Retail giant Target Corp. (TGT) reported its fourth quarter results this morning, and a strong holiday shopping season helped boost profit by 11%.

The company reported earnings of $1.38 per share, slightly lower than the $1.40 that analysts had been expecting. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.24 per share.

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%.

Last week, Macy's (M) and JCPenney (JCP) kicked off the retail earnings season by posting better-than-expected earnings for the most recent quarter. Many more quarterly reports from retailers are due this week, and by and large expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are high.

Walmart (WMT), the king of retailers, is expected to buck the trend, though. Analysts anticipate that the Bentonville-based company will report that its third-quarter earnings grew only 6.7% year-over-year to 90 cents per share. During the three months that ended in October, Walmart announced an acquisition in South Africa and kicked-off the holiday shopping season, and revenue for that period is predicted to have risen 3.0% to $102.4 billion. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, analysts so far expect sequential and year-over-year growth of both earnings and revenue. Walmart results have not fallen short of consensus estimates in the past five quarters.

Target (TGT) ended Wednesday's session in the green after second-quarter numbers were digested by the market. The shares closed higher by 2.5%, settling at a quote of $51.95. Volume was heavy.

That's technically a positive sign, but I should point out that we're in a tough environment. You can't trust any gain if you're a trader. If you happened to buy the retailer for a quick move before earnings were released, I hope you got out Wednesday, because once the thesis is realized, it's best to book profits and wait for another entry point.

Although Target Corp.'s (NYSE: TGT) stock price was recently downgraded, the discount retailer still continues to run on all cylinders and still has the marketing and merchandising edge over rival Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT). That being said, the second-largest discounter in America will be reporting earnings tomorrow.

Target is expected to hit an earnings per share figure of $0.62, which would represent a modest 6% gain from the year-ago period. Like Wal-Mart, will it beat expectations in a quarter that saw consumer confidence slip along with a rise in gas prices? The next quarter may be more telling for Target, but the previous quarter may also harbor some interesting information since it concluded before the holiday shopping season began.

Target will be broadcasting its third quarter call tomorrow morning at 9:30am CST and I'll be here to wrap up the retailer's quarter after the beans have been spilled. If you own shares of Target, what are your expectations for the Q3 period? The company from my anecdotal observations still has it, but then again it isn't immune to consumer spending trends that can change with the wind. Another question that will surely come up will be if Target is (again) going to even consider selling its credit card business, even though it has been profitable in the past. With consumer credit markets still in limbo, maybe that's exposure the retailer does not need moving forward.

Target (NYSE: TGT) earnings rose to $686 million, or 80 cents per share, in its second quarter ending Aug. 4, from $609 million, or 70 cents per share last year. Revenues in the second quarter increased 9.5 percent to $14.620 billion from $13.347 billion in 2006, reflecting a 4.9 percent increase in comparable-store sales. Credit card operations also made a big contribution. The retailer also said [subscription required] its guidance for the year was still good.

How did this happen? Target's big competitor Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) did not do nearly as well in the last quarter. Same store sales there were up between 1% and 2%.

There are several theories. One is that Target customers tend to be more affluent, and are not as pinched by a slow economy. Could be. The other is that Wal-Mart's new store configurations are still not popular and its improving consumer electronics sales don't offset a certain level of customer dissatisfaction.

But, perhaps the most plausible explanation is that Wal-Mart has too many stores in the US and Target does not. The Target same-store-sales numbers may well have to do that because its stores are not as close to one another, they are less likely to take business from another Target location.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) has just released Q2 figures, and the discounter's recent quarter was pretty bright all things considered. The company has done very well with recent monthly same-store sales numbers and continues to steal the spotlight from larger rival Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT). Six years ago, it looked like nothing could cast a cloud over Wal-Mart. Every month now that seems to happen, although Wal-Mart is still by far the largest retailer operating today.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) will lay it on the line here in a moment as its Q2 call gets underway. The second-largest discount retailer in the U.S. was expected to report an earnings per share figure of about $0.80 and it met that figure this morning when it reported results. Target's in-house credit card business is usually a highlight in its numbers, so we'll see if that continued in this last quarter as credit crunches happened in the housing market and gas prices were up (though not wildly fluctuating).

Also in the quarter just ended there should be some effect from the second-largest shopping season for many retailers -- back to school. Did Target see a lift from sales in late July due to this? I'm sure we'll have this question asked from in the Q&A portion of the call. Remember to use the "Refresh" key on your web browser to get all updates to this post every few minutes. All times below are in CST.