Tag Archive
Consumers Trade Down – US-FOREX.US
Cash-strapped consumers are looking to get the most bang for their buck, forcing retailers to adapt to new spending habits, says Claire Gruppo, co-founder and managing director of investment bank and M&A firm Gruppo, Levey.”People aren’t comfortable paying for brands or an experience if they don’t feel it’s worth it,” Gruppo said, “and the trend… »
July Job Cuts Expected To Wane – US-FOREX.US
Wall Street may be encouraged by the waning level of job losses on Friday, but it will mean little to Americans stuck in unemployment lines and struggling to make ends meet.On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department is expected to announce that the national unemployment rate rose to 9.7% in July, as 300,000 Americans lost their… »
Americans Exhausting Jobless Benefits – US-FOREX.US
The unemployment rate masks the deterioration in the quality of the labor market, as more Americans are exhausting their unemployment benefits, potentially leading more defaults, foreclosures and bankruptcies.Americans have been wading in unemployment lines for the longest amount time since 1948, when the government started keeping track. The average length of unemployment in June… »
Amex And Cap One Are Healing – US-FOREX.US
Rising unemployment spells trouble for credit card companies. Laid off from their jobs, some borrowers fall behind on their loan payments and companies such as American Express and Capital One Financial eventually consider a portion of their loans uncollectible and write them off. With the jobless rate at 9.7%, loan losses and late payments are… »
Gannetts Reckoning – US-FOREX.US
Weak, weak, weak, that’s the outlook for media and advertising company Gannett, says JPMorgan Chase analyst Alexia Quadrani. She has a neutral rating on the stock as Gannett report earnings Wednesday.Though noting that Gannett Co.
is “one of the cheapest stocks in our universe,” Quadrani writes, “we see no positive near-term catalysts for GCI stock.” Quadrani… »
Graingers Industrial Proxy – US-FOREX.US
If the recovery story that we’ve been hearing from strategists at banks like Barclays and JPMorgan Chase are correct then the Wednesday earnings report from W.W. Grainger should produce some evidence of it. Grainger sells facility maintenance parts and services to businesses in America and around the world. The recovery thesis holds that repairs have… »
Cintas Squeezes Into Its Uniform – US-FOREX.US
Cintas makes uniforms and other work clothing for big employers and has been trying, through the downturn, to shrink itself down to a smaller size. It’s rough going for Cintas, though, as its revenues generally track unemployment, which has been rising and will continue to rise, and, during the downturn, the Teamsters and other unions… »
The View From Main Street – US-FOREX.US
After reaching the edge of the abyss six months ago, Wall Street has been slowly recovering, thanks in large part to massive help from the federal government. But Main Street continues to face serious challenges, says the Center for American Progress. That bodes badly for the consumers who will ultimately drive corporate earnings.Family wealth in… »
Initial Claims Worse Than You Think – US-FOREX.US
Initial jobless claims in the United States fell to their lowest level since January, but don’t get excited. Seasonal distortions related to the auto industry skewed the reading, making things look better than they actually are.On Thursday the Labor Department reported first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week fell by 52,000 to 565,000, well below… »
Financial Sector Suicides On The Rise – US-FOREX.US
Anjool Malde, a 24-year-old equity sales trader at Deutsche Bank jumped to his death from the eighth floor of a restaurant popular with London’s banking community over the weekend. He had reportedly complained of the pressures of his job in the past year and had been asked to leave work early on Friday for unknown… »