The stock market closed Friday little changed despite falling wholesale prices for December. The Producer Price Index (PPI) fell 0.1% during the month – its third straight month of decline. Such boosts investors confidence that inflation will continue to cool in the coming months.
Overall, S&P 500 grew 0.1% to 4,784, while NASDAQ was flat at 14,973.
Tweet of the Day
Costco $COST opened its 6th store in China 🇨🇳 and its first in Southern China today
This is what the line looked like with people waiting hours to get in 😲pic.twitter.com/sTiVU66pVC
— Evan (@StockMKTNewz) January 12, 2024
Chart of the Day
Here is the ten-year chart of Costco (COST) as of January 3, 2024, when the stock was at $645.
Costco is paying its investors a special one-time dividend of $15 per share. The payment hits today, January 12, 2024, to shareholders who owned the stock at the close of December 28, 2023. Previous one-time dividends include $7 in Fiscal 2012, $7 in 2017, $10 in 2021. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $1.02 per share. No wonder the stock is so richly valued. The P/E of 41 is high for a company with an Estimated Long-Term Growth Rate of 9% a year.
In terms of retail production, the company did well last quarter and delivered 15% profit growth as revenue increased 6%. The sales of fresh foods were strong, and items like food and sundries did well. Non-food products showed improvement from September to November.
COST is a core holding in the Conservative Growth Portfolio. But it is a small holding as this is a slow grower.
