Money manager and Fox Business contributor Tobin Smith is dumped by the network following a report his firm accepts money from microcap companies to promote their stocks. Smith and friends just pocketed $50K from a stock endorsement for Petrosonic Energy (PSON.OB), a Bulletin Board company that has no revenues - "taking a bag of cash and luring the dumbest, poorest people into losses," Josh Brown says. [View news story]
"Many Americans don't have enough money to carry them through retirement," writes Jeff Sommer in the NYT. A recent study found that around 44% of households in the baby boom and Generation X generations are likely to run short of cash in their retirement years. One (temporary?) problem is low bond yields, while another is that people are "ill equipped" to mange Individual Retirement Accounts. And then there are 401(k) and other defined-contribution plans, which have ended up as a major part of the retirement system rather than as the supplements they were supposed to be. [View news story]
Over the last 40 years there has been a huge money transfer from the bottom 90% to top few percent. In 1950's top tax rate was 91% on wealth not paid to your workers, today,well you know.
U.S. domestic crude oil production exceeded imports last week for the first time in 16 years, according to the EIA's latest data. Since Jan. 1997, weekly U.S. crude imports averaged ~9.2M bbl/day, topping domestic output by 3.5M bbl/day. But by late 2014, U.S. crude oil output should top imports by nearly 2.5M bbl/day. A slow shift, 16 years in the making, is set to become a flood in little more than 16 months. [View news story]
God bless President for this turnaround, high paying jobs,low cost gasoline.
Wal-Mart (WMT +0.5%) thinks it has the answer on how to keep its shelves stocked adequately at stores as it introduces a new measure to link executive compensation to the issue. In the past, the company audited its on-shelf performance internally but will now turn it over to outside auditors. What started as anecdotal complaints on a lack of items at stores has turned into a larger flap which was even addressed during the firm's recent earnings call. (transcript). [View news story]
Most all Walmart stores have declined in past 2 years.
More on Nonfarm Payrolls: In addition to March's 50K revision higher, February's job gain is revised 64K higher to 332K. Average workweek down 0.2 hours to 34.4. Average hourly earnings +$0.04 to $23.87. Labor force participation rate of 63.3%, flat from March, was 63.6% a year ago. Notable in individual industries is Constructio falling 6K after sizable gains in February and March. Government jobs contract again, -11K after falling 16K in March. [View news story]
Looking for unemployment rate to drop to 6% by year end.
California may face its biggest regional power shortages since the days of Enron this summer, as the state grid will be operating without Edison's (EIX) San Onofre nuclear power plant and two natural gas-fired units, while hydroelectric output will be at a three-year low. Even bigger shortages may await in the next decade as state environmental regulations force more plants to shut down. [View news story]
They need to "step up" the conversion to natural gas and other clean energies.
Red Lobster will reverse a policy instituted last year which saw new servers hired at a lower pay scale and increased the number of tables each server handled at a time in order to cut costs for Darden Restaurants (DRI -1.5%). The company admits customer service complaints rose to a level that it couldn't ignore any longer. [View news story]
The gold bear market/correction continues with the metal sliding to $1,537/oz., the lowest since last summer. Looking at a longer-term chart, gold has bounced off the low-mid $1,500 level a few times over the last 18 months. A drop below that would break what the technicians like to call "long-term support." The pattern in silver is similar. GLD -1.6%, SLV -2.2% premarket. [View news story]
Gold and silver were the investment choice for all Conservatives, Glen Beck was the #1 salesmen along with Fox News.
Gasoline prices this Easter weekend are at their lowest level in recent years, according to AAA; on average, a gallon of gasoline set back U.S. drivers $3.64 Friday, vs. $3.93 last Easter and $3.86 in 2011. Meanwhile, the Obama administration announced new rules Friday meant to reduce sulfur in gasoline and tighten emissions standards for cars and trucks, which could push up prices by as much as $0.09/gallon. [View news story]
President Obama has done a good job expanding domestic energy.
Exxon Mobil (XOM) says a crude oil pipeline has ruptured in Arkansas spilling thousands of barrels of oil into a subdivision. The EPA has classified the event as a "major spill" and more than 20 homes have been evacuated.[View news story]
Its President Obama's fault,Conservatives would say.
Airlines around the world have gone to great lengths in recent years to reduce the weight they carry, with an eye to decreasing fuel requirements and increasing profit. So if weight is such a key concern for airlines' operations, why not charge for overweight passengers as well as overweight baggage? At least one economist thinks it's a great idea. [View news story]
Overweight people should pay more for almost everthing, flying-health insurance-fast foods-federal taxes. US could increase GDP by about 1% with this insensitive for good health.
"iRadio is coming. There's no doubt about it," a music industry source tells The Verge's Greg Sandoval. After months of tough negotiations with studios, Apple (AAPL) is said to be aiming for a summer launch. The company's reported plan to limit the service to Apple hardware stands to affect its popularity with customers who listen to music on both Apple and non-Apple gear. Sandoval adds the music industry has "a love-hate relationship" with Pandora (P), believing (in spite of Pandora's gripes about royalty rates) it "chokes off demand" for more profitable services. [View news story]
AAPL is still overpriced, I'm still staying with IBM.
Wal-Mart (WMT -0.3%) may be losing sales due to a thin workforce unable to keep store shelves stocked, according to a growing number of anecdotal reports from unhappy shoppers. While the company increased its store count 13% over the last five years, the number of employees fell 1.4% - leading to less customer service and some stores tipping toward the disorganized side. It's a trend that may be working in the favor of Costco (COST +0.2%) and Target (TGT -0.3%). [View news story]
WallMart employees are non-union, most receive federal food stamps and Medicaid.
