Stocks end down. Oil rises, shutdown looms.
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Expedia soared after news the online travel reservation website would spin-off TripAdvisor into a separate publicly-traded company. And BofA Merrill raised its price target on the firm to $28 from $26.
Seagate Technology also jumped for a second day after the hard disk drive manufacturer reinstated its dividend and revised its forecast upward. In addition, Caris upped its price target on the firm to $20 from $17 and Craig Hallum raised its rating on the company to "buy" from "neutral."
Retailers saw more activity than other sectors as investors continued to digest same-store sales figures released Thursday, and brokerages revised price targets and ratings on several stocks.
Among those affected was BJ's, which gained after Goldman Sachs raised the wholesale retailer to "buy" from "neutral," and added BJ's to its "conviction buy" list. The brokerage also raised its price target for the stock to $59 a share from $49, and said it represented a better value than Costco. Goldman, meanwhile, cut Costco to "neutral" from "buy," although it raised its price target for BJ's rival to $81 a share from $80.
Target traded flat after Jefferies cut the discount retailer's price target to $59 a share from $64, while Buckle fell after Keybanc cut its rating on the teen retailer to "hold" from "buy," citing valuation.
Tempur-Pedic soared after the mattresses manufacturer offered a bright outlook and raised its full-year targets.
Volume on the consolidated tape of the New York Stock Exchange was only 3.5 billion sahres, while 822 million changed hands on the NYSE floor.
In economic news, U.S. wholesale inventories rose 1.0 percent to $473.9 billion, the highest level since December 2000, according to the Commerce Department. Wholesale inventories also rose 1.0 percent in January.
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