Posted by Myrna Moss, Sep 28, 2007, 4:18pm
Brought to you by Financial Times
To the tune of lowered income, increased spending and plummeting value of the dollar, major indexes down on the day. The DJIA down -17.31 to 13895.63. The S&P 500 lost -4.63 to close at 1526.75and the Nasdaq fell -8.09to 2701.50. Random Index spinner: Hang Seng Index: up 77.32 to close at 27,142.47.
Personal consumption expenditures declined 0.1% compared to last month. Excluding food and energy the PCE rose 1.8%. Construction spending increased by 0.2% defying expectations of a -0.3% slip.
On the NYSE Friday, 1,337 stocks up and 1,984 down, totaling 883.5 million shares traded.
The euro was at $1.4261 from $1.4147 against the dollar – closing at another high. The dollar was at 114.78 yen from 115.65 yesterday. Crude closing at $81.63 and after reaching a 27 intraday high, gold closed $750.50.
For more market action FT Alphaville
Posted by Myrna Moss, Sep 28, 2007, 1:42pm
Whoever said sexism isn’t alive and well in America has been asleep behind the wheel or living under a rock for, well, forever. Now, before you get all PC on us, save your breath. The glass ceiling here at Dealbreaker is not only buttressed by myself and Bess Levin – but John Carney smiles down on us and his other female minions from time to time sitting on his glass thrown in his ivory tower.
In addition to Dealbreaker, Neiman Marcus management has an interesting division of how they divvy up “allowances” to their CEO’s. Karen Katz, President and CEO gets an annual $25k allowance for clothing while CEO Burton Tansky doesn’t get jack. He does however, get a $12k car allowance (will that even get you a Ford Festiva?). James J. Gold, president of Bergdorf Goodman received a $167k “cost of living” adjustment for relocating from Texas to New York and an additional $296k for NY state taxes. Footnoted.org poses the question – are women simply more focused on clothing while men are more focused on cars and taxes?
Dealbreaker.com gets to the heart of the matter – men get more tail when they drive a hot car. Women can only get men to listen to them if they dress slutty.
On how men and women differ… [footnoted.org]
Posted by Myrna Moss, Sep 27, 2007, 4:30pm
Brought to you by Financial Times.
Tomorrow is the last trading day of Q3 and we expect to see some increased volatility in trading Friday. Today saw the highest rise of the Nasdaq since July despite weakened new-home sales which declined 8.3%. New home purchases have slowed to a crawl - 795,000 its lowest level in 7 years with prices declining by the most since 1970. Did someone say more interest rate cuts??
Market movers: Sallie Mae’s stock climbed to its highest level in six months amidst expectations of a new takeover agreement. Exxon and Chevron also saw plenty of action as crude prices continue to rise.
Major index numbers as follows: The DJIA up 32.51 to close at 13910.66. The S&P 500 rose 5.18 to 1530.60. The Nasdaq ascended 9.23 to 2708.26 to it’s highest since July 19th. The Russell added 4.89 to 814.01. The 10YR Note also up 13/32 to close at 4.573%. Random index spinner of the day: CAC 40 Index up 42.60 to close at 5,733.37.
Total number of shares traded on the NYSE 1.18 billion with 2,215 in the green and 1,078 seeing red. The US Dollar flexed it’s muscle moving up to $1.4147 from $1.4125 against the euro. The greenback up ten yen cents or whatever the heck you call it from 115.55 yesterday to close at 115.65.
Tomorrows numbers to look out for: Construction spending and Consumer sentiment both at 10:00 ET.
Stay up all night with FT Alphaville
Posted by Myrna Moss, Sep 27, 2007, 1:50pm
Kenneth Heebner’s CGM Realty Fund is liquidating its positions in SL Green Realty Corp - Manhattan’s largest office landlord.
"You're seeing a retrenchment in the private-equity, hedge-fund and brokerage businesses, and there could be a lot of layoffs,'' Heebner, 66 told Bloomberg in a recent interview. "That could have a devastating impact on high-end residential real estate in New York. Appetite for office space will also decline."
More from the Heebner after after the jump.
Continue Reading »
Posted by Myrna Moss, Sep 27, 2007, 1:42pm
Filing annual reports and auditing financial statements according to US GAAP standards is excruciating for all public companies but for NEC electronics, it’s become a debilitating factor in their American depository receipts trading on our exchange.
The company formerly known as Nippon Electronic Company’s ADRs will no longer be traded on the Nasdaq as of today. Not only are they unable to file their Form 20-F for the fiscal year rounding up in March ’06, they announced their US filings dating back to 1999 are unreliable.
According to a report by CNN Money, the NEC said a restatement (of their annual report) "is not practicable" because of the complexities involved in determining the necessary adjustments. We previously reported that the Europeans are also taking issue with our accounting principles and filing standards and realize we’re seeing a trend here.
Are our accounting standards REALLY that difficult? Is this our problem or theirs? Have our accounting rules become so arcane they're driving companies away from us? A bunch of you have your CFA designation – tell us what’s going on here.
Nasdaq Takes Step to Delist NEC Corp. [Wall Street Journal]
NEC Will Not File Fiscal 2006 Report [CNNMoney.com]
Posted by Myrna Moss, Sep 26, 2007, 4:30pm
Brought to you by Financial Times
Up, up and away. Major indexes pressed close to record highs. It's like we're erasing August from the calendar.
