Employers add jobs but consumers gloomy

NF Reporter · 12-07-2007, 08:26 PM

Reuters - U.S. employers added 94,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate held steady, the government said on Friday in a report suggesting the U.S. economy was slowing, but not tumbling into recession.

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waltky · 12-07-2007, 10:40 PM

The other shoe is about to fall, what happens on Wall St. usually trickles down to Main St.

Dark clouds gather on Wall Street
December 7 2007: The nation's brokerages kick off the earnings season next week. Analysts are betting that there will be plenty of bad news to go around.

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When the nation's biggest brokerage firms reported disappointing quarterly earnings in October, many on Wall Street were hoping that the darkest days of the credit crisis were behind them. Now, with less than a week before the start of the next earnings season, analysts and investors are betting that this quarter's results could be just as bleak.

"I expect the numbers to be terrible," said Matt Kelmon, president and portfolio manager at the Kelmoore Strategy Funds, whose firm owns shares of a number of Wall Street firms. Since the last quarter, few encouraging signs have emerged about the health of brokerage firms. Meanwhile, stock investors have remained on edge, the credit markets frozen shut and the nation's economic picture uncertain.

As a result, Wall Street analysts have been slashing their earnings estimates on firms like Morgan Stanley (Charts, Fortune 500) and Bear Stearns (Charts, Fortune 500), both of which are expected to post steep losses in December after warning last month they would take multi-billion dollar writedowns this quarter. As of midday Friday, neither firm had said when it would release its fourth-quarter report.

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waltky · 12-08-2007, 10:34 AM

Main St. startin' to get hit...

CompUSA to close all of its 103 stores
December 7 2007: The consumer electronics store will run store-closing sales during the holidays to get rid of inventory.

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Consumer electronics retailer CompUSA said Friday it will close its stores after the holidays following sale of the company to an affiliate of Gordon Brothers Group, a restructuring firm. CompUSA operates 103 stores, which plan to run store-closing sales during the holidays. Privately held CompUSA, controlled by Mexican financier Carlos Slim Helu's Grupo Carso SA, said discussions were under way to sell certain stores in key markets. Stores that can't be sold will be closed.

Gordon Brothers will also try to sell the company's technical services business, CompUSA TechPro, and online business, CompUSA.com. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Dallas-based CompUSA has struggled for nearly a decade with falling prices on personal computers, its most important product, and competition from big-box retailers such as Best Buy. Helu took the company private in 2000. The chain went through several CEOs and tried different turnaround strategies, such as a move this year to focus on core customers such as gadget users and small-business owners.

CompUSA closed more than half its stores this spring and got a cash infusion of $440 million to restructure. During the wind-down, Weinstein and Stephen Gray, managing partner at CRG Partners, will run the company. The chain's current chief executive, Roman Ross, will serve in an advisory role, CompUSA said. DJM Realty, a Gordon Brothers Group affiliate, will review leases of CompUSA's store locations.

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waltky · 12-20-2007, 11:57 PM

"It's the economy, stupid" - again...

Economy Now Trumps Iraq as Voter Concern
December 20, 2007 - Voters want to see change in the 2008 elections and are more concerned with the economy than the war in Iraq, according to the George Washington University Battleground Poll.

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"We are witnessing a noticeable broadening of voters' concerns - the war in Iraq is no longer the issue that Americans say is the most important problem facing the country," said Democratic Pollster Celinda Lake at a press conference to release the poll on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. "By a significant margin, concerns over an economy - that solid majorities say is in bad shape, does not serve the middle class, and will provide less opportunity for the next generation - dominates the public consciousness."

A recent CBS/New York Times poll conducted Dec. 5-9, however showed the war in Iraq remains the top issue facing the country by a 13-point margin. According to the results, 75 percent of likely voters view the current state of the economy negatively, with 70 percent saying it is tough for middle class people to make ends meet. Lake noted that 85 percent of Americans consider themselves to be middle class.

Respondents have a more favorable view about their personal economic situation (58 percent excellent/good). The top economic concern for voters is rising health care costs (25 percent) followed by deficit/debt (14 percent), gas costs (14 percent), and taxes (12 percent). Lake said there is a "dramatic increase in economic concerns." "What we see here is a level of anxiety and concern about the economy that is now rivaling 1992," she said. "In fact, the concern about the economy is even greater today than it was at the time Bill Clinton had a victory over the senior Bush."

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