July 30, 2009
July 30 11:47 PM: The White House reported that on
Thursday they were reviewing a hot program called "Cash
for Clunkers," where consumers can bring old cars that are
inefficient in for cash towards new, efficient cars. The
problem is that the $1 billion that the government set aside
may be exhausted very soon. The Transportation Dept.
notified the President about the issue, and the President
said that they are assessing all options but at this time will
not abandon the program.
July 30 11:25 PM: Walt Disney Co. reported a Q3
profit fall as the company saw weaker ad revenue and sales
to reach a 26% profit decline. The company earned $954
million or 0.52 EPS with revenue dropping 7%. The
company beat The Oxen Group's EPS expectations by 0.01,
but revenue expectations were below analyst estimates.
The company said they are seeing the market stabilizing
and are excited about future prospects, but investors were
not dropping the stock over 3% in after hours.
July 30 10:24 PM: Japan released consumer price data
on Friday morning that showed that the country is in a
deflationary process, with its fourth month of declines. The
decline for June came in at 1.7%, which was lower than the
1.1% decline in May. Even when stripping out food and
energy prices, which are considered volatile prices, prices
still dropped 0.7%. The declines, however, hit estimates,
and Japanese investors were happy with this, sending the
Nikkei 225 up over 1.5%.
July 30 9:17 PM: YRC Worldwide Inc. posted a large
loss in after hours on Thursday after the trucking company
was hit by lowered demand due to the recession and
bankruptcy rumors. The company reported a loss of $309
million or -3.53 EPS, while analysts were expecting EPS to
be around -1.71. Revenue dropped 45% in the quarter, and
most analysts see this as another sign that the company is
on its way to bankruptcy. Shares fell in after hours over
11%.
July 30 5:50 PM: President Barack Obama said on
Thursday afternoon that the economy will have contracted
in Q2 of 2009, but he believes that it has moved in the
proper direction. Obama said he had not seen the GDP, but
he remains optimistic things are getting better as job losses
are stabilizing and the credit market and financial market is
getting extremely better. Analysts are expecting a decline
of 1.5% in the GDP tomorrow.
July 30 4:05 PM: The market rallied and ended up in
the green after a slight pullback late in the market. The Dow
reached its highest level in nine months, gaining 84 points.
The market made major gains on a better than expected
jobs reports and strong earnings from Motorola and
Goodyear Tire. The Nasdaq rose over 16.5 points and
0.84%. The S&P 500 rose over 11 points or nearly 1.20%.
July 30 1:20 PM: The big news of the day was a bullish
unemployment report that came out from the Labor
Department, showing that continuing unemployment
dropped to 6.2 million while analysts thought it would rise
this week to 6.3 million. Job unemployment claims,
however, rose 25,000, which was above what analysts were
expecting. The decrease in continuing claims was very good
news as it is the lowest level since April, but hiring is still
limited.
July 30 11:45 AM: ExxonMobil fell in line with other
energy producers on Thursday morning, reporting
significant declines in profits due to lower gasoline and oil
prices as well as lowered demand. The company made
almost $4 billion in the quarter or 0.81 EPS, however it was
an almost 66% decline from earnings one year ago. The
Oxen Group had expected an EPS at least over 1.00, but a
46% drop in revenue really killed the company. The stock
is down near 1% thus far today.
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July 30 10:25 AM: Cablevision Systems Corp.
announced this morning that they are planning to spin off
Madison Square Garden into another seperate company.
The company reported this along with earnings, but the
news means that the Rangers hockey team and the NBA
Knicks team will have a new company owning it, however,
the Dolan Family, current Cablevision owners, will retain
ownership of the new company, as well. Investors bit on
the news and the stock is up nearly 9% in morning trading.
July 30 9:25 AM: Motorola Inc. gave a surprise to
analysts and investors on Thursday morning as they
turned a profit after taking deep cuts to their company
including an 8,000 employee layoff. The company made a
profit of $26 million, which was 550% higher than one
year ago. The company's EPS was 0.01, while The Oxen
Group was looking for a -0.04 EPS. Revenue fell
significantly, however, the company is forecasting that
they will continue to improve this year and are in the
works of producing two new smartphones.
July 29, 2009
July 29 11:43 PM: The Labor Department released
some bearish news that in 90% of the country's
metropolitan areas the joblessness rate rose in May and
June. The months were increased by college exodus, but
the number is still very high. Only 18 metropolitan areas
saw a decrease in unemployment out of 370. The city with
the largest increase was Tuscaloosa with 12.5%.
July 29 11:40 PM: Visa Inc. reported some positive
earnings in after hours today, stating that they saw their
Q3 profit rise 73% over one year ago. The company
worked hard to cut costs and was able to turn higher
profits even with payment processing volume down. The
company made $729 million or 0.67 EPs, which was right
at The Oxen Group's estimates. The company saw revenue
growth of 2%, but forecasted that the company's Q4
earnings could see higher revenue growth than previously
thought.
July 29 10:15 PM: The Senate passed an important
bill in after hours tonight that focuses on closing the
Yucca Mountain to store radioactive waste, priced at
$34.3 billion. The bill was one of Obama's goals. Along
with the bill were provisions to help bring more water
across the state of California to the San Joaquin Valley
that is in the middle of a major multi-year drought. That
addition was priced at $33.3 billion.
July 29 9:12 PM: The Hartford Financial Services
Group Inc. reported weak earnings on Wednesday night
due to significant losses on investments and premiums.
The company dropped $15 million in the second quarter
with an EPS of 0.06, however it was 105% decline from
one year ago. Core earnings, however, came in above
estimates at $622 million. Shares rose in after hours over
5% on the estimate beat.
July 29 3:52 PM: The Federal Reserve released its
Beige Book report today that gives a snapshot of life in
each major region of the country. The country, the Fed
said, is seeing stabilization in some of the regions of the
country, especially the Northeast and Midwest. The
stabilization in areas around New York, Cleveland, Kansas
City were stabilizing, Chicago said it is seeing moderation
in its declines. Only the areas around Minneapolis
commented that things are still getting worse as of
mid-July from mid-June.
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