5/15/08 Gov't Numbers
For 2008, Illinois Tool Works predicted earnings from continuing operations to come in the range of $3.35 to $3.49 a share with revenue growth of 8% to 12%.
The OPEC oil cartel, in its monthly report, estimated world oil demand this year to average 86.95 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, up 1.2% from last year and a slight downward revision from its previous estimate of 86.97 million barrels a day.
CBS Corp.said Thursday it inked a deal to buy CNet Networks Inc. for $11.50 a share in cash. The deal values the operator of CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, mp3.com, CNET news.com and other Web sites at about $1.8 billion.
The average U.S. gasoline price rose about 2 cents to $3.78 a gallon in the last day, according to the Daily Fuel Gauge Report from the Automobile Association of America.
UBS sees light sweet crude this year at $115 a barrel, up 32% from its earlier forecast, oil in 2009 at $120 a barrel, up 54% from its previous view and oil in 2010 at $116.50 a barrel, up 53% from its previous view. UBS on Thursday upgraded oil major Chevron to buy from neutral.
Retailer J.C. Penney Co Inc reported a 50 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday as its middle-income shoppers pulled back on spending amid the U.S. economic downturn.
John Edwards, former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and champion of organised labour, sought to rally his party and bring the primary race to a close by providing Barack Obama with his highest-profile endorsement in months.
The number of newly laid off workers applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, indicating the weak economy was still weighing on the job market.The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless benefits rose by 6,000 last week to 371,000. The number of people who remained on the jobless benefit rolls after drawing an initial week of aid increased 28,000 to 3.06 million in the week ended May 3, the latest period for which figures were available.
Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world's largest private-equity fund, said it had a loss of $66.5 million in the first quarter as leveraged buyouts evaporated and the value of companies it owns declined. Blackstone Group LP President Tony James said banks are mistaken if they think credit markets have begun a sustained recovery. ``It's not clear to me if it's a permanent upswing as I think many of the banks are saying or the eye of the hurricane,'' James told reporters on a conference call today.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, leased about 80 percent of the world's deepest-drilling offshore rigs to explore prospects including the Western Hemisphere's biggest discovery in decades.
The New York Fed's "Empire State" general business conditions index fell to minus 3.23 in May from positive 0.63 in April. The prices paid measure of inflation rose to 69.57 -- the highest since the start of the data series in July 2001. In April it was 57.29.
The Philly Fed diffusion index rose to negative 15.6 in May from negative 24.9 in April.
June crude closed at a one-week low of $124.12 an ounce Thursday, down 10 cents for the session, after dropping to a low of $120.90. June gold climbed $13.50, or 1.6%, to close at $880 an ounce Thursday in New York.
After stabilizing at 20 the past three months, the NAHB/Wells Fargo home builders' sentiment index fell back in May to 19, only one point above the record low of 18 set in December. Builders' assessment of current sales have never been gloomier in the 23-year history of the survey, with the sales index falling to 17 in May from the previous record low of 18 in April. The sales climate is so bad that the builders say that only a federal subsidy for home buyers will turn the market around.
On the heels of a strong vote for passage in the House, senators on Thursday approved a $289 billion, five-year farm bill that is under a presidential veto threat. Senators voted 81-to-15, easily attaining the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. On Wednesday, House lawmakers voted 318-to-106 to pass the bill, also securing the two-thirds majority needed for an override.
Natural-gas prices led the losses in the energy sector, with the June futures contract trading 37 cents, or 3.2%, lower at $11.23 per million British thermal units, its lowest level in over a week. Natural-gas inventories rose by 93 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 9, the Energy Department said Thursday. Analysts at Strategic Energy & Economic Research expected the data to show an increase of 85 billion. Total stocks now stand at 1.529 trillion cubic feet, down 286 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level but 3 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government data said.
Icahn said in a statement that during the last 10 days he has acquired 59 million shares of Yahoo stock and has applied for federal clearance to by $2.5 billion worth of the company's shares. Icahn said the current Yahoo board "acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders" when it turned down Microsoft Corp.'s $33 a share offer for the company. Paulson & Co., the New York hedge-fund manager run by John Paulson, bought a 3.6 percent stake in Yahoo! Inc. and will support investor Carl Icahn's effort to push the company back into takeover talks with Microsoft Corp.
Paulson owned 50 million shares of the Sunnyvale, California-based Internet company as of March 31, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Foreign owners sold $48.2 billion in U.S. financial assets in March compared with net purchases of $48.9 billion in February, the Treasury Department reported Thursday. The U.S. must import about $60 billion in capital every month to finance the balance of payments deficit.
Industrial output of the nation's factories, mines and utilities dropped 0.7% in April in a broad-based decline led by falling production of motor vehicles, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. Output of factories fell 0.8%, the biggest decline since September 2005. Industrial production has risen 0.2% in the past year, and is down 1.2% since January.
The DJ Health Care Providers Index is down 21% in the past 6 months and down 15% in the past 3 months.
Obama's overall delegate total is 1,895, compared to 1,718 for his rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton. It takes 2,026 to clinch the nomination at the party convention in Denver this summer.
Nordstrom Inc. and Kohl's Corp. on Thursday both reported lower first-quarter earnings and warned that the tough retail climate in the U.S. will likely cause even more damage to their bottom lines in the coming months. Nordstrom warned that it expects 2008 earnings of $2.65 to $2.80 a share, down from a prior targeted range of $2.75 to $2.90 a share. Kohl's said it expects to earn 70 cents to 74 cents a share in the second quarter and $2.95 to $3.15 a share for the full year, below estimates of $3.20.
Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, although he rejected suggestions that his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamoring for full-scale troop withdrawals.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Gov't Numbers
5/15/08 Gov't Numbers
For 2008, Illinois Tool Works predicted earnings from continuing operations to come in the range of $3.35 to $3.49 a share with revenue growth of 8% to 12%.
The OPEC oil cartel, in its monthly report, estimated world oil demand this year to average 86.95 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, up 1.2% from last year and a slight downward revision from its previous estimate of 86.97 million barrels a day.
CBS Corp.said Thursday it inked a deal to buy CNet Networks Inc. for $11.50 a share in cash. The deal values the operator of CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, mp3.com, CNET news.com and other Web sites at about $1.8 billion.
The average U.S. gasoline price rose about 2 cents to $3.78 a gallon in the last day, according to the Daily Fuel Gauge Report from the Automobile Association of America.
UBS sees light sweet crude this year at $115 a barrel, up 32% from its earlier forecast, oil in 2009 at $120 a barrel, up 54% from its previous view and oil in 2010 at $116.50 a barrel, up 53% from its previous view. UBS on Thursday upgraded oil major Chevron to buy from neutral.
Retailer J.C. Penney Co Inc reported a 50 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday as its middle-income shoppers pulled back on spending amid the U.S. economic downturn.
John Edwards, former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and champion of organised labour, sought to rally his party and bring the primary race to a close by providing Barack Obama with his highest-profile endorsement in months.
The number of newly laid off workers applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, indicating the weak economy was still weighing on the job market.The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless benefits rose by 6,000 last week to 371,000. The number of people who remained on the jobless benefit rolls after drawing an initial week of aid increased 28,000 to 3.06 million in the week ended May 3, the latest period for which figures were available.
Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world's largest private-equity fund, said it had a loss of $66.5 million in the first quarter as leveraged buyouts evaporated and the value of companies it owns declined. Blackstone Group LP President Tony James said banks are mistaken if they think credit markets have begun a sustained recovery. ``It's not clear to me if it's a permanent upswing as I think many of the banks are saying or the eye of the hurricane,'' James told reporters on a conference call today.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, leased about 80 percent of the world's deepest-drilling offshore rigs to explore prospects including the Western Hemisphere's biggest discovery in decades.
The New York Fed's "Empire State" general business conditions index fell to minus 3.23 in May from positive 0.63 in April. The prices paid measure of inflation rose to 69.57 -- the highest since the start of the data series in July 2001. In April it was 57.29.
The Philly Fed diffusion index rose to negative 15.6 in May from negative 24.9 in April.
June crude closed at a one-week low of $124.12 an ounce Thursday, down 10 cents for the session, after dropping to a low of $120.90. June gold climbed $13.50, or 1.6%, to close at $880 an ounce Thursday in New York.
After stabilizing at 20 the past three months, the NAHB/Wells Fargo home builders' sentiment index fell back in May to 19, only one point above the record low of 18 set in December. Builders' assessment of current sales have never been gloomier in the 23-year history of the survey, with the sales index falling to 17 in May from the previous record low of 18 in April. The sales climate is so bad that the builders say that only a federal subsidy for home buyers will turn the market around.
On the heels of a strong vote for passage in the House, senators on Thursday approved a $289 billion, five-year farm bill that is under a presidential veto threat. Senators voted 81-to-15, easily attaining the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. On Wednesday, House lawmakers voted 318-to-106 to pass the bill, also securing the two-thirds majority needed for an override.
Natural-gas prices led the losses in the energy sector, with the June futures contract trading 37 cents, or 3.2%, lower at $11.23 per million British thermal units, its lowest level in over a week. Natural-gas inventories rose by 93 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 9, the Energy Department said Thursday. Analysts at Strategic Energy & Economic Research expected the data to show an increase of 85 billion. Total stocks now stand at 1.529 trillion cubic feet, down 286 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level but 3 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government data said.
Icahn said in a statement that during the last 10 days he has acquired 59 million shares of Yahoo stock and has applied for federal clearance to by $2.5 billion worth of the company's shares. Icahn said the current Yahoo board "acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders" when it turned down Microsoft Corp.'s $33 a share offer for the company. Paulson & Co., the New York hedge-fund manager run by John Paulson, bought a 3.6 percent stake in Yahoo! Inc. and will support investor Carl Icahn's effort to push the company back into takeover talks with Microsoft Corp.
Paulson owned 50 million shares of the Sunnyvale, California-based Internet company as of March 31, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Foreign owners sold $48.2 billion in U.S. financial assets in March compared with net purchases of $48.9 billion in February, the Treasury Department reported Thursday. The U.S. must import about $60 billion in capital every month to finance the balance of payments deficit.
Industrial output of the nation's factories, mines and utilities dropped 0.7% in April in a broad-based decline led by falling production of motor vehicles, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. Output of factories fell 0.8%, the biggest decline since September 2005. Industrial production has risen 0.2% in the past year, and is down 1.2% since January.
The DJ Health Care Providers Index is down 21% in the past 6 months and down 15% in the past 3 months.
Obama's overall delegate total is 1,895, compared to 1,718 for his rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton. It takes 2,026 to clinch the nomination at the party convention in Denver this summer.
Nordstrom Inc. and Kohl's Corp. on Thursday both reported lower first-quarter earnings and warned that the tough retail climate in the U.S. will likely cause even more damage to their bottom lines in the coming months. Nordstrom warned that it expects 2008 earnings of $2.65 to $2.80 a share, down from a prior targeted range of $2.75 to $2.90 a share. Kohl's said it expects to earn 70 cents to 74 cents a share in the second quarter and $2.95 to $3.15 a share for the full year, below estimates of $3.20.
Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, although he rejected suggestions that his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamoring for full-scale troop withdrawals.
For 2008, Illinois Tool Works predicted earnings from continuing operations to come in the range of $3.35 to $3.49 a share with revenue growth of 8% to 12%.
The OPEC oil cartel, in its monthly report, estimated world oil demand this year to average 86.95 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, up 1.2% from last year and a slight downward revision from its previous estimate of 86.97 million barrels a day.
CBS Corp.said Thursday it inked a deal to buy CNet Networks Inc. for $11.50 a share in cash. The deal values the operator of CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, mp3.com, CNET news.com and other Web sites at about $1.8 billion.
The average U.S. gasoline price rose about 2 cents to $3.78 a gallon in the last day, according to the Daily Fuel Gauge Report from the Automobile Association of America.
UBS sees light sweet crude this year at $115 a barrel, up 32% from its earlier forecast, oil in 2009 at $120 a barrel, up 54% from its previous view and oil in 2010 at $116.50 a barrel, up 53% from its previous view. UBS on Thursday upgraded oil major Chevron to buy from neutral.
Retailer J.C. Penney Co Inc reported a 50 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday as its middle-income shoppers pulled back on spending amid the U.S. economic downturn.
John Edwards, former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and champion of organised labour, sought to rally his party and bring the primary race to a close by providing Barack Obama with his highest-profile endorsement in months.
The number of newly laid off workers applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, indicating the weak economy was still weighing on the job market.The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless benefits rose by 6,000 last week to 371,000. The number of people who remained on the jobless benefit rolls after drawing an initial week of aid increased 28,000 to 3.06 million in the week ended May 3, the latest period for which figures were available.
Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world's largest private-equity fund, said it had a loss of $66.5 million in the first quarter as leveraged buyouts evaporated and the value of companies it owns declined. Blackstone Group LP President Tony James said banks are mistaken if they think credit markets have begun a sustained recovery. ``It's not clear to me if it's a permanent upswing as I think many of the banks are saying or the eye of the hurricane,'' James told reporters on a conference call today.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, leased about 80 percent of the world's deepest-drilling offshore rigs to explore prospects including the Western Hemisphere's biggest discovery in decades.
The New York Fed's "Empire State" general business conditions index fell to minus 3.23 in May from positive 0.63 in April. The prices paid measure of inflation rose to 69.57 -- the highest since the start of the data series in July 2001. In April it was 57.29.
The Philly Fed diffusion index rose to negative 15.6 in May from negative 24.9 in April.
June crude closed at a one-week low of $124.12 an ounce Thursday, down 10 cents for the session, after dropping to a low of $120.90. June gold climbed $13.50, or 1.6%, to close at $880 an ounce Thursday in New York.
After stabilizing at 20 the past three months, the NAHB/Wells Fargo home builders' sentiment index fell back in May to 19, only one point above the record low of 18 set in December. Builders' assessment of current sales have never been gloomier in the 23-year history of the survey, with the sales index falling to 17 in May from the previous record low of 18 in April. The sales climate is so bad that the builders say that only a federal subsidy for home buyers will turn the market around.
On the heels of a strong vote for passage in the House, senators on Thursday approved a $289 billion, five-year farm bill that is under a presidential veto threat. Senators voted 81-to-15, easily attaining the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. On Wednesday, House lawmakers voted 318-to-106 to pass the bill, also securing the two-thirds majority needed for an override.
Natural-gas prices led the losses in the energy sector, with the June futures contract trading 37 cents, or 3.2%, lower at $11.23 per million British thermal units, its lowest level in over a week. Natural-gas inventories rose by 93 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 9, the Energy Department said Thursday. Analysts at Strategic Energy & Economic Research expected the data to show an increase of 85 billion. Total stocks now stand at 1.529 trillion cubic feet, down 286 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level but 3 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government data said.
Icahn said in a statement that during the last 10 days he has acquired 59 million shares of Yahoo stock and has applied for federal clearance to by $2.5 billion worth of the company's shares. Icahn said the current Yahoo board "acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders" when it turned down Microsoft Corp.'s $33 a share offer for the company. Paulson & Co., the New York hedge-fund manager run by John Paulson, bought a 3.6 percent stake in Yahoo! Inc. and will support investor Carl Icahn's effort to push the company back into takeover talks with Microsoft Corp.
Paulson owned 50 million shares of the Sunnyvale, California-based Internet company as of March 31, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Foreign owners sold $48.2 billion in U.S. financial assets in March compared with net purchases of $48.9 billion in February, the Treasury Department reported Thursday. The U.S. must import about $60 billion in capital every month to finance the balance of payments deficit.
Industrial output of the nation's factories, mines and utilities dropped 0.7% in April in a broad-based decline led by falling production of motor vehicles, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. Output of factories fell 0.8%, the biggest decline since September 2005. Industrial production has risen 0.2% in the past year, and is down 1.2% since January.
The DJ Health Care Providers Index is down 21% in the past 6 months and down 15% in the past 3 months.
Obama's overall delegate total is 1,895, compared to 1,718 for his rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton. It takes 2,026 to clinch the nomination at the party convention in Denver this summer.
Nordstrom Inc. and Kohl's Corp. on Thursday both reported lower first-quarter earnings and warned that the tough retail climate in the U.S. will likely cause even more damage to their bottom lines in the coming months. Nordstrom warned that it expects 2008 earnings of $2.65 to $2.80 a share, down from a prior targeted range of $2.75 to $2.90 a share. Kohl's said it expects to earn 70 cents to 74 cents a share in the second quarter and $2.95 to $3.15 a share for the full year, below estimates of $3.20.
Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, although he rejected suggestions that his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamoring for full-scale troop withdrawals.
Gov't Numbers
5/15/08 Gov't Numbers
For 2008, Illinois Tool Works predicted earnings from continuing operations to come in the range of $3.35 to $3.49 a share with revenue growth of 8% to 12%.
The OPEC oil cartel, in its monthly report, estimated world oil demand this year to average 86.95 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, up 1.2% from last year and a slight downward revision from its previous estimate of 86.97 million barrels a day.
CBS Corp.said Thursday it inked a deal to buy CNet Networks Inc. for $11.50 a share in cash. The deal values the operator of CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, mp3.com, CNET news.com and other Web sites at about $1.8 billion.
The average U.S. gasoline price rose about 2 cents to $3.78 a gallon in the last day, according to the Daily Fuel Gauge Report from the Automobile Association of America.
UBS sees light sweet crude this year at $115 a barrel, up 32% from its earlier forecast, oil in 2009 at $120 a barrel, up 54% from its previous view and oil in 2010 at $116.50 a barrel, up 53% from its previous view. UBS on Thursday upgraded oil major Chevron to buy from neutral.
Retailer J.C. Penney Co Inc reported a 50 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday as its middle-income shoppers pulled back on spending amid the U.S. economic downturn.
John Edwards, former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and champion of organised labour, sought to rally his party and bring the primary race to a close by providing Barack Obama with his highest-profile endorsement in months.
The number of newly laid off workers applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, indicating the weak economy was still weighing on the job market.The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless benefits rose by 6,000 last week to 371,000. The number of people who remained on the jobless benefit rolls after drawing an initial week of aid increased 28,000 to 3.06 million in the week ended May 3, the latest period for which figures were available.
Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world's largest private-equity fund, said it had a loss of $66.5 million in the first quarter as leveraged buyouts evaporated and the value of companies it owns declined. Blackstone Group LP President Tony James said banks are mistaken if they think credit markets have begun a sustained recovery. ``It's not clear to me if it's a permanent upswing as I think many of the banks are saying or the eye of the hurricane,'' James told reporters on a conference call today.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, leased about 80 percent of the world's deepest-drilling offshore rigs to explore prospects including the Western Hemisphere's biggest discovery in decades.
The New York Fed's "Empire State" general business conditions index fell to minus 3.23 in May from positive 0.63 in April. The prices paid measure of inflation rose to 69.57 -- the highest since the start of the data series in July 2001. In April it was 57.29.
The Philly Fed diffusion index rose to negative 15.6 in May from negative 24.9 in April.
