Crude Oil rose 9.6% at the start of this week on hopes of a deal to cap production at January levels but lost those gains as Iran declined to commit. It closed the week at $29.76 per barrel—2.8% up from last week. Commercial crude oil inventories (excluding—SPR) increased 0.4% to 504.1 million barrels from 502.0 million the past week. The national average retail regular gasoline price fell 2% to $1.72 from $1.76 per gallon the preceding week.

The housing market continues to show strength despite a slowdown in January 2016. Privately-owned housing starts were down 3.8% in January from December estimates but are up 1.8% from January 2015 levels. Private building permits fell 0.2% sequentially but rose 13.5% YoY. Privately-owned housing completions were 2% above December estimates and are 8.4% above January 2015 levels.

Industrial production rose 0.9% in January after falling 0.7% in December. YoY, it is down 0.7%. The utilities index rose 5.4% because of colder weather while the manufacturing index rose 0.5% as result of an increase in nondurable and durable goods production. The mining index remained unchanged following the downturn in commodities. Capacity utilization (an index used to gauge sustainable maximum output) rose 0.7% sequentially and 1.4% YoY.

Walmart(NYSE: WMT) announced a revenue drop of 0.7% and a net income fall of 9.2% for fiscal year 2016. Diluted EPS fell 9.5% to $4.57 from $5.05 in 2015. US sales went up 3.6% while Sam’s Club and international sales fell 2.1% and 9.4% respectively. US comparables store sales declined 0.5% in 2016 compared to a decline of 0.1% in 2015.

Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) reported a marginal revenue increase of 0.9% for 2015. However, net income rose 22.8% as a result of reductions in selling, general and administrative expenses. Consequently, diluted EPS climbed 34.8% to $3.56 from $2.64 the previous year. Network revenues fell 3.4% whereas service, home delivery and specialty, and other revenues rose 26.1%, 11.4% and 5.7% respectively.

Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN) recorded a 9.3% revenue increase and a 5.4% net income surge for fiscal year 2015. Diluted EPS rose 8.3% to $49.45 from $45.67 in 2014. The revenue growth was driven by agency revenues (up 11.7%) and advertising & other revenues (up 49.5%) but checked by merchant revenues (down 4.7%).

T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) posted an 8.4% rise in revenue for the fiscal year 2015. Net income rose 196.8% as a result of reductions in losses on the disposal of spectrum licenses and declines in the cost of goods sold. Consequently, Diluted EPS increased 173.3% to $0.82 from $0.30 the previous year. Postpaid customer additions were 4.5 million in 2015 compared to 4.9 million in 2014.

Make sure to read Bryson Kacha's analysis of these two media providers and how they measure up against the threat of “cord cutting”. This blog post also serves as a great opener to this week's Side by Side Comparison Webinar.

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