RSS Updates
Email Updates
We have just seen the figure for weekly jobless claims, and it is an ugly prelude to tomorrow’s unemployment and non-farm payroll data. The good news is that worker productivity came in better than expected, but as the unit labor costs are running up so much you have to wonder if management will decide that it can keep firing the worker bees.
Daily Archives: November 6, 2008
Jobless Figures, Ominous For Tomorrow’s Unemployment
Put Gap (GPS) Out Of Its Misery: Auction Off The Parts
Being a Gap (GPS) shareholder has been a long nightmare and that got worse today.
Gap’s same store sales in October fell 16%. The retailer reported net sales of $1.08 billion for the four-week period ended November 1, 2008, which is a decrease of 12% compared with net sales of $1.23 billion for the same period ended November 3, 2007.
Sales at the already dead Banana Republic division fell 17% and at Old Navy North America the drop was 20%.
Gap continues to cut costs, but to get back on track it will have to close hundreds of the most underperforming outlets among its 3,100 stories
Douglas A. McIntyre
Bank Of England Cuts 1.5% To 3%
A little note from the Bank of England:
"The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee today voted to reduce the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves by 1.5 percentage points to 3%.
The past two months have seen a substantial downward shift in the prospects for inflation in the United Kingdom. There has been a very marked deterioration in the outlook for economic activity at home and abroad. Moreover, commodity prices have fallen sharply.
Since mid-September, the global banking system has experienced its most serious disruption for almost a century. While the measures taken on bank capital, funding and liquidity in several countries, including our own, have begun to ease the situation, the availability of credit to households and businesses is likely to remain restricted for some time. As a consequence, money and credit conditions have tightened sharply. Equity prices have fallen substantially in many countries."
All Hail Wal-Mart (WMT)
The magnificence of being big and having extraordinary buying power put Wal-Mart (WMT) at the head of the retailing industry again. It can cut prices to consumers in a way that would ruin its competition.
Those factors showed up in same-store sales for October.
Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (AMZN, DOX, BRY, CNQ, CEO, CFX, DVN, EOG, GGP, MDR, NWS, PCP, SPWRA, SVR)
These are some of the many analyst downgrades we have seen on Wall Street this Thursday morning:
- Amazon.com (AMZN) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
- Amdocs (DOX) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
- Berry Petroleum (BRY) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
- Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
- CNOOC (CEO) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
- Colfax (CFX) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
- Devon Energy (DVN) Cut to Market Perform at FBR; Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
- EOG Resources (EOG) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
- General Growth Properties (GGP) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
- McDermott (MDR) Cut to Hold at Jefferies; Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
- News Corp. (NWS) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
- Precision Castparts (PCP) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
- SunPower (SPWRA) Cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
- Syniverse (SVR) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Jon C. Ogg
November 6, 2008
Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (EAC, EQT, HNT, SOV, WFMI, XTO)
These are some of the early upgrades we are seeing on Wall Street this Thursday morning:
- Encore Acquisition (EAC) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
- Equitable Resources (EQT) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
- Health Net (HNT) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
- Sovereign Bancorp (SOV) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
- Whole Foods (WFMI) Raised to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies.
- XTO Energy (XTO) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Jon C. Ogg
November 6, 2008
If Detroit Goes Down, So Do Three Million Jobs (GM)(F)
Every industry has its blue chip think tank, In the case of cars it is The Center for Automotive Research.
The research operation has come out with a new and disturbing study.
Yahoo! (YHOO) Turns To Microsoft (MSFT) For Help
Now that Google (GOOG) has walked away from a deal to sell search advertising for Yahoo! (YHOO), the portal company has to come up with a way to replace all that money. Yahoo! could go through another round of lay-offs, but at some point, who is left?
No one would argue that the best deal for Yahoo! was always the deal to sell to Microsoft (MSFT). Yahoo! is sending signals that it is open to talk.
Toyota (TM) Catches Cold
Toyota (TM) reduced its earnings estimates by more than 50%, making it the last large global car company to admit that there is nothing to be done about salvaging this year or next. Declining consumer spending has ruined the car industry, and even the most successful operator cannot do a thing.
