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25 Aug 2010 10:24

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Biz: New home sales are straight-up in the crapper, too, guys

  • 12% the decline in new home sales in July, which is craptastic and as bad as yesterday’s number
  • 276,000 the annual rate in units – the lowest level since the data series started way back in 1963 source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Aug 2010 10:18

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Biz: Existing home sales, meet crapper: Sales hit lowest level in 15 years

  • 27.2% decline in existing home sales in July source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

24 Aug 2010 02:21

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Biz: Trader Joe’s: Three things you don’t know about the grocer

  • As major grocery chains go, Trader Joe’s is Apple. They’ve built a fervent fan base on high quality control, building anticipation and being very secretive. Fortune Magazine spent a solid couple months trying to figure out some stuff about the buzzed-about chain. The whole story is essentially an awesome read, but here are a few details that raised our eyebrows.
  • oneMost grocery stores have 50,000 SKUs, or stock-keeping units. An average Trader Joe’s has just 4,000. They limit inventory to build appeal.
  • twoWhile nearly 80 percent of products sold have Trader Joe’s branding, they’re secretly produced by big-name companies hidden from view.
  • threeOne of the grocer’s biggest R&D expenses is on travel for finding the next big product. They like to set food trends, not follow them. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Aug 2010 10:06

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Biz: The final stage of the Credit Card Act of 2009: The big changes

  • one The law limits the penalty fees on credit cards so that you’re not paying a $20 penalty for a $5 overage.
  • twoOther fees will disappear, too: You can’t get punished for not using your card for a while anymore.
  • threeAnd if you buy a gift card starting today, the balance will be active for a full five years after you buy it.
  • fourFinally, if a card company raises your interest rate for any reason, they have to tell you why. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2010 09:36

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Biz: New jobless claims back up above the magical 500,000 mark

  • 500,000number of jobless claims last week, the highest level since November
  • 12,000the increase in claims from the previous week source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Aug 2010 19:26

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Biz: General Motors’ IPO is pretty big, but it likely won’t be the biggest

  • $12-16 billion the amount GM’s upcoming IPO is expected to raise
  • $19.7
    billion     the amount Visa’s 2008 IPO, the largest ever, raised source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Aug 2010 19:59

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Biz: Yet again, the L.A. Times takes the advertising way too far

  • This is meant in no way to attack the journalists of the L.A. Times. Just its management. Dear L.A. Times: Please stop selling out your front page – both online and in print – to TV and movie companies. Sincerely, everyone. This damages your credibility as a paper of record.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 

15 Aug 2010 21:31

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Biz: It’s official: China’s economy is bigger than Japan’s, way behind U.S.

  • $1.28B the GDP of China’s newly 2nd-place economy in the second quarter of 2010
  • $1.22B the GDP of Japan’s economy in 2nd quarter 2010, which fell behind China for the first time
  • $14B the GDP of the U.S. economy throughout 2009, which is way out in front source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

15 Aug 2010 12:05

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Biz: Would you buy a tablet-only Rupert Murdoch newspaper?

  • Only if the app is better than the WSJ app. The News Corp. main man may not win any points for his paywall push or his insanely-slow Wall Street Journal app, but he’s going to make another run at the model, instead focusing on the general interest. “We’ll have young people reading newspapers,” Murdoch said during a recent earnings call. “It’s a real game changer in the presentation of news.” Just don’t make it take five minutes to download like the WSJ app. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Aug 2010 12:13

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Biz: The Detroit auto industry not looking so dire nowadays

  • Fundamentally this thing has been reshaped, resized and rethought. … We’re not trying to kill each other for this month’s market share. Those days are over. We’re not offering $7,000 checks to try to sell a car.
  • Chrysler (and Fiat!) CEO Sergio Marchionne • Discussing the major changes the Detroit auto companies have made in their business models in the wake of the whole bailout situation from a year or two ago. GM was on dire straits. Ford was skating by. It didn’t even look like Chrysler was going to make it. This has largely changed. Profits are back for the companies. They have slimmer product lines and payrolls. And their CEOs – especially GM’s new one – are outsiders to Detroit. Don’t call it a … OK, call it a comeback. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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