| Market Summary |
Stocks finished off the week mostly lower as corporate earnings shook up Wall Street. Energy and bank shares once again weighed on the session. Chevron Corp.’s (CVX: Charts, News, Offers) report that refining margins fell in the second quarter fueled the declines. The first round of earnings has been mostly mixed, but investors are definitely concerned that the bad reports may outweigh the good reports. Some big companies including Google (GOOG: Charts, News, Offers), JP Morgan Chase (JPM: Charts, News, Offers), and General Electric (GE: Charts, News, Offers) are slated to release their second-quarter results next week. Small gains in the tech sector helped reduce some of today’s losses. Investors received one more piece of economic news to add to the slew of reports that they received this week. The Commerce Department said that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $26 billion in May. This level has not been seen in nine years. In other news, General Motors emerged from bankruptcy after only six weeks. JP Morgan Chase (JPM: Charts, News, Offers) is seeking to have warrants held by the government auctioned off after the bank was unable to purchase them from the Treasury Department. The dollar rose against other major currencies, while gold prices fell by $3.90.
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| Market News |
AIG bonuses: $235 million to go
Bailed-out insurer AIG (AIG: Charts, News, Offers) again found itself in the crosshairs of bonus rage on Friday over its plans to pay $2.4 million in executive bonuses next week. But the larger issue is how AIG will deal with its obligation to pay roughly $235 million still owed to employees of its crippled financial products division. The contentious issue of the bonuses resurfaced late Thursday after The Washington Post reported that AIG was seeking the government's consent to make a scheduled performance bonus payment of $2.4 million to 43 of its top-ranking executives. (Source: CNN Money) Click here to read the full article
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May trade deficit unexpectedly drops to $26B
The U.S. trade deficit fell to the lowest level in more than nine years in May as exports posted a small gain while the weak American economy pushed imports down for a 10th straight month. The slight rebound in exports, combined with a slower pace of decline in imports, showed that the nosedive in global activity may be starting to ebb. Delayed revivals overseas likely will hinder a rebound in the U.S., but most analysts still expect the American economy to grow a bit later this year. The Commerce Department said Friday the deficit narrowed to $26 billion, a drop of 9.8 percent from April and the lowest level since November 1999. Economists expected the deficit to widen to $30.2 billion in May. (Source: Yahoo! Finance) Click here to read the full article
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"New GM" exits bankruptcy
A new General Motors emerged from bankruptcy protection on Friday -- far more quickly than most industry-watchers had expected -- as a leaner automaker pledging to win back American consumers and pay back taxpayers. A whirlwind 40-day bankruptcy for GM concluded with the closing of a deal that sold key operations to a new company that is majority-owned by the U.S. Treasury. The closing documents were signed early Friday by representatives of the government and GM executives at the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, GM's bankruptcy counsel. (Source: Reuters) Click here to read the full article
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| Market Analysis |
This $17 Trillion Divorce Won’t Be a Pretty One
Returning from China last month, U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk had a bearish take on a high-level visit by American officials. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner claimed the U.S.’s biggest creditor voiced great confidence in its debt. Kirk, an Illinois Republican, came back with the opposite impression. "China is beginning to cancel Congress’s credit card," he told Fox News on June 10. It "doesn’t want to lend much more money to the United States and especially is worried about the Fed’s policy of printing money to buy new debt." A month later, there’s no doubt about whose assessment was more accurate. Chinese leaders are clearly very concerned about the dollar. (Source: Bloomberg) Click here to read the full article
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Is Wal-Mart the new Target?
Will shoppers soon invent a pseudo-French pronunciation for Wal-Mart (WMT: Charts, News, Offers)? As the recession has dragged on, the big-box retailer has attracted more of the upscale, budget-conscious consumers considered to be the key demographic for rival Target (TGT: Charts, News, Offers), aka "Tar-zhay." And Wal-Mart Stores is determined to retain those customers long after the economy recovers. "Our customer will stay with us when this economy turns around," Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke said last month. "This is Wal-Mart's time to look to the future and seize the opportunity to truly lead around the world." (Source: MSN Money) Click here to read the full article
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A Second Stimulus Package? Yikes!
"Calls Grow to Increase Stimulus Spending," says a recent front-page Wall Street Journal headline. Author Deborah Solomon claims, "Some economists are pressuring the White House to enact a second round of stimulus spending." The article mentions only two economists, however, one of whom heads "a left-leaning Washington think tank" (the Economic Policy Institute) that always tries to pressure the government to spend more. The other, a former Bush official, dreams of "something that is relatively fast and thoughtful" like "personal tax cuts." But asking Congress to do something fast and thoughtful is like asking fish to fly. (Source: Forbes.com) Click here to read the full article
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