SkyIG

January 26, 2012 on 7:05 pm | In News of the Day | Comments Off

SKY News Summary 01-26-12

New orders for manufactured durable goods in December increased $6.2 billion or 3.0 percent, higher than the market estimate of 2.2 percent. This increase follows a 4.3 percent increase the month before. Excluding transportation, new orders increased a healthy 2.1 percent. Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods rose by 1.5 percent which indicates more activity in factories in the foreseeable future. Nondefense new orders for capital goods in December increased $4.6 billion or 5.8 percent to $84.4 billion.
http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/adv/pdf/durgd.pdf

Initial jobless claims in the week ending January 21, rose by 21,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 356,000. But the 4-week moving average, which eliminates the swings in employment after the holidays, dropped by 2,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 380,000.
http://www.ows.doleta.gov/press/2012/012612.asp

Sales of new single-family houses in December 2011 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 307,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 2.2 percent below the revised November rate of 314,000 and is 7.3 percent below the December 2010 estimate of 331,000.
The median sales price of new houses sold in December 2011 was $210,300; the average sales price was $266,000. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of December was 157,000. This represents a supply of 6.1months at the current sales rate.
An estimated 302,000 new homes were sold in 2011. This is 6.2 percent below the 2010 figure of 323,000.
http://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/pdf/newressales.pdf

Sources: Census, DOL

January 10, 2012 on 6:31 pm | In News of the Day | Comments Off

SKY News Summary 01-10-2012

Consumer credit jumped significantly in November, up almost $25 billion, or 9.9 percent from the month before. Nonrevolving credit, mostly car loans, rose 10.7 percent, while revolving credit rose a respectable 8.5 percent. These numbers seem to indicate consumer confidence in employment.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/current/

Company News

Diageo has completed the acquisition of the Meta Abo Brewery Share Company SC, a leading beer company in Ethiopia, for $225 million. The acquisition will give Diageo access to the rapidly growing Ethiopian beer market, which is expected to grow at more than 10 percent per year through 2015, driven by strong GDP growth and increased disposable income.
http://www.diageo.com/en-row/investor/Pages/resource.aspx?resourceid=1168

Exelon Wind’s Michigan Wind 2 Project, Exelon’s first wind project, is now in commercial operation. Over the first 20 years, Michigan Wind 2 is expected to generate over $12 million of revenue to the area through local tax payments.
http://www.exeloncorp.com/Newsroom/20120105_power_MichiganWind2.aspx

GE Healthcare’s presentation at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference:
http://www.ge.com/pdf/investors/events/01102012/JPM_Healthcare_Final_Presentation_Pascale_Witz.pdf

HP announced that Henry Gomez will join the company as executive vice president and chief communications officer, reporting to Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. Mr.Gomez will be responsible for HP’s media and industry analyst relations, executive communications, employee communications, government affairs, environment and global social innovation. He spent most of the last decade working at eBay, where he served in a variety of roles including senior vice president for Corporate Communications and president of Skype.
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2012/120110b.html?mtxs=rss-corp-news

IBM’s recent report on the U.S. online retail sector showed this sector grew by 7.5 percent in December 2011 compared to the same period last year, following strong growth for both Black Friday 2011 and Cyber Monday 2011. The report also showed that 14.6 percent of all online sessions on a retailer’s site were initiated from a mobile device, more than double the rate of 5.6 percent over this same period in 2010. Apple’s iPhone and iPad ranked one and two for mobile device retail traffic (5.2 percent and 4.3 percent respectively). Department stores’ online sales were up 18 percent over December 2010. http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/36472.wss

Medtronic received FDA approval and completed its U.S. market launch of a remote glucose monitor, which allows a parent or caregiver to monitor from another room a patient’s glucose levels.
http://wwwp.medtronic.com/Newsroom/NewsReleaseDetails.do?itemId=1325625195470&lang=en_US

Sources: Medtronic, IBM, HP, GE, Exelon, Diagio, and Federal Reserve websites

January 5, 2012 on 6:02 pm | In News of the Day | Comments Off

SKY News Summary 01-05-12

Although it’s never fun, it’s time to think about this year’s taxes. Here are some thoughts that may actually make the process easier and less painful:

