For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – January 7, 2010 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Potash Corp (POT), Family Dollar (FDO), Big Lots (BIG) and Tractor Supply Co. (TSCO).
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Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:
ISM Services Index Up
The most important leading indicator of the sub-indexes is the New Orders index. It remains well above 50 at 52.1, but it is showing a much slower rate of expansion than in November, having fallen 3.0 points. The new orders index has now been above the 50 level for 4 straight months. However, most of the new orders are being worked off quickly (through the higher business activity side), and the backlog of orders is both contracting (below 50) and doing so at a faster rate than in November (down 0.5 points).
The import index jumped sharply, up 6.5 points and now into expansion territory at 52.5, while new export orders crashed by 8.5 points falling to 46.0 from 54.5. This seems to indicate to me that the rally the dollar has staged over the last few months is starting to have detrimental effects, and I would not be surprised to see the trade deficit widen again in coming months. Both imports and exports were expanding on the manufacturing side, but export orders were slowing while imports were growing more quickly on the manufacturing side.
There were two industries that stand out as consistently showing the best performance across the sub-indexes: agriculture and retail. The improvements on the agriculture side probably indicate good things for firms like Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and indirectly for firms like fertilizer supplier Potash Corp (POT). On retail, I would be more inclined still to favor the low end discounters like Family Dollar (FDO) and Big Lots (BIG). However, if you wanted to combine the two trends, you might consider looking at Tractor Supply Co. (TSCO).
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