• Nation’s Unemployment Outlook Improves Drastically After Fifth Beer
    Posted by on August 28th, 2009 at 11:37 am

    From The Onion:

    WASHINGTON—Despite ongoing economic woes and a jobless rate that has been approaching 10 percent, U.S. unemployment projections drastically improved Monday after the consumption of five beers.
    It’s going up,” leading economist David Singleton said confidently, indicating the predicted growth in jobs with an upward wave of a Bud Light bottle. “All the way up. By the end of the month. No problem.”

    Read more…

  • Scary Sentence of the Day
    Posted by on August 27th, 2009 at 11:25 am

    This doesn’t look good:

    Bank of America, Citigroup, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have accounted for more than 40pc of all trading on the New York Stock Exchange so far this week.

  • Bernanke Victim of Identity Theft
    Posted by on August 27th, 2009 at 11:09 am

    If you’re going to take someone’s ID, targeting one of the most powerful men in the world might not be a good idea:

    Last summer, just as he was dealing with the first rumblings of the financial crisis on Wall Street, Bernanke learned that a thief had swiped his wife’s purse—including the couple’s joint check book. Days later, someone started cashing checks on the Bernanke family bank account, the documents show. “It’s fair to say he was not pleased,” said one close associate of Bernanke, who asked not to be identified discussing what the Fed chairman considers a private matter.
    The theft of the Bernanke check book—never publicly revealed until now—soon became part of a wide-ranging (and previously underway) identity-theft investigation by the Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The probe culminated in recent months with a series of arrests, criminal complaints, and indictments brought by federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Va. The targets: members of a nationwide ring that used an inventive combination of old-fashioned thievery and high-tech fraud to loot the bank accounts of unsuspecting victims.

    (Via: Clusterstock)

  • GDP Unchanged
    Posted by on August 27th, 2009 at 9:29 am

    The government revised its estimate for second-quarter GDP growth, and the revised number was the same as the initial report — -1.0%. Wall Street was expecting -1.5%.

    The drop, while representing a record fourth consecutive decline, was far smaller than the previous two quarters. It also was stronger than the 1.5 percent decline that private economists expected.
    The new report found that businesses slashed their inventories more than first reported and cut back more sharply on investment in new plants and equipment. But those reductions were offset by revisions that showed smaller dips in consumer spending, exports and housing construction.
    The 1 percent rate of decline in the second quarter followed decreases of 6.4 percent in the first quarter and 5.4 percent in the final three months of 2008, the sharpest back-to-back declines in a half-century. The four straight quarterly declines in G.D.P., which measures the country’s total output of goods and services, mark the first time that has occurred on government records that date to 1947.

  • Stocks Vs. Bonds—Another Look
    Posted by on August 26th, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    Here’s an interesting chart. I divided the total return of two index funds, the Vanguard 500 Index Investor (VFINX) by Vanguard Long-Term Investment-Grade (VWESX). The chart begins in 1988.
    It’s a quick-and-dirty way to look at how well stocks have done against bonds.
    image847.png
    Although stocks have historically outperformed bonds, that hasn’t been the case in recent years. Bonds haven’t been just less volatile, they’ve been more profitable over the last ten years.

  • JoS. A. Bank to accelerate expansion
    Posted by on August 25th, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    This is good news for JoS. A. Bank Clothiers (JOSB):

    JoS. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. said Tuesday that it will open more stores in fiscal 2010 than planned for the current year to take advantage of real estate opportunities.
    The retailer expects to open 30 to 40 new stores in fiscal 2010, compared with an estimated 10 to 15 stores in fiscal 2009.
    “Quality real estate opportunities are beginning to open in the marketplace and we are ready to expand our store base at a more rapid rate,” President and CEO R. Neal Black said in a statement.
    The openings are part of the company’s long-term goal of running 600 stores. It currently has 467 stores.

