EveryJoe » Commerce Department

Homes Sales Up, But Below Expectations

Mark Ellis — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:55:17 +0000

The state of the economy, falling wages, and rising unemployment have had a dramatically negative impact on homes sales over the past year, but several factors have recently contributed to a turnaround in the home market. However, the 0.7 percent gain in home sales that was seen last month was far below what analysts on Wall Street expected.

New-home sales increased in August to 429,000, up from the 426,000 homes that were sold in July, according to statistics released by the Commerce Department. Although it was the fifth consecutive month to feature an increase in home sales, the percentage of growth was much smaller than the 3.4 percent of August 2008 and the number of homes sold was significantly under the 440,000 homes that Thomson Reuters predicted.

Every region in the United States posted a decrease in home sales except for the West region, which includes California. New-home sales throughout the West rose 12.1 percent last month compared to July, but the number is still far below the 30.4 percent gain seen in August 2008.

Image: Flickr

Post from: EveryJoe

Homes Sales Up, But Below Expectations

Wal-Mart Posts Solid Quarterly Results

Mark Ellis — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:53:56 +0000

If there is one company that has benefited from the economic downturn, it is the budget retail giant Wal-Mart, luring in more and more bargain hunting customers as Americans struggle to stretch their paychecks. Despite a noticeable slowdown in consumer spending across the board, Wal-Mart has managed to post an 88 cent-per-share profit, edging out their performance last year and topping analyst expectations.

Wal-Mart’s shares are up 2.5 percent in late-afternoon trading Thursday after having fallen 19 percent since September 2008. Analysts have credited the oft-maligned retail giant with improving its stores dramatically, cutting inventory and making its locations more desirable places for shoppers to visit.

Despite Wal-Mart’s relatively green pastures, the U.S. retail sector is still struggling, with sales having dropped 0.1 percent in July, according to Commerce Department data. Analysts had expected a small gain, deceived by a 0.7 percent increase in sales in June, but rising unemployment and halted consumer spending has all but crippled many retailers, many hoping for a solid back-to-school season to recoup their losses.

Image: Flickr

Post from: EveryJoe

Wal-Mart Posts Solid Quarterly Results

Housing Market Surged in February

Stephen Kersey — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:21:21 +0000

Although the national housing crisis has had a major hand in the economic troubles facing the United States, Tuesday brought some unexpected good news. In the month of February, housing starts were up more than 20%.

House Under Construction - Source: Flickr

The biggest reason for the jump was in the apartment buildings sector of the report. Compared to the previous month, construction of apartments was up more than 80%.

Due to this housing report, which was released by the Commerce Department, the stock market rallied. For the day, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 2.5% to finish at 7,395.70. Other indexes also showed improvements including the Standard & Poor’s 500 (up 3.2%), the NASDAQ composite index (up 4.1%) and the Russell 2000 (up 4.5%).

Though the numbers appear promising, housing experts caution that this news isn’t concrete evidence that the housing market is in recovery. History has shown that the housing reports during winter months can vary wildly due the weather. Even after the more than 20% month-to-month jump, housing starts are still down almost 50% from a year ago.

Source: Wire Reports

Image: Dean Terry

Post from: EveryJoe

Housing Market Surged in February