Consumer Cos Up After Wal-Mart Earnings -- Consumer Roundup

Shares of retailers and other consumer-services companies rose after Wal-Mart Stores posted its most pronounced U.S. sales growth in almost a decade. Wal-Mart saw growth in its e-commerce operations, but also increased store traffic.

The report gave a lift to many beaten-down retail chains as it indicated that Amazon.com's efforts to change consumer behavior could be countered. Shares of Sears Holdings, for example, rallied.

Activist investor Sandell Asset Management offered to take bookstore chain Barnes & Noble private in a deal worth about $650 million, or more than $9 a share, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Best Buy shares were weak after the electronics chain said the delayed release of the iPhone X weighed on its quarterly results.

New jobless claims rose 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 249,000 in the week ended Nov. 11, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Shares of Procter & Gamble rose after The Wall Street Journal reported that activist investor Nelson Peltz narrowly won a seat on the consumer goods giant's board, reversing the first vote count, which showed a defeat for Mr. Peltz.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 16, 2017 16:17 ET (21:17 GMT)