NEW YORK (Thomson Financial) - The Retail Holdrs ETF (RTH) rose for a
third-straight session Thursday, with a positive technical development helping
draw in investors.
The sector tracking stock was last up 1.8% at $97.26, with 16 of 18
components trading higher. The RTH has now gained 3.9% since Friday's close.
With Wednesday's gain, the ETF's 50-day simple moving average crossed above
the 200-day simple moving average, a pattern known to chartwatchers as a "golden
cross," and is viewed as a bullish pattern as it signals that the short-term
trend has begun to influence the long-term outlook.
The last time the 50-day SMA was above the 200-day was on Aug. 28, 2007.
The last time a similar golden cross pattern appeared was on Oct. 17, 2006.
The RTH closed that day at $98.51, then rose to an all-time high of $108.73 in
intraday trading on June 4, 2007 before turning lower.
Among the RTH's more heavily-weighted components, Dow industrials members
Wal-Mart tacked on 1.8% to $58.09 and Home Depot gained 1.1% to $27.74.
Target Corp.'s stock rallied 2.8% to $53.77 after the discount retailer's
chief financial officer, Doug Scovanner, said at a Sanford C. Berstein & Co.
strategic decisions conference that he "clearly" thinks that there's room to
increase the dividend.
Elsewhere, Costco Wholesale ticked up 0.2% after the membership-based
warehouse retailer reported fiscal third-quarter earnings that exceeded
forecasts.
Tomi Kilgore
tk1
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