“The latest data suggest recession has now arrived, or will very shortly.” – Jan Hatzius, Chief Economist, Goldman Sachs I made fun of Goldman about 6 weeks ago for upping their recession probability forecast in 2008 from 30% to 40-45%….
“One comment on sentiment as a contrary indicator. You’ll hear a lot of bulls say that this is a contrary indicator and suggests selling has exhausted itself. But I just don’t think we are anywhere close to that point. With markets…
Yesterday after the close, S&P 500 home furnishings retailer Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBBY) reported an ugly quarter (BBBY FY 3Q Earnings Release). Revenues were up 11% but same store sales were weak, up only .8%, and Net Income was…
“Listening to the commentary over the weekend and last week, most people were saying we’d skirt a recession, but this causes people to question that thought process.” – Steven Kroll Sr. (subscription required), Managing Director, Monness, Crespi & Hardt Stocks were…
According to Mastercard’s SpendingPulse, retail sales for the holiday season (the day after Thanksgiving through midnight Monday) were up 3.6% – 2.4% excluding gas which is much higher this year compared to last (subscription required). That compares with 6.6% growth…
Yesterday (Monday) after the close, in its mid month sales update, Target (TGT) said that same store sales for December, on a comparable basis, would likely come in between -1% and 1% – below previous guidance (call 612-761-6500 for the recorded…
A lot of important earnings news affecting the market today: Oracle (ORCL), Nike (NKE), Bear Stearns (BSC), Federal Express (FDX) and Winnebago (WGO). ***** Everybody pretty much knew Bear was going to report an ugly quarter and they in fact…
With less money to spend on gifts for their families, mothers “pull back on spending for themselves first.” – John Morris, Senior Retail Analyst, Wachovia, quoted in “Retailers Face Ominous Holiday Sign”, The New York Times, Monday December 17 Got…
“Office Depot …. projects continued erosion of sales and earnings in the fourth quarter of 2007. As previously reported, the Company’s results for the third quarter of 2007 were negatively impacted by difficult housing related economic conditions in certain of…
Morgan Stanely economists are out today with a piece forecasting a recession: “Recession Coming”. It appears that the Wall Street economists are moving towards forecasting a recession (see, for example, Goldman’s recent forecast of a 40-45% probability of a recession). (Via MarketBeat)