June crude closed at a one-week low of $124.12 an ounce Thursday, down 10 cents for the session, after dropping to a low of $120.90. June gold climbed $13.50, or 1.6%, to close at $880 an ounce Thursday in New York.
After stabilizing at 20 the past three months, the NAHB/Wells Fargo home builders' sentiment index fell back in May to 19, only one point above the record low of 18 set in December. Builders' assessment of current sales have never been gloomier in the 23-year history of the survey, with the sales index falling to 17 in May from the previous record low of 18 in April. The sales climate is so bad that the builders say that only a federal subsidy for home buyers will turn the market around.
On the heels of a strong vote for passage in the House, senators on Thursday approved a $289 billion, five-year farm bill that is under a presidential veto threat. Senators voted 81-to-15, easily attaining the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. On Wednesday, House lawmakers voted 318-to-106 to pass the bill, also securing the two-thirds majority needed for an override.
Natural-gas prices led the losses in the energy sector, with the June futures contract trading 37 cents, or 3.2%, lower at $11.23 per million British thermal units, its lowest level in over a week. Natural-gas inventories rose by 93 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 9, the Energy Department said Thursday. Analysts at Strategic Energy & Economic Research expected the data to show an increase of 85 billion. Total stocks now stand at 1.529 trillion cubic feet, down 286 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level but 3 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government data said.
Icahn said in a statement that during the last 10 days he has acquired 59 million shares of Yahoo stock and has applied for federal clearance to by $2.5 billion worth of the company's shares. Icahn said the current Yahoo board "acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders" when it turned down Microsoft Corp.'s $33 a share offer for the company. Paulson & Co., the New York hedge-fund manager run by John Paulson, bought a 3.6 percent stake in Yahoo! Inc. and will support investor Carl Icahn's effort to push the company back into takeover talks with Microsoft Corp.
Paulson owned 50 million shares of the Sunnyvale, California-based Internet company as of March 31, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Foreign owners sold $48.2 billion in U.S. financial assets in March compared with net purchases of $48.9 billion in February, the Treasury Department reported Thursday. The U.S. must import about $60 billion in capital every month to finance the balance of payments deficit.
Industrial output of the nation's factories, mines and utilities dropped 0.7% in April in a broad-based decline led by falling production of motor vehicles, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. Output of factories fell 0.8%, the biggest decline since September 2005. Industrial production has risen 0.2% in the past year, and is down 1.2% since January.
The DJ Health Care Providers Index is down 21% in the past 6 months and down 15% in the past 3 months.
Obama's overall delegate total is 1,895, compared to 1,718 for his rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton. It takes 2,026 to clinch the nomination at the party convention in Denver this summer.
Nordstrom Inc. and Kohl's Corp. on Thursday both reported lower first-quarter earnings and warned that the tough retail climate in the U.S. will likely cause even more damage to their bottom lines in the coming months. Nordstrom warned that it expects 2008 earnings of $2.65 to $2.80 a share, down from a prior targeted range of $2.75 to $2.90 a share. Kohl's said it expects to earn 70 cents to 74 cents a share in the second quarter and $2.95 to $3.15 a share for the full year, below estimates of $3.20.
Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, although he rejected suggestions that his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamoring for full-scale troop withdrawals.
For 2008, Illinois Tool Works predicted earnings from continuing operations to come in the range of $3.35 to $3.49 a share with revenue growth of 8% to 12%.
The OPEC oil cartel, in its monthly report, estimated world oil demand this year to average 86.95 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, up 1.2% from last year and a slight downward revision from its previous estimate of 86.97 million barrels a day.
CBS Corp.said Thursday it inked a deal to buy CNet Networks Inc. for $11.50 a share in cash. The deal values the operator of CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, mp3.com, CNET news.com and other Web sites at about $1.8 billion.
The average U.S. gasoline price rose about 2 cents to $3.78 a gallon in the last day, according to the Daily Fuel Gauge Report from the Automobile Association of America.
UBS sees light sweet crude this year at $115 a barrel, up 32% from its earlier forecast, oil in 2009 at $120 a barrel, up 54% from its previous view and oil in 2010 at $116.50 a barrel, up 53% from its previous view. UBS on Thursday upgraded oil major Chevron to buy from neutral.
Retailer J.C. Penney Co Inc reported a 50 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday as its middle-income shoppers pulled back on spending amid the U.S. economic downturn.
John Edwards, former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and champion of organised labour, sought to rally his party and bring the primary race to a close by providing Barack Obama with his highest-profile endorsement in months.
The number of newly laid off workers applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, indicating the weak economy was still weighing on the job market.The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless benefits rose by 6,000 last week to 371,000. The number of people who remained on the jobless benefit rolls after drawing an initial week of aid increased 28,000 to 3.06 million in the week ended May 3, the latest period for which figures were available.
Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world's largest private-equity fund, said it had a loss of $66.5 million in the first quarter as leveraged buyouts evaporated and the value of companies it owns declined. Blackstone Group LP President Tony James said banks are mistaken if they think credit markets have begun a sustained recovery. ``It's not clear to me if it's a permanent upswing as I think many of the banks are saying or the eye of the hurricane,'' James told reporters on a conference call today.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, leased about 80 percent of the world's deepest-drilling offshore rigs to explore prospects including the Western Hemisphere's biggest discovery in decades.
The New York Fed's "Empire State" general business conditions index fell to minus 3.23 in May from positive 0.63 in April. The prices paid measure of inflation rose to 69.57 -- the highest since the start of the data series in July 2001. In April it was 57.29.
The Philly Fed diffusion index rose to negative 15.6 in May from negative 24.9 in April.
June crude closed at a one-week low of $124.12 an ounce Thursday, down 10 cents for the session, after dropping to a low of $120.90. June gold climbed $13.50, or 1.6%, to close at $880 an ounce Thursday in New York.
After stabilizing at 20 the past three months, the NAHB/Wells Fargo home builders' sentiment index fell back in May to 19, only one point above the record low of 18 set in December. Builders' assessment of current sales have never been gloomier in the 23-year history of the survey, with the sales index falling to 17 in May from the previous record low of 18 in April. The sales climate is so bad that the builders say that only a federal subsidy for home buyers will turn the market around.
On the heels of a strong vote for passage in the House, senators on Thursday approved a $289 billion, five-year farm bill that is under a presidential veto threat. Senators voted 81-to-15, easily attaining the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. On Wednesday, House lawmakers voted 318-to-106 to pass the bill, also securing the two-thirds majority needed for an override.
Natural-gas prices led the losses in the energy sector, with the June futures contract trading 37 cents, or 3.2%, lower at $11.23 per million British thermal units, its lowest level in over a week. Natural-gas inventories rose by 93 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 9, the Energy Department said Thursday. Analysts at Strategic Energy & Economic Research expected the data to show an increase of 85 billion. Total stocks now stand at 1.529 trillion cubic feet, down 286 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level but 3 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government data said.
Icahn said in a statement that during the last 10 days he has acquired 59 million shares of Yahoo stock and has applied for federal clearance to by $2.5 billion worth of the company's shares. Icahn said the current Yahoo board "acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders" when it turned down Microsoft Corp.'s $33 a share offer for the company. Paulson & Co., the New York hedge-fund manager run by John Paulson, bought a 3.6 percent stake in Yahoo! Inc. and will support investor Carl Icahn's effort to push the company back into takeover talks with Microsoft Corp.
Paulson owned 50 million shares of the Sunnyvale, California-based Internet company as of March 31, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Foreign owners sold $48.2 billion in U.S. financial assets in March compared with net purchases of $48.9 billion in February, the Treasury Department reported Thursday. The U.S. must import about $60 billion in capital every month to finance the balance of payments deficit.
Industrial output of the nation's factories, mines and utilities dropped 0.7% in April in a broad-based decline led by falling production of motor vehicles, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. Output of factories fell 0.8%, the biggest decline since September 2005. Industrial production has risen 0.2% in the past year, and is down 1.2% since January.
The DJ Health Care Providers Index is down 21% in the past 6 months and down 15% in the past 3 months.
Obama's overall delegate total is 1,895, compared to 1,718 for his rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton. It takes 2,026 to clinch the nomination at the party convention in Denver this summer.
Nordstrom Inc. and Kohl's Corp. on Thursday both reported lower first-quarter earnings and warned that the tough retail climate in the U.S. will likely cause even more damage to their bottom lines in the coming months. Nordstrom warned that it expects 2008 earnings of $2.65 to $2.80 a share, down from a prior targeted range of $2.75 to $2.90 a share. Kohl's said it expects to earn 70 cents to 74 cents a share in the second quarter and $2.95 to $3.15 a share for the full year, below estimates of $3.20.
Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, although he rejected suggestions that his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamoring for full-scale troop withdrawals.
Gov't Numbers
5/15/08 Gov't Numbers
For 2008, Illinois Tool Works predicted earnings from continuing operations to come in the range of $3.35 to $3.49 a share with revenue growth of 8% to 12%.
The OPEC oil cartel, in its monthly report, estimated world oil demand this year to average 86.95 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, up 1.2% from last year and a slight downward revision from its previous estimate of 86.97 million barrels a day.
CBS Corp.said Thursday it inked a deal to buy CNet Networks Inc. for $11.50 a share in cash. The deal values the operator of CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, mp3.com, CNET news.com and other Web sites at about $1.8 billion.
The average U.S. gasoline price rose about 2 cents to $3.78 a gallon in the last day, according to the Daily Fuel Gauge Report from the Automobile Association of America.
UBS sees light sweet crude this year at $115 a barrel, up 32% from its earlier forecast, oil in 2009 at $120 a barrel, up 54% from its previous view and oil in 2010 at $116.50 a barrel, up 53% from its previous view. UBS on Thursday upgraded oil major Chevron to buy from neutral.
Retailer J.C. Penney Co Inc reported a 50 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday as its middle-income shoppers pulled back on spending amid the U.S. economic downturn.
John Edwards, former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and champion of organised labour, sought to rally his party and bring the primary race to a close by providing Barack Obama with his highest-profile endorsement in months.
The number of newly laid off workers applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, indicating the weak economy was still weighing on the job market.The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless benefits rose by 6,000 last week to 371,000. The number of people who remained on the jobless benefit rolls after drawing an initial week of aid increased 28,000 to 3.06 million in the week ended May 3, the latest period for which figures were available.
Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world's largest private-equity fund, said it had a loss of $66.5 million in the first quarter as leveraged buyouts evaporated and the value of companies it owns declined. Blackstone Group LP President Tony James said banks are mistaken if they think credit markets have begun a sustained recovery. ``It's not clear to me if it's a permanent upswing as I think many of the banks are saying or the eye of the hurricane,'' James told reporters on a conference call today.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, leased about 80 percent of the world's deepest-drilling offshore rigs to explore prospects including the Western Hemisphere's biggest discovery in decades.
The New York Fed's "Empire State" general business conditions index fell to minus 3.23 in May from positive 0.63 in April. The prices paid measure of inflation rose to 69.57 -- the highest since the start of the data series in July 2001. In April it was 57.29.
The Philly Fed diffusion index rose to negative 15.6 in May from negative 24.9 in April.
June crude closed at a one-week low of $124.12 an ounce Thursday, down 10 cents for the session, after dropping to a low of $120.90. June gold climbed $13.50, or 1.6%, to close at $880 an ounce Thursday in New York.
After stabilizing at 20 the past three months, the NAHB/Wells Fargo home builders' sentiment index fell back in May to 19, only one point above the record low of 18 set in December. Builders' assessment of current sales have never been gloomier in the 23-year history of the survey, with the sales index falling to 17 in May from the previous record low of 18 in April. The sales climate is so bad that the builders say that only a federal subsidy for home buyers will turn the market around.
On the heels of a strong vote for passage in the House, senators on Thursday approved a $289 billion, five-year farm bill that is under a presidential veto threat. Senators voted 81-to-15, easily attaining the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. On Wednesday, House lawmakers voted 318-to-106 to pass the bill, also securing the two-thirds majority needed for an override.
Natural-gas prices led the losses in the energy sector, with the June futures contract trading 37 cents, or 3.2%, lower at $11.23 per million British thermal units, its lowest level in over a week. Natural-gas inventories rose by 93 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 9, the Energy Department said Thursday. Analysts at Strategic Energy & Economic Research expected the data to show an increase of 85 billion. Total stocks now stand at 1.529 trillion cubic feet, down 286 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level but 3 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government data said.
Icahn said in a statement that during the last 10 days he has acquired 59 million shares of Yahoo stock and has applied for federal clearance to by $2.5 billion worth of the company's shares. Icahn said the current Yahoo board "acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders" when it turned down Microsoft Corp.'s $33 a share offer for the company. Paulson & Co., the New York hedge-fund manager run by John Paulson, bought a 3.6 percent stake in Yahoo! Inc. and will support investor Carl Icahn's effort to push the company back into takeover talks with Microsoft Corp.
Paulson owned 50 million shares of the Sunnyvale, California-based Internet company as of March 31, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Foreign owners sold $48.2 billion in U.S. financial assets in March compared with net purchases of $48.9 billion in February, the Treasury Department reported Thursday. The U.S. must import about $60 billion in capital every month to finance the balance of payments deficit.
Industrial output of the nation's factories, mines and utilities dropped 0.7% in April in a broad-based decline led by falling production of motor vehicles, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. Output of factories fell 0.8%, the biggest decline since September 2005. Industrial production has risen 0.2% in the past year, and is down 1.2% since January.
The DJ Health Care Providers Index is down 21% in the past 6 months and down 15% in the past 3 months.
Obama's overall delegate total is 1,895, compared to 1,718 for his rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton. It takes 2,026 to clinch the nomination at the party convention in Denver this summer.
Nordstrom Inc. and Kohl's Corp. on Thursday both reported lower first-quarter earnings and warned that the tough retail climate in the U.S. will likely cause even more damage to their bottom lines in the coming months. Nordstrom warned that it expects 2008 earnings of $2.65 to $2.80 a share, down from a prior targeted range of $2.75 to $2.90 a share. Kohl's said it expects to earn 70 cents to 74 cents a share in the second quarter and $2.95 to $3.15 a share for the full year, below estimates of $3.20.
Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, although he rejected suggestions that his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamoring for full-scale troop withdrawals.
For 2008, Illinois Tool Works predicted earnings from continuing operations to come in the range of $3.35 to $3.49 a share with revenue growth of 8% to 12%.
The OPEC oil cartel, in its monthly report, estimated world oil demand this year to average 86.95 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, up 1.2% from last year and a slight downward revision from its previous estimate of 86.97 million barrels a day.
CBS Corp.said Thursday it inked a deal to buy CNet Networks Inc. for $11.50 a share in cash. The deal values the operator of CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, mp3.com, CNET news.com and other Web sites at about $1.8 billion.
The average U.S. gasoline price rose about 2 cents to $3.78 a gallon in the last day, according to the Daily Fuel Gauge Report from the Automobile Association of America.
UBS sees light sweet crude this year at $115 a barrel, up 32% from its earlier forecast, oil in 2009 at $120 a barrel, up 54% from its previous view and oil in 2010 at $116.50 a barrel, up 53% from its previous view. UBS on Thursday upgraded oil major Chevron to buy from neutral.
Retailer J.C. Penney Co Inc reported a 50 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday as its middle-income shoppers pulled back on spending amid the U.S. economic downturn.
John Edwards, former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and champion of organised labour, sought to rally his party and bring the primary race to a close by providing Barack Obama with his highest-profile endorsement in months.
The number of newly laid off workers applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, indicating the weak economy was still weighing on the job market.The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless benefits rose by 6,000 last week to 371,000. The number of people who remained on the jobless benefit rolls after drawing an initial week of aid increased 28,000 to 3.06 million in the week ended May 3, the latest period for which figures were available.
Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world's largest private-equity fund, said it had a loss of $66.5 million in the first quarter as leveraged buyouts evaporated and the value of companies it owns declined. Blackstone Group LP President Tony James said banks are mistaken if they think credit markets have begun a sustained recovery. ``It's not clear to me if it's a permanent upswing as I think many of the banks are saying or the eye of the hurricane,'' James told reporters on a conference call today.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, leased about 80 percent of the world's deepest-drilling offshore rigs to explore prospects including the Western Hemisphere's biggest discovery in decades.
The New York Fed's "Empire State" general business conditions index fell to minus 3.23 in May from positive 0.63 in April. The prices paid measure of inflation rose to 69.57 -- the highest since the start of the data series in July 2001. In April it was 57.29.
The Philly Fed diffusion index rose to negative 15.6 in May from negative 24.9 in April.
June crude closed at a one-week low of $124.12 an ounce Thursday, down 10 cents for the session, after dropping to a low of $120.90. June gold climbed $13.50, or 1.6%, to close at $880 an ounce Thursday in New York.
After stabilizing at 20 the past three months, the NAHB/Wells Fargo home builders' sentiment index fell back in May to 19, only one point above the record low of 18 set in December. Builders' assessment of current sales have never been gloomier in the 23-year history of the survey, with the sales index falling to 17 in May from the previous record low of 18 in April. The sales climate is so bad that the builders say that only a federal subsidy for home buyers will turn the market around.
On the heels of a strong vote for passage in the House, senators on Thursday approved a $289 billion, five-year farm bill that is under a presidential veto threat. Senators voted 81-to-15, easily attaining the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. On Wednesday, House lawmakers voted 318-to-106 to pass the bill, also securing the two-thirds majority needed for an override.
Natural-gas prices led the losses in the energy sector, with the June futures contract trading 37 cents, or 3.2%, lower at $11.23 per million British thermal units, its lowest level in over a week. Natural-gas inventories rose by 93 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 9, the Energy Department said Thursday. Analysts at Strategic Energy & Economic Research expected the data to show an increase of 85 billion. Total stocks now stand at 1.529 trillion cubic feet, down 286 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level but 3 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government data said.
Icahn said in a statement that during the last 10 days he has acquired 59 million shares of Yahoo stock and has applied for federal clearance to by $2.5 billion worth of the company's shares. Icahn said the current Yahoo board "acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders" when it turned down Microsoft Corp.'s $33 a share offer for the company. Paulson & Co., the New York hedge-fund manager run by John Paulson, bought a 3.6 percent stake in Yahoo! Inc. and will support investor Carl Icahn's effort to push the company back into takeover talks with Microsoft Corp.
Paulson owned 50 million shares of the Sunnyvale, California-based Internet company as of March 31, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Foreign owners sold $48.2 billion in U.S. financial assets in March compared with net purchases of $48.9 billion in February, the Treasury Department reported Thursday. The U.S. must import about $60 billion in capital every month to finance the balance of payments deficit.
Industrial output of the nation's factories, mines and utilities dropped 0.7% in April in a broad-based decline led by falling production of motor vehicles, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. Output of factories fell 0.8%, the biggest decline since September 2005. Industrial production has risen 0.2% in the past year, and is down 1.2% since January.
The DJ Health Care Providers Index is down 21% in the past 6 months and down 15% in the past 3 months.
Obama's overall delegate total is 1,895, compared to 1,718 for his rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton. It takes 2,026 to clinch the nomination at the party convention in Denver this summer.
