• Filings for Bankruptcy Up 18% in February http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/business/05bankruptcy.html
Americans filed for bankruptcy in growing numbers in February, buckling under the combined weight of rising energy prices, a weakening housing market and sky-high personal debts.
An average of 3,960 bankruptcy petitions were filed per day nationwide last month, up 18 percent from January and up 28 percent from a year earlier, according to Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, a bankruptcy data and management company.
Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizBooks.com
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Grocery prices / Inflation about to hit your wallet!
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/031008dnnatnufoodprices.3c19156.html?npc&nTar&ybz
Key Points from the article:
U.S. retail chicken prices in January were up 10 percent compared with a year before, while whole milk was up at least 20 percent and tomatoes 25 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics.
Bread was up 5.4 percent nationally. Skyrocketing wheat prices mean higher flour prices, which means everything from pizza crust to cake are likely to see a price hike in the coming months.
And that side of egg salad? Not cheap. Eggs gained more than 30 percent.
Food accounts for about 13 percent of household spending, compared with about 4 percent for gas.
Food prices are rising while home values fall and the stock market falters – all of which can shake consumer confidence.
Wholesale food prices, an indicator of where supermarket prices are headed, rose last month at the fastest rate since 2003, with egg prices jumping 60 percent from a year ago, pasta products 30 percent and fruits and vegetables 20 percent, according to the Labor Department.
A whole shopping basket of factors are combining to make a trip to the market more costly.
Higher fuel prices make it costlier to grow crops and get them to market. Corn, a key foodstuff for farm animals, has shot up as ethanol demand increases. Corn prices have more than doubled in commodity markets over two years, and soybeans nearly tripled, according to DTN, a commodities-analysis firm in Omaha, Neb.
"The biggest factors have to do with the ever-increasing demand for food products combined with the weak dollar," Mr. Leibtag said.
In 2005, wheat averaged $3.50 to $4 per bushel on commodities markets, he said. By December, the price was $7.75, and in January it was $8.55. Futures markets predict a further increase.
Corn inflation has translated to higher meat prices.
Bottom Line is that the consumer, while starting to get worried, has really ignored this impact so far. Reporting on this topic has been SLIM TO NONE but it will really start to kick in sometime this spring/summer as inflation and gas prices keep prices climbing.
Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizBooks.com
Key Points from the article:
U.S. retail chicken prices in January were up 10 percent compared with a year before, while whole milk was up at least 20 percent and tomatoes 25 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics.
Bread was up 5.4 percent nationally. Skyrocketing wheat prices mean higher flour prices, which means everything from pizza crust to cake are likely to see a price hike in the coming months.
And that side of egg salad? Not cheap. Eggs gained more than 30 percent.
Food accounts for about 13 percent of household spending, compared with about 4 percent for gas.
Food prices are rising while home values fall and the stock market falters – all of which can shake consumer confidence.
Wholesale food prices, an indicator of where supermarket prices are headed, rose last month at the fastest rate since 2003, with egg prices jumping 60 percent from a year ago, pasta products 30 percent and fruits and vegetables 20 percent, according to the Labor Department.
A whole shopping basket of factors are combining to make a trip to the market more costly.
Higher fuel prices make it costlier to grow crops and get them to market. Corn, a key foodstuff for farm animals, has shot up as ethanol demand increases. Corn prices have more than doubled in commodity markets over two years, and soybeans nearly tripled, according to DTN, a commodities-analysis firm in Omaha, Neb.
"The biggest factors have to do with the ever-increasing demand for food products combined with the weak dollar," Mr. Leibtag said.
In 2005, wheat averaged $3.50 to $4 per bushel on commodities markets, he said. By December, the price was $7.75, and in January it was $8.55. Futures markets predict a further increase.
Corn inflation has translated to higher meat prices.
Bottom Line is that the consumer, while starting to get worried, has really ignored this impact so far. Reporting on this topic has been SLIM TO NONE but it will really start to kick in sometime this spring/summer as inflation and gas prices keep prices climbing.
Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizBooks.com
Monday, March 3, 2008
Commercial Real Estate is now slowing down dramatically...
Now commercial development is slowing down quickly.....
"Spending on U.S. building projects in January fell by the most in 14 years as the housing slump worsened and construction slowed on hotels and highways. The 1.7 percent decrease, more than twice the fall economists forecast, followed a revised 1.3 percent drop in December that was steeper than initially reported, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Construction spending has contracted for four straight months.
