Men’s retailer Jos. A. Bank warned that sales in the quarter plunged 11%. OK, it suffered from management foul-ups, goofy marketing, obnoxious ads, and – at least at the store I looked at – dusty shirts on the shelf. But it isn’t an outlier. It’s the latest entry on a laundry list of revenue-challenged retailers whose woes are spreading relentlessly across the US.
Monthly Archives: August 2013
Cisco CEO Reports Record Sales And “Lumpy” Demand, Just Like In November 2007, A Month Before Stocks Began To Crash
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Cisco CEO Reports Record Sales And “Lumpy” Demand, Just Like In November 2007, A Month Before Stocks Began To Crash
Cisco CEO Chambers gushed with positive vibes during the earnings call: “unbelievably strong results,” he said about the quarter. He talked about record revenues. “We have strong momentum,” he said, “very solid execution.” But he lowered guidance, lamented the debacles in China and Japan, and announced layoffs. Then he uttered the word “lumpy.”
This is What Mucks Up Housing, Costs Homeowners Dearly
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on This is What Mucks Up Housing, Costs Homeowners Dearly
Home prices have jumped around the country, in some cities over 20% on an annual basis. “Recovery of the housing market,” is what this phenomenon is called. Everyone from President Obama on down has taken credit for it, particularly the Fed, whose handiwork this is. But there is a very ugly fly in this illusory ointment.
Fed: We Can Avoid A Crash At The End Of QE If Everybody Believes That Everybody Believes In A Mirage….
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Fed: We Can Avoid A Crash At The End Of QE If Everybody Believes That Everybody Believes In A Mirage….
What rabble-rousers, economists (those banished from the mainstream media), and bloggers have hammered on for years, a study by the San Francisco Fed finally confesses: Quantitative Easing didn’t do a heck of a lot of good for the real economy. The timing of the study is impeccable: the nearing end of QE – and the market mayhem it might cause.
Cracks In China’s Construction Bubble (But It’s Not Going To End)
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Cracks In China’s Construction Bubble (But It’s Not Going To End)
China’s phenomenal construction bubble, driven by local governments that must keep their economies growing, no matter what the costs, and funded by state-owned megabanks, has led to an equally phenomenal misallocation of capital, overbuilding, waste, ghost cities, empty shopping malls, and now an epidemic of shuttered luxury department stores.
David Stockman: Hedge Funds, Haven Of Hit-And-Run Capital For The 1 Percent
by David Stockman • • Comments Off on David Stockman: Hedge Funds, Haven Of Hit-And-Run Capital For The 1 Percent
During the 14 years since the LTCM crisis, the Fed’s interest rate repression policies have resulted in an inflation-adjusted return on six-month CDs of exactly 0%, David Stockman writes. It revolutionized the saving and investment habits of the wealthiest households. Unlike hapless savers among the middle class, the rich had an escape route.
Breaking the Taboo of Drug Legalisation
by Don Quijones • • Comments Off on Breaking the Taboo of Drug Legalisation
By Don Quijones: Uruguay rarely draws international attention. Sandwiched between its much larger, much rowdier neighbors, it is, and has been for decades, a relative oasis of calm. But that is about to change: Uruguay is on the verge of becoming the first ever Latin American country to decriminalize the consumption of marijuana.
Why I’m Deeply Worried About Japan – And Why Betting On The Collapse Of JGBs Is A Horrible Idea
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Why I’m Deeply Worried About Japan – And Why Betting On The Collapse Of JGBs Is A Horrible Idea
You don’t seem to “think Abenomics is working,” a reader wrote, followed by tough questions and a comparison to Kyle Bass, who has been betting on a “full-blown Japan crisis.” It got me thinking. I’m attached to Japan. What started in 1996 has turned into a complex relationship. But now that Abenomics is the religion of salvation, I’m even more worried.
“Yes We Scan” (Everything)
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on “Yes We Scan” (Everything)
Trouble In Junk Bond Lala-Land
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Trouble In Junk Bond Lala-Land
Private Equity firms have seen this coming for months. They’re positioning themselves for it. In April, Leon Black, CEO of Apollo Global Management, explained it this way to an incredulous world: “We’re selling everything that’s not nailed down.” Now they’re setting records – but someone will end up holding the bag.