Nordstrom Inc. and Kohl's Corp. on Thursday both reported lower first-quarter earnings and warned that the tough retail climate in the U.S. will likely cause even more damage to their bottom lines in the coming months. Nordstrom warned that it expects 2008 earnings of $2.65 to $2.80 a share, down from a prior targeted range of $2.75 to $2.90 a share. Kohl's said it expects to earn 70 cents to 74 cents a share in the second quarter and $2.95 to $3.15 a share for the full year, below estimates of $3.20.
Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, although he rejected suggestions that his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamoring for full-scale troop withdrawals.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
UNG
5/14/08 UNG
Six months ago just about every day I suggested one find a place in one's portfolio for natural gas. My choice was UNG, the U.S. Natural Gas Fund. At the time the price was in the doldrums at $35 a share. With natural gas continuing to surge in price and up about 50% in six months, it may be prudent to think about taking some profits in UNG at $55+. That's a healthy turkey sandwich.
Bernard Baruch: "Nobody ever lost money taking a profit."
The 2-year U.S. Treasury bond is now yielding 2.55%. I have mentioned shorting this note week in and week out. I have stated it is my largest position. It has had a sharp move from 1.5%. At the same time, I continue to believe that U.S. Treasuries are massively overvalued.
Freddie Mac lost 66 cents a share, or $151 million, in the first quarter, compared to a loss of 46 cents a share, or $133 million, a year ago.
Industrial output across the 15-nation euro zone fell 0.2% in March, for a 2% annual gain, Eurostat reported Wednesday.
General Motors Corp will need to raise over $9 billion in financing over the next two years to refinance existing debt and to offset projected cash losses in its auto operations in North America, Lehman Brothers analyst Brian Johnson said on Wednesday.
Clear Channel Communications Inc.signed an amended definitive agreement under which it will be acquired by an investor group for $36 a share, or a total deal value of $17.9 billion. In a statement late on Tuesday, the company said it settled litigation filed in New York and Texas with Bain Capital Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners and a group of banks. Clear Channel's board has approved the terms and urges holders to vote for the deal. In November 2006, CCU agreed to a $39.20-a-share buyout by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain.
U.S. home foreclosure filings in April edged up from March and were a whopping 65 percent higher than a year earlier, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Wednesday. Home foreclosure filings in April totaled 243,353, up 4 percent from March, RealtyTrac, an online market of foreclosure properties, said in its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The figure is a total of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.
Deere & Co reported higher quarterly earnings on Wednesday as soaring crop prices boosted global demand for its agricultural equipment, but the company's forecast for the rest of the year was below Wall Street expectations and the stock fell 6 percent. Deere Co.raised its full-year forecast for raw material costs on Wednesday to the range of $400 million to $500 million. With just $110 million spent year to date, Chief Financial Officer Michael Mack noted that soaring commodity expenses will really hit in the second half of the year. "Raw material costs, especially for vital commodities like steel, are racing ahead; well beyond what we had anticipated and we set prices for model year 2008," he said.
Bill Gross , who runs the world's biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., called Treasuries ``totally overvalued'' as consumer prices rise, according to a report in AsianInvestor magazine. Pimco has moved away from Treasuries and into high-quality credit-market securities, especially those issued by financial institutions, over the past four weeks, Hong Kong-based AsianInvestor reported.
Bond fund leader Pimco's Mohamed El-Erian on Wednesday said the Federal Reserve does not have the tools to deal with the U.S. housing crisis and rapidly rising consumer prices, leaving it to lawmakers to avert a severe recession. The co-head of the world's largest bond fund company said U.S. policy makers "do not have good policy tools to deal with the destabilizing combination of asset price deflation, and goods inflation."
Bank of America Corp., the nation's biggest consumer bank, said losses on home-equity loans will be even worse than predicted three weeks ago, adding to evidence that more consumers are falling behind on debts.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the third- largest U.S. bank, may eliminate 4,000 of its own staff as it brings on employees from the purchase of Bear Stearns Cos. and financial markets continue to deteriorate, a person familiar with the matter said.
For the first time, it appears that more than half of all insured Americans are taking prescription medicines regularly for chronic health problems, a study shows.The most widely used drugs are those to lower high blood pressure and cholesterol -- problems often linked to heart disease, obesity and diabetes.The numbers were gathered last year by Medco Health Solutions Inc., which manages prescription benefits for about one in five Americans.
Fund managers believe that inflation is set to rise over the next 12 months, according to Merrill Lynch's monthly survey of managers for May.
According to the report, a net 25% of managers believe that global core inflation will be higher in a year's time, up from 7% who held this position in April and 17% in March.This opinion was borne out in data this week from the U.K., where the rate of growth in consumer prices jumped to 3% in April.
Obama announced his pickup Wednesday of two superdelegates: Rep. Peter Visclosky of Indiana and Democrats Abroad chair Christine Schon Marques. Also endorsing Obama were three former Securities and Exchange Commission chairmen — William Donaldson, David Ruder, and Arthur Levitt Jr., who was appointed by former President Clinton. The campaign released a joint statement by the former SEC chiefs, well as former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, that praised Obama's "positive leadership and judgment" on economic issues. "We are aware of the reasoned approach Mr. Obama has taken in analyzing the current financial crisis and the need for balanced regulatory reform," the statement said. "We believe that such a constructive approach can be extended broadly in the economic area as well as elsewhere."
Futures traders have increased their bets that the Federal Reserve will start raising rates in late November after a period of holding rates at the current 2% level. The November fed funds futures contract Wednesday mid-morning priced in about a 56% chance that the central bank will raise its key interest rate by a quarter-point when it meets in late October, to 2.25%, up from 48% odds at the Tuesday settlement and only 16% Monday.
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King signaled he is about done cutting interest rates. King said today he expects inflation to breach the government's 3 percent limit for ``several quarters'' and the central bank's forecasts show further rate cuts may make matters worse. Reducing the Bank of England's benchmark rate to 4.5 percent from the current 5 percent would risk unacceptably high inflation, the central bank's forecasts show.
Real average weekly earnings fell by 0.5 percent in April
according to the BLS.
Henry Ford:"An idealist is one who helps the other fellow
to make a profit."
Gold for June delivery fell $3.10 to close at $866.50
an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It touched
an intraday low of $864. The contract has now suffered a
drop of $19.30, or 2.2%, since the end of last week.
June crude falls $1.58 to close at $124.22/brl in NY.
June natural gas ends at $11.60/mln BTUs, up 18 cents.
UnitedHealth Group traded at a new 52-week low.
Six months ago just about every day I suggested one find a place in one's portfolio for natural gas. My choice was UNG, the U.S. Natural Gas Fund. At the time the price was in the doldrums at $35 a share. With natural gas continuing to surge in price and up about 50% in six months, it may be prudent to think about taking some profits in UNG at $55+. That's a healthy turkey sandwich.
Bernard Baruch: "Nobody ever lost money taking a profit."
The 2-year U.S. Treasury bond is now yielding 2.55%. I have mentioned shorting this note week in and week out. I have stated it is my largest position. It has had a sharp move from 1.5%. At the same time, I continue to believe that U.S. Treasuries are massively overvalued.
Freddie Mac lost 66 cents a share, or $151 million, in the first quarter, compared to a loss of 46 cents a share, or $133 million, a year ago.
Industrial output across the 15-nation euro zone fell 0.2% in March, for a 2% annual gain, Eurostat reported Wednesday.
General Motors Corp will need to raise over $9 billion in financing over the next two years to refinance existing debt and to offset projected cash losses in its auto operations in North America, Lehman Brothers analyst Brian Johnson said on Wednesday.
Clear Channel Communications Inc.signed an amended definitive agreement under which it will be acquired by an investor group for $36 a share, or a total deal value of $17.9 billion. In a statement late on Tuesday, the company said it settled litigation filed in New York and Texas with Bain Capital Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners and a group of banks. Clear Channel's board has approved the terms and urges holders to vote for the deal. In November 2006, CCU agreed to a $39.20-a-share buyout by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain.
U.S. home foreclosure filings in April edged up from March and were a whopping 65 percent higher than a year earlier, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Wednesday. Home foreclosure filings in April totaled 243,353, up 4 percent from March, RealtyTrac, an online market of foreclosure properties, said in its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The figure is a total of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.
Deere & Co reported higher quarterly earnings on Wednesday as soaring crop prices boosted global demand for its agricultural equipment, but the company's forecast for the rest of the year was below Wall Street expectations and the stock fell 6 percent. Deere Co.raised its full-year forecast for raw material costs on Wednesday to the range of $400 million to $500 million. With just $110 million spent year to date, Chief Financial Officer Michael Mack noted that soaring commodity expenses will really hit in the second half of the year. "Raw material costs, especially for vital commodities like steel, are racing ahead; well beyond what we had anticipated and we set prices for model year 2008," he said.
Bill Gross , who runs the world's biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., called Treasuries ``totally overvalued'' as consumer prices rise, according to a report in AsianInvestor magazine. Pimco has moved away from Treasuries and into high-quality credit-market securities, especially those issued by financial institutions, over the past four weeks, Hong Kong-based AsianInvestor reported.
Bond fund leader Pimco's Mohamed El-Erian on Wednesday said the Federal Reserve does not have the tools to deal with the U.S. housing crisis and rapidly rising consumer prices, leaving it to lawmakers to avert a severe recession. The co-head of the world's largest bond fund company said U.S. policy makers "do not have good policy tools to deal with the destabilizing combination of asset price deflation, and goods inflation."
Bank of America Corp., the nation's biggest consumer bank, said losses on home-equity loans will be even worse than predicted three weeks ago, adding to evidence that more consumers are falling behind on debts.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the third- largest U.S. bank, may eliminate 4,000 of its own staff as it brings on employees from the purchase of Bear Stearns Cos. and financial markets continue to deteriorate, a person familiar with the matter said.
For the first time, it appears that more than half of all insured Americans are taking prescription medicines regularly for chronic health problems, a study shows.The most widely used drugs are those to lower high blood pressure and cholesterol -- problems often linked to heart disease, obesity and diabetes.The numbers were gathered last year by Medco Health Solutions Inc., which manages prescription benefits for about one in five Americans.
Fund managers believe that inflation is set to rise over the next 12 months, according to Merrill Lynch's monthly survey of managers for May.
According to the report, a net 25% of managers believe that global core inflation will be higher in a year's time, up from 7% who held this position in April and 17% in March.This opinion was borne out in data this week from the U.K., where the rate of growth in consumer prices jumped to 3% in April.
Obama announced his pickup Wednesday of two superdelegates: Rep. Peter Visclosky of Indiana and Democrats Abroad chair Christine Schon Marques. Also endorsing Obama were three former Securities and Exchange Commission chairmen — William Donaldson, David Ruder, and Arthur Levitt Jr., who was appointed by former President Clinton. The campaign released a joint statement by the former SEC chiefs, well as former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, that praised Obama's "positive leadership and judgment" on economic issues. "We are aware of the reasoned approach Mr. Obama has taken in analyzing the current financial crisis and the need for balanced regulatory reform," the statement said. "We believe that such a constructive approach can be extended broadly in the economic area as well as elsewhere."
Futures traders have increased their bets that the Federal Reserve will start raising rates in late November after a period of holding rates at the current 2% level. The November fed funds futures contract Wednesday mid-morning priced in about a 56% chance that the central bank will raise its key interest rate by a quarter-point when it meets in late October, to 2.25%, up from 48% odds at the Tuesday settlement and only 16% Monday.
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King signaled he is about done cutting interest rates. King said today he expects inflation to breach the government's 3 percent limit for ``several quarters'' and the central bank's forecasts show further rate cuts may make matters worse. Reducing the Bank of England's benchmark rate to 4.5 percent from the current 5 percent would risk unacceptably high inflation, the central bank's forecasts show.
Real average weekly earnings fell by 0.5 percent in April
according to the BLS.
Henry Ford:"An idealist is one who helps the other fellow
to make a profit."
Gold for June delivery fell $3.10 to close at $866.50
an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It touched
an intraday low of $864. The contract has now suffered a
drop of $19.30, or 2.2%, since the end of last week.
June crude falls $1.58 to close at $124.22/brl in NY.
June natural gas ends at $11.60/mln BTUs, up 18 cents.
UnitedHealth Group traded at a new 52-week low.
HP
5/13/08 HP
Hewlett-Packard Co. has agreed to buy Electronic Data Systems Corp. for about $12.6 billion in cash to build a technology-services company that could challenge IBM. The companies said Tuesday their boards had unanimously approved the deal, in which EDS shareholders would get $25 per share. That is a premium of almost 25 percent over what EDS had been trading on Friday. Word of the talks emerged Monday.
Single-family home prices dropped 7.7% in the first quarter in the largest year-over-year decline since the National Association of Realtors began reporting prices in 1982. The median sales price fell to $196,300, down 4.8% compared with the last three months of 2007.
The Commerce Department says retail sales fell in April as Americans cut back due to soaring gasoline prices and a slumping economy. However, aside from sales of automobiles, retail sales performed better than economists expected.Investors heard some reassuring words from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who says financial market turmoil has begun to wane. However, he says the credit crisis is "still far from over."
The economic downturn is hitting roughly one in 10 middle-aged and older Americans especially hard, compelling them to borrow money for everyday living expenses and to seek help from family, friends or charities, according to a survey released Tuesday by the AARP.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Tuesday said first-quarter profits rose 6.9 percent, but the world's largest retailer offered a guarded outlook as consumers wrestle with higher energy and food costs.
Prices that U.S. residents paid for imported goods rose 1.8% in April, the Labor Department reported Tuesday, as prices for petroleum and other products gained. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were looking for a gain of 1.8%. The price for imported petroleum rose 4.4%. The price for non-petroleum products rose 1.1% for the second consecutive month - matching the largest one-month gain for the index since these prices were first published monthly in December 1988. The price for non-fuel imports rose 1.0% -- matching the prior month's gain - the largest one-month increase since the index was first published in December 2001.
Consumption will rise by 1.03 million barrels per day (bpd), 230,000 bpd less than the previous forecast, the IEA said. The agency has more than halved its estimate from 2.2 million bpd in July 2007 and may cut it further.
June crude climbed as high as $126.98 a barrel in electronic trading to mark a fresh intraday record. Gains in energy futures were led by a 2.1% rise in June heating oil, which was last at $3.63 a gallon. June crude closed at $125.80 a barrel in New York Tuesday, up $1.57, or 1.3%.
With downward revisions to February's inventory growth, the report indicates stronger final sales and weaker inventory growth in the first quarter than first estimated in the report on gross domestic product.
Palatin has undertaken a strategic restructuring with the following elements and objectives:
-- Following a detailed evaluation, including review of regulatory and
commercial information and data on its new melanocortin compounds under
development for sexual dysfunction, Palatin has discontinued
development of bremelanotide for the treatment of male and female
sexual dysfunction;
-- Developing bremelanotide as a therapeutic drug for treatment of
hemorrhagic shock and related indications (shock induced by blood loss,
such as secondary to surgery or trauma);
-- Initiating a Phase 2A study this quarter with PL-3994, Palatin's
natriuretic peptide receptor A agonist compound, in patients with
controlled hypertension;
-- Initiating a Phase 2A study of PL-3994 during the next fiscal year for
treatment of acute congestive heart failure;
-- Advancing new Palatin compound PL-6983, which in animal models causes
significantly lower increases in blood pressure than seen with
bremelanotide, into Phase 1 clinical studies for treatment of male and
female sexual dysfunction;
-- Continuing its melanocortin receptor-based collaboration with
AstraZeneca AB on developing compounds for treating obesity; and
-- Effecting an immediate reduction in force of 30% of the Company's
employees.
June gold closed at $869.60 an ounce in New York Tuesday, down $15.30, or 1.7%, for the session.
Carl Icahn is considering launching a proxy fight at
Yahoo Inc , CNBC reported on Tuesday.
Whole Foods Market Inc on
Tuesday posted lower quarterly net profit, missing analysts'
estimates by a penny, as it booked charges related to its $565
million acquisition of rival Wild Oats Markets in August.
Despite a 28 percent rise in sales during the quarter, the natural and organic foods seller left its fiscal 2008 sales outlook unchanged, and shares fell nearly 8 percent in after-hours trade.
Hewlett-Packard Co. has agreed to buy Electronic Data Systems Corp. for about $12.6 billion in cash to build a technology-services company that could challenge IBM. The companies said Tuesday their boards had unanimously approved the deal, in which EDS shareholders would get $25 per share. That is a premium of almost 25 percent over what EDS had been trading on Friday. Word of the talks emerged Monday.
Single-family home prices dropped 7.7% in the first quarter in the largest year-over-year decline since the National Association of Realtors began reporting prices in 1982. The median sales price fell to $196,300, down 4.8% compared with the last three months of 2007.
The Commerce Department says retail sales fell in April as Americans cut back due to soaring gasoline prices and a slumping economy. However, aside from sales of automobiles, retail sales performed better than economists expected.Investors heard some reassuring words from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who says financial market turmoil has begun to wane. However, he says the credit crisis is "still far from over."
The economic downturn is hitting roughly one in 10 middle-aged and older Americans especially hard, compelling them to borrow money for everyday living expenses and to seek help from family, friends or charities, according to a survey released Tuesday by the AARP.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Tuesday said first-quarter profits rose 6.9 percent, but the world's largest retailer offered a guarded outlook as consumers wrestle with higher energy and food costs.
Prices that U.S. residents paid for imported goods rose 1.8% in April, the Labor Department reported Tuesday, as prices for petroleum and other products gained. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were looking for a gain of 1.8%. The price for imported petroleum rose 4.4%. The price for non-petroleum products rose 1.1% for the second consecutive month - matching the largest one-month gain for the index since these prices were first published monthly in December 1988. The price for non-fuel imports rose 1.0% -- matching the prior month's gain - the largest one-month increase since the index was first published in December 2001.
Consumption will rise by 1.03 million barrels per day (bpd), 230,000 bpd less than the previous forecast, the IEA said. The agency has more than halved its estimate from 2.2 million bpd in July 2007 and may cut it further.
June crude climbed as high as $126.98 a barrel in electronic trading to mark a fresh intraday record. Gains in energy futures were led by a 2.1% rise in June heating oil, which was last at $3.63 a gallon. June crude closed at $125.80 a barrel in New York Tuesday, up $1.57, or 1.3%.
With downward revisions to February's inventory growth, the report indicates stronger final sales and weaker inventory growth in the first quarter than first estimated in the report on gross domestic product.
