hold from Sell.
  
• Goldman raised Embarq (NYSE: EQ) to Neutral from Sell.

Analyst upgrades: Auto & truck suppliers, OPLK and WTSLA originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• NutriSystem (NASDAQ: NTRI) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Lazard and to Buy from Strong Buy at Broadpoint following its lowered Q3 guidance.
  
• Jefferies downgraded shares of Endo Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ENDP) to Hold from Buy after Impax Laboratories (NASDAQ: IPXL) filed a Paragraph IV challenge against Opana ER yesterday to reflect the potential for a generic version of Opana ER arriving as early as 2010 and the possibility of a similar threat against Lidoderm.
  
• Corporate Express (NYSE: CXP) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at ING, as they believe the new CEO's long-term targets are overly ambitious.
  
• JP Morgan downgraded Aventine Renewable (NYSE: AVR) and BioFuel Energy (NASDAQ: BIOF) to Neutral from Overweight, citing weaker fundamentals in ethanol pricing.

• JP Morgan downgraded Charlotte Russe (NASDAQ: CHIC) and The Wet Seal (NASDAQ: WTSLA) to Neutral from Overweight.
  
• Goldman downgraded Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ: MPWR) and Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS) to Neutral from Buy; Goldman removed National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM) from its Conviction Buy List.

Analyst downgrades: NTRI, ENDP, CXP, AVR and BIOF originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Today's New York Times takes a rare look at the world of copycat fashion design: The business of designing knockoffs of runway fashions -- often before the originals hit the stores -- is big business, and top designers are fighting back. The Council of Fashion Designers of America is lobbying Congress for more extensive intellectual property protections for fashion designers, and an expert hired by the industry estimates that knockoffs make up more than 5% of the fashion market.

Seena Anand, the owner of a fashion house specializing in knockoffs isn't buying the outrage: She told the newspaper that copycats are about providing less affluent consumers with stylish clothes -- "They have a right to look fabulous." She really said that. Someone alert Congress -- It's time for a 28th Amendment!

Continue reading Knockoff designers defend the 'right to look fabulous'

Knockoff designers defend the 'right to look fabulous' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Merriman believes the turnaround at Arden B is well underway and both it and the Wet Seal chains have tremendous opportunities for long-term growth, initiating The Wet Seal (NASDAQ: WTSLA) with a Buy rating.

• Pacific Growth is positive on Brocade's (NASDAQ: BRCD) diversification into new products and services, starting shares with a Buy rating.

• Banc of America initiated shares of InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) with a Neutral rating.

• William Blair believes the newly-formed CME Group (NYSE: CME) has an even more dominant competitive position within the growing futures exchange industry, reinstating shares with an Outperform rating.

• JP Morgan said Canada is an attractive wireless market and that Rogers Communications (NYSE: RCI) is well positioned, starting shares with an Overweight rating...

• Deutsche Bank initiated Waters Corp (NYSE: WAT) with a Hold rating.

• Goldman started Infinera Corp (NASDAQ: INFN) with an Equal Weight.

• Kaufman reinstated Savvis (NASDAQ: SVVS) with a Hold.

• Pacific Growth initiated Network Appliance (NASDAQ: NTAP) with a Buy.

Analyst initiations 7-17-07: BRCD, CME, IACI and NTAP originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Jul 2007 11:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Nollenberger believes the Hardee's franchise is entering a period of accelerated growth and initiated shares of CKE Restaurants (NYSE: CKR) with a Buy rating and $27 target.

• Goldman views Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) as a as a high quality, focused franchise with strong fundamental outlook driven by margin expansion and improvements in non-drug wholesale businesses and restructuring efforts, reinstating its Buy rating on the company.

• American Technology initiated eBAY Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY) with a Buy rating and $43 target, believing the company is the top play on growth of U.S. e-commerce and they expect upside to numbers tonight.

• Needham believes CA Inc (NYSE: CA) Inc remains in transition as it continues to work on the repackaging of its vast product array into five solution sets and started the company with a Hold rating.

• Lazard initiated F5 Networks Inc (NASDAQ: FFIV) with a Buy rating and $100 target.

• Citigroup started Clearwire Corp (NASDAQ: CLWR) with a Hold rating and $23 target.

• Morgan Stanley assumed coverage of Vornado RealtyTrust (NYSE: VNO) with an Equal Weight rating.

• SourceFire Inc (NASDAQ: FIRE) was initiated with a Hold rating and $12 target.

• The Wet Seal (NASDAQ: WTSLA) was initiated with an Outperform rating at Cowen.

• Roth Capital initiated shares of Vivus Inc (NASDAQ: VVUS) with a Buy rating and $15 target.

Analyst initiations 4-18-07: EBAY, CA, CAH, CKR & FIRE initiated today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Cantor initiated Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) with a Buy rating and $650 target, believing Google will continue to benefit from the secular shift of advertising and marketing dollars to the Internet and sees no signs of business "hitting the wall."
• Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ:BRCM) was initiated by ThinkEquity with an Accumulate rating and $34 target; while the company is well-positioned in growth areas for 2007, the rating was based on excess channel inventory and valuation, and recommended that investors only buy shares of Broadcom on weakness.

• aQuantive Inc. (NASDAQ:AQNT) was initiated with a Buy rating and $30 target at Cantor; the firm believes aQuantive has positioned itself as a "best-of-breed" provider of digital marketing services and technologies.
• Kevin Dann reinstated The Wet Seal Inc. (NASDAQ:WTSLA) with a Buy rating and $9.75 target, feeling that The Wet Seal can still meet their Q4 comps estimate of 3%, and believes the guide-down in comps would not have been necessary except for the need for full disclosure relative to the secondary offering.
• JP Morgan initiated Quality Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:QSII) with an Overweight rating, positive on the company's valuation and long track record.
• Prudential initiated The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (NYSE:SMG) with a Neutral on valuation with a $56 target.

Analyst initiations 12-22-06: GOOG gets $650 target originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.