More on Cyprus: EU finance ministers approve deal. Bloomberg says deposits above €100K at Bank of Cyprus could incur losses up to 40% while deposits above the €100K threshold at Cyprus Popular Bank (Laiki) may be wiped out entirely. Deal may not need to be approved by the Cypriot parliament. [View news story]
Guns are overpriced, by summer they will be down 20%.
Money manager and Fox Business contributor Tobin Smith is dumped by the network following a report his firm accepts money from microcap companies to promote their stocks. Smith and friends just pocketed $50K from a stock endorsement for Petrosonic Energy (PSON.OB), a Bulletin Board company that has no revenues - "taking a bag of cash and luring the dumbest, poorest people into losses," Josh Brown says. [View news story]
"Many Americans don't have enough money to carry them through retirement," writes Jeff Sommer in the NYT. A recent study found that around 44% of households in the baby boom and Generation X generations are likely to run short of cash in their retirement years. One (temporary?) problem is low bond yields, while another is that people are "ill equipped" to mange Individual Retirement Accounts. And then there are 401(k) and other defined-contribution plans, which have ended up as a major part of the retirement system rather than as the supplements they were supposed to be. [View news story]
U.S. domestic crude oil production exceeded imports last week for the first time in 16 years, according to the EIA's latest data. Since Jan. 1997, weekly U.S. crude imports averaged ~9.2M bbl/day, topping domestic output by 3.5M bbl/day. But by late 2014, U.S. crude oil output should top imports by nearly 2.5M bbl/day. A slow shift, 16 years in the making, is set to become a flood in little more than 16 months. [View news story]
Wal-Mart (WMT +0.5%) thinks it has the answer on how to keep its shelves stocked adequately at stores as it introduces a new measure to link executive compensation to the issue. In the past, the company audited its on-shelf performance internally but will now turn it over to outside auditors. What started as anecdotal complaints on a lack of items at stores has turned into a larger flap which was even addressed during the firm's recent earnings call. (transcript). [View news story]
More on Nonfarm Payrolls: In addition to March's 50K revision higher, February's job gain is revised 64K higher to 332K. Average workweek down 0.2 hours to 34.4. Average hourly earnings +$0.04 to $23.87. Labor force participation rate of 63.3%, flat from March, was 63.6% a year ago. Notable in individual industries is Constructio falling 6K after sizable gains in February and March. Government jobs contract again, -11K after falling 16K in March. [View news story]
Sturm Ruger (RGR): Q1 EPS of $1.20 beats by $0.19. Revenue of $155.9M beats by $24.25M. (PR) [View news story]
California may face its biggest regional power shortages since the days of Enron this summer, as the state grid will be operating without Edison's (EIX) San Onofre nuclear power plant and two natural gas-fired units, while hydroelectric output will be at a three-year low. Even bigger shortages may await in the next decade as state environmental regulations force more plants to shut down. [View news story]
Red Lobster will reverse a policy instituted last year which saw new servers hired at a lower pay scale and increased the number of tables each server handled at a time in order to cut costs for Darden Restaurants (DRI -1.5%). The company admits customer service complaints rose to a level that it couldn't ignore any longer. [View news story]
The gold bear market/correction continues with the metal sliding to $1,537/oz., the lowest since last summer. Looking at a longer-term chart, gold has bounced off the low-mid $1,500 level a few times over the last 18 months. A drop below that would break what the technicians like to call "long-term support." The pattern in silver is similar. GLD -1.6%, SLV -2.2% premarket. [View news story]
Gasoline prices this Easter weekend are at their lowest level in recent years, according to AAA; on average, a gallon of gasoline set back U.S. drivers $3.64 Friday, vs. $3.93 last Easter and $3.86 in 2011. Meanwhile, the Obama administration announced new rules Friday meant to reduce sulfur in gasoline and tighten emissions standards for cars and trucks, which could push up prices by as much as $0.09/gallon. [View news story]
Exxon Mobil (XOM) says a crude oil pipeline has ruptured in Arkansas spilling thousands of barrels of oil into a subdivision. The EPA has classified the event as a "major spill" and more than 20 homes have been evacuated. [View news story]
Airlines around the world have gone to great lengths in recent years to reduce the weight they carry, with an eye to decreasing fuel requirements and increasing profit. So if weight is such a key concern for airlines' operations, why not charge for overweight passengers as well as overweight baggage? At least one economist thinks it's a great idea. [View news story]
"iRadio is coming. There's no doubt about it," a music industry source tells The Verge's Greg Sandoval. After months of tough negotiations with studios, Apple (AAPL) is said to be aiming for a summer launch. The company's reported plan to limit the service to Apple hardware stands to affect its popularity with customers who listen to music on both Apple and non-Apple gear. Sandoval adds the music industry has "a love-hate relationship" with Pandora (P), believing (in spite of Pandora's gripes about royalty rates) it "chokes off demand" for more profitable services. [View news story]
Wal-Mart (WMT -0.3%) may be losing sales due to a thin workforce unable to keep store shelves stocked, according to a growing number of anecdotal reports from unhappy shoppers. While the company increased its store count 13% over the last five years, the number of employees fell 1.4% - leading to less customer service and some stores tipping toward the disorganized side. It's a trend that may be working in the favor of Costco (COST +0.2%) and Target (TGT -0.3%). [View news story]
More on Cyprus: EU finance ministers approve deal. Bloomberg says deposits above €100K at Bank of Cyprus could incur losses up to 40% while deposits above the €100K threshold at Cyprus Popular Bank (Laiki) may be wiped out entirely. Deal may not need to be approved by the Cypriot parliament.
[View news story]