Palatin has undertaken a strategic restructuring with the following elements and objectives:
-- Following a detailed evaluation, including review of regulatory and
commercial information and data on its new melanocortin compounds under
development for sexual dysfunction, Palatin has discontinued
development of bremelanotide for the treatment of male and female
sexual dysfunction;
-- Developing bremelanotide as a therapeutic drug for treatment of
hemorrhagic shock and related indications (shock induced by blood loss,
such as secondary to surgery or trauma);
-- Initiating a Phase 2A study this quarter with PL-3994, Palatin's
natriuretic peptide receptor A agonist compound, in patients with
controlled hypertension;
-- Initiating a Phase 2A study of PL-3994 during the next fiscal year for
treatment of acute congestive heart failure;
-- Advancing new Palatin compound PL-6983, which in animal models causes
significantly lower increases in blood pressure than seen with
bremelanotide, into Phase 1 clinical studies for treatment of male and
female sexual dysfunction;
-- Continuing its melanocortin receptor-based collaboration with
AstraZeneca AB on developing compounds for treating obesity; and
-- Effecting an immediate reduction in force of 30% of the Company's
employees.
June gold closed at $869.60 an ounce in New York Tuesday, down $15.30, or 1.7%, for the session.
Carl Icahn is considering launching a proxy fight at
Yahoo Inc , CNBC reported on Tuesday.
Whole Foods Market Inc on
Tuesday posted lower quarterly net profit, missing analysts'
estimates by a penny, as it booked charges related to its $565
million acquisition of rival Wild Oats Markets in August.
Despite a 28 percent rise in sales during the quarter, the natural and organic foods seller left its fiscal 2008 sales outlook unchanged, and shares fell nearly 8 percent in after-hours trade.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Housing
5/12/08 Housing
Scott Burns: "Every three months the Federal Reserve estimates the value of our collective tangible assets, financial assets and liabilities to arrive at our net worth. It's the whole enchilada — all our cars, our houses, our durable "stuff," bank deposits, stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Everything. Then it subtracts all our mortgages, consumer credit and other debt to arrive at our net worth.At the end of 2007, for instance, our collective net worth was $57.7 trillion, an unusual drop from $58.3 trillion at the end of the previous quarter. Divide $57.7 trillion by the $120-a-barrel price of oil, and you get 481 billion barrels of oil as the value of America, a fraction of our national value in 1998, 1995 or even 1990."
Brett Steenbarger: "Friday's market showed 797 new 20-day highs and 747 fresh 20-day lows--more mixed performance. I cannot imagine the market sustaining a significant bull move on such a selective basis."
John Hussman: "With the U.S. stock market still relatively overbought in an unfavorable Market Climate, there is continued risk of substantial and possibly abrupt weakness. As I've noted frequently, I rarely have much of an opinion on near-term direction except when conditions are either overbought in an unfavorable Climate or oversold in a favorable one. We observed some initial weakness late last week, but we remain braced for more significant trouble. At the same time, we have to recognize that the rebound through early last week brought market internals not far from the point that would begin to feed purely speculative “trend chasing.” So while we're defensive here, you can think of us as having something of a “stop” at which we would cover part of our short-call option hedges (leaving the defensive puts in place) – effectively trading some risk of time decay in return for a modest exposure to rising prices in the event that investors become resolutely speculative. Again, here and now, we remain firmly hedged based on prevailing conditions, and my opinion (which we don't trade on) is that we should allow for fresh short-term trouble as well."
Hewlett-Packard Co. confirmed after Monday's closing bell that the company is in "advanced discussions" with Electronic Data Systems regarding a "possible business combination" between the two companies. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier in the day that the companies were discussion a merger deal worth between $12 billion and $13 billion.
June crude closed at $124.23 a barrel, down $1.73, or 1.4%, for the session. June gold closed at $884.90 an ounce in New York Monday, down 90 cents for the session.
Through the first seven months of this budget year, the federal deficit totals $152.2 billion, nearly double the $80.8 billion deficit during the same period in 2007.
Consumer spending excluding autos grew only 0.1 percent last month on a seasonally adjusted basis, less than the 0.6 percent increase in March, said SpendingPulse, the retail data service of MasterCard Advisors, which is a unit of MasterCard Worldwide.
"In general, consumers are spending less. Without gasoline, they are spending a lot less," said Kamalesh Rao, director of economic research at MasterCard Advisors.
Retail sales excluding cars and gasoline fell 0.7 percent in April versus March.
Gas prices, meanwhile, rose above an average $3.67 a gallon at the pump, following oil's recent path higher.
Mike Burk: "There are no indications that the current decline has played out and seasonally next week has been modestly negative. I expect the major indices to be lower on Friday May 16 than they were on Friday May 9.
Barack Obama's wave of superdelegate endorsements puts him within reach of the Democratic presidential nomination by the end of the primary season on June 3 — even if he loses half of the remaining six contests. The Illinois senator has picked up 26 superdelegates in the past week. At that pace, he will reach the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination — 2,025 — in the next three weeks, when delegates from the remaining primaries are included.
Obama has 1,871.5 delegates, including endorsements from party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton has 1,697, according to the latest tally by The Associated Press. That leaves Obama just 153.5 delegates short of the number needed to win the nomination at the party's national convention this August in Denver.
There are 217 delegates at stake in the six remaining primaries, in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota. Even if Clinton wins most of those delegates, Obama could reach the magic number by the time South Dakota and Montana vote on June 3.
From last November through this April, American women aged 20 and up gained nearly 300,000 jobs, according to the household survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). At the same time, American men lost nearly 700,000 jobs.
Toll Brithers said Tuesday second-quarter home-building revenues fell 30% to $817.9 million. "The just-completed spring selling season was quite weak," Chairman and CEO Robert Toll said in a statement. Toll Brothers said it's looking to use its $2.5 billion of available capital to make acquisitions that fit its criteria of "high-end communities at bargain prices," but said it hasn't seen any yet.
Scott Burns: "Every three months the Federal Reserve estimates the value of our collective tangible assets, financial assets and liabilities to arrive at our net worth. It's the whole enchilada — all our cars, our houses, our durable "stuff," bank deposits, stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Everything. Then it subtracts all our mortgages, consumer credit and other debt to arrive at our net worth.At the end of 2007, for instance, our collective net worth was $57.7 trillion, an unusual drop from $58.3 trillion at the end of the previous quarter. Divide $57.7 trillion by the $120-a-barrel price of oil, and you get 481 billion barrels of oil as the value of America, a fraction of our national value in 1998, 1995 or even 1990."
Brett Steenbarger: "Friday's market showed 797 new 20-day highs and 747 fresh 20-day lows--more mixed performance. I cannot imagine the market sustaining a significant bull move on such a selective basis."
John Hussman: "With the U.S. stock market still relatively overbought in an unfavorable Market Climate, there is continued risk of substantial and possibly abrupt weakness. As I've noted frequently, I rarely have much of an opinion on near-term direction except when conditions are either overbought in an unfavorable Climate or oversold in a favorable one. We observed some initial weakness late last week, but we remain braced for more significant trouble. At the same time, we have to recognize that the rebound through early last week brought market internals not far from the point that would begin to feed purely speculative “trend chasing.” So while we're defensive here, you can think of us as having something of a “stop” at which we would cover part of our short-call option hedges (leaving the defensive puts in place) – effectively trading some risk of time decay in return for a modest exposure to rising prices in the event that investors become resolutely speculative. Again, here and now, we remain firmly hedged based on prevailing conditions, and my opinion (which we don't trade on) is that we should allow for fresh short-term trouble as well."
Hewlett-Packard Co. confirmed after Monday's closing bell that the company is in "advanced discussions" with Electronic Data Systems regarding a "possible business combination" between the two companies. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier in the day that the companies were discussion a merger deal worth between $12 billion and $13 billion.
June crude closed at $124.23 a barrel, down $1.73, or 1.4%, for the session. June gold closed at $884.90 an ounce in New York Monday, down 90 cents for the session.
Through the first seven months of this budget year, the federal deficit totals $152.2 billion, nearly double the $80.8 billion deficit during the same period in 2007.
Consumer spending excluding autos grew only 0.1 percent last month on a seasonally adjusted basis, less than the 0.6 percent increase in March, said SpendingPulse, the retail data service of MasterCard Advisors, which is a unit of MasterCard Worldwide.
"In general, consumers are spending less. Without gasoline, they are spending a lot less," said Kamalesh Rao, director of economic research at MasterCard Advisors.
Retail sales excluding cars and gasoline fell 0.7 percent in April versus March.
Gas prices, meanwhile, rose above an average $3.67 a gallon at the pump, following oil's recent path higher.
Mike Burk: "There are no indications that the current decline has played out and seasonally next week has been modestly negative. I expect the major indices to be lower on Friday May 16 than they were on Friday May 9.
Barack Obama's wave of superdelegate endorsements puts him within reach of the Democratic presidential nomination by the end of the primary season on June 3 — even if he loses half of the remaining six contests. The Illinois senator has picked up 26 superdelegates in the past week. At that pace, he will reach the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination — 2,025 — in the next three weeks, when delegates from the remaining primaries are included.
Obama has 1,871.5 delegates, including endorsements from party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton has 1,697, according to the latest tally by The Associated Press. That leaves Obama just 153.5 delegates short of the number needed to win the nomination at the party's national convention this August in Denver.
There are 217 delegates at stake in the six remaining primaries, in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota. Even if Clinton wins most of those delegates, Obama could reach the magic number by the time South Dakota and Montana vote on June 3.
From last November through this April, American women aged 20 and up gained nearly 300,000 jobs, according to the household survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). At the same time, American men lost nearly 700,000 jobs.
Toll Brithers said Tuesday second-quarter home-building revenues fell 30% to $817.9 million. "The just-completed spring selling season was quite weak," Chairman and CEO Robert Toll said in a statement. Toll Brothers said it's looking to use its $2.5 billion of available capital to make acquisitions that fit its criteria of "high-end communities at bargain prices," but said it hasn't seen any yet.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Pension Funds
5/11/08 Pension Funds
U.S. first class mail rises to 42 cents on Monday.
According to the Washington Post, the funds that pay pension and health benefits to police officers, teachers and millions of other public employees across the country are facing a shortfall that could soon run into trillions of dollars. But the accounting techniques used by state and local governments to balance their pension books disguise the extent of the crisis facing these retirees and the taxpayers who may ultimately be called on to pay the freight, according to a growing number of leading financial analysts.
Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva wants to get his country into OPEC. With a booming biofuel business alongside new oil reserves, Brazil is poised to become a global energy leader.
China has established a homegrown company to make passenger jumbo jets, state media reported Sunday -- a step forward in the country's quest to become less dependent on Boeing and Airbus.
The number of people holding part-time jobs for economic reasons swelled to 5.2 million in April, up sharply from 4.4 million a year earlier.
"Productivity gains were due primarily to declines in hours worked," the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics explained. Those hours fell at a 1.8 percent pace, the biggest drop in five years.
Vodafone Group Plc may offer 20 billion pounds ($39 billion) to take over MTN Group Ltd., Africa's largest mobile-phone company, the Sunday Times reported, without saying where it got the information.
Zman: "The press gripes about the rising price of oil on an hourly basis. But high oil and commensurately high gasoline prices may turn out to be the least of the consumer's problems this Summer. Note the rally in Eastern, high BTU coal prices year to date. That's 50% of electricity generation going ballistic. Natural gas is another 20% of U.S. generation, up 50% YTD. Even spot uranium prices has spiraled higher (look for the impact to be felt in 2010 when many longer term contracts roll off). Speculators get the blame for the rally in crude and certainly they have played their part but there are fundamental pressures in each these fuels that are now only exacerbated by the possibility of a now perceived bottoming in the U.S. economy and subsequent recovery."
MBIA says fair value of derivatives down $3.54 billion.
The Chinese central bank raised banks' reserve requirement by a half-point to 16.5% Monday to curb excess liquidity and control soaring inflation.
JA Solar reiterated its forecast for 2008 revenue in the range of $1.03 billion to $1.14 billion and for gross margin to remain above 20%.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck China's Sichuan province Monday.
China's consumer price index accelerated to 8.5% in April from the year-ago month, Chinese state media reported on Monday.
U.S. first class mail rises to 42 cents on Monday.
According to the Washington Post, the funds that pay pension and health benefits to police officers, teachers and millions of other public employees across the country are facing a shortfall that could soon run into trillions of dollars. But the accounting techniques used by state and local governments to balance their pension books disguise the extent of the crisis facing these retirees and the taxpayers who may ultimately be called on to pay the freight, according to a growing number of leading financial analysts.
Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva wants to get his country into OPEC. With a booming biofuel business alongside new oil reserves, Brazil is poised to become a global energy leader.
China has established a homegrown company to make passenger jumbo jets, state media reported Sunday -- a step forward in the country's quest to become less dependent on Boeing and Airbus.
The number of people holding part-time jobs for economic reasons swelled to 5.2 million in April, up sharply from 4.4 million a year earlier.
"Productivity gains were due primarily to declines in hours worked," the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics explained. Those hours fell at a 1.8 percent pace, the biggest drop in five years.
Vodafone Group Plc may offer 20 billion pounds ($39 billion) to take over MTN Group Ltd., Africa's largest mobile-phone company, the Sunday Times reported, without saying where it got the information.
Zman: "The press gripes about the rising price of oil on an hourly basis. But high oil and commensurately high gasoline prices may turn out to be the least of the consumer's problems this Summer. Note the rally in Eastern, high BTU coal prices year to date. That's 50% of electricity generation going ballistic. Natural gas is another 20% of U.S. generation, up 50% YTD. Even spot uranium prices has spiraled higher (look for the impact to be felt in 2010 when many longer term contracts roll off). Speculators get the blame for the rally in crude and certainly they have played their part but there are fundamental pressures in each these fuels that are now only exacerbated by the possibility of a now perceived bottoming in the U.S. economy and subsequent recovery."
MBIA says fair value of derivatives down $3.54 billion.
The Chinese central bank raised banks' reserve requirement by a half-point to 16.5% Monday to curb excess liquidity and control soaring inflation.
JA Solar reiterated its forecast for 2008 revenue in the range of $1.03 billion to $1.14 billion and for gross margin to remain above 20%.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck China's Sichuan province Monday.
China's consumer price index accelerated to 8.5% in April from the year-ago month, Chinese state media reported on Monday.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Inflation
5/10/08 Inflation
According to Bloomberg, India's inflation accelerated at the fastest pace in almost 3 1/2 years, underscoring the threat from rising food prices that prompted the government to extend a ban on futures trading this week. Wholesale prices rose 7.61 percent in the week ended April 26 from a year earlier, after gaining 7.57 percent in the previous week, the government said today.
China's producer price index, a key indicator of inflation, rose 8.1 percent in April over the same month a year earlier, the government reported Friday, as a top economic official sought new controls to cool rising prices.
Crude oil and corn prices surged to record highs on Friday.
Barack Obama for the first time on Friday overtook Hillary Clinton’s supportamong the unelected “super-delegates” who will ultimately settle the Democratic nomination amid signs that people around Mrs Clinton were pushing for her to become Mr Obama’s running mate. Nine super-delegates on Friday endorsed Mr Obama, including one, Donald Payne, an African-American congressman from New Jersey, who switched his support from Mrs Clinton saying that Mr Obama “can bring about the change the country needs”.
Clyde M. See Jr., a former Democratic speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates and two-time gubernatorial candidate: "There's a lot of bigotry in the country, not just West Virginia." It should be noted that West Virginia is 97% white. When it's all said and done, West Virginia has only 28 pledged delegates.
"The best way for Obama to make inroads with white voters in blue-collar, leaning-red states is to push economic issues to the front and continue to depict the war as a money pit," said Thomas F. Schaller, an associate professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Brian Pretti: "Treasury auctions of the last month or so have experienced a paucity of foreign buyers show up to bid. Let's put it this way, if this trend of lackluster response to Treasury auctions on the part of the foreign community were to continue near term for whatever reason, we could indeed be looking at a serious issue for Treasury yields (meaning they have fallen too far to the downside to attract foreign interest). We'll just have to see what happens."
China needs to save less to boost consumption and narrow the trade surplus, said People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan.
ANB Financial N.A. of Bentonville, Ark., was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was named receiver, the FDIC said late Friday. This marks the third bank failure of the year.
Iraq's government on Saturday agreed a truce with the movement of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to end weeks of fighting in an eastern Baghdad slum between Shi'ite militia and security.
Peter Schiff: "Soon, as credit card delinquencies rise and losses on pools of securitized credit card debt mount, those supplying the credit will finally get wise to the fact they will never get their money back. As a result the market for such debt will dry up even more quickly than did the market for subprime mortgages. Cards will therefore be much harder to come by and will have much lower limits then they do today. Limited to only the cash in their wallets, Americans will finally be forced to dramatically curtail their spending, and the recession will finally gather serious momentum."
A senior Democrat strategist, familiar with discussions at the highest levels of the Obama camp, has revealed that Mr Obama is now confident of the support of around 120 of the remaining 260 undeclared superdelegates. His aides believe he will only need between 70 and 80 to be sure of the nomination if he wins the Oregon, Montana and South Dakota primaries as expected after this month.
The strategist said Mr Obama has "no intention" of making Mrs Clinton his running mate, but that he is prepared to offer an olive branch to her supporters by seating delegates from Michigan and Florida, won by Mrs Clinton but excluded because they broke party rules.
According to Bloomberg, India's inflation accelerated at the fastest pace in almost 3 1/2 years, underscoring the threat from rising food prices that prompted the government to extend a ban on futures trading this week. Wholesale prices rose 7.61 percent in the week ended April 26 from a year earlier, after gaining 7.57 percent in the previous week, the government said today.
China's producer price index, a key indicator of inflation, rose 8.1 percent in April over the same month a year earlier, the government reported Friday, as a top economic official sought new controls to cool rising prices.
Crude oil and corn prices surged to record highs on Friday.
Barack Obama for the first time on Friday overtook Hillary Clinton’s supportamong the unelected “super-delegates” who will ultimately settle the Democratic nomination amid signs that people around Mrs Clinton were pushing for her to become Mr Obama’s running mate. Nine super-delegates on Friday endorsed Mr Obama, including one, Donald Payne, an African-American congressman from New Jersey, who switched his support from Mrs Clinton saying that Mr Obama “can bring about the change the country needs”.
Clyde M. See Jr., a former Democratic speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates and two-time gubernatorial candidate: "There's a lot of bigotry in the country, not just West Virginia." It should be noted that West Virginia is 97% white. When it's all said and done, West Virginia has only 28 pledged delegates.
"The best way for Obama to make inroads with white voters in blue-collar, leaning-red states is to push economic issues to the front and continue to depict the war as a money pit," said Thomas F. Schaller, an associate professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Brian Pretti: "Treasury auctions of the last month or so have experienced a paucity of foreign buyers show up to bid. Let's put it this way, if this trend of lackluster response to Treasury auctions on the part of the foreign community were to continue near term for whatever reason, we could indeed be looking at a serious issue for Treasury yields (meaning they have fallen too far to the downside to attract foreign interest). We'll just have to see what happens."
China needs to save less to boost consumption and narrow the trade surplus, said People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan.
ANB Financial N.A. of Bentonville, Ark., was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was named receiver, the FDIC said late Friday. This marks the third bank failure of the year.
Iraq's government on Saturday agreed a truce with the movement of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to end weeks of fighting in an eastern Baghdad slum between Shi'ite militia and security.
