Thursday, November 21, 2002

HP Earnings Positive HP delivered good news to the market and not just from the printer division; more importantly, they re-stated their outlook for the next quarter. For the three months ended Oct. 31, H-P posted net income of $390 million, or 13 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $505 million, or 17 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Carly sounded confident, "Our strategy is working, we're executing well and we're picking up momentum." Perhaps this is a good sign for the broader markets; HP was up 13% on the news to $18.99. http://informationweek.com/story/IWK20021120S0012 http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1037880295199325028,00.html?mod=article-outset-box (Req SUB) 3:53:36 PM    comment []

Jobless Claims Down; Leading Indicators Flat So, let's review the data (http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1037885007303301548,00,00.html?mod=article-outset-box) (Req. Sub): Initial claims: Dropped 25,000 to 376,000 for the week ended Saturday, the lowest level since July ; Four-week average of claims declined 4,500 to 395,750, the lowest level since late August. Obviously, the four-week avg. is less volatile than initial claims and helps to balance surges. On the Leading Indicator front, the Conference Board said its monthly index of leading indicators was flat in October after four consecutive months of declines. Additionally, the components that make up its index, 6 of 10 are up, "led bvy growth in money supply, jobless claims and manufacturers' orders for nondefense capital goods." Prompting one economist to say, "I think we've probably seen the worst of things," though that description is up for argument at present. The ManPower Temp Staffing data that came out earlier this week doesn't sound positive about new hirings; on the other end of things, "Mark Vitner, an economist at Wachovia Securities in Charlotte, N.C. said his clients are telling him that they simply can't operate much longer with inventories so lean, meaning they will have to start restocking soon." So the guessing game continues ... perhaps the folks who have seen the Report will weight in soon .... 3:34:40 PM    comment []

Who says West Virginia's Not Civilized? Apparently winning a game is foreign in Morgantown these days; how far they've fallen from Don Neelan's era, eh? Students went a little crazy after beating VA Tech http://espn.go.com/ncf/news/2002/1121/1464103.html  The ESPN lead-in said, "W. Virginia Students turn up the heat after win," well if by heat you mean setting fires around town, yes they do. 3:27:18 PM    comment []