• First, April 15, 2012 is a Sunday. Returns would normally be due the next day, Monday the 16th, but this is a holiday in D.C. (Emancipation Day). So, this year taxes are due April 17.
• Many of us experienced business and personal losses from natural disasters this year (think Irene and Alfred). These losses are considered casualty losses for federal tax purposes and are generally deductible in the year of the loss. However, you can choose to treat the loss as having occurred in 2010 and report them on an amended 2010 tax return.
• For the third time in six years, the IRS announced a mid-year adjustment to the business standard mileage rate because of rising gas prices. The business mileage rate increased from 51 cents/mile to 55.5 cents/mile in July 2011. This rate will stay the same at least for the first part of 2012. The medical/ moving rate increased from 19 cents to 23.5 cents/mile and the charitable standard mileage rate remains at 14 cents/mile.
• In September of 2011, the IRS issued guidance on the treatment of employer-provided cell phones. It says that when an employer provides an employee with a cell phone primarily for noncompensatory business reasons, the use of the phone is nontaxable to the employee and the IRS will not require recordkeeping of business use to receive this tax-free treatment.
• After December 2011 many popular temporary tax breaks (called extenders) expired, including teachers’ classroom expense deduction, state and local sales tax deductions, transit benefits, and, for businesses, the research tax credit. These extenders are separate from the Bush-era tax cuts which are scheduled to expire after 2012. For example, effective immediately, the monthly limit on the tax benefit for transit and vanpools which last year was $230 per month drops to $125 in 2012. However, the monthly limit for qualified parking provided by an employer will actually increase to $240 in 2012.

• Last, but not least, Congress passed a bill to cut the IRS’s FY 2012 budget by $305 million. Hopefully, that will not affect customer service during filing season!

Sources: CCH Website http://www.cchwebsites.com/memberupdate/jan2012/

January 3, 2012 on 4:47 pm | In News of the Day | Comments Off

SKY News Summary 01-03-12

The new year is starting out with an economic bang!
The ISM report showed manufacturing growing in December at a slow and steady pace. The PMI rate of 53.9 compared to November’s reading of 52.7 percent. Happily, new orders rose again for the third month following three months of contraction. Inventories are contracting and employment is rising.
http://www.ism.ws/ISMReport/MfgROB.cfm

The Census Bureau announced that construction spending for the month of November improved by 1.2 percent from the prior month, coming in at $807 billion. This is 0.5 percent ahead of November 2010, but is still historically low. Residential construction rose 2.0 percent after rising 3.5 percent in October. Public construction rose 1.7 percent after falling 5.3 percent in October. Construction of public power structures rose 22 percent.
http://www.census.gov/construction/c30/pdf/totsa.pdf

Company News:

The National Football League announced that CBS has been awarded a new nine-year broadcast rights agreement that runs through the 2022 season. In the new deal, CBS Sports remains the broadcast home of the NFL’s American Football Conference (AFC). In addition, as part of the NFL’s expanded “flexible scheduling,” CBS will also broadcast games from the National Football Conference (NFC). This will be the first time CBS will broadcast AFC and NFC matchups in the same season. CBS will broadcast Super Bowl L in 2016, Super Bowl LIII in 2019 and Super Bowl LVI in 2022, in addition to Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans in 2013.
http://www.cbscorporation.com/news-article.php?id=842

Aujan Industries and The Coca-Cola Company announced an agreement for The Coca-Cola Company to acquire approximately half of the equity in Aujan’s existing beverage business. This $980 million transaction will provide Saudi Arabia-based Aujan Industries a platform to accelerate the international growth of the Aujan brands, including Rani and Barbican. This transaction represents the largest-ever investment by a multinational firm in the Middle East’s consumer goods sector. Aujan holds a top-three position in still beverages in every country in which it operates and is one of the top 100 companies in Saudi Arabia with total annual revenues exceeding $850 million.
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/dynamic/press_center/2011/12/980-million-agreement-with-aujan-industries.html

Sources: Coke, Census, CBS, and ISM websites

December 20, 2011 on 6:09 pm | In News of the Day | Comments Off

SKY News Summary 12-20-2011

Many economic indicators will be released this week, especially housing numbers. On Monday, the National Home Builders Association released a builders’ confidence index that was an economic milestone in that it was positive for the third consecutive month. The last time it was positive for this durations was in mid-2009 when the government was still supporting the housing market. Tuesday, new home starts climbed 9.3 percent resulting from improvements in both the single- and multifamily sectors in November. Single-family home starts improved by 2.3 percent which was their fastest growth since June. Multifamily home starts jumped 25.3 percent – the fastest increase since September 2008. Growth was primarily in the Northeast, which saw total new units grow by 53.8 percent. Privately- owned housing starts were up 24.3 percent year –over-year.
Existing home sales will be reported tomorrow and new home sales will be posted on Friday. GDP, Durable Goods and Personal Income figures are all released at the end of the week.