Peter Schiff: "Soon, as credit card delinquencies rise and losses on pools of securitized credit card debt mount, those supplying the credit will finally get wise to the fact they will never get their money back. As a result the market for such debt will dry up even more quickly than did the market for subprime mortgages. Cards will therefore be much harder to come by and will have much lower limits then they do today. Limited to only the cash in their wallets, Americans will finally be forced to dramatically curtail their spending, and the recession will finally gather serious momentum."
A senior Democrat strategist, familiar with discussions at the highest levels of the Obama camp, has revealed that Mr Obama is now confident of the support of around 120 of the remaining 260 undeclared superdelegates. His aides believe he will only need between 70 and 80 to be sure of the nomination if he wins the Oregon, Montana and South Dakota primaries as expected after this month.
The strategist said Mr Obama has "no intention" of making Mrs Clinton his running mate, but that he is prepared to offer an olive branch to her supporters by seating delegates from Michigan and Florida, won by Mrs Clinton but excluded because they broke party rules.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Crude Oil
5/9/08 Crude Oil
Crude-oil futures blitzed past the $126 a barrel mark Friday, rallying to a record high of $126.20, pushed higher by weakness in the U.S. dollar and concerns over supply disruptions.
AIG reported its record $7.8 billion loss, eclipsing the $5.3 billion loss it recorded in the fourth quarter. AIG said credit-market woes, weakness in housing and stock-market volatility "had a substantial adverse effect" on its results. "The severity of the unrealized valuation losses and decline in value of our investments were beyond our expectations," said AIG Chief Executive Martin Sullivan. The New York-based insurance behemoth took a $9.1 billion write-down for the first quarter on credit derivatives designed to protect against losses on a variety of investments, including subprime mortgages. It booked an additional $6.1 billion in losses in its investment portfolio.
According to AMG Data Services, for the week ending May 7, including ETF activity, Equity funds report net cash inflows totaling $1.521 billion in the week ended 5/7/08 with Domestic funds reporting net inflows of $72 million and Non-domestic funds reporting net inflows of $1.449 billion;
Excluding ETF activity, Equity funds report net cash inflows totaling $699 million with Domestic funds reporting net inflows of $437 million and Non-domestic funds reporting net inflows totaling $262 million.
Rice surged for a third day by the maximum allowed as Nigeria and the Philippines, the two largest importers, sought shipments, further straining global supplies after a cyclone devastated crops in Myanmar.
According to Business Week, Merchant cash advances have been around for roughly a decade. But with big banks in full retreat from lending, more small business owners are seeking help from the likes of AdvanceMe, AmeriMerchant, and hundreds of other companies and independent contractors that offer such advances. The size of the industry jumped 50% in 2007, to around $700 million.
The number of companies defaulting on their junk-rated debt and filing for bankruptcy in North America is running at its fastest pace in five years amid the slowing economy and contraction in credit markets. So far this year, 28 “entities” have defaulted, according to Standard & Poor’s. The defaulted debt of the one Canadian and 27 US companies totals $18.4bn and exceeds the 17 defaults in the US for all of last year.
Henry To: "I expect a significant buying opportunity in small cap value stocks sometime over the next 12 to 18 months - but given that we are still in a general deleveraging environment, I also expect small cap value stocks to under perform at least for the rest of this year (homebuilders and newspaper publishers come into mind)."
Brad Setser: "Barring a major change, the Gulf and China could easily combine to add close to a trillion dollars to their official assets this year."
"Our recently completed financing arrangements give the company record levels of liquidity, with approximately $2 billion in immediately available excess capacity," said Ed Heffernan, Alliance Data's chief financial officer. "We currently expect that Alliance Data could secure an additional $1.5 billion to $2 billion in capacity while maintaining an investment grade profile by levering up from approximately 1x to 3x." Alliance Data said it expects to continue meeting or beating Wall Street's earnings forecasts throughout the year.
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligence, International Lease Financial, the largest customer for Boeing's 787 with 74 on order, said its planes will be delayed "an average in excess of 27 months per aircraft and span across ILFC's entire order." Air Canada said its 787s will be 24 to 30 months late, and probably won't get its first 787 until 2012. Delays could cost Boeing $4 billion in fines.
Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit said Friday the firm plans to reduce about $500 billion of non-core assets over the next several years.
In a sign of weaker global growth, both imports and exports fell sharply in March, driving the U.S. trade deficit down to $58.2 billion, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Nominal imports fell 2.9% to $206.7 billion, the largest decline in more than six years, despite record oil prices. Nominal exports dropped to $148.5 billion, the biggest drop in nearly three years, despite higher prices for U.S. farm products.
As recently as mid-January, Clinton, with her family's deep roots in the Democratic establishment, led Obama by nearly 100 superdelegates. By Friday morning, Obama had narrowed her lead to 3, as he picked up 5 more supporters.
Obama also picked up the endorsement of the influential American Federation of Government Employees union on Friday.
The market for highly structured credit products exposed to residential mortgage securities hasn't rebounded, American International Group Chief Financial Officer Steven Bensinger said on Friday during a conference call with analysts.
China's overseas sales rose about 21.8 percent from a year earlier, after gaining 30.6 percent in March, according to figures derived from Ministry of Commerce data. The trade surplus was about $16.8 billion compared with $16.7 billion a year earlier.
Communications equipment maker Harris has started exploring strategic options, which may lead to its eventual sale, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company serves the government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries, has annual revenues of over $5 billion and more than 16,000 employees.
June gold climbed $3.70 an ounce Friday to close at $885.80. The June contract closed at $125.96 a barrel, up $2.27 for the session and up 8.3% for the week.
“Saudi Arabia is forecast to earn 975 billion riyals ($260 billion) in oil revenue this year as record oil prices boost its current account surplus, Arab News reported, citing a report from Jadwa Investment Co.”
FedEx cut its quarterly-profit forecast again, citing unrelenting fuel-price increases and soft demand.
One-month Treasury bill rates surged 25 bps this week to 1.59%, and 3-month yields rose 15 bps to 1.68%. At the same time, two-year government yields sank 21 bps 2.24%.
Doug Noland: "I don’t believe it is mere coincidence that crude has posted about a 30% y-t-d price surge at the same time as international reserve positions have expanded at about a 30% annualized rate - to a stunning $6.769 TN. Over the past 4 ½ years, official international reserves have ballooned an unprecedented $3.921 trillion, or 138%. During this period, crude prices surged almost 300%. Chinese reserves ballooned more than four-fold over this period to $1.68 Trillion; India’s reserve position tripled to $303bn; and Brazil enjoyed a four-fold increase to $189bn. After beginning 2004 at $73bn, Russian reserves have almost reached the half Trillion mark ($493bn). And just in the past year, OPEC reserves have inflated 42% to $490bn. To be sure, the world is awash like never before in excess “liquidity” for which to bid up the price of critical tradable resources...The CRB Commodities index closed today at an all-time high, sporting y-t-d gain of 19% and one-year rise of 37%. The Goldman Sachs Commodities index, also ending at a record high, has gained 28% so far this year and 68% over the past 12 months. During the past year, soybeans have gained 85%, corn 72%, and wheat 68%. Prices for iron ore, steel and hard commodities have experienced similar price inflation. Gasoline prices are up almost 40%, natural gas about 50%, and heating oil about 90% over the past year...Industries throughout the U.S. and global economies now confront a fundamentally altered environment, where the pricing and availability of key inputs can no longer be taken for granted. For many, the whole idea of “just in time” inventory management has become a luxury that can no longer be afforded. Moreover, recent media accounts have illuminated the problems suffered by farmers and grain elevator operators because of recent dislocations in commodities derivative trading. Financial derivatives markets, having functioned well in the commodities arena for the most part for years now, will now play a destabilizing role in a new era of acute supply/demand imbalances...Furthermore, current inflationary forces are destabilizing and even destructive to many businesses, while playing havoc with the fiscal standing of federal, state and municipal governments."
Crude-oil futures blitzed past the $126 a barrel mark Friday, rallying to a record high of $126.20, pushed higher by weakness in the U.S. dollar and concerns over supply disruptions.
AIG reported its record $7.8 billion loss, eclipsing the $5.3 billion loss it recorded in the fourth quarter. AIG said credit-market woes, weakness in housing and stock-market volatility "had a substantial adverse effect" on its results. "The severity of the unrealized valuation losses and decline in value of our investments were beyond our expectations," said AIG Chief Executive Martin Sullivan. The New York-based insurance behemoth took a $9.1 billion write-down for the first quarter on credit derivatives designed to protect against losses on a variety of investments, including subprime mortgages. It booked an additional $6.1 billion in losses in its investment portfolio.
According to AMG Data Services, for the week ending May 7, including ETF activity, Equity funds report net cash inflows totaling $1.521 billion in the week ended 5/7/08 with Domestic funds reporting net inflows of $72 million and Non-domestic funds reporting net inflows of $1.449 billion;
Excluding ETF activity, Equity funds report net cash inflows totaling $699 million with Domestic funds reporting net inflows of $437 million and Non-domestic funds reporting net inflows totaling $262 million.
Rice surged for a third day by the maximum allowed as Nigeria and the Philippines, the two largest importers, sought shipments, further straining global supplies after a cyclone devastated crops in Myanmar.
According to Business Week, Merchant cash advances have been around for roughly a decade. But with big banks in full retreat from lending, more small business owners are seeking help from the likes of AdvanceMe, AmeriMerchant, and hundreds of other companies and independent contractors that offer such advances. The size of the industry jumped 50% in 2007, to around $700 million.
The number of companies defaulting on their junk-rated debt and filing for bankruptcy in North America is running at its fastest pace in five years amid the slowing economy and contraction in credit markets. So far this year, 28 “entities” have defaulted, according to Standard & Poor’s. The defaulted debt of the one Canadian and 27 US companies totals $18.4bn and exceeds the 17 defaults in the US for all of last year.
Henry To: "I expect a significant buying opportunity in small cap value stocks sometime over the next 12 to 18 months - but given that we are still in a general deleveraging environment, I also expect small cap value stocks to under perform at least for the rest of this year (homebuilders and newspaper publishers come into mind)."
Brad Setser: "Barring a major change, the Gulf and China could easily combine to add close to a trillion dollars to their official assets this year."
"Our recently completed financing arrangements give the company record levels of liquidity, with approximately $2 billion in immediately available excess capacity," said Ed Heffernan, Alliance Data's chief financial officer. "We currently expect that Alliance Data could secure an additional $1.5 billion to $2 billion in capacity while maintaining an investment grade profile by levering up from approximately 1x to 3x." Alliance Data said it expects to continue meeting or beating Wall Street's earnings forecasts throughout the year.
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligence, International Lease Financial, the largest customer for Boeing's 787 with 74 on order, said its planes will be delayed "an average in excess of 27 months per aircraft and span across ILFC's entire order." Air Canada said its 787s will be 24 to 30 months late, and probably won't get its first 787 until 2012. Delays could cost Boeing $4 billion in fines.
Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit said Friday the firm plans to reduce about $500 billion of non-core assets over the next several years.
In a sign of weaker global growth, both imports and exports fell sharply in March, driving the U.S. trade deficit down to $58.2 billion, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Nominal imports fell 2.9% to $206.7 billion, the largest decline in more than six years, despite record oil prices. Nominal exports dropped to $148.5 billion, the biggest drop in nearly three years, despite higher prices for U.S. farm products.
As recently as mid-January, Clinton, with her family's deep roots in the Democratic establishment, led Obama by nearly 100 superdelegates. By Friday morning, Obama had narrowed her lead to 3, as he picked up 5 more supporters.
Obama also picked up the endorsement of the influential American Federation of Government Employees union on Friday.
The market for highly structured credit products exposed to residential mortgage securities hasn't rebounded, American International Group Chief Financial Officer Steven Bensinger said on Friday during a conference call with analysts.
China's overseas sales rose about 21.8 percent from a year earlier, after gaining 30.6 percent in March, according to figures derived from Ministry of Commerce data. The trade surplus was about $16.8 billion compared with $16.7 billion a year earlier.
Communications equipment maker Harris has started exploring strategic options, which may lead to its eventual sale, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company serves the government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries, has annual revenues of over $5 billion and more than 16,000 employees.
June gold climbed $3.70 an ounce Friday to close at $885.80. The June contract closed at $125.96 a barrel, up $2.27 for the session and up 8.3% for the week.
“Saudi Arabia is forecast to earn 975 billion riyals ($260 billion) in oil revenue this year as record oil prices boost its current account surplus, Arab News reported, citing a report from Jadwa Investment Co.”
FedEx cut its quarterly-profit forecast again, citing unrelenting fuel-price increases and soft demand.
One-month Treasury bill rates surged 25 bps this week to 1.59%, and 3-month yields rose 15 bps to 1.68%. At the same time, two-year government yields sank 21 bps 2.24%.
Doug Noland: "I don’t believe it is mere coincidence that crude has posted about a 30% y-t-d price surge at the same time as international reserve positions have expanded at about a 30% annualized rate - to a stunning $6.769 TN. Over the past 4 ½ years, official international reserves have ballooned an unprecedented $3.921 trillion, or 138%. During this period, crude prices surged almost 300%. Chinese reserves ballooned more than four-fold over this period to $1.68 Trillion; India’s reserve position tripled to $303bn; and Brazil enjoyed a four-fold increase to $189bn. After beginning 2004 at $73bn, Russian reserves have almost reached the half Trillion mark ($493bn). And just in the past year, OPEC reserves have inflated 42% to $490bn. To be sure, the world is awash like never before in excess “liquidity” for which to bid up the price of critical tradable resources...The CRB Commodities index closed today at an all-time high, sporting y-t-d gain of 19% and one-year rise of 37%. The Goldman Sachs Commodities index, also ending at a record high, has gained 28% so far this year and 68% over the past 12 months. During the past year, soybeans have gained 85%, corn 72%, and wheat 68%. Prices for iron ore, steel and hard commodities have experienced similar price inflation. Gasoline prices are up almost 40%, natural gas about 50%, and heating oil about 90% over the past year...Industries throughout the U.S. and global economies now confront a fundamentally altered environment, where the pricing and availability of key inputs can no longer be taken for granted. For many, the whole idea of “just in time” inventory management has become a luxury that can no longer be afforded. Moreover, recent media accounts have illuminated the problems suffered by farmers and grain elevator operators because of recent dislocations in commodities derivative trading. Financial derivatives markets, having functioned well in the commodities arena for the most part for years now, will now play a destabilizing role in a new era of acute supply/demand imbalances...Furthermore, current inflationary forces are destabilizing and even destructive to many businesses, while playing havoc with the fiscal standing of federal, state and municipal governments."
Friday, May 09, 2008
Retail
5/8/08 Retail
Higher same-store-sales figures for April were skewed by an early Easter.
Wal-Mart sees May same-store sales ex fuel flat to up 2%. US same-store sales were up 3.2% in April. Shoppers scooped up the chain’s grocery, health and wellness and entertainment offerings. Wal-Mart cited strong sales of flat-panel TVs, video games and gaming systems, even as it warned that consumers are showing signs of being tapped out. “The economy continues to get tougher and the ‘paycheck cycle’ is more pronounced for customers than in past months,” U.S. stores chief Eduardo Castro-Wright said. “As money gets tighter for them toward the end of the month, sales drop more than we have seen in the past.”
Cosco said excluding gasoline price inflation, comparable sales would have been up 5% in its U.S. home market in April.
The European Central Bank on Thursday held its key interest rate at 4% as inflation worries outweighed concerns over an economy whose growth appears to be stalling.
The number of people filing for the first time for unemployment benefits fell by 18,000 to 365,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ending May 3, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of initial claims, which smoothes out one-time factors such as bad weather or holidays, moved up by 2,500 to 367,500. The number of people collecting benefits fell by 10,000 in the week ending April 26 to 3.02 million. The four-week average of continuing claims nudged higher by 16,750 to 3 million, the most in four years. Compared with the same time last year, initial claims are up about 17%, while continuing claims are up about 19%.
U.S. retail gasoline prices rose 3 cents to just under $3.65 a gallon in the last day, after holding near $3.60 a gallon for the past several days, according to the Daily Fuel Gauge Report from the AAA. Prices averaged about $3.33 a gallon a month ago and $3.03 a year ago, according to the survey of up to 100,000 self-serve stations.
The Bank of England left its key interest rate unchanged at 5% Thursday as inflation fears persuaded it to take a wait-and-see approach.
Iran's oil minister has predicted the price of oil will rise to $200 per barrel in the near future, the official IRNA news agency reports.
Toyota’s quarterly profit dropped 28% as a stronger yen and lagging North American sales chipped away at earnings.
ABC News has learned that David Bonior, the campaign manager for the 2008 presidential race of Sen. John Edwards, D-NC, will endorse Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, today.
Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels Ltd., owner of the luxury Peninsula chain, expects business in Asia to be hurt by the global economic slowdown, citing Chairman Michael Kadoorie.
George Soros: "The markets are breathing a sigh of relief but the fallout in the real economy is only now beginning.”
Unilever, the world's second-largest maker of food and detergent, said revenue will beat its forecast for the first time in six years on increased prices and sales of Dove soap, Hellmann's mayonnaise and Lipton tea.
Bill Bonner: "Since '95, reports Martin Hutchinson, the U.S. money supply, as measured by 'money of zero maturity,' has gone up at about 8.8% per year. The average fellow, seeing that he has 8.8% more cash - and with no knowledge of the volume theory of money - might reasonably conclude that he is richer. But when money increases faster than the goods and services it's destined to pay for, the result is rising prices. At 8.8%, U.S. money supply was increasing about 50% faster than the GDP. You'd expect prices to rise and the dollar to fall - which is exactly what has happened. But recently, the feds have put their fabulous money machine into high gear. MZM has been going up at a 28% annual rate over the last three months."
Microsoft has no plans to make another approach for Yahoo after it pulled its $47.5 billion bid earlier this month, Microsoft's Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie said on Thursday.
McDonald's Corp. said Thursday its April sales at global stores open at least one year rose 5%, while same-store sales at its U.S. restaurants rose just 2%
Nordstrom Inc.'s same-store sales, or sales of stores open at least a year, fell 3.8% in April.
Ross Stores Inc., an apparel retailer, on Thursday raised its earnings outlook for the quarter ending May 3 because of stronger margins and favorable expense trends. Ross Stores now expects to earn between 59 and 60 cents per share during the quarter ending May 3. It previously anticipated earnings between 56 cents and 58 cents per share.
Valero Energy Corp. said it's selling its 85,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Krotz Spring, La. to Alon USA Energy Inc. in a deal worth up to $433 million. The price includes $333 million plus an earn-out provision value at more than $100 million.
Barr Laboratories tumbled more than 20% on a lower-than-expected earnings report that prompted the company to also lower its 2008 financial forecast.
Natural-gas inventories rose by 65 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 2, the Energy Department said Thursday. Analysts at Global Insight expected a climb of 76 billion. Total stocks now stand at 1.436 trillion cubic feet, down 284 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level and 11 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, the government data said.
