Sunday, May 19, 2013

QUICK OVERVIEW

  • (Bloomberg) Americans’ confidence in the economy climbed in May to the highest level in almost six years as rising real estate values and record stock prices boosted household wealth.
  •  The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment rose to 83.7, the highest since July 2007.
  • U.S. housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 853,000 last month. The level was 16.5% below the revised March estimate, but was 13.1% higher than the level in April 2012.
  • U.S. Leading indicators rose 0.6% last month after falling a revised 0.2% in March

  • Japans GDP rose by 0.9% in the three months to March, or 3.5 % YoY (Bloomberg) --

  • The U.S. budget deficit will shrink by the end of fiscal 2013 to $642 billion, the smallest shortfall in five years,
  • U.S. Household debt, as a proportion of income, declined from 130% in 2007 to 105 % at the end of 2012.

  • In the same period, Eurozone household debt has risen from 100% to almost 110%.

  • French GDP shrank 0.2% in the three months through March, following a revised 0.2% contraction in the previous quarter.


  • South Koreas Unemployment rate was 3.25 in April, down 0.3% point from a month earlier.

  • YoY German CPI rose by 1.2% last month.
  • The German economy, Europe’s largest, narrowly avoided recession expanding a measly 0.1% in Q1.

  • France, the second-largest economy in the euro zone, is back in recession - contracting 0.2%.

  • Greek unemployment hits new record high of 27% in February.

  • Advanced Cell Technology (ACTC) confirmed that the vision of a patient enrolled in a clinical investigation of the company’s retinal pigment epithelial cells derived from human embryonic stem cells has improved from 20/400 to 20/40 following treatment.

Sunday, May 05, 2013

QUICK OVERVIEW

  • U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 165,000 last month and the jobless rate fell to a four-year low of 7.5 %.

  • American International Group (AIG) investors hoping for a dividend and a buyback this year may be in luck, though the dividend seems more likely. CEO Robert Benmosche repeats on the company's first-quarter conference call that the dividend is something that could happen after AIG completes the sale of its plane-lease unit in coming weeks

  • India cut  the benchmark lending rate by 0.25 points to 7.25%
  • India's government reserves may soon be deposited with commercial banks to boost lending.

  • The European Central Bank cut its main refinancing rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 0.5 per cent.

  • YoY Japans household spending rose 5.2 % in March, in price-adjusted real terms a nine year high, as "Abenomics" gains momentum.

  • At the end of 2012, U.S. household wealth rose to $66.1 trillion, close to the pre-recession peak of $67.4 trillion.

  • Europe will enforce the world's first continent-wide ban on widely used insecticides (neonicotinoid pesticides) linked to serious harm in bees.

  • U.K. avoids triple-dip recession as economy expands by 0.3% in Q1

  • U.S. Pending Home Sales Index rose 1.5% to 105.7.
  • Existing U.S. Home Sales fell 0.6 % to a 4.92 million annual rate.
  • U.S. Feb. S&P/Case-Shiller home prices rose 9.3%

  • YoY U.S. April consumer confidence index rose to 68.1 from 61.9

  • The U.S. Labor Department said that the number of people who applied for new unemployment benefits last week fell by 16,000 to 339,000.

  • As recession continues to sap the Eurozone and wider EU, the Eurostat data agency reported an extra 62,000 people joining unemployment queues in just four weeks in the 17-nation Eurozone as the jobless rate climbed for the 23rd consecutive month -- hitting 12.1% in March.

  • Germany will grow by a meager 0.5% this year, the government said

  • A bunch of weak manufacturing data from America, Europe and Asia has cast serious doubts on the strength of the global economy

  • ARM Holdings ( ARMH) reported Q1 better-than-expected revenue, up 26% YoY

  • (YUM) Yum Brands Inc., owner of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC, reported its first-quarter profit fell 27% to $337 million, or 72 cents a share. (China’s avian/chicken flue problem)

  • ATT  (T) said that earnings rose 3% for Q1.

  • Costco (COST) raised the quarterly dividend 12.7% to $0.31 from $0.275 per share

  • Chevron (CVX) increased its quarterly dividend for the 26th year in a row, to $1 a share, up 11% from 90 cents, for a 3.4% yield.

  • Akamai (AKAM) earned $0.51 a share on revenue of $386 million. That was better than the consensus estimates for $0.46

  • Qualcomm (QCOM) said its second quarter earnings would be lower than analyst forecasts, as the company faces stiffer competition from smaller rivals, especially in Asia.

  • UPS profit rose 7 % in the quarter.

  • China Wireless Technologies said it will pass Samsung Electronics and Lenovo Group to become China's leading cell phone company.  

  • Taiwan reported the first case of bird flu outside mainland China.

  • Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan bought gold just before it plummeted.

  • Brazil's unemployment rate rose to 5.7% in March