Family Dollar (FDO), a discount retailer, reported another superb quarter this morning. Same store sales were up 6.4% and net income up 33%. They increased their fiscal 2009 EPS forecast from $1.63-$1.81 (1/7/09) to $1.90-$2.00. Clearly their business is on…
The Boston Globe’s The Big Picture put up 35 scenes from the recession. Tells the story well…..
Red and Blue tribal pundits agree that economic recovery can only occur if private capital returns to the market. That’s swell, at least they agree on something. So why is our brain trust in Washington doing every conceivable thing to…
Federal Express (FDX) this morning announced fiscal year 3rd quarter earnings and what really stood out for me was a massive margin squeeze. Despite a 44% drop in fuel expenses from $980 million to $551 million in their core Express…
The rush to hoard cash and pinch pennies is understandable, given that some $13 trillion in net worth evaporated between mid-2007 and the end of 2008. But while it makes complete microeconomic sense for families and individual businesses, the spending…
Mr. Greenspan ought to have used the pages of the Journal to apologize to the nation. Instead, his piece will stand as a testament to his hubris, or perhaps his delusions. – Ian Shepherdson, Chief US Economist, High Frequency Economics…
This post and accompanying chart from the WSJ just blew my mind: “More Americans Drowning In Mortgage Debt”. As you can see, 30% of Californians and Floridians, 1.9 million and 1.3 million respectively, are underwater on their mortgages!!!! Wow…..
Very simply, Eastern Europe has become Europe’s version of the subprime market. – Robert Brusca, FAO Economics The disaster spotlight is now being pointed at east and central Europe. – Gernot Mittendorfer, CEO Ceska Sporitelna, a large Czech bank owned…
Our financial performance is increasingly being challenged by some of the most difficult economic conditions our Company has faced in its 84-year history. It is our expectation that the economic environment will remain extremely challenging through 2009, if not beyond. …
If actions taken by the Administration, the Congress, and the Federal Reserve are successful in restoring some measure of financial stability – and only if that is the case, in my view – there is a reasonable prospect that the…