"I don't see any way she can put this together any more -- she can't win the popular vote or the delegate count -- so what's the rationale?" said a major Clinton supporter from New York, speaking on condition of anonymity. "I think the challenge now is letting her leave with dignity and grace and letting the process go forward. She has got to leave on a high note. She's got to determine her own exit strategy."
June crude closes at $123.69/brl, up 16 cents for the day. Gold for June delivery rose $10.90 to end at $882.10 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil futures topped $124 in electronic action on Friday, rising 51 cents to $124.40 a barrel.
Allianz Group, Europe's largest insurer, said Friday that net income for the first quarter fell 65% to 1.15 billion euros ($1.77 billion), owing to a 845 million euro mark-down on structured products and lower realized gains from investments.
China's producer price index climbed 8.1% in April from a year earlier, marking the ninth straight month of gains, led by higher energy and industrial metals prices. A measure that captures gains in fuel, raw material and power climbed 11.8% in April from a year earlier. Among individual components, crude oil prices climbed 37.9%, coal rose 20.9%, ferrous metals were up 24.8% and gasoline climbed 10.8%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia increased its inflation forecasts for this year, noting underlying CPI is to remain above its target band until late 2010 at the earliest, dampening expectations interest rates could fall from their current 12-year high of 7.25% any time soon.
Higher same-store-sales figures for April were skewed by an early Easter.
Wal-Mart sees May same-store sales ex fuel flat to up 2%. US same-store sales were up 3.2% in April. Shoppers scooped up the chain’s grocery, health and wellness and entertainment offerings. Wal-Mart cited strong sales of flat-panel TVs, video games and gaming systems, even as it warned that consumers are showing signs of being tapped out. “The economy continues to get tougher and the ‘paycheck cycle’ is more pronounced for customers than in past months,” U.S. stores chief Eduardo Castro-Wright said. “As money gets tighter for them toward the end of the month, sales drop more than we have seen in the past.”
Cosco said excluding gasoline price inflation, comparable sales would have been up 5% in its U.S. home market in April.
The European Central Bank on Thursday held its key interest rate at 4% as inflation worries outweighed concerns over an economy whose growth appears to be stalling.
The number of people filing for the first time for unemployment benefits fell by 18,000 to 365,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ending May 3, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of initial claims, which smoothes out one-time factors such as bad weather or holidays, moved up by 2,500 to 367,500. The number of people collecting benefits fell by 10,000 in the week ending April 26 to 3.02 million. The four-week average of continuing claims nudged higher by 16,750 to 3 million, the most in four years. Compared with the same time last year, initial claims are up about 17%, while continuing claims are up about 19%.
U.S. retail gasoline prices rose 3 cents to just under $3.65 a gallon in the last day, after holding near $3.60 a gallon for the past several days, according to the Daily Fuel Gauge Report from the AAA. Prices averaged about $3.33 a gallon a month ago and $3.03 a year ago, according to the survey of up to 100,000 self-serve stations.
The Bank of England left its key interest rate unchanged at 5% Thursday as inflation fears persuaded it to take a wait-and-see approach.
Iran's oil minister has predicted the price of oil will rise to $200 per barrel in the near future, the official IRNA news agency reports.
Toyota’s quarterly profit dropped 28% as a stronger yen and lagging North American sales chipped away at earnings.
ABC News has learned that David Bonior, the campaign manager for the 2008 presidential race of Sen. John Edwards, D-NC, will endorse Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, today.
Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels Ltd., owner of the luxury Peninsula chain, expects business in Asia to be hurt by the global economic slowdown, citing Chairman Michael Kadoorie.
George Soros: "The markets are breathing a sigh of relief but the fallout in the real economy is only now beginning.”
Unilever, the world's second-largest maker of food and detergent, said revenue will beat its forecast for the first time in six years on increased prices and sales of Dove soap, Hellmann's mayonnaise and Lipton tea.
Bill Bonner: "Since '95, reports Martin Hutchinson, the U.S. money supply, as measured by 'money of zero maturity,' has gone up at about 8.8% per year. The average fellow, seeing that he has 8.8% more cash - and with no knowledge of the volume theory of money - might reasonably conclude that he is richer. But when money increases faster than the goods and services it's destined to pay for, the result is rising prices. At 8.8%, U.S. money supply was increasing about 50% faster than the GDP. You'd expect prices to rise and the dollar to fall - which is exactly what has happened. But recently, the feds have put their fabulous money machine into high gear. MZM has been going up at a 28% annual rate over the last three months."
Microsoft has no plans to make another approach for Yahoo after it pulled its $47.5 billion bid earlier this month, Microsoft's Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie said on Thursday.
McDonald's Corp. said Thursday its April sales at global stores open at least one year rose 5%, while same-store sales at its U.S. restaurants rose just 2%
Nordstrom Inc.'s same-store sales, or sales of stores open at least a year, fell 3.8% in April.
Ross Stores Inc., an apparel retailer, on Thursday raised its earnings outlook for the quarter ending May 3 because of stronger margins and favorable expense trends. Ross Stores now expects to earn between 59 and 60 cents per share during the quarter ending May 3. It previously anticipated earnings between 56 cents and 58 cents per share.
Valero Energy Corp. said it's selling its 85,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Krotz Spring, La. to Alon USA Energy Inc. in a deal worth up to $433 million. The price includes $333 million plus an earn-out provision value at more than $100 million.
Barr Laboratories tumbled more than 20% on a lower-than-expected earnings report that prompted the company to also lower its 2008 financial forecast.
Natural-gas inventories rose by 65 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 2, the Energy Department said Thursday. Analysts at Global Insight expected a climb of 76 billion. Total stocks now stand at 1.436 trillion cubic feet, down 284 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level and 11 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, the government data said.
"I don't see any way she can put this together any more -- she can't win the popular vote or the delegate count -- so what's the rationale?" said a major Clinton supporter from New York, speaking on condition of anonymity. "I think the challenge now is letting her leave with dignity and grace and letting the process go forward. She has got to leave on a high note. She's got to determine her own exit strategy."
June crude closes at $123.69/brl, up 16 cents for the day. Gold for June delivery rose $10.90 to end at $882.10 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil futures topped $124 in electronic action on Friday, rising 51 cents to $124.40 a barrel.
Allianz Group, Europe's largest insurer, said Friday that net income for the first quarter fell 65% to 1.15 billion euros ($1.77 billion), owing to a 845 million euro mark-down on structured products and lower realized gains from investments.
China's producer price index climbed 8.1% in April from a year earlier, marking the ninth straight month of gains, led by higher energy and industrial metals prices. A measure that captures gains in fuel, raw material and power climbed 11.8% in April from a year earlier. Among individual components, crude oil prices climbed 37.9%, coal rose 20.9%, ferrous metals were up 24.8% and gasoline climbed 10.8%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia increased its inflation forecasts for this year, noting underlying CPI is to remain above its target band until late 2010 at the earliest, dampening expectations interest rates could fall from their current 12-year high of 7.25% any time soon.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Obama
5/7/08 Obama
Obama's quest to clinch the Democratic nomination got a lift with a double-digit win in North Carolina and a strong run in Indiana, where he beat expectations. His ability to narrow Clinton's lead in Indiana, where she was heavily favored, reassured party leaders that he has weathered weeks of controversies. Only six state primaries remain. Obama is 184.5 delegates shy of the 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic nomination. The Obama campaign said North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek, North Carolina Democratic National Committee member Jeanette Council, California DNC member Inola Henry, and Virginia's Jennifer McClellan, a former Clinton supporter, have pledged to endorse Obama, according to the AP.
The dollar climbed against the euro and the yen after Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig said ``serious'' inflation pressures may prompt the central bank to raise interest rates and retail sales in Europe dropped by a record in March.
Vallejo, California's city council voted to go into bankruptcy, saying the city doesn't have enough money to pay its bills after talks with labor unions failed to win salary concessions from fire fighters and police.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state- controlled oil company, plans to add 14,000 engineers, geologists and drillers within three years as it develops the biggest crude discovery in the Western Hemisphere since 1976.
According to Bloomberg, Countrywide is pulling home equity loans in Las Vegas.
Toyota Motor Corp.is raising its prices on some U.S. models later this month amid increased worries about its profit growth in the American market. The price increases, which will start in the middle of May, include a hike of $200 on the 2008 Yaris sedan, which will cost $12,425. The 2009 Camry will go up $200 to $18,920, the automaker's U.S. unit said in a statement released Friday. The hybrid Camry, introduced as a 2007 model in late 2006, will cost $300 more, at $25,650, Toyota said.
Productivity, a measure of efficiency, rose at a 2.2 percent annual rate after a 1.8 percent gain the fourth quarter, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Labor costs climbed at a 2.2 percent pace, down from a 2.8 percent increase in the last three months of 2007. Slowing sales and soaring expenses for raw materials like fuel prompted companies to trim staff hours by the most in five years last quarter.
Silver prices could approach an average $17 per ounce this year against $13.38 in 2007 as the weak dollar, inflation fears and increased investor interest in commodities fuel buying of the white metal, GFMS said. Speaking as the metals consultancy publishes its 2008 World Silver Survey in conjunction with the Silver Institute, GFMS Chairman Philip Klapwijk told Thomson Financial News: "We definitely expect silver to gain on its 2007 average year-on-year." Investment demand has surged in recent years, the report says, and that "the key development changing silver's fortune has been the pronounced shift in investor behaviour". While rising mine supply and the prospect of falling industrial consumption of the metal if the United States falls into recession could pressure the balance of supply and demand, investment interest should be sufficient to underpin the market, it says.
Transocean Inc., the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, said Wednesday its first-quarter earnings more than doubled, mostly boosted by sales from its acquired competitor GlobalSantaFe Corp.
France reported a record trade deficit for March.
For the three months ended March 31, 2008, WCI reported a net loss of $84.1 million, compared with a net loss of $15.8 million in the first quarter of 2007, while diluted earnings per share (EPS) declined to a loss of $2.00 versus a loss of $0.38 in the same period a year ago. Revenues for the first quarter of 2008 were $137.1 million, compared with $338.2 million for the first quarter of 2007, a 59.5% decrease. The aggregate number of gross new Traditional and Tower Homebuilding orders increased by 6% to 335; however, the aggregate number of net new orders for the quarter declined 22.8% to 183, as contract cancellations and defaults at closing continued at higher than long-term historical rates. The aggregate value of the net new orders for the quarter fell 49.8% over the same period a year ago to $78.3 million.``We experienced a sequential lift in traffic and new orders during the first quarter in Florida reflecting seasonal patterns, but saw a dramatic drop in traffic and new orders in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic,'' said Jerry Starkey, President and CEO. ``In Florida we wrote 97 new orders for Tower units compared to only 11 during the same quarter last year, but in most instances the prices were significantly discounted. Even with the sequential increase, Traditional Homebuilding gross and net orders in Florida were down 5.6% and 21.0% year-over-year. Over ninety percent of our Florida Traditional Homebuilding new orders were spec sales, with very few purchasers paying the premium for ''to-be-built`` homes,'' Starkey continued. ``Beyond the seasonal lift in Florida, there are no signs that demand has firmed -- many potential purchasers continue to sit on the sidelines afraid of falling prices and the direction of the economy. Our primary focus continues to be on reducing costs and generating cash to pay down debt.''
An index of sales contracts on previously owned U.S. homes fell 1.0% in March from the prior month, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. The index, which is considered a leading indicator of existing home sales, was down 20.1% from the March 2007 level. By region, March's pending home sales index rose only in the Northeast, with a 12.5% gain. The index declined 10.4% in the Midwest, 1.4% in the West and 0.1% in the South. February's level was revised to a decline of 2.8% from a prior estimate of a 1.9% drop.
Robert McHugh: "Oil set another new all-time high Tuesday, closing at 121.84. Trannies weren't bothered one bit, and you have to wonder what will it take to shake the Trannies, 1,000 a barrel oil? Crazy times.
Tomorrow is the start of our phi mate turn date window and Fibonacci turn window. The Industrials closed very close Tuesday to the high for the recent rally, so another up day tomorrow could get us the closing high that the coming phi mate turn is looking for. A top in equities should arrive over the next week or so...Wednesday's 200 point plunge in the Dow Industrials surely suggests the top is in and wave iii down has started. We have been suggesting for the past few weeks that we expected a top this week, and that appears to be the case. Key now is to watch the quality of the decline. Should new lows arrive, below the January lows, this stock market is in deep trouble, with a downside target below 10,000 for the Industrials. Wednesday also saw the large price move that Friday's small move in the McClellan Oscillator was suggesting would arrive within a few days."
New York Senator Clinton gave her campaign $5 million on April 11, $1 million on May 1 and $425,000 on May 5, spokesman Howard Wolfson said in an e-mail.
Crude supplies rose 5.7 million barrels to 325.6 million for the week ended May 2, according to the Energy Department Wednesday. Motor gasoline supplies climbed 800,000 barrels to 211.9 million barrels. Distillate stocks were down 100,000 barrels at 105.7 million barrels. Refinery utilization fell to 85.0% of capacity from 85.4% a week ago. The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in a weekly report that distillate fuels, which include diesel and heating oil, fell unexpectedly while gasoline demand rose slightly last week. Traders chose to focus on those numbers and shrug off crude inventories, which rose much more than analysts predicted, and gasoline supplies, which increased when analysts forecast a decline. Oil futures extended their seemingly relentless advance Wednesday, rising to a new record near $124 a barrel.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 206.48 points, or 1.6%, to end at 12,814.35. The S&P 500 dropped 25.69 points, or 1.8%, to 1,392.57, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 44.82 points, or 1.8%, to 2,438.49.
U.S. consumers took on more debt of all types in March, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday. Total seasonally adjusted consumer debt increased by $15.2 billion, or a 7.2% annual rate, in March to $2.56 trillion. This is the fastest pace of credit expansion since November.
June gold closed at $871.20 an ounce Wednesday, down $6.50 for the session.
Obama's quest to clinch the Democratic nomination got a lift with a double-digit win in North Carolina and a strong run in Indiana, where he beat expectations. His ability to narrow Clinton's lead in Indiana, where she was heavily favored, reassured party leaders that he has weathered weeks of controversies. Only six state primaries remain. Obama is 184.5 delegates shy of the 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic nomination. The Obama campaign said North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek, North Carolina Democratic National Committee member Jeanette Council, California DNC member Inola Henry, and Virginia's Jennifer McClellan, a former Clinton supporter, have pledged to endorse Obama, according to the AP.
The dollar climbed against the euro and the yen after Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig said ``serious'' inflation pressures may prompt the central bank to raise interest rates and retail sales in Europe dropped by a record in March.
Vallejo, California's city council voted to go into bankruptcy, saying the city doesn't have enough money to pay its bills after talks with labor unions failed to win salary concessions from fire fighters and police.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state- controlled oil company, plans to add 14,000 engineers, geologists and drillers within three years as it develops the biggest crude discovery in the Western Hemisphere since 1976.
According to Bloomberg, Countrywide is pulling home equity loans in Las Vegas.
Toyota Motor Corp.is raising its prices on some U.S. models later this month amid increased worries about its profit growth in the American market. The price increases, which will start in the middle of May, include a hike of $200 on the 2008 Yaris sedan, which will cost $12,425. The 2009 Camry will go up $200 to $18,920, the automaker's U.S. unit said in a statement released Friday. The hybrid Camry, introduced as a 2007 model in late 2006, will cost $300 more, at $25,650, Toyota said.
Productivity, a measure of efficiency, rose at a 2.2 percent annual rate after a 1.8 percent gain the fourth quarter, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Labor costs climbed at a 2.2 percent pace, down from a 2.8 percent increase in the last three months of 2007. Slowing sales and soaring expenses for raw materials like fuel prompted companies to trim staff hours by the most in five years last quarter.
Silver prices could approach an average $17 per ounce this year against $13.38 in 2007 as the weak dollar, inflation fears and increased investor interest in commodities fuel buying of the white metal, GFMS said. Speaking as the metals consultancy publishes its 2008 World Silver Survey in conjunction with the Silver Institute, GFMS Chairman Philip Klapwijk told Thomson Financial News: "We definitely expect silver to gain on its 2007 average year-on-year." Investment demand has surged in recent years, the report says, and that "the key development changing silver's fortune has been the pronounced shift in investor behaviour". While rising mine supply and the prospect of falling industrial consumption of the metal if the United States falls into recession could pressure the balance of supply and demand, investment interest should be sufficient to underpin the market, it says.
Transocean Inc., the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, said Wednesday its first-quarter earnings more than doubled, mostly boosted by sales from its acquired competitor GlobalSantaFe Corp.
France reported a record trade deficit for March.
For the three months ended March 31, 2008, WCI reported a net loss of $84.1 million, compared with a net loss of $15.8 million in the first quarter of 2007, while diluted earnings per share (EPS) declined to a loss of $2.00 versus a loss of $0.38 in the same period a year ago. Revenues for the first quarter of 2008 were $137.1 million, compared with $338.2 million for the first quarter of 2007, a 59.5% decrease. The aggregate number of gross new Traditional and Tower Homebuilding orders increased by 6% to 335; however, the aggregate number of net new orders for the quarter declined 22.8% to 183, as contract cancellations and defaults at closing continued at higher than long-term historical rates. The aggregate value of the net new orders for the quarter fell 49.8% over the same period a year ago to $78.3 million.``We experienced a sequential lift in traffic and new orders during the first quarter in Florida reflecting seasonal patterns, but saw a dramatic drop in traffic and new orders in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic,'' said Jerry Starkey, President and CEO. ``In Florida we wrote 97 new orders for Tower units compared to only 11 during the same quarter last year, but in most instances the prices were significantly discounted. Even with the sequential increase, Traditional Homebuilding gross and net orders in Florida were down 5.6% and 21.0% year-over-year. Over ninety percent of our Florida Traditional Homebuilding new orders were spec sales, with very few purchasers paying the premium for ''to-be-built`` homes,'' Starkey continued. ``Beyond the seasonal lift in Florida, there are no signs that demand has firmed -- many potential purchasers continue to sit on the sidelines afraid of falling prices and the direction of the economy. Our primary focus continues to be on reducing costs and generating cash to pay down debt.''
An index of sales contracts on previously owned U.S. homes fell 1.0% in March from the prior month, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. The index, which is considered a leading indicator of existing home sales, was down 20.1% from the March 2007 level. By region, March's pending home sales index rose only in the Northeast, with a 12.5% gain. The index declined 10.4% in the Midwest, 1.4% in the West and 0.1% in the South. February's level was revised to a decline of 2.8% from a prior estimate of a 1.9% drop.
Robert McHugh: "Oil set another new all-time high Tuesday, closing at 121.84. Trannies weren't bothered one bit, and you have to wonder what will it take to shake the Trannies, 1,000 a barrel oil? Crazy times.