The DJIA up 131.61 to 13910.26, not far from its record close of 14000.41,The S&P 500 up 11.03 to 1528.24. The Nasdaq up 18.08 to 2701.53. The Russell up 6.12 to close at 809.12. The 10-YR Note remains unchanged on the day.
Durable goods orders numbers out today with a decline of -4.9% to $219.53 billion. Orders for nondefense capital goods (excluding aircraft) fell -0.7%. While commercial planes orders fell -41.0%. Transportation orders down -11.2%.
The dollar gained some momentum on the euro $1.4126. The greenback also up against the yen at 115.50. Crude up 77 cents to close at $80.30.
Total number of shares traded on the NYSE today: 1.27 billion. With 2,161 rising and 1,150 declining by market close.
Hunker down for the night with FT Alphaville
Posted by Myrna Moss, Sep 25, 2007, 4:30pm
Brought to you by Financial Times
Consumer confidence index at its lowest since November 2005 – down even more than the Conference Board’s index prediction of 105.6. Along those lines, existing home sales saw their lowest numbers since August 2002 – dropping 13% since September last year. In spite of these down numbers, it didn’t shake up stocks too much as indicated below.
Musings of two additional Fed interest-rate cuts before year-end persist as economists site sluggish consumer spending and falling home prices. This forecast riding on the coattails of Lennar – home builder who reported a loss of 4% on earnings and as a result has had to cut its employee force by 35%.
Major index numbers as follows: The DJIA up 0.14% to close at 13778.65. The Nasdaq up 0.58% ending the day at 2683.45. S&P 500 down -0.03% to close at 1517.21. The Russell down -0.35% closing at -0.35%. And the 10-Yr Note up 0.09% or 3/32 at 4.626%. And today’s random index:
NASDAQ TRANSPORTATION IX – up 0.79% closing at 2,878.73.
On the NYSE 1,338 stocks were up and 1,938 in the red. Total volume traded today - 1.33 billion shares.
For your reading pleasure, FT Alphaville
Posted by Myrna Moss, Sep 25, 2007, 3:26pm
Ever the persistent bunch, the Europeans will stop at nothing to get a slice of that delectable American pie. If it’s not attempting to rename the simple hot dog into something called a Frankfurters, it’s our wallets they are after. Now it seems they want the SEC to confirm to their dodgy accounting principles. The New York Times reported today, “In a letter released yesterday, the European Association of Listed Companies said the Securities and Exchange Commission should allow the use of international accounting standards but should not insist that companies follow all the standards. Instead, the group said, the S.E.C. should accept modifications imposed by the European Commission.
Such a change, if approved by the S.E.C., would reduce the power of the International Accounting Standards Board, which is based in London and sets rules now used in many countries.
Currently, companies whose securities are registered in the United States must either prepare their financial statements in accordance with American rules (known as generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP), or reconcile them to those rules. The proposed S.E.C. rule would eliminate that requirement starting next year.”
Sure, sure. It would probably help our exchanges out by making it easier for foreign companies to list on US exchanges. And there are some advantages to those fancy European principals based accounting standards. But we’re still suspicious of letting the E.U. start issuing instructions to the SEC.
Just keep your mayonnaise off our freedom fries you Belgian busy-bodies!
A Plan to Let S.E.C. Accept Foreign Rules Is Opposed [New York Times]
Posted by Myrna Moss, Sep 24, 2007, 4:30pm
Brought to you by Financial Times
Off to an optimistic start, stocks took a downturn after late morning trading. Even less optimistic, the euro $1.4086 against the dollar. Notice the influx of tourists brimming the streets of Times Square? The dollar will also get you 114.85 yen.
In major indexes, the DJIA fell down 31.95 to 13788.24. The S&P 500 declined 5.99 to 1519.76, and the Nasdaq declined 3.80 to 2667.42. The Russell 2000 index down 9.05 to 804.06. Finally, The 10-year note rose 2/32 to yield 4.624%. Today’s Index Spinner: S&P EURO INDEX 1,780.76-3.37-0.19%
The tech sector saw a bit more action than others today with AAPL up 2.6%, MSFT up 2.6%, and EMC up 6.8% in anticipation of the Halo 3 launch.
Tomorrow sees Consumer Confidence announcements as well as Existing Home Sales. Both report at 10amET.
For more market hotness visit FT Alphaville
Posted by Myrna Moss, Sep 24, 2007, 2:35pm
In the Anglo-Western world, financial institutions left and right are patting themselves on the back for adding more of that “other” gender to their echelons of upper-management.
According the Financial News Online, “The number of female directors on the boards of the 20 banks surveyed has increased by 75%, from 20 to 35, and the overall percentage of female directors has risen from 7.7% to 12.3%. More than half of the respondents increased the number of female directors in the past five years.”
And according to a diversity survey conducted by Financial News, it’s important for banks to hire more women and for these banks to encourage support groups to “mentor” women. Because clearly, the fairer sex needs more mentoring…?
Women Gain Larger Presence on Banks’ Boards [Dealbook]
Banks bring in more women as directors [Financial News]
Do Women Belong In The Kitchen? [Askmen.com]