Investors thought that Toyota might dodge trouble by having large customer bases in Europe, Japan, and emerging nations such as India and China. But, by many estimates China’s auto sales will be flat in the last quarter of the year.
Cisco’s (CSCO) Consumer Push Costs It
The sound out of Cisco (CSCO) has been so fine for so long that its was an assault to hear that the company would have a drop in revenue in the current quarter. By the reckoning of management, it could be as much as 10%.
Because Cisco has a wide spread of products from video conferencing to routers to cable set top boxes and does as much business overseas as in the US, the company is sending out a signal to shareholders at other firms as diverse and Microsoft (MSFT) and Oracle (ORCL).
Oil Back To $100
It is fairly easy to imagine oil trading at $65 for a long time or even moving lower. What is not easy to imagine is why oil would rise 100%. The trend has been so sharply downward.
Two things are conspiring to push oil prices back up. The first is that OPEC nations will go bankrupt if crude stays were it is. That may not be entirely true, but the cartel only needs a thin excuse for cutting production and it will do so until its gets its way, at least economically.
The other force that is ignored because it seems so far off is the end of the recession.
Obama, Broke Now, And More Broke Every Day: Credit Default Swaps On US Debt
There is not a man with a typewriter who can avoid writing about how much debt the US government has and how much more it will have to take on. Paulson’s program will put $700 billion more on the "red" side of the ledger. The deficit for the federal government’s fiscal year will be well in excess of $1 trillion. If tax income drops due to the recession, that number may turn out to be the hope of the damned.
The conclusion most people draw from all of that exhausting economic thinking is that the new president will not have any money to fix things and keep those things fixed that were already fixed over the last decade. No one needs a new headline. Just copy it from the next guy. "Obama’s Hands Are Tied".
Media Digest 11/6/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, Europe prepared rate cuts as the economy their worsened.
Reuters reports that the administration cleared the way for the car companies to get access to $25 billion in loans, but Detroit says it needs more.
Reuters reports that Toyota (TM) cut forecasts and worldwide consumer demand weakened.
Asia Markets And Europe Open 11/6/2008
Markets in Asia fell sharply.
The Nikkei dropped 6.5% to 8,899. Toyota (TM) fell on poor earnings.
The Hang Seng dropped 7.1% to 13,896. Cathay Pacific fell almost 16% on poor earnings.
The Shanghai Composite slipped 2.4% to 1,718.
At the open, the FTSE was off 2.6% to 4,412. The CAC 40 dropped 3% to 3,510. The Dax was off 2.9% to 5,015.
Data from Reuters.
Douglas A. McIntyre
-
Today’s top tickerspy Indexes Domestic Telecom ... +2.6% Stem Cell Stocks +2.3% Pain Management S... +2.1% Ethanol and Biofu... +1.9% Savings and Loan ... +1.8% 
-
-
- 3 Hot Black Friday Deals Not to Pass Up
- 5 Key Strategies to Snag Black Friday Deals
- CORRECT: Rail Stocks Rally Could Be Running Out Of Steam
- Brazilian Crude Steel Output 2.8 Million Tons In October -IABr
- CURRENCIES: Dollar Claws Higher After Fed Caps Data-rich Day
- UPDATE: US Treasury Secretary To Visit India In Early 2010
-
-
- paidContent - BusinessWeek Under Bloomberg: John Byrne Leaving To Start Own Company
- paidContent - Times Reader Teaser: Subscribe To E-Edition, Get Discount On Samsung Netbook
- paidContent - Facebook Changes Stock Structure; Is An IPO Next?
- paidContent - Time Inc. Shutters InStyle Weddings, Lays Off Nine
- paidContent - paidContent Quick Hits 11.24.09
- paidContent - Kindle's Gift For The Holidays? Native PDF
-
©2009 24/7 Wall St.
Powered by WordPress.com VIP
Designed by SlipFire
