Stocks struggle despite retail sales rebound

Updated: 7:09 p.m. ET

For Home Depot (HD), Estee Lauder (EL) and Michael Kors Holdings (KORS), today was a good day. Earnings were good, terrific and spectacular, respectively, and shares of all three are up nicely.

For Groupon (GRPN), the day was dismaying, at best. The stock fell  $2.04 to $5.51 after hitting a new low of $5.46. Earnings were OK on the surface, but the core coupon business actually looks to be shrinking.

Sadly for bulls, the energy created by the government's report on July retail sales dissipated, and the major averages basically ended the day flat. The Commerce Department said retail sales were up 0.8% in July, the first gain after four months of declines. Retailers and consumer stocks are the market leaders. Utilities, materials and coal stocks were the laggards.

Keeping the market in check was news that the economy in the eurozone -- the nations that use the euro as their currency -- fell 0.2% in the second quarter. Germany saw only 0.3% growth and the French economy was stagnant. In addition, the CEO of Brazilian mining giant Vale (VALE) may have set off some selling when he told a conference in Rio de Janeiro today, "We are not going to see the spectacular growth rates of 10, 12% per year." And Castello Branco added, "The golden years are gone."

The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) finished up just 3 points to 13,172. The blue chips had been up as many as 54 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) was flat at 1,404. The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) lost 6 points to 3,017.

Article continues below. The Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX), which tracks the largest Nasdaq stocks, fell 1 point to 2,728. Apple (AAPL), the biggest influence on the index, was up $1.69 to $631.69, about $12 below its all-time intraday high of $644. Apple had been as high as $638.61.

Crude oil (-CL) in New York settled up 70 cents to $93.43 a barrel. Brent crude was up 49 cents to $114.09 a barrel. The average price of gasoline at the pump was $3.702 a gallon, up from Monday's $3.696 and up 11.3% since July 2, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Gold (-GC) settled down $10.20 to $1,602.40 an ounce. Copper (-HG) moved up slightly to $3.359 a pound. Silver (-SI) was basically flat at $27.763 an ounce.

Interest rates were higher, with the 10-year Treasury yield rising to 1.726% from 1.654% on Monday. The dollar was slightly lower against major currencies.

Wednesday will be a big day for earnings. Cisco Systems (CSCO), Target (TGT), Deere (DE) and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) are scheduled to report.

The government will release its Consumer Price Index report for July, along with reports on industrial production and crude oil inventories.

Futures trading suggests a modestly lower open on Wednesday.

The pullback chances are increasing
The market's fade today reflects the growing odds of a pullback. The relative-strength indexes on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were above 79. The Dow was at 75.

A relative-strength index measures the strength of an index against past performance. The most popular measure is against 14 days of performance. A reading above 70 suggests something is overbought.

There are other reasons to be concerned. Since the Dow hit 13,118 on Aug. 3, the index has basically traded within a 100-point range. The S&P 500 is little changed since topping 1,400 on Aug. 7.

Both suggest the rally is getting tired.

And when Wall Street comes back from vacation after Labor Day, volatility could increase.

Energy prices -- New York close
			Tues.			Mon.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Crude oil (-CL)			$93.43			$92.73			6.10%			-5.46%
(per barrel)
Heating oil (-HO)			$3.0346			$3.0183			6.55%			4.13%
(per gallon)
Natural gas (-NG)			$2.8340			$2.7290			-11.69%			-5.19%
(per mil. BTU)
Unleaded gasoline (-RB)			$3.0014			$2.9907			8.19%			12.94%
(per gallon)
Brent crude			$114.03			$113.60			8.74%			6.25%
(per barrel)
Retail gasoline			$3.7020			$3.6960			5.77%			13.00%
(per gallon; AAA)

A good day for retailers . . .
Home Depot was the top performer of the 30 Dow stocks, rising $1.89 to $54.71. The home-improvement retailer said same-store sales were up 2.1% from a year ago, the fifth straight quarterly increase, as consumers visited more often and spent more per trip.

Estee Lauder, the maker of Mac and Clinique skin care, rose $5.12 to $60.13. It was the second-best performer among S&P 500 stocks behind Monster Beverage (MNST). Estee Lauder earned 17 cents a share in the fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts had expected 16 cents. Revenue was $2.25 billion, up 9.2% and ahead of the consensus estimate of $2.21 billion.

