Continue reading U.S. Stock Futures Up as Investors Await New Home Sales Data

U.S. Stock Futures Up as Investors Await New Home Sales Data originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading U.S. Stock Futures Signal Higher Start on Wall Street

U.S. Stock Futures Signal Higher Start on Wall Street originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With earnings season in full swing, the FOMC meeting on interest rates, the GDP estimate, and housing numbers due out, the coming week is shaping up to be a busy one. So here's a peek at what's on the economic calendar.

Monday

Quarterly reports from American Express (AXP) and McDonald's (MCD) will highlight Monday. Amgen (AMGN), CSX (CSX), Halliburton (HAL) and Texas Instruments (TXN) are also expected to report strong earnings results.

Continue reading Week in Preview: GDP, FOMC Meeting, Housing Data and Lots of Earnings

Week in Preview: GDP, FOMC Meeting, Housing Data and Lots of Earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 23 Jan 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Housing steps into the spotlight again this coming week. The release of the National Association of Homebuilders Housing Market Index starts out the week on Monday morning. Then on Tuesday morning, look for housing starts data from August. Release of the July FHFA House Price Index is scheduled for Wednesday. And numbers for existing home sales and for new home sales in August are due out Thursday and Friday, respectively. Overall, the housing market is expected to have continued to lose momentum in August, but less dramatically than in July.

Also on the economic calendar this week: Tuesday's FOMC meeting on interest rates, the Conference Board's Leading Economic Indicators Index for August on Thursday, initial jobless claims for last week, and durable goods orders data for August on Friday. No significant changes from the Fed are anticipated, but the leading economic indicators may rise a bit.

Continue reading The Week in Preview: Housing Data, Lennar's Earnings and More

The Week in Preview: Housing Data, Lennar's Earnings and More originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 19 Sep 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Wednesday morning got off to a slow start for the market as a whole, and the July home sales report didn't going to help matters much. According to the Commerce Department, new home sales plummeted 12.4% in July compared to June.

The drop brings the seasonally adjusted annual sales pace to 276,600, far short of the expected pace of 330,000. Not only is this pace short of the expected result, but it is the slowest pace on record, which dates back to 1963.

Continue reading New Home Sales Fall to Record Low in July

New Home Sales Fall to Record Low in July originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Most of the S&P 500 companies have already reported earnings results for the most recent quarter. But scheduled to release their results this week are Medtronic (MDT) and Novell (NOVL), which analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect to post earnings per share (EPS) about same as last year, as well as JDS Uniphase (JDSU), Patterson Companies (PDCO) and Tiffany & Co. (TIF), for which analysts foresee year-over-year earnings growth. Of these, the expectations are highest for Tiffany.

During the three months that ended in July, Tiffany launched an iPhone app and increased its quarterly dividend. Analysts expect the New York-based specialty retailer to report that earnings per share came to 53 cents, a 26.4% increase from a year earlier. Second-quarter revenue is expected to have grown 12.8% to $690.8 million. So far, analysts predict full-year earnings of $2.61 per share (+22.9%) on $3.0 billion (+11.8%) in revenue. Earnings results topped consensus estimates in four of the past five quarters, by 11 cents per share in the first quarter.

Continue reading The Week in Preview: Eye on Tiffany, Canadian Banks, Semtech

The Week in Preview: Eye on Tiffany, Canadian Banks, Semtech originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading U.S. Economic Uncertainty Creates a Range-Bound Dow

U.S. Economic Uncertainty Creates a Range-Bound Dow originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Today, the Commerce Department reported that new home sales plunged to a seven-month low. The drop was a whopping 11.3%, the biggest decline since January, to 355,000 units.

There is a bit of good news in that the median price of new homes rose by 3.8% to $217,400.

Continue reading New Home Sales Plunge to a Seven-Month Low

New Home Sales Plunge to a Seven-Month Low originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Commerce Department reported that year over year, sales are still down 21.3%. The median price was $206,000 in June, down 12% from $234,000 in June 2008.

Continue reading Is the housing slump over? Sales of new homes surge 11% in past month

Is the housing slump over? Sales of new homes surge 11% in past month originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The economy is sending mixed signals right now.

Unemployment is up, and consumer sentiment is down. Plenty of companies are posting profits, but they're taking advantage of lower expectations and cost-cutting rather than revenue growth from an economic recovery. Rents are under pressure - both residential and commercial.

