Gap & Mulberry pay dividend amid market´s turmoil

London's FTSE closed 0.5% lower, while the DAX in Frankfurt was

down 0.8%. The Dublin and Paris markets closed higher with the ISEQ up over 1% and the CAC gaining 0.7%. European stock markets closed mixed Wednesday after Tuesday´s meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
 
Thus, early morning yesterday the British FTSE 100 was seen opening down 25 points as fears about the eurozone debt crisis persisted and Wall Street and Asian markets fell overnight. In such a fateful date Mulberry´s Board celebrated its Annual General Meeting. The final dividend of 4.0p per ordinary share will be paid as proposed on Thursday 19 August 2011. The stock closed with a little slip of 0.41%.
As if battling the EU financial and economic woes was not enough, Inditex got under the limelight Wednesday for the wrong reasons. The world’s largest clothing retailer said it will increase labor supervision in Brazil after authorities found 16 workers in irregular conditions at third- party sewing factories. Their shares gained 1.9 percent to 60.15 euros.

Meanwhile, US stocks yo-yoed between gains and losses reaching Wednesday’s closing session, after Dell Inc. dragged don Technology shares after forecasting slower sales growth while two Federal reserve officials expressed their concerns regarding the stimulus launched in the economy, which all in all helped erase earlier gains triggered due to U.S companies’ better than forecasted quarterly earnings in addition to the report that showed wholesale costs climbed above forecasts in July.

On Wednesday, only about 500 million shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange. Thin trading volumes can often lead to choppy trading on Wall Street. "It's a combination of people being exhausted from last week, and the fact that this is traditionally the lowest volume period of the year," said Jason Weisberg, vice president of Seaport Securities

Retail stocks were in focus, after a batch of high-profile names reported earnings and mainly weighted down by Abercrombie & Fitch Co, which slumped 8.66 percent, after clothing retailer forecasts rising expenses through this year. The preferred label among trendy teenagers slumped on disappointing margins news. A&F also raised concerns about the consumer response to higher prices going into the crucial back-to-school shopping season. Consequently, the stock dropped 8.7 percent to $64.87. Also Urban Outfitters and Macy´s moved slower in Wall Street.

Last but not least, Gap Inc. declared a quarterly dividend of 11.25 cents per share. The clothing company said Wednesday that the dividend will be paid on or after Oct. 26 to shareholders of record on Oct. 12. Shares of Gap were trading higher by +0.40% ahead of its quarterly earnings release (to take place Wednesday after market close). Wall Street Analysts consensus calls for a profit of $0.33 a share on $3.35 billion revenue. In comparison, the owner of Banana Republic and Old Navy estimates have a range of $0.08 a share. The high estimate calls for profit of $0.35 a share and the low estimate is calling for a profit of $0.27 a share, a year ago for the quarter the company reported $0.36 a share.

Angela González-Rodríguez