American stocks steal the show

In a highly American-dominated session, Jones Apparel opened Tuesday at $10.40 and hit a low of $10.40 and a high of $11.07 in the early hours of trading, with an average gain of 10.27%. Over the last 52 weeks the stock has ranged from a low of $8.00 to a high of $20.82. The company said it is in talks with Israeli firm Delta Galil Industries Ltd. about the sale of its jeans division. The sale would net the company between $350 million and $400 million and allow the company to better focus on the more profitable luxury accessories market.

Meanwhile, always polemic American Apparel dropped more than 8 per cent yesterday after increasing for three days in a row. The stock closed at $0.79 yesterday. It is worthy to note this that there has been no negative announcement from the company. The stock dropped 8 per cent only on account of profit-taking alluding to the possibility of an operator play in the stock.

Still in Wall Street, oga apparel retailer Lululemon Athletica (LULU) continues to do well, despite the lagging U.S. economy, according to Investor’s Business Daily. LULU is currently the top-ranked stock in IBD’s Apparel/Shoes Accessories group, which itself is ranked #22 out of 197 industry groups. Shoppers are attracted to Lululemon’s service, knowledgeable staff and workout clothes that come in a variety of fits, are comfortable and wear well, according to IBD. Despite Lululemon’s clothes being higher priced, the company has seen double-digit sales for the last eight quarters, IBD reported.

Finally, Esprit Holdings Ltd., the largest Hong Kong-listed clothing retailer, rose to a three-week high in trading in the city after hedge fund Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its stake to become the second-biggest shareholder. Esprit climbed 12 percent to HK$11 at the 4 p.m. close in Hong Kong trading as reported by Bloomberg, the stock’s highest level since Sept. 16. Lone Pine Capital bought 38.9 million shares at an average price of HK$9.50 each on Oct. 4, a disclosure filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange showed.