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Good morning friends!
Futures are rising as the market rally attempts to hang on.
Let’s get right to it!
Retail sales dropped far more than expected in January.
The Commerce Department reported retail sales fell 0.8% last month to $700.3 billion.
That was steeper than economists’ expectations for a 0.3% decline.
Excluding autos, core retail sales dropped 0.6% vs expectations for a 0.2% gain.
Year over year, sales were up 0.6% in January.
Sales at building material and garden retailers tumbled 4.1% in January, miscellaneous sales dropped 3%, gasoline sales fell 1.7%, and sales at car dealers and auto parts stores dropped 1.7%.
Sales were 1.5% higher at furniture stores, up 0.6% at grocery stores, and 0.7% higher at restaurants and bars.
Weekly jobless claims fell more than expected last week as the labor market remains strong.
The Labor Department reported 212,000 Americans filed initial claims for unemployment benefits last week.
That was down by 8,000 from the previous week and lower than 220,000 expected.
Continuing jobless claims rose by 30,000 to 1.895 million vs 1.880 million expected in the week ending February 3.
Cisco (CSCO) shares are down 4.0% ahead of the open after beating fiscal Q2 expectations but issuing weak guidance.
Here’s how the company’s results compared to analysts’ estimates:
Revenue was down 6% year over year.
Cisco also announced plans to reduce its workforce by 5% as part of a restructuring plan “ to realign the organization and enable further investment in key priority areas.”
The company forecast fiscal Q3 revenue between $12.1 billion and $12.3 billion, marking a 16% decline year over year at the middle of the range.
Analysts were expecting guidance of $13.1 billion.
Cisco forecast adjusted EPS between $0.84 and $0.86 vs $0.92 expected.
For the full fiscal year, the company expects revenue between $51.5 billion and $52.5 billion, lower than its prior forecast of $53.8 billion to $55 billion.
Cisco forecast full-year adjusted EPS between $3.68 and $3.74, down from $3.87 to $3.93 previously.