One Good Thing:
A Few Positive Developments | | Rather than accept the premise that the world is ending and curse the darkness, this column focuses on economic and general news that prove there are still positive developments. Some days there will be only one good thing. Others will have several rays of light.
|
November 18, 2008 - Hewlett-Packard Co. shares climbed as much as 14% Tuesday after the company gave a bit of good news to a battered tech sector: its preliminary quarterly earnings are coming in ahead of Wall Street's expectations.
Additionally, Hewlett-Packard Co. gave first-quarter and yearly forecasts that exceeded analysts' projections, a rare development among big-cap names in today's frosty economic environment.
Before the market opened, H-P said it expects to post a profit of 84 cents a share, on revenue of $33.6 billion for its recently completed fourth-quarter. During the same period a year ago, H-P earned 81 cents a share on revenue of $28.3 billion.
Excluding one-time charges and items, H-P said it earned $1.03 a share. By that measure, analysts had forecast earnings of $1 a share on $33.1 billion in revenue, according to an average calculated by FactSet Research.
November 18, 2008 - U.S. wholesale prices fell a record 2.8% in October as wholesale gasoline prices plummeted 24.9%, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.
The drop in gasoline prices also was a record for the government's data, which date back to 1947. The data deliver further evidence for the Federal Reserve that inflation isn't a top concern for the U.S. central bankers, amid Washington's efforts to revive the economy.
November 13, 2008 - Top executives at Citigroup Inc. bought about 1.2 million shares late Thursday as the stock's price has dropped in recent days, The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site, citing people close to the matter. Citi's Chief Executive Vikram Pandit bought 750,000 shares, and the head of the institutional clients group, John Havens, acquired 250,000 shares, according to the Journal. A Securities and Exchange Commission filing is expected later in the day. Shares of Citigroup rose 3.2% to $9.75 in after-hours activity.
From MarketWatch: Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s third-quarter profit rose 10%, helped by inventory control and a value message that's won new and repeat shoppers worried about the economy, the No. 1 retailer said Thursday.
Net income generated by Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) climbed to $3.14 billion, or 80 cents a share, in the three months ended Oct. 31, up from $2.86 billion, or 70 cents, earned in the year-earlier third quarter.
Profit from continuing operations came in at 77 cents a share, a penny above the FactSet Research-compiled consensus analyst estimate and ahead of the company's own forecast range pegged between 73 cents and 76 cents a share. Quarterly revenue rose 7%, reaching $98.64 billion. |
Weekly Newsletter
printer-friendly format