  • Medtronic’s Earnings
    Posted by on August 25th, 2009 at 12:18 pm

    Medtronic (MDT) reported adjusted earnings of 79 cents a share which matched estimates. Revenues rose 6.1% to $3.93 billion. The market seems mildly displeased as the stock is down today.
    Here’s a look at MDT’s sales and earnings for the past several quarters:
    Quarter………..EPS………….Sales
    Jul-01…………$0.28………..$1,455.70
    Oct-01………..$0.29………..$1,571.00
    Jan-02………..$0.30………..$1,592.00
    Apr-02………..$0.34………..$1,792.00
    Jul-02…………$0.32………..$1,713.90
    Oct-02………..$0.34………..$1,891.00
    Jan-03………..$0.35………..$1,912.50
    Apr-03………..$0.40………..$2,148.00
    Jul-03…………$0.37………..$2,064.20
    Oct-03………..$0.39………..$2,163.80
    Jan-04………..$0.40………..$2,193.80
    Apr-04………..$0.48………..$2,665.40
    Jul-04…………$0.43………..$2,346.10
    Oct-04………..$0.44………..$2,399.80
    Jan-05………..$0.46………..$2,530.70
    Apr-05………..$0.53………..$2,778.00
    Jul-05…………$0.50………..$2,690.40
    Oct-05………..$0.54………..$2,765.40
    Jan-06………..$0.55………..$2,769.50
    Apr-06………..$0.62………..$3,066.70
    Jul-06…………$0.55………..$2,897.00
    Oct-06………..$0.59………..$3,075.00
    Jan-07………..$0.61………..$3,048.00
    Apr-07………..$0.66………..$3,280.00
    Jul-07…………$0.62………..$3.127.00
    Oct-07………..$0.58………..$3,124.00
    Jan-08………..$0.63………..$3,405.00
    Apr-08………..$0.78………..$3,860.00
    Jul-08…………$0.72………..$3.706.00
    Oct-08………..$0.67………..$3,570.00
    Jan-09………..$0.71………..$3,494.00
    Apr-09………..$0.78………..$3,830.00
    Jul-09…………$0.79………..$3,933.00

  • Hussein Reappoints Shalom
    Posted by on August 25th, 2009 at 11:00 am

    tiopdmk.jpg
    Congratulations to Ben Bernanke for being renominated by President Obama. This is a good move on Obama’s part and I continue to believe that Bernanke has been an outstanding Fed chair.

  • Preview of Medtronic’s Earnings
    Posted by on August 24th, 2009 at 1:25 pm

    Medtronic (MDT) is due to report its earnings tomorrow. The consensus on Wall Street is for earnings of 78 cents a share compared with 72 cents per share a year ago.
    In June, the company reaffirmed its earnings growth expectations of 10% a year. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports:

    So, given the uncertainty, the competition and a long-standing, lackluster stock performance, why do 29 analysts have buy or hold ratings on Medtronic’s stock?
    Not a sell recommendation in sight.
    “Although its growth profile has changed markedly in recent years, Medtronic remains one of the strongest companies in the health care industry,” wrote William Blair & Co. analyst Ben Andrew in a note to investors last month.
    Year to date, the company’s stock is up 20.3 percent, compared with the S&P Health Care index, which has inched up just 7.4 percent.
    Andrew, who has an “outperform” rating on Medtronic’s stock, cites a stabilizing market for pacemakers and defibrillators and the company’s pipeline of future products, such as an MRI-friendly pacemaker.
    “We believe the company’s heavy research-and-development investments will begin to reaccelerate growth in fiscal 2011,” he wrote.

  • An overdraft? That’ll be £200 at Lloyds TSB (but only £15 if you’re a Muslim)
    Posted by on August 24th, 2009 at 10:55 am

    The Daily Mail:

    Many Lloyds TSB customers are being hit with charges of up to £200 a month if they go into the red – while Muslims who use the bank are only being charged £15.
    The part-nationalised bank has been accused of religious discrimination over the disparity between overdraft charges on its standard current account and its Islamic account.
    The Islamic account was set up by the high street bank to attract Muslim customers by allowing them to keep faithful to their religion.
    Sharia law does not permit the payment of interest so the ‘typical’ Islamic account at Lloyds TSB has been set up without an overdraft facility.