Economic News – Hot Topic (NASDAQ:HOTT), United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAUA), US Airways (NYSE:LCC), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), American International Group (NYSE:AIG)
The US Department of Labor released news that its count of those filing jobless benefits increased 18,000, to 460,000 total, last week. After glowing reports of a recovering economy, these numbers go to show how far recovery still has to go to get a completely healthy economy. Economists had predicted claims to be closer to 442,000. As a result, stocks are down to start the day. Crude oil prices are down as well, declining 65 cents to $85.77 a barrel. In positive news, retailers reportedly had a strong March. According to MSN, good weather brought out the shoppers, and the International Council of Shopping Centers is anticipating same-store sales in March to have risen between 8 and 10 percent. This is good news for retailers like Hot Topic (NASDAQ: HOTT), as the retailer, famous for its dark interior and angst-filled teen customers, has seen its stock shoot up over 11% to start the day.
In international news, the Euro has continued its fall, reaching $1.3282 early this morning due to continuing concerns over Greece’s debt situation. This puts the currency near its low of $1.3270, reached in March. On the other side of the globe, the US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is in China to meet with the countries vice premier regarding the economic relationship between the two countries. Part of the purpose behind the visit is to pressure the Asian giant to release its currencies value, which is intentionally set as undervalued relative to the US dollar. This is designed to keep Chinese exports cheap in the US market, to encourage US spending on their goods and to discourage US exports from competing with the Chinese domestic sales.
The big news on the market is talk of two major airlines, United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAUA) and US Airways (NYSE:LCC), potentially merging. Rumors of a coming deal has caused stock prices in both companies to jump, as there merger would create one of the world’s biggest airlines. No deal is expected for weeks, giving the negotiation process plenty of time to fall apart. Still, speculation has caused the stock to jump in early trading.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernake has been quoted as saying that the United States must begin preparing for a public debt crisis in the near future. Bernake is worried that health spending is steadily increasing, as well as the age of the general population in the country, compounded with the governments recent actions (cutting taxes while increasing spending) over the last two presidencies, has led to a fiscally irresponsible and unsustainable situation. He was also quoted as saying that, while the American economy has been improving, it’s still “far from out of the woods”.
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Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) has announced through a press release that the corporation plans to revamp it’s small business credit accounts. The release says that the megabank is committed to ‘clarity for small business customers’, and includes small, favorable changes for their debtors. BofA might need the good press, as it was released today that a group of Californian home owners have filed suit against the company because it “intentionally prevented or slowed access for homeowners to funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) by ignoring requests for homeowners to make mortgage adjustments or come up with other solutions that would prevent their homes from being foreclosed on”, according to American Banking News.
American International Group (NYSE:AIG) has completed its sale of PineBridge Investments to Pacific Century Group. The Asian-based investment group PCG is reported to have paid approximately $277 million for the asset management business. The deal was announced weeks ago, and investors will be relieved to see that the deal went through without a hitch. PineBridge operates in 31 countries. AIG’s Board of Directors also recently announced they had a new head, electing Henry S. Miller as director.
That’s all for the day. CLICK HERE to read more from Oakshire Financial
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