All Posts Tagged With: "economy"
(BAC) Housing Starts, Jobs Data May Boost Sentiment – Economic Highlights
Strong housing and labor market readings this morning should add to optimism about the overall economic picture and offset the weak earnings reports from Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C)....17Jan2013 | Shawn | Comments Off | Continued
(LEN) U.S. Homebuilder Confidence Edging Up
On Tuesday, fresh data released by the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), which reflects builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes, posted a solid 26 point year-over-year gain to 47 for December. On a sequential basis, the index...23Dec2012 | Shawn | Comments Off | Continued
(GM) U.S. Auto Sales Report Best August in Five Years
Light vehicle sales in the U.S. in August improved 19.9% to 1.29 million vehicles, which is the highest monthly figure for any August since 2007. According to Autodata Corp., seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) during the month was 14.52 million vehicles, up 16% from the year-ago level. The...6Sep2012 | vitalstocks | Comments Off | Continued
(WMT) Jobless Claims Stay Range-Bound
We’re again chock-full of data this morning: Initial Jobless Claims are up, Housing Starts are down, Building Permits are up quite a bit, and earnings reports are mixed. Initial Jobless Claims remain range-bound in the 360-370K area, up 200K this week to 366K from an upwardly revised...22Aug2012 | vitalstocks | Comments Off | Continued
(JPM) U.S. Home Foreclosure Activity Shows Decline
The monthly foreclosure market report, released by RealtyTrac, revealed a drop in the overall foreclosure activity. As per this leading online marketplace of foreclosure properties, foreclosure filings for July decreased 10% from the prior-year month and 3% from the prior month. This brought the total...22Aug2012 | vitalstocks | Comments Off | Continued
(WMT) Jobless Claims Stay Range-Bound
We’re again chock-full of data this morning: Initial Jobless Claims are up, Housing Starts are down, Building Permits are up quite a bit, and earnings reports are mixed. Initial Jobless Claims remain range-bound in the 360-370K area, up 200K this week to 366K from an upwardly revised...20Aug2012 | vitalstocks | Comments Off | Continued
(IBM) U.S. Jobless Claims Swing Back Higher
The weekly Jobless Claims data this morning completely erased the strong gains from last week and then some, which makes one wonder about the underlying health of the U.S. labor market. But irrespective of how one interprets the week-to-week volatility in this series, all agree that the economy has...23Jul2012 | vitalstocks | Comments Off | Continued
(F) U.S. GDP Less Than Expected – Europe Better
While we do have some favorable-looking headlines out of Europe this morning, indicating that Greece is making progress in its talks with the private creditors, the focus today will be on the U.S. economy. The headlines on that count are on the weak side. In its first read on the fourth quarter...30Jan2012 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(AAPL) Focus Moves Toward the Federal Reserve
The focus today will be on the Fed, as the Central Bank unveils a new measure as part of its ongoing efforts to improve communication with the markets. The prospect of an even longer timeframe for lower interest rates, as many in the markets are hoping to come out of today’s Fed releases, has the...25Jan2012 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(GOOG) January 20: Markets to Remain Calm – Economic Highlights
With the economic calendar relatively on the thin side, stocks will remain focused on another busy day of earnings reports. Google’s (GOOG) earnings miss potentially raises doubts about the tech sector’s earnings outlook, but...20Jan2012 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(ADP) Good News for U.S. Labor Market
Positive domestic data and the resumption of Europe-centric negative headlines will be pushing stocks in opposite directions today. France held an overall successful bond auction, though yields inched up a bit. But Euro-zone worries are getting focused on the region’s banks, which need to tap the...9Jan2012 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(IMF) International Monetary Fund Sees Risks Intensifying
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sounded another caveat about the deepening global crisis. According to Christine Lagarde, IMF’s Managing Director, the crisis is unfolding, escalating and spreading across the world. She has even suggested that the world could see a re-run of the depression...19Dec2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(JPM) Banks Face Foreclosure Charge Again
In yet another major setback for the foreclosure settlement, Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) Martha Coakley filed a lawsuit against – JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Bank of America Corporation (BAC),...15Dec2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(UAL) Global Airlines Head to Weak 2012
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) cut its global airline industry profit forecast to $3.5 billion for 2012, with a net profit margin of 0.6%. Previously, in September, the Association had forecast profits of $4.9 billion. Tougher conditions will likely stem from the government’s...9Dec2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(NRF) Party Time for Retailers
The Thanksgiving weekend brought record sales for retailers who went on to post better-than-expected November comparable-store sales and are now padding up for the holiday season. Does this indicate that the retail party has just begun? Early hours store openings, huge discounts, promotional...6Dec2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(F) U.S. Auto Industry – Pent-Up Demand or Recovery?
