There have been various developments over the past several weeks which investors may consider relevant in allocating their resources or evaluating alternatives that are available to them. Some of the more significant developments include, but are not limited to, the following:
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened the week at 8078 and increased 38 points on Monday.
- On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 59 points.
- On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 201 points.
- On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 226 points.
- On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 257 points and closed the week at 7994.
- Monday was a dismal day for employees all around the country. A series of announcements by major corporations revealed that approximately 75,000 additional jobs would be lost.
- Pfizer announced that it would acquire Wyeth for approximately $68 billion. At the same time, the company said it planned to cut 8,000 employees.
- Caterpillar is cutting 20,000 jobs as demand for construction equipment slumps.
- ING Group said it would eliminate 7,000 additional jobs in its effort to retrench.
- Home Depot is closing its Home Depot EXPO stores and will slash 7,000 jobs.
- Sprint Nextel Corporation will eliminate 8,000 positions in the first quarter of 2009.
- Texas Instruments reported that it would cut 3,400 jobs.
- IBM announced that it would slash 2,800 jobs.
- On Tuesday, Corning announced it was cutting 3,500 jobs.
- Avery Dennison, a chemical company, announced that it was slashing 3,600 jobs worldwide.
- Navistar International is cutting 700 employees.
- Baker Hughes, an oil field services company, will eliminate 1,500 jobs.
- On Wednesday, Boeing announced that it was slashing 10,000 jobs.
- Starbucks reported that it would close 300 more stores and eliminate approximately 6,000 jobs.
- AOL will lay off 10% of its workforce. Approximately, 700 jobs will be lost.
- Eastman Kodak announced plans to layoff between 3,500 and 4,500 workers.
- On Friday, Caterpillar announced that it would layoff 2,200 more workers.
- NEC Corporation, the electronics giant, will cut 20,000 jobs worldwide.
- Morgan Stanley announced that it is considering laying off another 5% of its workforce. Over 2,000 people could be affected.
- Goldman Sachs is also considering additional reductions in staff.
- Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York City, announced that the city may have to eliminate 23,000 jobs. He also projected that the city would lose 300,000 jobs by the end of 2010.
- As of mid-January, a record number of people were collecting unemployment. Over 4.8 million people were receiving unemployment benefits.
- The news on the corporate earnings front was not much better.
- Yahoo reported quarterly losses of $303 million as ad sales slumped.
- AirTran lost $118.4 million in the fourth quarter. Much of the loss was attributable to fuel hedge contracts.
- Delta Airlines reported a $1.5 billion loss.
- US Airways reported a quarterly loss of $541 million.
- Valero Energy said it lost $3.28 billion.
- Dupont posted a quarterly loss of $629 million on lower sales.
- American Express quarterly profits dropped 79% from a year earlier.
- Boeing announced a quarterly loss of $56 million.
- Exxon posted a quarterly profit of $7.82 billion and had a record annual profit of $45.2 billion.
- ConocoPhillips posted a quarterly loss of $31.8 billion.
- Ford lost $5.9 billion in the fourth quarter.
- Wells Fargo reported a quarterly loss of $2.55 billion. It was the bank’s first quarterly loss since 2001.
- Sun Microsystems reported a loss of $209 million due to restructuring costs.
- Honda’s quarterly profits dropped by 90%.
- Norfolk Southern, a railroad operator, announced that its profits rose 13%.
- Verizon reported that its earnings were up 15%.
- Bristol-Myers Squibb posted a quarterly profit of $1.24 billion.
- Procter & Gamble earning increased 53% last quarter.
- Regional banks in Maryland, Utah and Florida were closed by regulators.
- Fannie Mae announced that it would need an additional $16 billion in federal aid to stay afloat. Just last week its counterpart, Freddie Mac, reported that it needed an additional $35 billion in federal aid.
- The Government Accountability Office reports that the government’s bailout programs continue to lack adequate oversight.
- The U.S. Postmaster General has asked Congress to reduce required mail delivery service to five days each week instead of the current six days a week.
- U.S. home sales jumped 6.5% from November to December.
- Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. has filed for bankruptcy protection in an effort to restructure its heavy debt.
- Swelling inventories of unsold goods threaten economic recovery.
Page Perry’s Market Monitor is published periodically to give investors an overview of certain recent developments impacting the economy and/or the investment markets.