Michael Kors Holdings shares were up $6.98 to $49.33. The company said fiscal-first-quarter​ earnings nearly tripled, as the fast-growing fashion company saw double-digit same-store sales gains in North America and Europe and also recorded a rise in licensing revenue. Revenue jumped 71% to $414.9 million. The company, which went public in December, sells clothing, footwear and other apparel and accessories through luxury department stores and its own company-operated shops. The stock went public at $20 on Dec. 14 and is up 141% since then.

This trio weren't alone in winning Wall Street's love. Saks (SKS) shares jumped 67 cents to $11.52 after its fiscal-second-quarte​r loss beat Street estimates. TJX Companies (TJX) shares rose 79 cents to $45.03 after its results beat estimates.

. . . Not so good for Groupon
Groupon could only wish for the love Michael Kors and Estee Lauder were getting. Instead, its stock was crushed.

The daily-deals site reported revenue of $568.3 million, missing the Street estimate of $573.1 million. Earnings per share were 8 cents, excluding one-time charges. The Street had expected 3 cents.

Not a bad quarter, but investors were very nervous. As Benzinga's Chris Poley noted, "Anything that wasn't a huge beat was going to send them fleeing for the exits."

British bank settles on Iranian money-laundering charges
Talk about a quick about-face. Standard Chartered (SCBFF), Britain's fifth-largest bank by assets, agreed to pay $340 million to settle a charge that it had laundered $250 billion of transactions though its New York office.

The agreement was with Benjamin Lawsky, New York state's Superintendent of Financial Services. Standard Chartered agreed to install a monitor chosen by Lawsky's office to oversee its international transactions. The bank also agreed to appoint its own auditors in its New York office to oversee compliance with U.S. money-laundering laws.

The settlement came after Lawsky leveled his charges aganst the British bank, threatening to revoke the bank's license to operate in New York state.

Lawler's move upset financial regulators in the United States and Britain, and Standard Chartered at first said no more than $14 million of transactions violated U.S. laws. Standard Chartered shares fell 23% the day after the charges were announced.

Standard Chartered shares jumped $1.60 to $22.60 in New York. The announcement came after stocks had closed in Britain. The British shares had risen 25.87 pence, or 1.94%, to 1,359.57 pence in London trading. The shares are still off 7.5% from their close before the controversy erupted.

Home Depot leads the Dow, but Europe weighs on market
Only 13 of the 30 Dow stocks were higher, led by Home Depot, Pfizer and Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), which reports second-quarter results on Thursday. The laggards included heavyweights IBM (IBM), Caterpillar (CAT) and Boeing (BA), all of which have heavy exposure to Europe.

Meanwhile, 199 S&P 500 stocks were higher, led by Monster Beverage, Estee Lauder and Home Depot. Forty Nasdaq-100 stocks were higher, led by Monster Beverage and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), up $5.32 to $58.59 and $2.11 to $53.53, respectively.

Monster jumped after announcing it would double the size of a share buyback.

Short hits from the markets -- New York close
			Tues.			Mon.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Treasury yields
13-week Treasury bill			0.1000%			0.100%			0.00%			900.00%
5-year Treasury note			0.746%			0.702%			24.54%			-10.12%
10-year Treasury note			1.726%			1.654%			15.68%			-7.75%
30-year Treasury bond			2.825%			2.739%			9.62%			-2.22%
Currencies
U.S. Dollar Index			82.527			82.486			-0.22%			2.49%
British pound			1.5691			1.5689			0.06%			0.99%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in pounds			£0.637			£0.637			-0.06%			-0.98%
Euro in dollars			$1.23			$1.23			0.25%			-4.83%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in euros			€ 0.811			€ 0.811			-0.25%			5.08%
U.S. $ in yen			78.86			78.33			0.95%			2.29%
U.S. $ in Chinese			6.38			6.36			0.35%			0.86%
yuan
Canada dollar			$1.009			$1.008			1.16%			2.82%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. dollar			$0.992			$0.992			-1.07%			-2.74%
(in Canadian $)
Commodities
Gold (-GC)			$1,602.40			$1,612.60			-0.50%			2.27%
(per troy ounce)
Copper (-HG)			$3.359			$3.354			-1.71%			-2.24%
(per pound)
Silver (-SI)			$27.7630			$27.7670			-0.54%			-0.54%
(per troy ounce)
Wheat (-ZW)			$8.3975			$8.5675			-5.46%			28.65%
(per bushel)
Corn (-ZC)			$7.8900			$7.923			-2.02%			22.04%
(per bushel)
Cotton			$0.7209			0.7169			1.05%			-21.37%
(per pound)
Coffee			$1.6600			1.6705			-4.82%			-27.72%
(per pound)
Crude oil (-CL)			$93.43			$92.73			6.10%			-5.46%
(per barrel)