Diamonds and Dogs

7/14/22

At least one retailer is higher. Costco (COST) is up 3% on an upgrade. The Deutsche Bank analyst raised their price target to $579 from $525 as they see steady traffic gains and high membership renewal rates serving as key differentiators in an increasingly uncertain backdrop. The analyst believes Costco's membership fees program provides the best model in retail.

Not a good start to earnings season. JP Morgan Chase (JPM) is down 4% following earnings. The bank missed estimates as sales rose a percent to $30.71 billion. JP Morgan actually had encouraging comments about the retailer saying they have yet to see a pullback in spending and positive trends in loan growth, but going forward JP Morgan will suspend their buyback and reserve more cash for possible defaults.The stock is at a year and a half low.