U.S. stock market indexes opened mixed on Tuesday ahead of the first day of the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting and President Trump's speech to the United Nations in regard to confronting threats like North Korea and Iran. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 20 points to 22,352. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 0.8 points to 2,504.6 and futures for the Nasdaq 100 index lost 0.6 points to 6,454. The dollar index is down 0.01% at 91.86, while the U.S. 10-year bond yields 2.23% and the German 10-year bond yields 0.45%.
AutoZone Inc (AZO, Financial) shares gained in premarket trading after the company reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017. The company posted adjusted EPS of $15.18, beating expectations by seven cents. Revenue of $3.51 billion beat estimates of $3.49 billion and registered a 3.2% increase from the year-ago quarter.
During the quarter, gross profit as a percentage of sales reached 52.8% (down two basis points from the same quarter of 2016). The decline was due to higher supply chain costs (down 16 basis points) associated with current inventory initiatives, which was partially offset by higher merchandise margins. Moreover, operating expenses as a percentage of sales were 32.6% (versus 32.1% the same quarter last year).
For fiscal 2017, total sales were $10.9 billion, a 2.4% increase from the previous year. EPS was $44.07. Domestic same-store sales grew 0.5% for the year. Operating profit increased 100 basis points on an operating margin of 19.1%.
Gainers
- Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ, Financial)
- Chevron Corp. (CVX, Financial)
- American Express Co. (AXP, Financial)
Losers
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded higher. The FTSE 100, France's CAC 40 and the IBEX 35 advanced 0.23%, 0.05% and 0.3%. Germany's DAX was down 0.07%.
In Asia, only Japan’s Nikkei Index closed higher at 20,299.38. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, China’s Shanghai Composite and India's Sensex were down 0.38%, 0.18% and 0.07% respectively.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
