Terrible Retail Sales Sink Stocks

With consumer confidence at all time lows, retail sales for the '08 holiday season were expected to be bad... real bad. Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, set the tone appropriately this morning, announcing a rise in same store sales while cutting its previously issued Q4 guidance. The markets responded negatively: the Dow dropped 60 points at the open, but quickly fell to as low as 8651 -- a 119 point plunge from yesterday's close. The indices have now bounced off their session lows and are currently trading in a range as President-elect Obama is delivering a speech on the US's economic crisis in Fairfax, Virginia.

• Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) comps up 1.7% and guided lower for Q4, stock down 7.5%
  
• Costco (Nasdaq: COST) comps down 4%, stock up 3.3%
  
• Urban Outfitters (Nasdaq: URBN) comps down 1%, stock up 10%
  
• Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD) comps down 19% and guided lower, stock down 7.3%
  
• The Buckle (NYSE: BKE) comps rose 13.5%, stock up 6%
  
• Sears (Nasdaq: SHLD) comps down 7.3% with Q4 guidance, stock up 18.2%
  
• Pacific Sunwear (Nasdaq: PSUN) comps down 10%, guides, stock down 5.1%
  
• Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) comps down 24% and sees Q4 EPS below its previous guidance, stock down 7%
  
• Macy's (NYSE: M) comps down 4%, cuts Q4, FY08 guidance, stock up 2.2%
  
• Gap (NYSE: GPS) comps down 14%, cuts FY08 outlook, stock down 5.1%
  
• Target (NYSE: TGT) comps down 4.1%, stock up 0.6%
  
• Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) comps up 12%, raises guidance, stock up 1.4%
  
• Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) comps down 10.6%, guides, stock down 2%
  
• GameStop (NYSE: GME) comps up 10.2% over holiday season, raises Q4 guidance, stock up 8.6%
  
• JCPenney (NYSE: JCP) comps down 8.1%, stock up 3.4%

To view a real-time list of all the retail sales as they are released, visit StreetInsider.com's Retail Sales page.

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