NEW YORK — Fretting again over rising oil prices, investors pulled back on retail shares, sending the WWD Composite Stock Index down 0.6 percent on Friday to close at 1,142.87 from 1,150.02 the prior week.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 gained 2.7 percent week over week, rising to 1,194.22 from 1,163.01.
On Friday, reports of crude oil rising above $46 a barrel sent shivers down Wall Street’s spine. Also impacting the market was news from Pfizer Inc. that its cancer-prevention trials with Celebrex triggered heart attacks in patients.
On the retail front, two stocks that had been hot cooled somewhat on Friday. Shares of Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Kmart Holdings Inc. finished the week down 1.6 and 3.1 percent, respectively.
The companies have kept mum regarding the acquisition of Sears by Kmart. However, Sears sent out a “Q&A” to associates discussing some details of the acquisition, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
In the document, the retailer said while “many details are still being finalized, we will do our best to answer your questions on a timely basis.”
In the document, Sears posed the question of how the new company stands in comparison to its competitors.
The response: “After completion of the transaction, Sears Holdings will be the nation’s third largest retailer, with approximately $55 billion in annual revenues. Sears Holdings will operate 2,353 full-line and off-mall stores, second only to Wal-Mart in the retail industry, and will have approximately 400,000 employees.”
By comparison, Wal-Mart has about 3,600 stores in the U.S. Total sales were more than $256 billion in 2003, and it employs about 1.2 million associates.
One of the more pressing concerns on associates’ minds is the store branding issue. The company said a “substantial number of Kmart stores are expected to be converted over time to the Sears nameplate, in addition to the 50 Kmart stores acquired by Sears earlier this year that will be converted by fourth quarter 2005.”
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Regarding Sears stores being converted to Kmart, the retailer said, “This could be an option, and will depend on analysis of market demographics. There are no plans at this time to convert Sears stores to Kmart nameplates.”
The companies expect to wrap up the deal by March.
So far, vendors have been quiet about the merger and what it might mean for business. But one major apparel supplier said “only good things can come out of this deal.”