http://www.nahb.com/news_details.aspx?newsID=14384
http://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/pdf/newresconst.pdf

It is interesting to note that total assets held by the Federal Reserve increased by $81.8 billion, reaching $2.9 trillion in the week ended December 14th. Most of that increase ($52 billion) came from central bank liquidity swaps with Europe. There is no exchange rate risk as the “exchange rate equals the market exchange rate used when the foreign currency was acquired from the foreign central bank.” There was also an increase of $31 billion in mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/Current/h41.htm

Sources: NAHB, Census, Fed Reserve websites

December 15, 2011 on 6:28 pm | In News of the Day | Comments Off

SKY News Summary 12-15-2011

The latest Empire State and Philly Fed reports show new orders for goods ramping up in December, necessitating new hiring. This of course, gives hope for future economic growth.

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey for December rose nine points to 9.5 percent, its highest level since May. The future new orders index surged nineteen points, to 54.7 and the future shipments index jumped to 51.2. Employment indexes also rose.
http://www.newyorkfed.org/survey/empire/empiresurvey_overview.html

The Philly Fed Survey also showed significant improvement. The survey’s broadest indicator, the diffusion index increased from 3.6 in November to 10.3. The index for future new orders improved 8 points and the indicators for general activity, shipments and employment all suggest growth for the month. However, the percentage of firms reporting higher input costs increased from 31 percent in November to 41 percent this month.
http://www.philadelphiafed.org/research-and-data/regional-economy/business-outlook-survey/2011/bos1211.cfm#sp#sp

In the week ending December 10, initial unemployment claims decreased by a sizeable 19,000 to 366,000. The 4-week moving average was 387,750, a decrease of 6,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 394,250.
http://www.ows.doleta.gov/press/2011/121511.asp

The Producer Price Index for finished goods rose 0.3 percent in November, due to an increase in food, not energy, prices. Over half of the November increase was due to a rise in the price of fresh fruits and vegetables. Home heating prices, up 9.4 percent in November led to a 0.1 percent rise in the index for finished energy goods.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ppi.nr0.htm

Industrial production decreased by 0.2 percent in November. (October’s growth of 0.7 percent was expected to continue into November). The output of consumer goods dropped the most (0.5 percent) in the month of November. However, year-over-year, industrial production grew 3.7 percent, with the output of business equipment increasing by 10 percent. Manufacturing output dropped by 0.4 percent in November. This number relates to shipments of manufactured goods, not new orders and is not a forward-looking indicator.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/current/

Company News

Becton Dickenson earnings
http://www.bd.com/resource.aspx?IDX=24678

ExxonMobil’s 2012 Outlook
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/exxonmobil/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1001106&newsId=20111208005025&newsLang=en

Intel’s earnings
http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2011/12/12/intel-s-fourth-quarter-revenue-to-be-below-expectations-due-to-hard-disk-drive-supply-shortages?cid=rss-258152-c1-272075
Sources: Intel, Exxon, Becton Dickenson, Philadelphia Fed, New York Fed, BLS, and DOL websites.

December 1, 2011 on 6:39 pm | In News of the Day | Comments Off

SKY News Summary 12-01-11

November’s manufacturing sector gathered steam, especially in new orders, according to ISM data. This, combined with other good news, such as ADP’s employment report for November, point to an accelerating economy at the close of 2011.

Unemployment claims went up in the week ending November 26 if the shortened work week is figured in. Initial claims increased 6,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 396,000. The four-week average also rose. This weekly claims figure conflicts with ADP’s report that employment increased by 206,000 from October to November on a seasonally adjusted basis. According to ADP, “The increase in November was the largest monthly gain since last December and nearly twice the average monthly gain since May when employment decelerated sharply.” Friday’s Employment Situation report should clear up the discrepancies.
http://www.ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/claims_arch.asp
http://www.adpemploymentreport.com/

The Institute of Supply Management’s Manufacturing Business Survey for the month of November was very favorable. The PMI grew by 1.9 percent, reaching 52.7 percent (anything over 50 percent registers growth) and the New Order Index increased 4.3 percent reaching 56.7 percent. The primary industries reporting growth are: Wood Products; Textile Mills; Petroleum & Coal Products; Primary Metals; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Computer & Electronic Products; Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; and Paper Products.
http://www.ism.ws/ismreport/mfgrob.cfm

Construction spending also registered improvement, though not much. Construction spending advanced 0.8 percent in October with the greatest improvement coming from spending in the private, residential sector (up 3.4 percent). Private nonresidential construction spending also grew (up 1.3 percent).
http://www.census.gov/const/C30/totsa.pdf
Sources: Census, DOL, ADP, ISM websites.

