U.S. Nov. durable goods orders rise 0.1% on aircraft A big jump in demand for civilian aircraft pushed durable goods orders up for the first time in four months in November, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Excluding transportation orders, however, durable goods orders fell by 0.7% in November. New orders for non-defense aircraft and parts shot up by 20.9% in November, the data show. However, new orders for defense aircraft and parts dropped by 20.1% in the same month. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were expecting orders for durable goods to climb by 2.9% in November after falling by 0.2% in October.
Initial jobless claims hit 349,000, up 1,000 Seasonally adjusted first-time jobless claims nudged up in the most recent weekly data, while continuing claims reached the highest level in more than two years, the government reported Thursday. Initial claims rose 1,000, reaching 349,000 for the week ended Dec. 22, according to the Labor Department. The previous week's initial jobless claims level was revised to 348,000 from an earlier estimate of 346,000. Initial claims were at 322,000 during the same period in the prior year. Economists watch claims closely because an increase could be a leading indicator of a slowdown. Continuing jobless claims gained 75,000, hitting 2.71 million for the week ended Dec. 15 and the highest level seen since Nov. 12, 2005.
Gas could be $3.75 a gallon by spring Sights like this at a Shell station in San Mateo -- $4 or more per gallon -- could become more familiar throughout California in 2008 as gasoline will cost about 65 cents more per gallon than it did in 2007, analysts predict. Gasoline could average $3.75 a gallon across the U.S. in a few months, pushing the price in California up and over the $4 mark, energy analysts said Wednesday. Several factors point toward a nightmarish spring for motorists, they said, including persistently strong crude oil costs and the fact that the traditional December drop in pump prices didn't materialize. "If anyone expects gas to be less than a new record, they are not thinking," said Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer & Co. "There is no question it will be much higher than last year."
Wall Street’s leading bear says Merrill Lynch losses will keep rising Meredith Whitney, the star banking analyst whose bearish comments this year triggered a $369 billion (£186 billion) drop on Wall Street, said yesterday that she expects losses at Merrill Lynch to increase fourfold in the fourth quarter of the year. Ms Whitney, an analyst with CIBC World Markets, predicted yesterday that the US investment bank would incur losses per share of about $2.70, compared with a loss of 50 cents a share previously forecast. Merrill Lynch is expected to have incurred losses of approximately $16 billion over the year. She also said that she expected Merrill to write off another $7 billion of bad investments during the fourth quarter and predicts that the bank will continue to make further writedowns throughout next year.
Citi, Merrill, JPMorgan face higher writeoffs Citigroup Inc, Merrill Lynch & Co (MER.N: and JPMorgan Chase & Co may face larger fourth-quarter debt write-offs than previously expected, and Citigroup may have to slash its dividend 40 percent to preserve capital, according to a Goldman Sachs & Co analyst."It will be a couple of quarters before the current credit crisis is fully digested by the markets," the analyst, William Tanona, wrote on Thursday. The analyst issued his forecast after banks said they would write off more than $70 billion because of the global credit crunch, as rising mortgage and credit losses led investors to shun debt once thought safe but now deemed risky. Citigroup has replaced Chief Executive Charles Prince with Vikram Pandit, while Merrill replaced Chief Executive Stanley O'Neal with John Thain.
Largest monthly fall in US house prices fuels economy fears Concerns about the state of the US economy grew yesterday as new data revealed that house prices in October suffered a record monthly decline. The price of an existing - rather than newly built - single-family home fell in October for the 10th consecutive month, according to the closely watched Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index. An increase in foreclosures is creating an oversupply of homes which is depressing property prices across the US. The study of 10 metropolitan areas, showed prices falling 6.7%, worse than the last record drop of 6.3% reported in April 1991. News that house prices continue to slide worried investors already fretting about the state of the US economy after Target, the second largest retailer, warned that same-store sales in December were below expectations.
Commercial Real Estate Dominoes Collapse Wal-Mart (WMT) has already scaled back 2008 plans twice. They are now cutting back further and it's not just Wal-Mart. Many big are retailers shelving plans to add area stores. Target Corp. (TGT), Home Depot Inc. (HD), Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other big-box retailers — buffeted by sagging sales and the housing slump — are pulling the plug on new-store plans in and around Chicago. The pullback is another sign of the darkening outlook for 2008, as retailers turn cautious on expansion. "The economy is in the crapper. Housing is going down the chute," says Richard Kopczick, mayor of Morris, which had expected to gain more than $1 million in sales taxes from a planned shopping center that's lost its key big-box anchors. "Lowe's (LOW) backed off, and then Kohl's (KSS) said they wouldn't come without Lowe's, and the whole house of cards collapsed."
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