S&P Consumer sector is trading higher by +0.77% The consumer discretionary group is in-line with the broader market in early trade. The retail group is mixed with the Retail HOLDRS Trust (RTH) flat and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) 0.9%. Trading higher following earnings/guidance: APP +15.5%, ASNA +10.4%, MEG +3.2%, BRFS +2.9%... Trading lower following SSS: WAG -1.9% Other notable mentions: MHP flat (McGraw-Hill comments on progress of the sale of McGraw-Hill education to Apollo; will receive an additional $150 mln in cash at closing in lieu of being issued $250 mln in face amount of unsecured notes ), HLF flat (is not in the top 5 positions for Dan Loeb, according to reports), DFRG flat (announces launch of secondary public offering of 4.75 mln shares of common stock), CSTR flat (Coinstar announces offering of $300 mln Senior Unsecured notes)

Leaders: COH 1.5% ( Bloomberg discusses that COH may be a possible takeover target based on valuation), SHLD 4.8% (Lampert did report a purchase of SHLD stock, the stock was purchased from ESL Investors, which is managed by Eddie Lampert), CHH 0.6% (Choice Hotels and Booking.com sign corporate agreement), HD 0.8% ( Private Equity firms will take HD Supply public, according to reports), TM 0.4% (Toyota Motor is planning to reshuffle execs, according to reports ), KYAK 0.5% and PCLN 0.9% (KAYAK stockholders approve merger agreement with priceline.com)... Laggards: MSO -0.4% (Martha Stewart and JCpenney (JCP) are experiencing dealys in trial with Macy's, according ot reports) Analyst related: Upgrades: APOL 4.8% (upgraded to Hold from Sell at Deutsche Bank)... Downgrades: TXRH -0.9% (downgraded to Hold at Miller Tabak on valuation)... Misc: CMRE 1.9% (initiated with an Overweight at JPMorgan), GMCR 1.7% (Hearing positive comments at Lazard; reiterates Buy rating and $58 tgt), TUMI 0.6% (Hearing positive comments at William Blair ), SBUX 1.4% (Hearing positive comments at Morgan Stanley; tgt to $61 from $57), NFLX 1.7% (initiated with an Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts)

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