November 23, 2011 on 5:58 pm | In News of the Day | Comments Off

SKY News Summary 11-23-2011

As Thanksgiving approaches, we can be grateful for improving economic data. New orders for durable goods, personal income and spending figures, and unemployment claims all showed signs of improvement.

News from the Census Bureau shows new orders for manufactured durable goods (excluding transportation) increased 0.7 percent in October, well above the consensus forecast for no change. Motor vehicle orders grew 6.2 percent after falling 2.4 percent the previous month. Excluding defense, new orders in October increased 0.2 percent. Shipments of manufactured durable goods also increased, by 1.3 percent in October, and have increased five of the last six months. The volatile transportation sector showed weakness, but given Boeing’s announcement last week of new sales (six 787-8s being sold to Oman Air), next month should look better.
http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/adv/pdf/durgd.pdf

http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=2022

There was good news in The Bureau of Economic Analysis’ personal income and expenditures numbers for October. Personal income increased $48.1 billion, or 0.4 percent, above the market consensus of 0.3 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased $30.2 billion, or 0.3 percent. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $8.2 billion, or 0.1 percent. Best of all, wages and salaries gained 0.5 percent in October following a 0.4 percent in September. While the unemployment rate is clearly too high, those with jobs are seeing higher earnings and are doing their best to spend.
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/pi/pinewsrelease.htm

In an encouraging sign for employment, today’s initial jobless claims number is below 400,000 for a third straight week. Claims for the week of November 19 were 393,000, and the four-week average is 394,250.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/current.htm

Sources: Boeing, DOL, BEA, Census and NASDAQ websites.

November 1, 2011 on 4:29 pm | In News of the Day | Comments Off

SKY News Summary 11-01-2011

Details released in the latest ISM Manufacturing Business Survey were much more positive than the headline numbers. The survey indicates that businesses are getting new orders, reducing their inventories, and paying less for raw materials. This situation could point to profitability in the coming quarters.

After three consecutive months of contraction, the new orders index gained 2.8 points, reaching 52.4, and inventories were drawn down as that index dropped 5.3 points. The prices paid index was down 15 points to 41.0. The headline composite index was 50.8, a decrease of 0.8-percentage point from September’s reading of 51.6 percent.
http://www.ism.ws/ISMReport/MfgROB.cfm

Construction spending during September 2011 was 0.2 percent above the revised August estimate of $786.0 billion, as private construction, especially residential, grew, offsetting a decrease in public construction. Overall, construction spending is 1.3 percent below the September 2010 estimate of $797.3 billion. During the first 9 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $580.9 billion, 3.5 percent below the $602.0 billion for the same period in 2010.
http://www.census.gov/const/C30/release.pdf

Company Earnings:

Boeing
http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1987

BP earnings
http://www.bp.com/extendedgenericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968&contentId=7071729

Chevron earnings
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MTEzMDEwfENoaWxkSUQ9LTF8VHlwZT0z&t=1

CBI
http://www.cbi.com/investor-relations/news-releases/

Cisco Annual report 2011
http://www.cisco.com/assets/cdc_content_elements/docs/annualreports/media/2011-ar.pdf

Coke IR overview
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/investors/pdfs/IR-Overview.pdf

Conoco-Phillips
http://www.conocophillips.com/EN/investor/presentations_ccalls/Documents/Earnings_2011_Q3_Slides_color.pdf

Emerson
http://www.emerson.com/en-US/newsroom/news-releases/emerson-financial-news/Pages/Emerson-Q4Y11-Earnings-Results.aspx

Exelon
http://www.exeloncorp.com/Newsroom/pr_20111026_EXC_q3earnings.aspx

Exxon
http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/Files/news_presentation_3q11.pdf

Gilead
http://investors.gilead.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=69964&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1622879&highlight=

ITW
http://investor.itw.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=71064&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1621088&highlight=

Johnson Controls
http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/publish/us/en/news.html

Merck
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9NDIxMDE1OHxDaGlsZElEPTQ0NDk4OXxUeXBlPTI=&t=1

Praxair
http://www.praxair.com/praxair.nsf/HTMLNews?OpenView

P&G
http://www.pginvestor.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=104574&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1622333

Shell
http://www-static.shell.com/static/investor/downloads/financial_information/quarterly_results/2011/q3/q3_2011_media_presentation.pdf

Southern Company
http://investor.southerncompany.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=617905

Sources: Company websites, Department of Commerce, and Institute of Supply Management website.

