As the selling picked up late Friday the major averages were unable to hold their gains but it was even worse week for many individual stocks. Even before Friday's market decline the drug delivery, steel & iron, non-metallic mining, home furnishing and department stores were already down over 7% for the week.
Not all stocks were lower as the multimedia software, generic drugs, computer systems and mail order stocks were all up 5% or more. Electronic Alerts (EA) led on the upside gaining over 20% and Monsanto (MON) also reported strong earnings and surged late in the week.
Of course the main focus was on the department stores with Sears (SHLD) down over 18% followed by a 17% drop on Macy's (M) and over a 15% decline in Kohl's (KSS). Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) also disappointed on earnings last Thursday as it was down over 13% on Friday . The technical review of two of these stocks as well as the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) last Tuesday (Retail Rout: Buy It or Not?) concluded that there was no reason to be long these stocks ahead of their earnings. So what should you be doing in the weeks ahead?
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