Archive for the ‘Housing’ Category

Market lower on weak new home sales

Posted by Michael on October 28th, 2009

tradersThe markets are trading in the red today, being pulled down by investor concern over the most recent data regarding the housing market.

According to the Commerce Department this morning, September sales of new homes dropped by 3.6%. September’s annual rate was 402,000 units, which was below the expected 440,000 annual units.

The average price for a new home was also lower, falling 9.1 percent on a year-over-year basis to $204,800. On the bright side, that is up 2.5 percent from August.

The housing market has been rebounding a bit lately, but things could turn around quickly should the current $8,000 tax incentive expire at the end of next month. It has been given credit for helping boost sales, but analysts are worried what will happen if Congress does not extend the program.

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Market closes in the green

Posted by Michael on March 25th, 2009

We saw some profit taking yesterday in the aftermath of the strong run the markets posted on Monday, but we got back on track today with some more positive gains for the major indexes.

The DOW closed the day up 1.2%, while the NASDAQ put up a gain of 0.8% for the session.

Helping the market out today was news that new home sales in February jumped by 4.7%. While the current sales levels are running at close to record lows, it was encouraging for the market to see buyers start to come back into the market.

The day was erratic as investors continue to try to figure out which way the economy is headed. The past two week rally has brought some hope and confidence back into the market, but there are still many obstacles, and news today that the government was finding demand to be weak for some of its debt, raising questions about how easily it is going to be for Washington to raise the money it needs for all the recent spending announcements.

For now the market remains cautious and unsure of what is about to happen next.

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Posted in After the Bell, Good News, Housing 1 Comment »

Another down day for the market

Posted by Michael on February 25th, 2009

After yesterday’s rally, and President Obama’s speech last night, it would have been nice to see another strong day for the market, but that was not the case as sellers came back in and sent all the major markets lower in today’s trading.

As we know, the housing market has been a major drain on the overall economy, and the real estate market got some more bad news today as we learned that January existing home sales dropped by more than expected.

Several big names hit new fresh 52 week lows today:

  • Pfizer (PFE)
  • Las Vegas Sands (LVS)
  • Nokia (NOK)
  • Caterpillar (CAT)
  • Boeing (BA)

We will see if the markets are able to pick up some steam tomorrow, but for now it looks like pessimism is still running wild on Wall Street

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Posted in After the Bell, Bad News, Housing, Major Moves, Politics Tags: , , , No Comments »

Market Update – Markets close the week on a sour note

Posted by Michael on February 13th, 2009

Friday was another sell off for the market, as investors continue to show fear ahead of a plan out of Washington on how to reverse the current recession that seems to be deepening with each passing day.

The DOW was down 1.04% today, the NASDAQ traded 0.5% lower, and the S&P dropped another 1.0% in today’s trading.

For the week, the DOW dropped a total of 5.2%, and is sitting at lows that we have not seen since back in November when fear was running rapid among traders regarding the future of the economy.

One thing that is keeping traders in a selling mode is the waiting game to see what version of the current stimulus package actually gets approved. In today’s news, the House of Representatives passed their version on the stimulus package, a $787 billion plan to boost the economy. The next step is to get the bill pass the Senate, which is expected to cast its vote later today.

President Obama was optimistic that the bill had made it through the House, and now awaits to see if the Senate will send him the bill for his approval next week.

In other news today, two of the big banks, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup announced that they were enacting a moratorium on new foreclosures until they see what sort of plan Obama announces to help ease the huge increases in foreclosures that are hitting the market. Both banks have suspended new foreclosures until the first part of March in hopes of easing the pain that many homeowners are currently dealing with.

The markets will be closed on Monday, so we will have to wait until Tuesday to see if the market can make up some of its recent losses.

Enjoy your Valentines Day, and your long 3 day weekend.

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Posted in After the Bell, Bad News, Congress, Economy, Foreclosures, Housing, Market Updates, Politics, Recession Tags: , , , , , , , No Comments »

Home Depot (HD) feels the earnings season pain

Posted by Michael on May 20th, 2008

Shares of Home Depot (NYSE: HD) are getting nailed this morning following a weak first quarter earnings report from the home improvement retailer.

Going into this morning’s earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see the Atlanta based retailer to post earnings of 37 cents per share, but the company disappointed those expectations, with actual earnings of only 21 cents a share, on net income of $356 million. Sales dropped 3.4% in the quarter, mostly a result of a 6.5% drop in same store sales.

The main culprit being the weak housing market and rising gasoline costs that resulted in a 66% decline in profit for the company compared to the same period last year.

Frank Blake, chairman and CEO of Home Depot, stated that “housing and home improvement markets remained difficult in the first quarter… conditions worsened in many areas of the country.”

Shares of the stock are trading down by 2.8% in premarket trading, down $0.83 from yesterday’s close of $28.87.

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Posted in Bad News, Before the Bell, Earnings, Housing No Comments »
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