Yahoo Finance Retail Sales -1%, Lower than Expected; JPM, C, PNC Beat in Q1
Friday, April 14th, 2023
The economic prints keep coming, even on the last day of the trading week, and they continue to demonstrate the same thing: the economy is clearly slowing down. Retail Sales doubled their expected losses for March to -1.0%, the worst number since the -1.1% posted in November of last year. Subtracting volatile auto sales, this figure also was twice as low as predicted: -0.8%. These numbers come off upward revisions for both headline and ex-auto: -0.2% and 0.0%, respectively. We also note these are advance results, meaning we can expect revisions on the subsequent read.
Looking under the hood even further, ex-autos and gas prices came in at -0.3% — actually, twice as high as the -0.6% expected, and the only metric where we see stronger results from estimates. The Control Group — which is utilized by analytical bodies (like the Fed) up the food chain of retail pricing — also came in at -0.3%. So March Retail Sales was brought down further on headline by gasoline prices — something we should not expect for April.
Import Prices fell a half-point lower than predicted for March, to -0.6% from -0.1%, and -0.6% ex-petrol (fuel), as well. Export Prices month over month halved this total, -0.3%. Looking at year-over-year numbers, Import Prices were -4.6% last month and Exports were -4.8%. Without a doubt, we’re seeing more economic prints feeling the brunt of higher interest rate levels from the Fed, after raising rates 475 basis points (bps) in the last year.
Meanwhile, the unofficial Q1 earnings season has kicked off with JPMorgan JPM posting a +20% positive earnings surprise: $4.10 per share versus $3.41 expected. Revenues of $38.35 billion in the quarter amount to a +9% positive surprise on the top line, partly on higher-than-expected Net Interest Income. Shares are up +5% on the news, swinging to positive stock movement year to date. So much for bank contagion leading to a near-term recession. For more on JPM’s earnings, click here.
Citigroup C also swept past estimates in its Q1 earnings release prior to today’s opening bell, posting $2.19 per share versus expectations of $1.66 and the year-ago print of $2.02 per share. Revenues reached #21.4 billion in the quarter, ahead of the $19.9 billion in the Zacks consensus. This marks the fourth earnings beat in the past five quarters for the company, which had already grown +4.6% year to date and is up +2% in early trading.
PNC Financial PNC beat Q1 expectations on its bottom line by more than +10% to $3.98 per share versus $3.60 anticipated and $3.29 per share in the year-ago quarter. Revenues of $5.6 billion in the quarter were technically up but basically in-line: +0.06%, and up from $4.69 billion in the year-ago quarter. Shares of PNC had definitely borne some of the brunt of the SVB and other NoCal regional bank failures (even though the bank is based in Pittsburgh), and remains down -23% year to date. For more on PNC’s earnings, click here.
Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Invesco QQQ (QQQ): ETF Research Reports
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY): ETF Research Reports
SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA): ETF Research Reports
