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| Weekly Wrap Up |
The markets edged up slightly last week, with all of the major indices posting slight gains. The indices didn't come near to the sizeable gains posted the week before, but comfort can be found in the fact that they remained in positive territory. The week got off to a bad start, with two days of losses in a row, as Bank of America (BAC: Charts, News, Offers) and United Airlines (UAUA: Charts, News, Offers), amongst others, reported earnings that failed to live up to expectations. In addition, the week continued to see a rise in oil prices, which peaked at just under $120 a barrel. Starting on Wednesday, however, the markets began to make up for their earlier losses, bringing the indices back into positive territory. Boeing (BA: Charts, News, Offers) was a major catalyst on Wednesday, posting a strong profit based on high sales volume, and Ford (F: Charts, News, Offers) reported a surprise profit while everyone had predicted a quarterly loss. Everyone was anxiously awaiting the response from Yahoo (YHOO: Charts, News, Offers) regarding Microsoft's (MSFT: Charts, News, Offers) bid, which technically expired over the weekend. In the economy, new home sales fell to a 16-year low, and unemployment benefits declined by 33,000 last week. Oil prices closed Friday at $118.95 a barrel. More Market News
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| Economic News |
Efforts to aid beleaguered borrowers are still falling short as 70% of homeowners who are two months behind on their mortgages still aren't getting help, a new report released Tuesday found. Of those borrowers receiving help, only one in three completed a workout within 45 days. Slow assistance is partly why the number of homeowners facing foreclosure increased 16%, the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group found in its survey of mortgage servicers. The group is made up of representatives of 11 state Attorneys Generals, two state banking departments and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. The report included 13 of the 20 largest mortgage servicers, representing 58% of all subprime mortgage loans serviced. (Source: USA Today) Full Story
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Sales of new homes plunged in March to the lowest level in 16 1/2 years as housing slumped further at the start of the spring sales season. The median price of a new home in March, compared with a year ago, fell by the largest amount in nearly four decades. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that sales of new homes dropped by 8.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units, the slowest sales pace since October 1991. The median price of a home sold in March dropped by 13.3 percent compared with March 2007, the biggest year-over-year price decline since a 14.6 percent plunge in July 1970. The dismal news on new home sales followed earlier reports showing sales of existing homes fell by 2 percent in March. Housing, which boomed for five years, has been in a prolonged slump for the past two years with sales and home prices falling at especially sharp rates in formerly boom areas of the country. (Source: Yahoo! Finance) Full Story
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Oil jumped more than $2 to above $118 a barrel on Friday on Nigerian and North Sea supply disruptions and rising tensions between the United States and Iran. U.S. crude futures last traded up $2.54 to $118.60 a after hitting $119.55, near the all-time peak of $119.90 reached on Tuesday. London Brent crude traded $2.05 higher at $116.39 a barrel, after hitting a new record of $117.56 earlier. A cargo ship hired by the U.S. military fired warning shots at boats suspected to be Iranian, the U.S. Navy said on Friday, underscoring tension in the Gulf as the Pentagon sharpened its warnings to Tehran. (Source: Reuters) Full Story
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| Business News |
Bank of America Corp. (BAC: Charts, News, Offers) said Monday its profit fell 77 percent in the first quarter, hurt by trading losses and a $3.3 billion increase in reserves for problem loans. The Charlotte-based bank, set to acquire troubled subprime mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. later this year, reported earnings of $1.21 billion, or 23 cents per share, on $17 billion in revenue. That compared with net income of $5.26 billion, or $1.16 a share, a year earlier on $18.16 billion in revenue. Analysts on average expected a profit of 41 cents per share on revenue of $16.5 billion, according to Thomson Financial. In early trading, the bank's shares dropped 42 cents to $38.14. (Source: Yahoo! Finance) Full Story
