Stocks trim losses as retail tumbles

Yahoo Finance

Stocks (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC) fight to pare losses, as a big retail miss has consumer names in a world of pain. Catch The Final Round at 4 p.m. with Jen Rogers and Yahoo Finance markets correspondent Myles Udland.

Winners and losers

Stocks in the red today include Kohl’s as the department store chain saw same-store sales slide more than expected; Straight Path Communications as it agreed to be bought by Verizon following pursuit from AT&T (as a disclosure, Verizon has agreed to buy the core assets of our parent Yahoo), and Restoration Hardware, with shares down as the furnishings firm’s revised guidance disappointed the street due to higher outlet store sales.

Stocks on the move higher today include Sangamo Therapeutics as it struck a deal with Pfizer to license its experimental hemophilia treatment; Intrexon as the biotech firm beat on revenue for the quarter; and Whole Foods, with shares up after the organic grocer appointed five new independent directors and named a new board chair as well.

Laptop ban could extend to Europe

The current carry-on ban for electronics may be getting a big expansion soon. Homeland Security is meeting with the airlines on Wednesday to discuss widening the ban on laptops, iPads and pretty much any electronic device bigger than a phone from 10 airports in Africa and the Middle East and some European airports as well. Yahoo Finance’s Brittany Jones Cooper joins us with more.

Looking ahead

  • At 8:30 a.m. ET, we’ll get a read on inflation with CPI data for April. Core CPI, less food and energy, is expected to rise 2% year over year.

  • Also at 8:30 a.m. ET is retail sales data for April. Core sales less autos and gas are expected to rise 0.4% month over month.

  • Finally, at 10 a.m. ET, we’ll get the University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment survey for May. The consensus estimate is for a 97.3 reading, slightly higher than April.