Housing

January New Home Sales Falls 11%

Sales of new homes in January fell 11 percent to an annual pace of 309,000, figures from the Commerce Department showed today. The median sales price dropped 2.4 percent from January 2009 and the supply of unsold homes increased.
The dip in new home sales number was unexpected and the number is the lowest level on record, a sign that an extension of a government tax credit may not be enough to respark demand.

Feb 24 · 10:15:00 AM
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by Larry Etter

Exxon Mobil (XOM)

French Labor Unrest Threatens Gas Shortages

A strike squeezing French oil refineries spread Tuesday to facilities owned by ExxonMobil, raising the pressure on Total SA and the government to ward off gas shortages.
Workers at an ExxonMobil-owned Esso depot joined in the walkout Tuesday to support their Total colleagues, who have been striking since last week over plans to close a plant in northern France. The Esso depot in Port Jerome, on the English Channel, was closed before dawn for lack of workers, CGT union organizer Laurent Delaunay said. Workers at an Esso refinery in neighboring Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon, France's second-largest refinery, were set to walk out later Tuesday. Together, Total and Esso refineries account for about 70 percent of France's refining capacity. A prolonged strike and serious gas shortages could be bruising for French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government as it faces regional elections in less than three weeks. The refinery blockages come amid other acts of unrest among French workers, including an air traffic controllers' strike canceling hundreds of flights Tuesday.

Feb 24 · 12:31:00 AM · Source: Forbes
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by Michael Oliveto

Boeing (BA)

Boeing Continues Layoffs

Boeing will lay off 527 employees in the Puget Sound area by April 23, most of them from its Engineering, Operations and Technology unit.
The layoffs, detailed by Boeing in a WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act) notification, are part of a larger group of 1,020 workers companywide who received layoff notices on Friday. The layoffs are part of a 10,000-person force reduction plan announced last year by Boeing CEO Jim McNerney.

Feb 23 · 11:57:00 PM · Source: MSN Money
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by Michael Oliveto

Housing

U.S. Home Prices Dip in December

U.S. home prices slipped in December but the annual rate of decline slowed, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller indexes. The S&P composite index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas dipped 0.2 percent in December, matching the decrease in November. This amounts to a 3.1 percent annual drop.
The numbers reinforce the housing recovery is still rocky.

Feb 23 · 10:09:00 AM
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by Larry Etter

Interest Rates

The Fed said late Thursday it is raising its discount rate by a quarter percentage point, or 25 basis points, to 0.75%. The central bank said in a statement it made the move in response to improving financial market conditions.
Ben Bernanke's Fed is taking a small step toward normal policy. The move is largely symbolic, because banks do little borrowing at the discount window. The unanimous decision to boost the discount rate also has no effect on the more widely watched federal funds rate, which measures the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans. That rate is expected to remain between 0% and 0.25% for the foreseeable future, given the slack in the labor market and the still fragile state of the economy.

Feb 19 · 11:05:00 PM · Source: CNN Money
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by Michael Oliveto

Sysco (SYY)

Sysco Declares Dividend

Sysco Corporation announced today that its Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share, payable on April 23, 2010, to common shareholders of record at the close of business on April 1, 2010.
At today's stock price of $29.12, Sysco currently yields 3.43%.

Feb 19 · 3:33:00 PM · Source: Company Press Release
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by Rich Pike

CPI

The cost of living in the U.S. rose in January less than anticipated and a measure of prices excluding food and fuel fell for the first time since 1982, indicating the recovery is generating little inflation. The consumer-price index increased 0.2 percent for a fifth straight month, led by higher fuel cost. However, the Labor Department figures revealed today showed that excluding energy and food, the "core index" unexpectedly fell 0.1 percent, reflecting a drop in new-car prices, clothing and shelter.
The big broader picture shows subdued inflation, giving the Fed to keep rates down for now.

Feb 19 · 2:52:00 PM
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by Larry Etter

IBM (IBM)

IBM Awarded Government Modernization Contract

IBM has been awarded a contract to modernize the U.S. Government's Acquisition and Procurement System. IBM will work to modernize a system that federal agencies and their suppliers use to source equipment, supplies, information technology (IT) and telecommunications services. The award made by the U.S. General Services Administration has a contract value of $74.4 million over an eight-year period.
This is another feather in the cap of IBM's services push.

Feb 19 · 2:32:00 PM · Source: Company Press Release
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by Larry Etter