The S&P 500 Index (^GSPC 1.20%), after falling 2.3% yesterday, rallied 1.4% today, adding 22 points to close at 1,574. On such a bullish day as this, there weren't many laggards, but the largest losers of the day still managed to handily underperform the market.
US Bancorp (USB -0.20%) ended as the largest decliner in the index, slipping 1.8% today after reporting bleak first-quarter results. My Motley Fool colleague Roger Eberhard even went so far as to name 3 Reasons to Hate the bank's report this morning. Though it passed the stress tests required by the Dodd-Frank Act, its mortgage revenue slipped 11%, a troubling decrease. The good news: Mortgage revenue slipped industrywide, which means it's not all US Bancorp's fault.
Security services firm ADT (NYSE: ADT) lost 1.4% just a day after the stock's 4.3% drop on Monday. Markets may be selling off the stock after the company announced the completion of its $600 million share repurchase program on Friday. The fact that the company has already completed its buyback – announced on Jan. 29 – shows that the stock's losses in the last three months would have been even worse were it not for the repurchase program. With earnings slated to come out May 1, shareholders are anxious to see what these measures will mean for the bottom line.
Staples (SPLS) rounds out the last of today's strugglers with 1.1% losses. Weak retail sales data on Friday sent the stock more than 3% lower yesterday. With earnings not coming until next month, shareholders will have to wait to see how the office supplies retailer did in the first part of the year.
