The U.S. stock market traded lower on Wednesday with all the main indexes in the red on the first negative day of 2018.
Shares of Supervalu Inc. (SVU, Financial) fell more than13% on Wednesday. The company's wholesale revenue rose 52% to $2.89 billion in the third quarter as a result of new store sales and the acquisition of Unified Grocers. However, wholesale earnings slipped 11.5% to $46 million. Further, retail net sales fell 4.1% to $1.02 billion and same-store sales decreased 3.5%. Moreover, the gross margin was 10.5%, which was due to changes in business segment mix.
The company posted adjusted earnings per share of 61 cents, which beat expectations of 48 cents and increased from 35 cents in the year-ago quarter. Revenue of $3.94 billion was just shy of estimates of $4 billion.
Looking ahead to fiscal 2018, the company expects net earnings from continuing operations in the range of -$20 million to $2 million and adjusted EBITDA to be between $475 million and $485 million.
Gainers
- United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL, Financial)
- Brighthouse Financial Inc. (BHF, Financial)
- CenturyLink Inc. (CTL, Financial)
- Macy's Inc. (M, Financial)
- Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX, Financial)
- Kohls Corp. (KSS, Financial)
Losers
- eBay Inc. (EBAY, Financial)
- Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT, Financial)
- D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI, Financial)
- KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC, Financial)
- Digital Realty Trust Inc. (DLR, Financial)
The main European stock markets were mixed. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.23%, reaching an all-time high, and Spain's IBEX 35 rose 0.02%, but France's CAC 40 fell 0.35% and Germany's Dax retreated 0.78%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.26% and India’s BSE Sensex slid 0.03%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.20% and China's SSE Composite gained 0.23%.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