Continue reading Counting on a recovery? The answer's a resounding MAYBE

Counting on a recovery? The answer's a resounding MAYBE originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Given last week's news that new home sales have plunged and that new home prices continue to fall, what is Wall Street expecting from homebuilders Centex Corp. (NYSE: CTX), Pulte Homes Inc. (NYSE: PHM), and DR Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) when they report quarterly results this week?

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters anticipate that Dallas-based Centex will report that it narrowed its net loss in its fiscal third quarter to $3.27 per share. In the same period of last year, the loss was $7.94 per share. Revenue in the third quarter is expected to total $895.3 million, down 53.0% from last year. For the full year, the loss is expected to reach $7.36 per share on revenue of $4.0 billion, which compares to a $21.69 per share loss on $8.3 billion in sales in 2008. Centex has posted bigger-than-expected losses in the past five quarters. So the consensus recommendation of analysts remains to hold CTX, though the long-range EPS growth forecast is 9.0%. The share price has fallen 20.0% just since the beginning of the year, and it is 70.7% lower than it was a year ago. Centex suspended its quarterly dividends back in October.

Continue reading Earnings preview: Homebuilders Centex, Pulte Homes, and DR Horton

Earnings preview: Homebuilders Centex, Pulte Homes, and DR Horton originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 01 Feb 2009 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading New home sales fall by 37.8% from 2007 levels to lowest level on record

New home sales fall by 37.8% from 2007 levels to lowest level on record originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading U.S. new home sales fall 5.3% in October to lowest level since 1991

U.S. new home sales fall 5.3% in October to lowest level since 1991 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

New home sales in the U.S. fell 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted, annualized pace of 512,000 in May, with sales in the Western U.S. plunging to a 26-year low, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Wednesday (pdf).

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected May new home sales to register a 515,000 annualized rate.

Sales are still down about 40% compared to a year ago. In 2007, 776,000 new homes were sold, compared to 1.05 million in 2006.

Meanwhile, inventories rose to a 10.9-month supply in May at the current sales pace, compared to a 10.6-month supply in April. A typical, healthy housing market has a three to four month supply of homes for sale.

Sales fell in three regions: 11.6% in the West, 7.9% in the Northeast, and 5.1% in the Midwest. Sales rose a scant 0.4% in the South. Further, the West's 114,000 annualized sales pace was that region's slowest sales pace in 26 years.

Continue reading New home sales fall 2.5% in May to 512k annual rate

New home sales fall 2.5% in May to 512k annual rate originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Baum: Stagnant housing sector needs drastic action ... such as lowered prices

Baum: Stagnant housing sector needs drastic action ... such as lowered prices originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

New home sales unexpectedly rise for first time in 6 months originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 May 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Meanwhile, inventories surged to an 11-month supply at the March 2008 sales rate, up from a 9.8-month supply in February. Inventories are at their highest level since 1981. A healthy housing market typically has a 3-4 month supply.

Continue reading March U.S. new home sales plunge 8.5% to 17-year low

March U.S. new home sales plunge 8.5% to 17-year low originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Meanwhile, the December 2007 seasonally-adjusted total was revised to 605,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in January 2008 fell 4.3% to $216,000; the average sales price rose 0.7% to $276,600.

In addition, the seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of January 2008 was 482,000 -- representing a 9.9-month supply at current the current sales rate.

Economist Steve Affinito told BloggingStocks Wednesday the January 2008 new home sales data is in-line with earlier data on existing home sales, indicating that the housing slump is far from over.

Continue reading January new home sales fall 2.8% to 588k annual rate, below estimate

January new home sales fall 2.8% to 588k annual rate, below estimate originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading New home sales fall 4.7% in December to a 12-year low

New home sales fall 4.7% in December to a 12-year low originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Several major pieces of economic news were released this morning, and all were good. Personal Spending rose more than expected, the fastest growth in two years. The Chicago PMI report rose more than expected as well. The Michigan Consumer Sentiment report seemed to hold its own. In addition, the core inflation number came in within the Fed's target range.

This is a major contrast to the numbers earlier in the week. Durable Goods and Consumer Confidence reports were terrible, and both Existing and New Home Sales indicated that there appears to be no end in sight for the housing slump. The only good number was Second-Quarter GDP. However, this was prior to the turmoil created in the markets by the credit crisis.

Then, why did the stock market rally on the bad news and is going down today on these positive economic reports? It's the liquidity. The stock market is driven by money and credit. As there is greater availability and lower cost, the market performs better. Who is the ultimate gatekeeper for this? You guessed it: the Federal Reserve.

Continue reading The economy and the Fed: When good news is bad!

The economy and the Fed: When good news is bad! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Sep 2007 12:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.