Displaying items by tag: socks
Retail Looks Set to Gain
(New York)
On the whole retail has had an okay year, certainly much better than the rough period of 2017. Lately though, stocks in the sector have been suffering. Will that change? The good news is that the initial evidence about the performance of the current holiday shopping season looks promising. Black Friday sales were strong this year, which bodes well for seasonal shopping. 165m Americans shopped in-store or online during Thanksgiving weekend, more than surveys forecasted, and the average purchase size was over $300. Department stores seemed to be doing particularly well, as foot traffic was up almost 8% over last year.
FINSUM: We think this is going to be a good holiday season for retailers, but that probably won’t be enough to convince investors that the underlying issues have been resolved.
Big Yields Available in Preferred Stocks
(New York)
If you are looking for great stock yields from reputable names, look no further than preferreds. While the stocks are facing headwinds from rate rises, check this out: KKR, leading private equity firm, has been issuing preferred securities with 6.5% yields that have to pay out to holders before they do to common shareholders. This is not an isolated case, the average yield of investment grade preferred shares is 5.8%. This is contrasted to 4% for corporate bonds and 4.4% for municipals.
FINSUM: Preferreds are an old but niche asset class. They are safer than common stock, but less secure than bonds. Interesting to take a look at as they could fill a nice niche in many portfolios.