• Home
  • V1
  • Design
  • Markets cheer end of US fiscal cliff

Markets cheer end of US fiscal cliff

By FashionUnited

loading...

Scroll down to read more

In Wall Street, big news was the announcement of publicly traded TJX Companies buying

Internet retailer Sierra Trading Post Inc for nearly 200 million dollars on Dec, 21. Harris Williams & Co. was the exclusive financial advisor to Sierra Trading Post. Meanwhile, stock markets around the world cheered the decision of the US Parliament to legislate aginsta the so-called fiscal cliff.

“The owners and management team of Sierra Trading Post built the company from scratch into one of the most successful e-commerce and multi-channel retail operations in the world. It was a unique opportunity to work with a small team of entrepreneurs who eschewed off-the-shelf solutions to develop a scalable and profitable business with a compelling user experience,” said Jeff Bistrong, managing director at Harris Williams & Co. and Sierra Trading Post customer. “Sierra Trading Post has built and maintains a sophisticated e-commerce engine on a .NET framework that powers the enterprise from initial customer contact and acquisition through inventory management and order fulfillment,” said Derek Swaim, a director at Harris Williams & Co. “Sierra Trading Post’s e-commerce capabilities are an excellent complement to TJX’s leading global off-price retail platform.”

In trading on Wednesday, apparel stores shares were relative laggards, up on the day by about 0.5 percent. Helping drag down the group were shares of Ascena Retail Group (ASNA), down about 3.5 percent and shares of Tillys (TLYS) down about 3.3 percent on the day, published ‘Forbes’. Also weighting the markets were textiles shares, up on the day by about 1.3 percent as a group, led down by Deckers Outdoor (DECK), trading lower by about 2.4 percent.

Sterne Agee's analyst Sam Poser reiterated his 'buy' rating and 65 dollars price target on Deckers Outdoor (NASDAQ: DECK), saying final sales results for UGG less worse than anticipated at most retailers and to buy the stock on weakness, stressed financial media. Poser comments, "Buy DECK on weakness. Our channel checks highlight that UGG sales got materially less worse over the last two weeks of December. The combination of the additional weekend before Christmas, colder weather post Christmas, led to the improving performance. UGG inventory levels at retail are well below last year, which, due to improving product offerings, should lead to increased fall '13 orders, even if sales are planned down."

Elsewhere, stocks in Hong Kong and Australia jumped to multi-month highs Wednesday as Asian markets began their 2013 journey on a buoyant note after the US House of Representatives voted in favor of legislation against the so-called fiscal cliff, reported ‘MarketWatch’. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.2 percent to 4,705.90, pushing both indexes to their highest finish since June 2011.

Finally, also European stock markets rallied Wednesday, as they echoed the deal in Washington to avert the so-called fiscal cliff, widely seen as potentially threatening a US recession, reported Fox Business News. Consequently, the Stoxx Europe 600 index jumped 1.8 percent to 284.82, setting it on track for the highest closing level since February 2011.
FashionUnited