Stock futures were down this morning as Wachovia Corp (NYSE: WB) posted its first quarterly loss since 2001 and cut its dividend. One of the biggest banks in the country, Wachovia reported a loss of $393 million, or 20 cents a share, compared with earnings of $2.3 billion, or $1.20 a year ago. The Wall Street Journal reported that Wachovia is to receive a capital infusion of about $7 billion.
Stocks tumbled on Friday after disappointing Q1 earnings from General Electric (NYSE: GE) and a 26-year low in U.S. consumer sentiment, among other economic bad news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 256.56 points, or 2.04%, the S&P 500 lost 27.72 points, or 2.04%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 61.46 points, or 2.6%. The Group of 7, who began meetings on Friday, "downgraded their outlook" for the global economy, saying that it may continue to slow.
In the news today, Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) made an unsolicited bid of
In Europe and Asia, stocks tumbled today on GE's earnings surprise and pessimistic G-7 pronouncements. Royal Philips Electronics, Europe's largest consumer electronics maker, also reported a bigger decline in Q1 profit than analysts had expected.
Economic figures due out today include retail sales for March, which will be released at 8:30 a.m. EST. Sales are expected to rise slightly by 0.1%. Excluding autos, they are estimated to rise by 0.2%. According to Bloomberg, any good news in retail sales would be a surprise, and if the news is all bad, "a recession in the first quarter will be certain." February business inventories data are due at 10:00 a.m. EST.
This is a huge earnings week with quarterly reports due from JPMorgan Chase, Intel Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and Pfizer, among others. These reports will, no doubt, set the tone for the week.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-14-2008 @ 8:57AM
B. Harrison said...
Is this a belated reporting of loses that were not reported in previous quarters? If so would that be a violation of the banks fiduciary and ethical responsibilites to stock holders?
It just apears that "creative accounting"practices have contributed significantly and substantially to inducing investors to continue to invest in a troubled financial institution. It appears that a large part of these "write down" problems is past "creative accounting" and auditing practices that hid the financial truth from the investors and the regulators.
Isn't it time to put some teeth into accounting and auditing integrity? And should some individuals be facing "criminal charges" for fraud in deveiving investors?