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SnowStorm posts

Unemployment Held Steady in February

Posted Mar 5th 2010 9:30AM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the Bell, Good news, Economic Data, Recession

For the 25th time in the past 26 months, U.S. nonfarm payrolls fell during February. The Labor Department announced that 36,000 jobs were lost during February, lower than the expected figure of 50,000. The unemployment rate remained at 9.7%, which was better than expectations the rate would rise to 9.8%.

Perhaps all of the government's pre-report hand wringing over the impact of the snowstorms was unwarranted. Some economists believed that the storms could have inflated job losses by 100,000 or more. If the storms indeed caused such losses, it would mean there was a net gain of jobs last month. An increase would have been the second increase since the recession started back in December 2007.

Continue reading Unemployment Held Steady in February

Snow Costs Insurers $2 billion

Posted Feb 15th 2010 10:00AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Economic Data

The two winter storms that hit the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. brought with them $2 billion in insured losses. With wind gusts exceeding 50 mph and snow accumulations topping 30 inches in some places, the majority of insured losses, according to catastrophe modeling firm EQECAT, will be sustained from northern Virginia through the New York metropolitan area. Roof drainage, pipe breakage and water leaks from ice dam in eaves are the most common causes of monetary losses, which find their way up the risk supply chain to insurers.

Continue reading Snow Costs Insurers $2 billion

Snowstorm Bad for Retailers; Online Retailers to Benefit?

Posted Dec 21st 2009 9:40AM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Amazon.com (AMZN), Target Corp. (TGT)

Here, in Cincinnati, we have about an inch of snow on the ground this morning. However, the East Coast is getting hammered and officials have advised residents to stay inside. With 20 inches of snow falling from the sky and piling up, not only are residents of the East Coast feeling the pinch, but it is possible retailers do as well. If denizens of the coast pay attention to the warnings, it could put a major crimp in last-minute Christmas shopping.

Retailer Target (TGT) has announced that it will open an hour earlier and remain open until midnight in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut (along with some stores in Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts) beginning today through Wednesday. The retailer announced this plan in order to give its patrons "more opportunity to make all their holiday purchases."

Continue reading Snowstorm Bad for Retailers; Online Retailers to Benefit?

JetBlue can't catch a break

Posted Feb 26th 2007 9:41AM by Jonathan Berr (RSS feed)
Filed under: Other Issues, Bad News, Consumer Experience, Marketing and Advertising, Columns, JetBlue Airways (JBLU)

JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ:JBLU) canceled 68 flights scheduled to come in and out of its hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport today because forecasts were calling for the region to get hit with as much as 7 inches of snow.

The storm may not be as bad as originally thought. Forecasts this morning on Weather.com are calling for 1 to 3 inches of snow tonight. Did JetBlue overreact? Maybe. But the low-cost airline has good reason to be cautious.

JetBlue's performance is under an electron microscope following the disastrous performance on Valentine's Day in which people were trapped on board planes for hours that never took off. Chief Executive David Neeleman has apologized more than Bill Clinton, Michael Richards and Mel Gibson combined and has offered what he calls a Passenger Bill of Rights that gives vouchers if their flights are delayed.

All hope isn't lost for JetBlue. Judging from the huge response to my previous post, the airline has plenty of fans. The public is fickle though.

People aren't stupid. They understand that airlines don't always run on time and that luggage gets lost. JetBlue will lose the goodwill it enjoys if the public starts to think that it doesn't know what it's doing.

JetBlue's critics should take a chill pill

Posted Feb 15th 2007 11:07AM by Jonathan Berr (RSS feed)
Filed under: Products and Services, Consumer Experience, Marketing and Advertising, Columns, Las Vegas Sands (LVS)

JetBlue Airways Corp. (Nasdaq:JBLU) is getting beaten up in the press because passengers were left stranded for hours on planes that never took off from their runways because of the snow storm that's pounded the Mid-Atlantic region.

About 10 flights were "significantly delayed" with passengers aboard them at the airline's home base at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the company said. More than 250 out of 505 flights were canceled. The media is reporting horror stories of honeymoons delayed, sweltering cabins and unpleasant bathrooms.

Responding to the outrage, JetBlue called the delays "unacceptable" and offered a full refund and a free roundtrip ticket to customers delayed onboard any aircraft for more than three hours. That seems to be more than fair compensation to passengers who shouldn't have expected that flying would be that fun during bad weather.

I'm sure JetBlue, a Wall Street darling, is sincerely sorry for upsetting people and should find ways to prevent this from happening.Today's bad publicity would have been much worse if the company hadn't acted quickly and decisively to respond to the criticism. Other companies should take note.

Lucky for JetBlue shareholders, there was some good news today as well. Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock from neutral to buy. The shares rose almost 4 percent., indicating that Wall Street is expecting the storm of bad publicity to blow over fast.