US stocks extend rally despite retail weakness

New York, Jan 11 (IANS) US stocks closed higher despite disappointing holiday sales and revenue guidance from big retail and airline names.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 122.80 points, or 0.51 percent, to 24,001.92 on Thursday. The S&P 500 rose 11.68 points, or 0.45 percent, to 2,596.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 28.99 points, or 0.42 percent, to 6,986.07, Xinhua news agency reported.

Shares of Macy's plunged nearly 18 percent to close at 26.11 US dollars apiece after it reported weak holiday sales for 2018 and cut its earnings outlook for the year.

The department store chain said in a statement on Thursday that online sales in November and December and sales at stores operating for at least 12 months were up a combined 1.1 percent. The company expected no growth in net sales for fiscal 2018, rather than an increase between 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent that was previously estimated.

Its same-store sales projection for the year was revised down to 2 percent from a range of 2.3 percent to 2.5 percent.

American Airlines cut its profit forecast and said it struggled to grow revenue at the end of 2018.

The airline, the largest in the United States, said its revenue per available seat mile, a key industry metric, rose 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 year on year, compared with a range of 1.5 percent o 3.5 percent it gave investors previously.

The airline said excluding special items, it expects to post earnings per diluted share of between 4.40 dollars and 4.60 dollars, down from its estimate in October.

Shares of the airline dropped 4.13 percent to close at 32.04 dollars apiece.