Tomorrow is the start of our phi mate turn date window and Fibonacci turn window. The Industrials closed very close Tuesday to the high for the recent rally, so another up day tomorrow could get us the closing high that the coming phi mate turn is looking for. A top in equities should arrive over the next week or so...Wednesday's 200 point plunge in the Dow Industrials surely suggests the top is in and wave iii down has started. We have been suggesting for the past few weeks that we expected a top this week, and that appears to be the case. Key now is to watch the quality of the decline. Should new lows arrive, below the January lows, this stock market is in deep trouble, with a downside target below 10,000 for the Industrials. Wednesday also saw the large price move that Friday's small move in the McClellan Oscillator was suggesting would arrive within a few days."
New York Senator Clinton gave her campaign $5 million on April 11, $1 million on May 1 and $425,000 on May 5, spokesman Howard Wolfson said in an e-mail.
Crude supplies rose 5.7 million barrels to 325.6 million for the week ended May 2, according to the Energy Department Wednesday. Motor gasoline supplies climbed 800,000 barrels to 211.9 million barrels. Distillate stocks were down 100,000 barrels at 105.7 million barrels. Refinery utilization fell to 85.0% of capacity from 85.4% a week ago. The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in a weekly report that distillate fuels, which include diesel and heating oil, fell unexpectedly while gasoline demand rose slightly last week. Traders chose to focus on those numbers and shrug off crude inventories, which rose much more than analysts predicted, and gasoline supplies, which increased when analysts forecast a decline. Oil futures extended their seemingly relentless advance Wednesday, rising to a new record near $124 a barrel.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 206.48 points, or 1.6%, to end at 12,814.35. The S&P 500 dropped 25.69 points, or 1.8%, to 1,392.57, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 44.82 points, or 1.8%, to 2,438.49.
U.S. consumers took on more debt of all types in March, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday. Total seasonally adjusted consumer debt increased by $15.2 billion, or a 7.2% annual rate, in March to $2.56 trillion. This is the fastest pace of credit expansion since November.
June gold closed at $871.20 an ounce Wednesday, down $6.50 for the session.
Obama
5/7/08 Obama
Obama's quest to clinch the Democratic nomination got a lift with a double-digit win in North Carolina and a strong run in Indiana, where he beat expectations. His ability to narrow Clinton's lead in Indiana, where she was heavily favored, reassured party leaders that he has weathered weeks of controversies. Only six state primaries remain. Obama is 184.5 delegates shy of the 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic nomination. The Obama campaign said North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek, North Carolina Democratic National Committee member Jeanette Council, California DNC member Inola Henry, and Virginia's Jennifer McClellan, a former Clinton supporter, have pledged to endorse Obama, according to the AP.
The dollar climbed against the euro and the yen after Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig said ``serious'' inflation pressures may prompt the central bank to raise interest rates and retail sales in Europe dropped by a record in March.
Vallejo, California's city council voted to go into bankruptcy, saying the city doesn't have enough money to pay its bills after talks with labor unions failed to win salary concessions from fire fighters and police.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state- controlled oil company, plans to add 14,000 engineers, geologists and drillers within three years as it develops the biggest crude discovery in the Western Hemisphere since 1976.
According to Bloomberg, Countrywide is pulling home equity loans in Las Vegas.
Toyota Motor Corp.is raising its prices on some U.S. models later this month amid increased worries about its profit growth in the American market. The price increases, which will start in the middle of May, include a hike of $200 on the 2008 Yaris sedan, which will cost $12,425. The 2009 Camry will go up $200 to $18,920, the automaker's U.S. unit said in a statement released Friday. The hybrid Camry, introduced as a 2007 model in late 2006, will cost $300 more, at $25,650, Toyota said.
Productivity, a measure of efficiency, rose at a 2.2 percent annual rate after a 1.8 percent gain the fourth quarter, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Labor costs climbed at a 2.2 percent pace, down from a 2.8 percent increase in the last three months of 2007. Slowing sales and soaring expenses for raw materials like fuel prompted companies to trim staff hours by the most in five years last quarter.
Silver prices could approach an average $17 per ounce this year against $13.38 in 2007 as the weak dollar, inflation fears and increased investor interest in commodities fuel buying of the white metal, GFMS said. Speaking as the metals consultancy publishes its 2008 World Silver Survey in conjunction with the Silver Institute, GFMS Chairman Philip Klapwijk told Thomson Financial News: "We definitely expect silver to gain on its 2007 average year-on-year." Investment demand has surged in recent years, the report says, and that "the key development changing silver's fortune has been the pronounced shift in investor behaviour". While rising mine supply and the prospect of falling industrial consumption of the metal if the United States falls into recession could pressure the balance of supply and demand, investment interest should be sufficient to underpin the market, it says.
Transocean Inc., the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, said Wednesday its first-quarter earnings more than doubled, mostly boosted by sales from its acquired competitor GlobalSantaFe Corp.
France reported a record trade deficit for March.
For the three months ended March 31, 2008, WCI reported a net loss of $84.1 million, compared with a net loss of $15.8 million in the first quarter of 2007, while diluted earnings per share (EPS) declined to a loss of $2.00 versus a loss of $0.38 in the same period a year ago. Revenues for the first quarter of 2008 were $137.1 million, compared with $338.2 million for the first quarter of 2007, a 59.5% decrease. The aggregate number of gross new Traditional and Tower Homebuilding orders increased by 6% to 335; however, the aggregate number of net new orders for the quarter declined 22.8% to 183, as contract cancellations and defaults at closing continued at higher than long-term historical rates. The aggregate value of the net new orders for the quarter fell 49.8% over the same period a year ago to $78.3 million.``We experienced a sequential lift in traffic and new orders during the first quarter in Florida reflecting seasonal patterns, but saw a dramatic drop in traffic and new orders in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic,'' said Jerry Starkey, President and CEO. ``In Florida we wrote 97 new orders for Tower units compared to only 11 during the same quarter last year, but in most instances the prices were significantly discounted. Even with the sequential increase, Traditional Homebuilding gross and net orders in Florida were down 5.6% and 21.0% year-over-year. Over ninety percent of our Florida Traditional Homebuilding new orders were spec sales, with very few purchasers paying the premium for ''to-be-built`` homes,'' Starkey continued. ``Beyond the seasonal lift in Florida, there are no signs that demand has firmed -- many potential purchasers continue to sit on the sidelines afraid of falling prices and the direction of the economy. Our primary focus continues to be on reducing costs and generating cash to pay down debt.''
An index of sales contracts on previously owned U.S. homes fell 1.0% in March from the prior month, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. The index, which is considered a leading indicator of existing home sales, was down 20.1% from the March 2007 level. By region, March's pending home sales index rose only in the Northeast, with a 12.5% gain. The index declined 10.4% in the Midwest, 1.4% in the West and 0.1% in the South. February's level was revised to a decline of 2.8% from a prior estimate of a 1.9% drop.
Robert McHugh: "Oil set another new all-time high Tuesday, closing at 121.84. Trannies weren't bothered one bit, and you have to wonder what will it take to shake the Trannies, 1,000 a barrel oil? Crazy times.
Tomorrow is the start of our phi mate turn date window and Fibonacci turn window. The Industrials closed very close Tuesday to the high for the recent rally, so another up day tomorrow could get us the closing high that the coming phi mate turn is looking for. A top in equities should arrive over the next week or so...Wednesday's 200 point plunge in the Dow Industrials surely suggests the top is in and wave iii down has started. We have been suggesting for the past few weeks that we expected a top this week, and that appears to be the case. Key now is to watch the quality of the decline. Should new lows arrive, below the January lows, this stock market is in deep trouble, with a downside target below 10,000 for the Industrials. Wednesday also saw the large price move that Friday's small move in the McClellan Oscillator was suggesting would arrive within a few days."
New York Senator Clinton gave her campaign $5 million on April 11, $1 million on May 1 and $425,000 on May 5, spokesman Howard Wolfson said in an e-mail.
Crude supplies rose 5.7 million barrels to 325.6 million for the week ended May 2, according to the Energy Department Wednesday. Motor gasoline supplies climbed 800,000 barrels to 211.9 million barrels. Distillate stocks were down 100,000 barrels at 105.7 million barrels. Refinery utilization fell to 85.0% of capacity from 85.4% a week ago. The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in a weekly report that distillate fuels, which include diesel and heating oil, fell unexpectedly while gasoline demand rose slightly last week. Traders chose to focus on those numbers and shrug off crude inventories, which rose much more than analysts predicted, and gasoline supplies, which increased when analysts forecast a decline. Oil futures extended their seemingly relentless advance Wednesday, rising to a new record near $124 a barrel.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 206.48 points, or 1.6%, to end at 12,814.35. The S&P 500 dropped 25.69 points, or 1.8%, to 1,392.57, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 44.82 points, or 1.8%, to 2,438.49.
U.S. consumers took on more debt of all types in March, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday. Total seasonally adjusted consumer debt increased by $15.2 billion, or a 7.2% annual rate, in March to $2.56 trillion. This is the fastest pace of credit expansion since November.
June gold closed at $871.20 an ounce Wednesday, down $6.50 for the session.
Obama's quest to clinch the Democratic nomination got a lift with a double-digit win in North Carolina and a strong run in Indiana, where he beat expectations. His ability to narrow Clinton's lead in Indiana, where she was heavily favored, reassured party leaders that he has weathered weeks of controversies. Only six state primaries remain. Obama is 184.5 delegates shy of the 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic nomination. The Obama campaign said North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek, North Carolina Democratic National Committee member Jeanette Council, California DNC member Inola Henry, and Virginia's Jennifer McClellan, a former Clinton supporter, have pledged to endorse Obama, according to the AP.
The dollar climbed against the euro and the yen after Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig said ``serious'' inflation pressures may prompt the central bank to raise interest rates and retail sales in Europe dropped by a record in March.
Vallejo, California's city council voted to go into bankruptcy, saying the city doesn't have enough money to pay its bills after talks with labor unions failed to win salary concessions from fire fighters and police.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil's state- controlled oil company, plans to add 14,000 engineers, geologists and drillers within three years as it develops the biggest crude discovery in the Western Hemisphere since 1976.
According to Bloomberg, Countrywide is pulling home equity loans in Las Vegas.
Toyota Motor Corp.is raising its prices on some U.S. models later this month amid increased worries about its profit growth in the American market. The price increases, which will start in the middle of May, include a hike of $200 on the 2008 Yaris sedan, which will cost $12,425. The 2009 Camry will go up $200 to $18,920, the automaker's U.S. unit said in a statement released Friday. The hybrid Camry, introduced as a 2007 model in late 2006, will cost $300 more, at $25,650, Toyota said.
Productivity, a measure of efficiency, rose at a 2.2 percent annual rate after a 1.8 percent gain the fourth quarter, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Labor costs climbed at a 2.2 percent pace, down from a 2.8 percent increase in the last three months of 2007. Slowing sales and soaring expenses for raw materials like fuel prompted companies to trim staff hours by the most in five years last quarter.
Silver prices could approach an average $17 per ounce this year against $13.38 in 2007 as the weak dollar, inflation fears and increased investor interest in commodities fuel buying of the white metal, GFMS said. Speaking as the metals consultancy publishes its 2008 World Silver Survey in conjunction with the Silver Institute, GFMS Chairman Philip Klapwijk told Thomson Financial News: "We definitely expect silver to gain on its 2007 average year-on-year." Investment demand has surged in recent years, the report says, and that "the key development changing silver's fortune has been the pronounced shift in investor behaviour". While rising mine supply and the prospect of falling industrial consumption of the metal if the United States falls into recession could pressure the balance of supply and demand, investment interest should be sufficient to underpin the market, it says.
Transocean Inc., the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, said Wednesday its first-quarter earnings more than doubled, mostly boosted by sales from its acquired competitor GlobalSantaFe Corp.
France reported a record trade deficit for March.
For the three months ended March 31, 2008, WCI reported a net loss of $84.1 million, compared with a net loss of $15.8 million in the first quarter of 2007, while diluted earnings per share (EPS) declined to a loss of $2.00 versus a loss of $0.38 in the same period a year ago. Revenues for the first quarter of 2008 were $137.1 million, compared with $338.2 million for the first quarter of 2007, a 59.5% decrease. The aggregate number of gross new Traditional and Tower Homebuilding orders increased by 6% to 335; however, the aggregate number of net new orders for the quarter declined 22.8% to 183, as contract cancellations and defaults at closing continued at higher than long-term historical rates. The aggregate value of the net new orders for the quarter fell 49.8% over the same period a year ago to $78.3 million.``We experienced a sequential lift in traffic and new orders during the first quarter in Florida reflecting seasonal patterns, but saw a dramatic drop in traffic and new orders in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic,'' said Jerry Starkey, President and CEO. ``In Florida we wrote 97 new orders for Tower units compared to only 11 during the same quarter last year, but in most instances the prices were significantly discounted. Even with the sequential increase, Traditional Homebuilding gross and net orders in Florida were down 5.6% and 21.0% year-over-year. Over ninety percent of our Florida Traditional Homebuilding new orders were spec sales, with very few purchasers paying the premium for ''to-be-built`` homes,'' Starkey continued. ``Beyond the seasonal lift in Florida, there are no signs that demand has firmed -- many potential purchasers continue to sit on the sidelines afraid of falling prices and the direction of the economy. Our primary focus continues to be on reducing costs and generating cash to pay down debt.''
An index of sales contracts on previously owned U.S. homes fell 1.0% in March from the prior month, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. The index, which is considered a leading indicator of existing home sales, was down 20.1% from the March 2007 level. By region, March's pending home sales index rose only in the Northeast, with a 12.5% gain. The index declined 10.4% in the Midwest, 1.4% in the West and 0.1% in the South. February's level was revised to a decline of 2.8% from a prior estimate of a 1.9% drop.
Robert McHugh: "Oil set another new all-time high Tuesday, closing at 121.84. Trannies weren't bothered one bit, and you have to wonder what will it take to shake the Trannies, 1,000 a barrel oil? Crazy times.
Tomorrow is the start of our phi mate turn date window and Fibonacci turn window. The Industrials closed very close Tuesday to the high for the recent rally, so another up day tomorrow could get us the closing high that the coming phi mate turn is looking for. A top in equities should arrive over the next week or so...Wednesday's 200 point plunge in the Dow Industrials surely suggests the top is in and wave iii down has started. We have been suggesting for the past few weeks that we expected a top this week, and that appears to be the case. Key now is to watch the quality of the decline. Should new lows arrive, below the January lows, this stock market is in deep trouble, with a downside target below 10,000 for the Industrials. Wednesday also saw the large price move that Friday's small move in the McClellan Oscillator was suggesting would arrive within a few days."
New York Senator Clinton gave her campaign $5 million on April 11, $1 million on May 1 and $425,000 on May 5, spokesman Howard Wolfson said in an e-mail.
Crude supplies rose 5.7 million barrels to 325.6 million for the week ended May 2, according to the Energy Department Wednesday. Motor gasoline supplies climbed 800,000 barrels to 211.9 million barrels. Distillate stocks were down 100,000 barrels at 105.7 million barrels. Refinery utilization fell to 85.0% of capacity from 85.4% a week ago. The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in a weekly report that distillate fuels, which include diesel and heating oil, fell unexpectedly while gasoline demand rose slightly last week. Traders chose to focus on those numbers and shrug off crude inventories, which rose much more than analysts predicted, and gasoline supplies, which increased when analysts forecast a decline. Oil futures extended their seemingly relentless advance Wednesday, rising to a new record near $124 a barrel.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 206.48 points, or 1.6%, to end at 12,814.35. The S&P 500 dropped 25.69 points, or 1.8%, to 1,392.57, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 44.82 points, or 1.8%, to 2,438.49.
U.S. consumers took on more debt of all types in March, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday. Total seasonally adjusted consumer debt increased by $15.2 billion, or a 7.2% annual rate, in March to $2.56 trillion. This is the fastest pace of credit expansion since November.
June gold closed at $871.20 an ounce Wednesday, down $6.50 for the session.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Liquidity Crunch
5/6/08 Liquidity Crunch
Nouriel Roubini: "The Fed is Getting Desperate in Dealing with a Liquidity Crunch that Shows Little Signs of Relenting."
U.S. business bankruptcy filings in April increased 49 percent from a year earlier, the biggest gain so far this year, as the slowing economy prompted more companies to shut down. Business filings rose to 5,173 during the month, according to statistics compiled from court records by Jupiter eSources LLC in Oklahoma City. Total bankruptcy filings, including those by individuals, were up 31 percent from a year earlier to 93,096, the group said.
Cisco Systems Inc reported third-quarter net income of $1.77 billion, or 29 cents a share, compared with net profit of $1.87 billion, or 30 cents a share, for the year-earlier period. Revenue was $9.79 billion, up from $8.87 billion. Adjusted income was 38 cents a share. Analysts expected Cisco to report earnings of 36 cents a share on revenue of $9.74 billion, according to a consensus survey by FactSet Research. John Chambers: "We're continuing to see our U.S. and some European customers remain cautious in their views about their own economies."
Legg Mason Inc. posted a bigger-than estimated loss, its first in 25 years as a public company, after pumping $517 million into money-market funds hurt by subprime mortgage-related investments.The fiscal fourth-quarter net loss was $255 million, or $1.81 a share, compared with a profit of $172.5 million, or $1.19 a share, a year earlier, the Baltimore-based fund manager said in a statement today. To replenish capital, Legg Mason said it plans to raise $1 billion by selling 20 million equity units, its second cash infusion in the past six months.
Fannie Mae reported a much greater-than-expected loss in the first quarter, losing $2.2 billion as credit-related expenses took a bite out of its bottom line, and said it's planning to raise $6 billion in new capital.
Yahoo's largest shareholders told CNBC they would support a move to replace the board, given they feel that board let them down during negotiations this weekend.
The dollar index was at 72.919, down from 73.190 in late North American trading Monday.
Wachovia Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, said it lost $708 million in the first quarter, 80 percent more than the lender reported last month, on writedowns on life insurance policies for employees.
D.R. Horton Inc.swung to a fiscal second-quarter loss of $1.31 billion, or $4.14 a share, from a year-earlier profit of $51.7 million, or 16 cents a share. The loss for the latest period included $834.1 million in pretax charges and write-offs related to inventory impairments. The Fort Worth, Texas, home builder said revenue for the period fell 38% to $1.62 billion from $2.62 billion. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 39 cents a share on revenue of $1.36 billion. D.R. Horton said it closed on 6,719 homes in the latest quarter, compared with 9,792 in the year-ago quarter.
Joy Global Inc. lowered its 2008 earnings target to $2.96 to $3.22 a share from its earlier view of $3.15 to $3.45 a share, but kept its revenue target unchanged at $3.1 billion to $3.3 billion.
Emerson Electric raised its 2008 earnings per share from continuing operations guidance to between $3.00 and $3.10 a share.
The Tropicana Entertainment LLC subsidiary of Tropicana Casinos & Resorts said late on Monday that it filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy law.
Producer prices in the euro zone rose 0.7% in March compared with February, or 5.7% year-on-year. Excluding energy, annualized prices rose 3.7%.