Homebuilding is in a third year of declines as sales weaken and builders halt new projects to lighten inventories.
Stricter borrowing rules and lower demand are also restraining commercial developers, creating an even greater drag on growth." <--This is what the FDIC is worried about as it then really puts the pinch on regional banks that might have overextended themselves to real estate development in the last few years. Are these banks capitalized properly to handle bad commercial loans and bad residential loans at the same time? Dan Ross http://betterbizbooks.com/
"Spending on U.S. building projects in January fell by the most in 14 years as the housing slump worsened and construction slowed on hotels and highways. The 1.7 percent decrease, more than twice the fall economists forecast, followed a revised 1.3 percent drop in December that was steeper than initially reported, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Construction spending has contracted for four straight months.
Homebuilding is in a third year of declines as sales weaken and builders halt new projects to lighten inventories.
Stricter borrowing rules and lower demand are also restraining commercial developers, creating an even greater drag on growth." <--This is what the FDIC is worried about as it then really puts the pinch on regional banks that might have overextended themselves to real estate development in the last few years. Are these banks capitalized properly to handle bad commercial loans and bad residential loans at the same time? Dan Ross http://betterbizbooks.com/
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Retail Strategy Slowdowns
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2008-02-27-retail-strategy-slowdown_N.htm
Great article that shows how retail strategies compare, their average shoppers, etc. Given a slowing economy I found it a VERY timely article.
Because, on Friday (3/28/08), JCPenney announced they were missing their EPS guidance for the 1st quarter and really put a shot across the bow for retail investors :)
Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizBooks.com
Great article that shows how retail strategies compare, their average shoppers, etc. Given a slowing economy I found it a VERY timely article.
Because, on Friday (3/28/08), JCPenney announced they were missing their EPS guidance for the 1st quarter and really put a shot across the bow for retail investors :)
Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizBooks.com
ITUNES is #2 in music sales!
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9879355-1.html?tag=cnetfd.mt
Only Wal-Mart sells more music than iTunes
Apple continues to tighten its grip on music sales as iTunes has become the second largest U.S. music retailer.
A report released by tracking company NPD Group, showed that Apple now has more than 50 million customers and sold more than 4 billion songs last year.
Apple's digital music store jumped past Best Buy to capture the No.2 spot behind Wal-Mart stores. Apple is on a roll. It was only last June that the company overtook Amazon as the nation's third-largest retailer.
How long before the company can surpass Wal-Mart to become top dog in music sales?
Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizBooks.com
Only Wal-Mart sells more music than iTunes
Apple continues to tighten its grip on music sales as iTunes has become the second largest U.S. music retailer.
A report released by tracking company NPD Group, showed that Apple now has more than 50 million customers and sold more than 4 billion songs last year.
Apple's digital music store jumped past Best Buy to capture the No.2 spot behind Wal-Mart stores. Apple is on a roll. It was only last June that the company overtook Amazon as the nation's third-largest retailer.
How long before the company can surpass Wal-Mart to become top dog in music sales?
Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizBooks.com
B of A increases Credit Card Interest Rates
http://businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2008/db2008026_105146.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives
GOOD DAY FOR: Burning plastic, after Bank of America started notifying credit card holders with good credit and no late payments that their interest rates will more than double, to as high as 28 percent, for no apparent reason. "Either Bank of America has more financial troubles than it is willing to admit or it has a level of institutional arrogance that is unacceptable," said Credit-dot-com CEO Adam Levin.
My take
Their profits should be good & this is probably trying to extract more $$$ from people not paying down their cards when they have the ability to do so or they are trying to contain their exposure to people who have balances so high, relative to their income, that they warrant more concern.
Either way, looks like they might get some political heat based on the article and December Congressional hearings.
Dan Ross
http://BetterBizBooks.com
GOOD DAY FOR: Burning plastic, after Bank of America started notifying credit card holders with good credit and no late payments that their interest rates will more than double, to as high as 28 percent, for no apparent reason. "Either Bank of America has more financial troubles than it is willing to admit or it has a level of institutional arrogance that is unacceptable," said Credit-dot-com CEO Adam Levin.
My take
Their profits should be good & this is probably trying to extract more $$$ from people not paying down their cards when they have the ability to do so or they are trying to contain their exposure to people who have balances so high, relative to their income, that they warrant more concern.
Either way, looks like they might get some political heat based on the article and December Congressional hearings.
Dan Ross
http://BetterBizBooks.com
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