Despite uncertainties in the market, consumers did not step back from the automobile showrooms in November as they felt the ardent need to change their old cars in the garage. Why wouldn’t they be, when the average age of vehicles on U.S. roads is almost 11 years and used cars are worth more at...6Dec2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(BAC) Can You Live Without Debt?
Remember the fictional immigrant Balki from the TV show “Perfect Strangers”? He seemed to speak a universal truth when he said, “Am I in debt? I’m a true American.” Well, not anymore. After being battered by the latest recession, Americans are gradually learning...30Nov2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(BAC) Standard & Poor’s Downgrades Giant Wall Street Banks
On Tuesday, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) lowered its credit ratings for many U.S. and European banks. Out of 37 banks reviewed by S&P, ratings for 15 were downgraded, ratings remained unchanged for 20 and the remaining 2 were awarded upgraded ratings. The banks whose ratings fell,...30Nov2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
North Dakota Oil Production Rivals OPEC
by Ryan Fitzwater, Investment U Research Wednesday, November 30, 2011 By now you’re probably familiar with the Bakken shale formation – but just in case… Located under North Dakota and Montana, oil was first discovered in the Bakken in 1951. Only problem was that...30Nov2011 | InvestmentU | 0 comments | Continued
Is China Being Overvalued?
by Jeannette Di Louie, Investment U Research Tuesday, November 29, 2011 Once upon a time, the term BRIC meant something. Brazil, Russia, India and China were all seen as rising stars in the global economy, and investors couldn’t get enough of them. Not so much anymore....30Nov2011 | InvestmentU | 0 comments | Continued
North Dakota Edges U.S. Closer to Energy Independence
by David Fessler, Investment U Senior Analyst Tuesday, November 29, 2011: Issue #1653 Williston, North Dakota is a dusty, prairie town. It’s just a...30Nov2011 | InvestmentU | 0 comments | Continued
Proposed European Bailout Plan Comes Up Short
by Jason Jenkins, Investment U Research Wednesday, November 30, 2011 The plan to increase the capacity of the Eurozone’s European Financial Stability...30Nov2011 | InvestmentU | 0 comments | Continued
(JCP) U.S. Holiday Preview – National Retail Federation
The National Retail Federation (“NRF”), an industry trade group, projects a 2.8% growth in sales, amounting to $465.6 billion, during the current November to December holiday season, lower than the 5.2% rise in the corresponding period of the previous year. Online retail may increase 15% to touch...28Nov2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
Thanksgiving Holiday – Turmoil in Europe Continued
While the U.S. was focused on feasting, football and shopping, the turmoil in Europe continued. The situation there continues to deteriorate. No longer are the problems confined to the small, relatively insignificant economies around the Mediterranean. This week, they even spread to Germany, where...28Nov2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(IBM) Is the Time Ripe to Buy Stocks?
It is said that opportunities are never lost — someone else will catch the one you miss. And the saying remains true to the equity market. No one wants to miss a good opportunity to make exceptional profits from stock markets. So, is this the time to take the plunge? Or should we wait...28Nov2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(JPM) FDIC Problem Bank List Shrinks – Earnings Soar
The number of banks on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) list of problem institutions saw a sharp decline for the second straight quarter to 844 in the July-September period from 865 in the preceding sequential period, federal regulators reported Tuesday. This represents the second...28Nov2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(C) Will U.S. Bank Stress Test Protect Our Money?
It’s time again for America’s biggest banks to flex their financial muscles. Yet another round of stress tests await these banks that need to prove their financial prowess, should another recession befall. Among the targeted banks, six that are susceptible to the European crisis will have to go...28Nov2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(DHI) U.S. Housing Starts Slip Less Than Expected
We got some fairly good news on the housing front this morning. Housing Starts fell in September to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 628,000 from 630,000 in August, a drop of 0.3%. But the number was much better than the expected level of 603,000. However, the September numbers...21Nov2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(XOM) U.S. Petroleum and Distillate Stocks Shrink
The U.S. Energy Department’s weekly inventory release showed that crude inventories moved down, while gasoline stocks added to their supplies. The agency’s report further revealed that distillate stockpiles declined for the seventh-straight week. Meanwhile, refiners improved processing rates...20Nov2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued
(AZO) U.S. Retail on the Rise
Total Retail Sales rose 0.5% in October on top of a 1.1% rise in September. Relative to a year ago they are up 7.2%. While the number is not adjusted for inflation (it is, but only for seasonality and holidays) it is still a strong showing. It was also better than the expected rise of 0.4% for the...20Nov2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued