Leading Wall Street shares stayed firmly in the red for the third straight day despite upbeat earnings reports from bluechip retailers. By mid-morning, the Dow Jones was down 16.59 points to 9,739.94 and the Nasdaq fell by 14.14 points to 1,927.56. Trading on the main indices was quiet for the National Veterans Day holiday with profit taking eroding stock prices for the third consecutive day. Strength in the retail sector from a surge in sales failed to lift sentiment. Chain store JC Penny's shares rose more than 2pc after it posted a 27-cent-a-share profit in the third quarter from continuing operations, down from 30 cents in the same quarter last year, but a cent better than Wall Street's average estimate.
Discount retailers May Department Stores were 2.5pc higher after it reported third-quarter earnings of 16 cents a share, beating analysts' estimate by 5 cents a share on sustained growth in clothing sales throughout its outlets. Gap, Target, Tiffany and Neiman-Marcus also gained around 2pc each following an upgrade from Merrill Lynch, which cited prospects for the retailers to outperform the market in the fourth quarter and into next year. //www.fxcentre.com