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Merck & Co. (MRK: Charts, News, Offers) reported Monday it nearly doubled its first-quarter profit, with the drugmaker citing a $1.4 billion payment from a partner drug company and sales up slightly from last year. The maker of allergy and asthma pill Singulair and cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil posted net income of $3.3 billion, or $1.52 per share, for the January-March period, up from $1.7 billion, or 78 cents a share, a year ago. The $1.4 billion gain from AstraZeneca PLC, $2.22 billion before taxes, was a scheduled payment from a decades-long deal under which the London-based company promotes chronic heartburn drug Nexium and several other products in which Merck owns an interest. Excluding that and other one-time items, Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck earned 89 cents per share in the latest quarter. (Source: BusinessWeek) Full Story
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Ford Motor Co. (F: Charts, News, Offers) surprised Wall Street on Thursday with a $100 million profit in the first quarter as strong results from Europe and South America helped offset the impact of a slumping U.S. economy that cut car and truck sales in its main market. The company also said Thursday its latest round of early retirement and buyout offers netted 4,200 hourly workers, fewer than Ford had targeted. Ford says it earned 5 cents per share in the January-March period. The No. 2 U.S.-based automaker lost $282 million, or 15 cents a share, in the same period last year. (Source: CNN Money) Full Story
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| Technology Focus |
Microsoft Corp (MSFT: Charts, News, Offers) is prepared to walk away from its $43.6 billion bid for Yahoo Inc (YHOO: Charts, News, Offers) if the two sides can't agree on a price, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Wednesday. Speaking at a technology conference near Milan, Ballmer said Yahoo's better-than-expected first-quarter results, reported on Tuesday, have not changed Microsoft's view of Yahoo's value. Microsoft sees Yahoo as a way to compete with arch-rival Google Inc (GOOG: Charts, News, Offers) in the Internet search and advertising arena, but it has limits to what it is willing to pay to get a deal done. "We're prepared to move forward without a merger with Yahoo," Ballmer said. "We think the best way to move forward quickly (and gain critical mass against Google) is to come together with Yahoo." (Source: Reuters) Full Story
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AT&T's (T: Charts, News, Offers) iPhone pact with Apple (AAPL: Charts, News, Offers) made for a fruitful quarter at Ma Bell. Although its traditional voice phone call business is sliding towards oblivion, AT&T's mobile phone business was up 18.3%, to $11.8 billion, or more than a third of the company's overall revenue. AT&T is prospering from its agreement to be the U.S. service provider for the popular Apple iPhone. Directory sales were sharply higher and data sales also advanced, with a boost from broadband. The company's shares added 1.0%, or 36 cents, to $37.90, in morning trading in New York. (Source: Forbes.com) Full Story
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Amazon.com saw its shares slip more than 3% Thursday after the online retailer posted strong growth in sales for the first quarter but raised fresh worries about its profit margins. Amazon (AMZN: Charts, News, Offers) said its earnings jumped 30% in the first quarter, largely in line with Wall Street's estimates but well below the triple-digit earnings growth the company enjoyed last year. The company also trimmed back its forecast for operating earnings for the current year, based in part on charges related to its recent acquisition of Audible.com. (Source: MarketWatch) Full Story
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| Your Money |
Over the next several weeks, 130 million Americans will get some easy money, compliments of Uncle Sam. Well, it's actually courtesy of ourselves, the taxpayers.
But Congress and the president decided that giving Americans rebate checks is a great way to boost the economy.
The idea: Put some money back in the hands of Americans, who can be counted on to squander it. It's almost our patriotic duty to do so.
But we don't have to go along with this idea. We live in a free country, after all. So we can take advantage of this opportunity to bolster our personal finances.
This economic stimulus check serves as a reminder that every day we make financial choices that have a trickle-down effect on our lives. (Source: Yahoo Finance) Full Story
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| Trivia Question |
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What stock had a boulder as its principal asset during the early and mid-1980 s?
(answer below) |
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| Market Overview |
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| DJIA |
12,891.86 |
+42.50 |
| S&P |
1,397.84 |
+7.51 |
| NYSE |
9,344.31 |
+34.07 |
| NASDAQ |
2,422.93 |
+19.96 |
| 10Yr |
3.866% |
+0.12 |
| Dollar |
73.03 |
+0.78 |
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| September 19, 2008 |
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| April 14-18 |
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| Trivia Answer |
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| Natural Bridge of Virginia, which owned the arched boulder that supports Route 11. They had about 162,000 shares outstanding. |
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