April 29th, 2009
Down 39 cents to roughly $49.50
a barrel on Wednesday, crude oil became the victim of investor fears over
whether the disease will continue to spread and become the "pandemic" many
health officials believe it could. The disease has continued to spread
to more people in more countries since being announced late last week. More than 150
deaths and nearly 2,500 cases have been reported thus far.
No reason to
panic, yet.
The CDC has released several press statements saying it
believes the swine flu will be contained and won't be a major threat to developed
countries. Investors are cautious, however, because if the disease does spread
it will likely effect the airline industry as flights around the globe are
canceled. Investors are taking a wait-and-see approach.
Up from $35 a
barrel in February, the price of oil has continually risen to the high of around
$50 this month. Despite the recent outbreak and fears over the disease
spreading, there is hope that oil will continue to rise as more and more news
comes out of improving economic status from around the globe.
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April 24th, 2009
The government
had cleared a whopping $5 billion in aid to GM; however, only the $2 billion was
actually loaned. GM has until the late spring deadline of June 1 to
restructure a plan that will satisfy the government.
A total of $20.4
billion has been loaned thus far to GM, including the financial sector of its
business, GMAC Financial Services.
The automaker is expected to liquidate
many of its assets, cut unprofitable areas and reduce its overall labor costs,
which will include a number of its employees. With just over a month to
complete the required steps, GM has a huge complicated task ahead.
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April 22nd, 2009
June delivery of crude oil
rose 20 cents to just below $49 a barrel today.
Crude is expected to to jump a
modest 3 million barrels this week. Inventories of crude oil are expected to
rise over the next few weeks as many analysts feel oil is dramatically undervalued.
Expectations are that the stimulus packages from governments
around the world will spark economic recovery and further push oil values
upwards. Some are skeptical however that the economic recession is over.
Oil is expected to stay in the $50-a-barrel range over the next few
months with oil per barrel prices likely to reach nearly $55 a barrel by year's end.
That would be a positive indicator that the recession is nearly over, or at
least that world markets have restored faith in oil futures and the futures of
global tradings.
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April 14th, 2009
Earning nearly $3.4 per
share, Goldman Sachs was easily able to surpass analysts' expectations for the
quarter. That's also nearly a $4 billion change over the previous quarter after
Goldman Sachs saw a $2.2 billion loss in the fourth quarter of
2008.
Caution, as has been the overlying theme these past few months, is
being urged by many on Wall Street, but the news of the 1Q earnings by Goldman
are coming as a very positive sign to investors.
It's too soon to say for
sure that the banking industry is turning around, but Monday's numbers do go a
long way to showing valid signs of progress.
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April 08th, 2009
Casinos in Las
Vegas have been reporting that pigeons have been getting skinnier and skinnier
and fewer have been seen in public.
"We used to see them everywhere and many were just too fat to
fly," John "Cabbie" Carrell, a Vegas taxi driver said. "They became a real nuisance to cabbies."
When asked why they were such a
problem in the past, Carrell said they would just sit in the road a lot of
times, too fat to fly away and too full to waddle. Now, apparently the pigeons
have become extremely spry as fewer and fewer places on The Strip are apparently
leaving scraps out for the birds.
"I think they are probably skinnier
because there are fewer people nowadays on The Strip for them to steal food
from," Carrell added.
Times seem to be lean indeed for friend and fowl
alike.
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April 06th, 2009
Yes, I said "history". John Calipari's
contract is a deal to the tune of $35 million over seven years that also includes
yearly increases, bonuses and a retirement plan. When all is said and done, if Calipari stays through the tenure of the contract, he will be paid more than $5
million a year. That will be more than any other coach in college basketball or
football and will also make him one of the top-10 highest paid coaches of any
kind in the world.
There's a lot of pressure with that kind of
money.
The University of Kentucky has already come under a lot of
pressure and scrutiny for paying so much for a coach who has more than 17 years of
coaching experience but no national titles. So, what can Kentucky expect from a
government employee who makes more than all other Kentucky school employees
combined?
Kentucky gave Billy Gillespie only two years to turn the Kentucky
program around. There is an enormous amount of stress on John Calipar. He is fully expected to turn the floundering program around next year
and opinions around the town are that he absolutely must deliver in the first
year, or else he may be gone.
What expectations do many in Kentucky
have?
From the average freshman on campus to the highest of directors at
the unversity people are already saying Coach Cal must make the Sweet Sixteen next season or else he will be
eliminated from the school and his contract canceled. That's a lot of pressure
on a new coach. Mr. Calipari will have four months to think about things and
plan out the next basketball season. During those four months he will be
getting paid an excess of $1.3 million dollars in the off season, while promotes
his program, attends seminars and player camps and occasionally takes in a golf
game or two. Last season Calipari spent a significant amount of time
during the off season on vacation and doing paid appearances. Needless to say,
that the Kentucky faithful won't let Coach Cal get away with complacency this
year.
Kentucky has a privileged and proud school history and is hoping to
turn its 12 year slump around and will be betting everything on Calipari.
Will he deliver or will he be yet another bust for the school? Is that decision
worth more $40 million dollars that it will end up costing the
school?
Word is that other colleges around the nation have started to
negotiate for more money. Calipari seems to have started a trend in
college sports and it seems to be ignoring the problems seen around the country
from the economic recession. As CEOs and global banks fail worldwide it's
difficult to see such unprecedented spending on non-academic government
spending. I wonder what President Obama has to say about this?
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April 06th, 2009
Is 10 percent unemployment possible?
The
answer to that question just may be "yes." Job losses remain steady for a third
straight month. Jobs are being eliminated in virtually every sector of the work
market. Construction, professional and business all saw six-figure job loses
last month. Only healthcare continues to add jobs, but job creation has been
slower this year than this time last year.
Any positives in all of
this?
Job losses have been extremely close to expectation, which marks a
first for this recession. With certain sectors of the job market like the
housing market and construction showing some turnaround, that leads many to
believe there is an apparent recovery in the stock market.
What
future markers will predict if the 10 percent unemployment numbers will actually happen
by year's end?
The next three months will be crucial. Will the job loss
numbers continue to be on par with expectations? Will they be more or less? If
they are less than expected, then the 10 percent unemployment numbers may be too high. What most believe, though, is that by the end of the summer the market
will have a good assessment of what the unemployment numbers should be by year's
end.
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