Schaeffer's Daily Market Blog Features: Pier 1 Imports, AMR Corp., U.S. Airways Group, Alaska Air, and QUALCOMM

Pier 1 Imports (NYSE:PIR) announced this morning that it would discontinue its dividend in a move to improve its liquidity. Cutting the 10-cent-per-share dividend should help PIR in its efforts to reverse its declining fortunes. Unfortunately, this is the continuation of a recent run of bad news for the company, which includes Girouard's recent resignation and industry talk of a possible sale of the company. UBS analyst Brian Nagel noted," We view this [dividend half] as a signal that the company envisions continued sales/earnings per share weakness and is working to conserve cash." Nagel added, "this announcement should prove a near-term negative to shares." PIR has been struggling with falling sales and profits thanks to new, low-priced home-furnishing lines from the likes of Target (TGT) and Wal-Mart (WMT).

11:38 AM Crude at a 10-Month Low

Crude futures dropped to trade at a 10-month low of $59.55 earlier this morning. Despite speculation that Venezuela and Nigeria would cut production, crude slipped three percent yesterday. Today's drop comes as traders question whether leading oil producers, notably Saudi Arabia, would lower production to stop the decline in prices. Of course, as I am typing this entry, my colleague Ed Stenson brought an intraday chart of the Dow to my attention. Glancing at the chart made me check CNBC on the TV over my shoulder, where I see crude is now trading at $59.18, $1.85 lower. Looking at oil products, November unleaded gas futures dropped 2.97 cents to $1.479 per gallon, and November heating oil dropped 3.03 cents to $1.6715 per gallon.

12:19 PM Airlines Benefit from Lower Oil Prices

As I scan the list of New York Stock Exchange issues with the greatest gains today and yesterday, one theme strikes me - airline stocks have heavily populated the list both days. Yesterday AMR Corp. (the parent of American Airlines) (NYSE:AMR), U.S. Airways Group (NYSE:LCC), and Alaska Air (NYSE:ALK) were all more than 2.6 percent higher. Today LCC and ALK are once again on the list along with Continental Airlines (CAL). Those stocks are up more than two percent today. This is coincident with a sharp drop in crude prices. Oil fell three percent yesterday to 61.03 per barrel and is down another three percent today to 59.18 a barrel. As Mark noted below, oil is now trading at its lowest point since December.

1:28 PM QUALCOMM Moves Higher; Call Option Volume Increases

QUALCOMM (NASDAQ:QCOM) is seeing heavy call volume today as the stock is rebounding after a couple of sharp downside moves. The QCOM October 35 call has already seen volume of about 8,000 contracts, and total call volume is outpacing put volume by a ratio of five-to-one. Optimism toward this stock has been quite overwhelming recently, despite the shares downward trend that began in early May. This could be reason to believe that the stock still has plenty of room to drop. QCOM shares are currently trading at $35.55.