October 25, 2011 on 3:30 pm | In News of the Day | Comments Off

SKY News Summary 10-25-2011

The media ties Consumer Confidence numbers that were released today (and which are very low) with housing price data (low, but stable) also released today. Actually, the housing data is from August, and Consumer confidence is from the middle of October. It is more likely that the consumer’s confidence is shaken by unemployment and world social and economic issues.

Today’s consumer confidence numbers (a monthly survey of 3,000 homes by Nielsen) shows a significant drop as of October 13 when the survey was completed. The index is at 39.8 down from 46.4 in September. Says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center: “Consumer confidence is now back to levels last seen during the 2008-2009 recession. Consumer expectations, which had improved in September, gave back all of the gain and then some, as concerns about business conditions, the labor market and income prospects increased. Consumers’ assessment of present-day conditions did not fare any better. The Present Situation Index posted its sixth consecutive monthly decline, as pessimism about the current economic environment continues to grow.”
http://www.conference-board.org/data/consumerconfidence.cfm

The ICSC-Goldman Sachs (ICSC-GS) chain-store sales index declined by 0.8% during the week ending October 22. The year-over-year rate of 2.4 is the lowest in four years, but the ICSC is expecting a reasonably good October.
http://www.icsc.org/homepage/research_article.php?id=373

S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices released today shows that the drop in home prices may be slowing. After three months of 0.1 percent declines, the index for August shows no change from July. However the 10- and 20-City data for August is -3.5 and -3.8 percent, respectively, below last year’s numbers. Detroit and Washington DC were the only two cities to post positive annual returns of +2.7 percent and +0.3 percent respectively. According to David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices:
“In the August data, the good news is continued improvement in the annual rates of change in home prices. In spring and summer’s seasonally strong period for housing demand, we cautioned that monthly increases in prices had to be paired with improvement in annual rates before anyone could declare that the market might be stabilizing. With 16 of 20 cities and both Composites seeing their annual rates of change improve in August, we see a modest glimmer of hope with these data. As of August 2011, the crisis low for the 10- City Composite was back in April 2009; whereas it was a more recent March 2011 for the 20-City Composite. Both are about 3.9% above their relative lows.
“The Midwest is one region that really stands out in terms of recent relative strength. Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis have all posted very sharp monthly increases going back to May. These markets were some of the weakest during the crisis, particularly Detroit. But as of August 2011, Detroit is the healthiest when viewed on an annual basis. It is up 2.7% versus August 2010. Prices there are still back to their 1995 levels, but the recent pickup in the US auto industry may finally be helping.”
http://www.standardandpoors.com/indices/sp-case-shiller-home-price-indices/en/us/?indexId=SPUSA-CASHPIDFF–P-US—-

The FHFA house price index, drawn from data on mortgages financed by or bundled by the Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, showed house prices falling by 0.1 percent in August after having no change in July. For the 12 months ending in August, U.S. prices fell 4.0 percent.
http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/22726/MonthlyHPI102511F.pdf

Company News

American Express
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MTExNDcxfENoaWxkSUQ9LTF8VHlwZT0z&t=1

AT&T
http://www.att.com/Investor/Financial/Earning_Info/docs/3Q_11_slide_c.pdf

Citibank
http://www.citigroup.com/citi/fin/data/p111020a.pdf?ieNocache=391

Coke
http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/dynamic/press_center/2011/10/2011-third-quarter-results.html

Danaher
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=82105&p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=1619316

Diageo
http://www.diageo.com/en-row/newsmedia/pages/resource.aspx?resourceid=1089

Fifth Third
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=72735&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1619329&highlight=

GE
http://www.ge.com/pdf/investors/events/10212011/ge_webcast_presentation_10212011.pdf

IBM
http://www.ibm.com/investor/3q11/press.phtml

J&J
http://www.investor.jnj.com/releaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=615698&year=2011

Kimberly-Clark
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/KMB/1464046326×0x510878/8c74dd34-b05c-4b32-bc9c-efab205fcf94/KMB%20Q3%202011%20Review%20-%20Final.pdf