UBS swung to a first-quarter net loss of 11.54 billion Swiss francs ($11 billion) after posting some $19 billion of losses tied to U.S. mortgages and related securities as well as other structured products. In the year-earlier quarter, UBS earned 3.03 billion francs. On April 1, UBS had estimated the latest quarter's loss at 12 billion francs. The loss per share was 5.63 francs compared with profit of 1.43 in the year-earlier period. UBS also said that by the end of 2008, it would pare 2,600 jobs at its investment bank, bringing the division's workforce to 19,000. And by mid-2009, it expects to have cut a total of 5,500 jobs overall.
Japanese petroleum companies are considering expanding their investments in Qatar to include the manufacture of petrochemicals, according to a Japanese media report.
General Electric Co. said Monday it would stop offering loans for the purchase of consumer boats and motor homes.
According to the Financial Times, Marius Kloppers, chief executive of BHP Billiton, will this week go on the offensive again in the takeover battle between the world’s biggest mining company and Rio Tinto, its target. He will use a briefing on Wednesday with investors and analysts about prospects for BHP’s oil and gas division to say that BHP can expand at least as rapidly as Rio over the next few years.
Australia Wheat Output May Increase 92%, Bank Says. Australia, the world’s second-biggest wheat exporter before two years of drought ravaged crops, may almost double its harvest this year as higher prices and better weather encourage planting, National Australia Bank Ltd. said.
Beazer Homes received a default notice from the Bank of New York Trust Company National Association on April 30, the homebuilder said in a regulatory filing Tuesday. The Bank of New York Trust Company National Association is the trustee under the indenture governing the company's $103.1 million unsecured junior subordinated notes due July 2036. The notice alleges that the company is in default because it has yet to provide certain required information, including its annual and quarterly financial statements. Beazer Homes expects to be able to cure this default by May 15, it said.
Sprint Nextel Corp.and Clearwire Corp.are said to be close to finalizing a $12 billion joint venture to roll out WiMax, an ultra-fast technology for wireless Internet access.
Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday that second-quarter net income was $1.13 billion, or 58 cents a share, compared with $931 million, or 44 cents a share, for the same period a year ago.
June crude closed at $121.84 a barrel Tuesday to mark the loftiest settlement price ever for crude futures. The contract finished the day up $1.87. June gold closed at $877.70 an ounce Tuesday in New York. Prices climbed $3.60 for the day to tally a three-session gain of $26.80.
Medtronic Inc. plans to cut about 1,100 positions, representing about 3% of its work force, over the next fiscal year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.said its hotly anticipated video-game title "Grand Theft Auto IV" sold about 6 million units worldwide, with an estimated retail value of more than $500 million, in its first week of release.
Shanghai's Composite Index ended sharply lower Wednesday, shedding 4.1% amid worries the People's Bank of China will lift interest rates next week following the release of April consumer price data.
Jon Markman: "Short-term rallies and wishful thinking have buyers ready to pounce, but the end of the credit mess isn't yet here."
Nouriel Roubini: "The Fed is Getting Desperate in Dealing with a Liquidity Crunch that Shows Little Signs of Relenting."
U.S. business bankruptcy filings in April increased 49 percent from a year earlier, the biggest gain so far this year, as the slowing economy prompted more companies to shut down. Business filings rose to 5,173 during the month, according to statistics compiled from court records by Jupiter eSources LLC in Oklahoma City. Total bankruptcy filings, including those by individuals, were up 31 percent from a year earlier to 93,096, the group said.
Cisco Systems Inc reported third-quarter net income of $1.77 billion, or 29 cents a share, compared with net profit of $1.87 billion, or 30 cents a share, for the year-earlier period. Revenue was $9.79 billion, up from $8.87 billion. Adjusted income was 38 cents a share. Analysts expected Cisco to report earnings of 36 cents a share on revenue of $9.74 billion, according to a consensus survey by FactSet Research. John Chambers: "We're continuing to see our U.S. and some European customers remain cautious in their views about their own economies."
Legg Mason Inc. posted a bigger-than estimated loss, its first in 25 years as a public company, after pumping $517 million into money-market funds hurt by subprime mortgage-related investments.The fiscal fourth-quarter net loss was $255 million, or $1.81 a share, compared with a profit of $172.5 million, or $1.19 a share, a year earlier, the Baltimore-based fund manager said in a statement today. To replenish capital, Legg Mason said it plans to raise $1 billion by selling 20 million equity units, its second cash infusion in the past six months.
Fannie Mae reported a much greater-than-expected loss in the first quarter, losing $2.2 billion as credit-related expenses took a bite out of its bottom line, and said it's planning to raise $6 billion in new capital.
Yahoo's largest shareholders told CNBC they would support a move to replace the board, given they feel that board let them down during negotiations this weekend.
The dollar index was at 72.919, down from 73.190 in late North American trading Monday.
Wachovia Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, said it lost $708 million in the first quarter, 80 percent more than the lender reported last month, on writedowns on life insurance policies for employees.
D.R. Horton Inc.swung to a fiscal second-quarter loss of $1.31 billion, or $4.14 a share, from a year-earlier profit of $51.7 million, or 16 cents a share. The loss for the latest period included $834.1 million in pretax charges and write-offs related to inventory impairments. The Fort Worth, Texas, home builder said revenue for the period fell 38% to $1.62 billion from $2.62 billion. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 39 cents a share on revenue of $1.36 billion. D.R. Horton said it closed on 6,719 homes in the latest quarter, compared with 9,792 in the year-ago quarter.
Joy Global Inc. lowered its 2008 earnings target to $2.96 to $3.22 a share from its earlier view of $3.15 to $3.45 a share, but kept its revenue target unchanged at $3.1 billion to $3.3 billion.
Emerson Electric raised its 2008 earnings per share from continuing operations guidance to between $3.00 and $3.10 a share.
The Tropicana Entertainment LLC subsidiary of Tropicana Casinos & Resorts said late on Monday that it filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy law.
Producer prices in the euro zone rose 0.7% in March compared with February, or 5.7% year-on-year. Excluding energy, annualized prices rose 3.7%.
UBS swung to a first-quarter net loss of 11.54 billion Swiss francs ($11 billion) after posting some $19 billion of losses tied to U.S. mortgages and related securities as well as other structured products. In the year-earlier quarter, UBS earned 3.03 billion francs. On April 1, UBS had estimated the latest quarter's loss at 12 billion francs. The loss per share was 5.63 francs compared with profit of 1.43 in the year-earlier period. UBS also said that by the end of 2008, it would pare 2,600 jobs at its investment bank, bringing the division's workforce to 19,000. And by mid-2009, it expects to have cut a total of 5,500 jobs overall.
Japanese petroleum companies are considering expanding their investments in Qatar to include the manufacture of petrochemicals, according to a Japanese media report.
General Electric Co. said Monday it would stop offering loans for the purchase of consumer boats and motor homes.
According to the Financial Times, Marius Kloppers, chief executive of BHP Billiton, will this week go on the offensive again in the takeover battle between the world’s biggest mining company and Rio Tinto, its target. He will use a briefing on Wednesday with investors and analysts about prospects for BHP’s oil and gas division to say that BHP can expand at least as rapidly as Rio over the next few years.
Australia Wheat Output May Increase 92%, Bank Says. Australia, the world’s second-biggest wheat exporter before two years of drought ravaged crops, may almost double its harvest this year as higher prices and better weather encourage planting, National Australia Bank Ltd. said.
Beazer Homes received a default notice from the Bank of New York Trust Company National Association on April 30, the homebuilder said in a regulatory filing Tuesday. The Bank of New York Trust Company National Association is the trustee under the indenture governing the company's $103.1 million unsecured junior subordinated notes due July 2036. The notice alleges that the company is in default because it has yet to provide certain required information, including its annual and quarterly financial statements. Beazer Homes expects to be able to cure this default by May 15, it said.
Sprint Nextel Corp.and Clearwire Corp.are said to be close to finalizing a $12 billion joint venture to roll out WiMax, an ultra-fast technology for wireless Internet access.
Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday that second-quarter net income was $1.13 billion, or 58 cents a share, compared with $931 million, or 44 cents a share, for the same period a year ago.
June crude closed at $121.84 a barrel Tuesday to mark the loftiest settlement price ever for crude futures. The contract finished the day up $1.87. June gold closed at $877.70 an ounce Tuesday in New York. Prices climbed $3.60 for the day to tally a three-session gain of $26.80.
Medtronic Inc. plans to cut about 1,100 positions, representing about 3% of its work force, over the next fiscal year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.said its hotly anticipated video-game title "Grand Theft Auto IV" sold about 6 million units worldwide, with an estimated retail value of more than $500 million, in its first week of release.
Shanghai's Composite Index ended sharply lower Wednesday, shedding 4.1% amid worries the People's Bank of China will lift interest rates next week following the release of April consumer price data.
Jon Markman: "Short-term rallies and wishful thinking have buyers ready to pounce, but the end of the credit mess isn't yet here."
Monday, May 05, 2008
Yahoo
5/5/08 Yahoo
Yahoo shares traded at $22.61 in Frankfurt on Monday, after closing at $28.67 a share on Friday.
Hovnanian reached positive cash flow in the second quarter, one quarter earlier than it had hoped. And for fiscal 2008 it now sees that figure exceeding $300 million, compared with its earlier view of more than $100 million.
Bank of America Corp is likely to renegotiate its deal to buy Countrywide Financial Corp down to the $0 to $2 level or completely walk away from it, said Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, which downgraded Countrywide to "underperform" from "market perform."
Deutsche Telekom AG is considering a bid for Sprint Nextel Corp., according to a media report Monday.
The average price of self-serve regular gasoline on Friday was $3.62 a gallon, up 15 cents from two weeks ago. Mid-grade was at $3.74 and premium was $3.85. That's all according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations nationwide released Sunday. Regular gasoline is up 55 cents since 2008 began.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.said it's adding 90-day prescriptions for $10, increasing additional medications for women and unveiling $4 over the counter medicines.
The cyclone and flooding in Myanmar's two major rice growing areas have "potentially serious effects" for food supply in two other impoverished countries, a U.N. official said on Monday.World Food Program spokesman Paul Risley said it was not yet known whether Myanmar could meet its commitments to supply tens of thousands of tons of rice to Sri Lanka and neighbouring Bangladesh.
Berkshire's Charlie Munger: "You can take Warren’s promises to bank. We are happy making money at lower rate in future, and we suggest you adopt the same attitude. You may have better things to do with your money than buying Berkshire. You will find things that are more intelligent, if you spend the time. We don’t think it is the most attractive investment in world. We like buying good size to very large with good management. Nice formula, it should work well over time."
Brett Steenbarger: "Fed funds futures pricing in a full 1% *rise* in rates into summer 2009, expecting that Fed will be fighting inflation."
According to Bloomberg, UBS AG may cut as many as 8,000 jobs as it grapples with the biggest credit writedowns of any European bank and a 12 billion-franc ($11.4 billion) first-quarter loss.
John Hussman: "Investors really have no sense of market dynamics if they believe that a recession-linked bear market comprises a single decline of less than 20% followed by a “V” shaped rebound into a new bull market...While I don't expect the market's losses to be nearly as severe as they were in the 2000-2002 bear market, the simple fact is that if the recent market low was indeed a final bear market trough, it occurred at the highest valuation level of any prior bear market trough in history."
Andrew Cockburn: "Six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, "unprecedented in its scope." Bush’s secret directive covers actions across a huge geographic area – from Lebanon to Afghanistan – but is also far more sweeping in the type of actions permitted under its guidelines – up to and including the assassination of targeted officials. This widened scope clears the way, for example, for full support for the military arm of Mujahedin-e Khalq, the cultish Iranian opposition group, despite its enduring position on the State Department's list of terrorist groups...Interestingly, despite the bellicose complaints, Petraeus has made little effort to seal the Iran-Iraq border, and in any case two thirds of U.S. casualties still come from Sunni insurgents. "The Shia account for less than one third," a recently returned member of the command staff in Baghdad familiar with the relevant intelligence told me, "but if you want a war you have to sell it."
European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet said Monday that inflationary risks are significant, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The ECB chief made the remarks after a meeting of the Bank for International Settlements. "There is no time for complacency for central banks in any respect," Trichet said, according to the news service.
Nigeria's rebel group MEND said Sunday it was responsible for an attack on Shell facilities in the south of the country, according to media reports. Shell confirmed the attack and said that some oil production had been closed down, according to reports.
U.S. April ISM services index 52.0% vs 49.6 March.
First Marblehead cuts 500 jobs to lower operating expenses.
Nouriel Roubini: "So auto sales are free falling and desperate car makers are cutting on prices and providing further price cuts via loose financing terms. But at the same time a time bomb of negative equity in auto loans is emerging. For the last few years auto loan lenders sharply loosened their lending standards, used aggressive, deceptive and predatory lending practices, allowed households to buy cars with little equity in them (as zero down-payment deals became the norm) and thus caused a bubble in car production and in car sales (individuals with cars too big and too many cars each) that was financed with a reckless lending bubble. Sounds familiar? The car lending bubble was as reckless as the subprime and mortgage bubble. And now this credit bubble is going bust leading to rising default rates, significant negative equity in car loans (25% of all car loans are “under water”), massive losses to auto loan firms and a severe recession in the auto industry."
Prices of coking coal, a steel-making raw material, will stay at records next year because of rising demand for the alloy and as higher costs delayed the construction of new mines, according to Macquarie Bank Ltd. The price of hard coking coal may remain at $300 a metric ton for the year starting April 1, 2009, up 67 percent from a previous estimate.
Crude oil futures surged nearly $4 Monday to above $120 a barrel for the first time on concerns about supply disruptions in Nigeria and weakness in the U.S. dollar.
June crude closed at $119.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $3.65, or 3.1%, for the session.
The Federal Reserve said Monday it will auction $75 billion of 28-day loans at a minimum bid rate of 2.00% under its term auction facility.
Merck & Co. will cut U.S. sales force by 1,200 positions.
June gold closed at $874.10 an ounce Monday. The contract gained $16.10, or 1.9%, for the session. July silver finished at $16.83 an ounce, up 36 cents.
Yahoo shares traded at $22.61 in Frankfurt on Monday, after closing at $28.67 a share on Friday.
Hovnanian reached positive cash flow in the second quarter, one quarter earlier than it had hoped. And for fiscal 2008 it now sees that figure exceeding $300 million, compared with its earlier view of more than $100 million.
Bank of America Corp is likely to renegotiate its deal to buy Countrywide Financial Corp down to the $0 to $2 level or completely walk away from it, said Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, which downgraded Countrywide to "underperform" from "market perform."
Deutsche Telekom AG is considering a bid for Sprint Nextel Corp., according to a media report Monday.
The average price of self-serve regular gasoline on Friday was $3.62 a gallon, up 15 cents from two weeks ago. Mid-grade was at $3.74 and premium was $3.85. That's all according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations nationwide released Sunday. Regular gasoline is up 55 cents since 2008 began.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.said it's adding 90-day prescriptions for $10, increasing additional medications for women and unveiling $4 over the counter medicines.
The cyclone and flooding in Myanmar's two major rice growing areas have "potentially serious effects" for food supply in two other impoverished countries, a U.N. official said on Monday.World Food Program spokesman Paul Risley said it was not yet known whether Myanmar could meet its commitments to supply tens of thousands of tons of rice to Sri Lanka and neighbouring Bangladesh.
Berkshire's Charlie Munger: "You can take Warren’s promises to bank. We are happy making money at lower rate in future, and we suggest you adopt the same attitude. You may have better things to do with your money than buying Berkshire. You will find things that are more intelligent, if you spend the time. We don’t think it is the most attractive investment in world. We like buying good size to very large with good management. Nice formula, it should work well over time."
Brett Steenbarger: "Fed funds futures pricing in a full 1% *rise* in rates into summer 2009, expecting that Fed will be fighting inflation."
According to Bloomberg, UBS AG may cut as many as 8,000 jobs as it grapples with the biggest credit writedowns of any European bank and a 12 billion-franc ($11.4 billion) first-quarter loss.
John Hussman: "Investors really have no sense of market dynamics if they believe that a recession-linked bear market comprises a single decline of less than 20% followed by a “V” shaped rebound into a new bull market...While I don't expect the market's losses to be nearly as severe as they were in the 2000-2002 bear market, the simple fact is that if the recent market low was indeed a final bear market trough, it occurred at the highest valuation level of any prior bear market trough in history."
Andrew Cockburn: "Six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, "unprecedented in its scope." Bush’s secret directive covers actions across a huge geographic area – from Lebanon to Afghanistan – but is also far more sweeping in the type of actions permitted under its guidelines – up to and including the assassination of targeted officials. This widened scope clears the way, for example, for full support for the military arm of Mujahedin-e Khalq, the cultish Iranian opposition group, despite its enduring position on the State Department's list of terrorist groups...Interestingly, despite the bellicose complaints, Petraeus has made little effort to seal the Iran-Iraq border, and in any case two thirds of U.S. casualties still come from Sunni insurgents. "The Shia account for less than one third," a recently returned member of the command staff in Baghdad familiar with the relevant intelligence told me, "but if you want a war you have to sell it."
European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet said Monday that inflationary risks are significant, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The ECB chief made the remarks after a meeting of the Bank for International Settlements. "There is no time for complacency for central banks in any respect," Trichet said, according to the news service.
Nigeria's rebel group MEND said Sunday it was responsible for an attack on Shell facilities in the south of the country, according to media reports. Shell confirmed the attack and said that some oil production had been closed down, according to reports.
U.S. April ISM services index 52.0% vs 49.6 March.
First Marblehead cuts 500 jobs to lower operating expenses.
Nouriel Roubini: "So auto sales are free falling and desperate car makers are cutting on prices and providing further price cuts via loose financing terms. But at the same time a time bomb of negative equity in auto loans is emerging. For the last few years auto loan lenders sharply loosened their lending standards, used aggressive, deceptive and predatory lending practices, allowed households to buy cars with little equity in them (as zero down-payment deals became the norm) and thus caused a bubble in car production and in car sales (individuals with cars too big and too many cars each) that was financed with a reckless lending bubble. Sounds familiar? The car lending bubble was as reckless as the subprime and mortgage bubble. And now this credit bubble is going bust leading to rising default rates, significant negative equity in car loans (25% of all car loans are “under water”), massive losses to auto loan firms and a severe recession in the auto industry."
Prices of coking coal, a steel-making raw material, will stay at records next year because of rising demand for the alloy and as higher costs delayed the construction of new mines, according to Macquarie Bank Ltd. The price of hard coking coal may remain at $300 a metric ton for the year starting April 1, 2009, up 67 percent from a previous estimate.
Crude oil futures surged nearly $4 Monday to above $120 a barrel for the first time on concerns about supply disruptions in Nigeria and weakness in the U.S. dollar.
June crude closed at $119.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $3.65, or 3.1%, for the session.
The Federal Reserve said Monday it will auction $75 billion of 28-day loans at a minimum bid rate of 2.00% under its term auction facility.
Merck & Co. will cut U.S. sales force by 1,200 positions.
June gold closed at $874.10 an ounce Monday. The contract gained $16.10, or 1.9%, for the session. July silver finished at $16.83 an ounce, up 36 cents.
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