By
admin on May 12th, 2009
Home prices in the U.S. dropped the most on record in the first quarter from a year earlier as banks sold seized homes and foreclosures in California and Florida dominated sales.
The median price fell 14 percent to $169,000, the National Association of Realtors said today. Prices dropped in 134 of 152 metropolitan areas, with the deepest declines in Cape Coral-Ft. Myers, Florida, and the San Francisco and San Jose areas.
Read More »
By
admin on May 11th, 2009
Analysts Turning Bearish on S&P 500 because rally has pushed 34 percent of the companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index above analysts’ price targets for the next year. Caterpillar Inc., the largest maker of excavators, and Citigroup Inc., the bank rescued by $45 billion in U.S. taxpayer funds, are among 170 companies that trade above their average price estimates, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
With more than a third of the companies in the benchmark index for U.S. stocks overvalued compared with their price targets, the S&P 500’s fair value is 970.21, compared with its 929.23 close on May 8. That means it has to go down 4% to reach it’s fair value.
Read More »
By
admin on May 7th, 2009
The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment insurance unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest level in three months, a sign the worst of the job cuts may be over.
Initial jobless claims decreased by 34,000 to 601,000 in the week ended May 2, the fewest since late January, from a revised 635,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The number of people collecting benefits climbed to 6.35 million the prior week, the 14th consecutive record, showing companies are still not hiring even as staff reductions abate.
Read More »
By
admin on May 6th, 2009
Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and GMAC LLC are among the companies judged to need additional capital according to results of regulators’ stress tests on the 19 largest U.S. banks.
Bank of America has the biggest shortfall, at $34 billion. Citigroup’s requirement for deeper reserves to offset potential losses over the coming two years is about $5 billion. Wells Fargo requires about $15 billion, while GMAC’s need is $11.5 billion.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, MetLife Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and American Express Co. were deemed not to need additional funds, the results show.
Read More »
By
admin on May 5th, 2009
April’s record rally in European stocks pushed market valuations to the highest level in more than four years as investors bet the first global recession since World War II is easing.
The 13 percent advance in the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index last month sent the measure to 16.2 times its companies’ earnings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Forecasts for 2009 profit growth in the gauge fell to 18 percent on May 1 from 22 percent a month earlier, the biggest drop this year, after earnings declined 40 percent in 2008, according to data and analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Read More »
By
admin on April 30th, 2009
Stocks rallied around the world amid growing speculation the worst of the global recession is over and a stream of earnings that beat analysts’ estimates. Equities climbed as companies from BASF SE to MAN AG posted earnings that beat analysts’ estimates and Honda Motor Co. forecast an annual profit. Industrial output in Japan rose for the first time in six months. U.K. consumer confidence climbed to the highest level in a year.
Read More »
By
admin on April 27th, 2009
Mexican stocks were downgraded by UBS AG to “underweight” from “top pick” among Latin American equities on concern the country’s economic outlook may worsen because of the deadly swine flu.
UBS on March 9 named Mexico its favorite market in Latin America, saying investors had already factored in a “severe” recession for 2009 and shares were the cheapest in a decade.
Read More »
