Business

Morning Market Roundup: Boeing Record Order, Walmart Earnings, iPhone Woes

Here‘s what’s happening this morning in the financial world:

Big retailer earnings due this week: Earnings from Dell, Target and Walmart are due this week. The numbers from Target and Walmart, particularly their guidance for the current quarter, could easily drive equity markets higher or lower. The forecasts from the country’s two largest retailers will be a critical sign of whether holiday sales will be reasonably good or very slow, as they have been each season since the recession started.

The forecasts will be particularly telling about how middle-class and lower-class shoppers react to what remains a very sluggish economy in which high unemployment is still a strong concern.

Dell’s earnings likely will confirm a sharp drop in interest in traditional PCs. Apple and several Google Android-powered tablet PCs, as well as new tablets from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, are part of a trend in which consumers reject the purchase of laptops and desktops in favor of tablets.

Italy’s high debt yields will hurt: Italy’s recent debt auction did little to encourage those who hoped the perceptions of the nation’s finances would change rapidly with the election of new Prime Minister Mario Monti. As Italy raised $4.1 billion, the yield on five-year bonds rose to 6.29 percent from a yield of 5.32 percent in a previous sale in October. Italy cannot sustain borrowing at interest rates that are that high, which will cause more concern that its sovereign debt situation will worsen.

Italy is often described as “too big to fail” because it is the eurozone’s third-largest economy. It is also described as “too big to rescue” because eurozone nations lack the will, and perhaps the capital, to bail out the country. The European Central Bank has shown little interest to act as the lender of last support, perhaps afraid that it could be the instrument of moral hazard and contagion.

Boeing orders: Boeing can brag that it is once again clearly the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer. The company reported that Dubai-based Emirates Airline announced an order for 50 Boeing 777-300ERs plus options for an additional 20 of the commercial jetliner. The order, with a value of $18 billion, makes this the single largest commercial airplane order in Boeing’s history by dollar value. Aircraft orders usually are measured based on the list price of the planes, which is misleading.

Purchases the size of Emirates Airline one always are done at sharp discounts. That does not take away the substantial victory that this is for Boeing or the defeat it represents for rival Airbus.

iPhone battery woes: The release of new software to fix battery-life weakness in the new iPhone 4S does not seem to have satisfied a number of owners of the smartphone. The iOS 5.0.1. software release was to address the battery drain problem. As long as there is vocal criticism of the battery problem, Apple will face its most difficult product launch in years. iPhone 4S sales have been extremely strong. A flaw in the smartphone’s performance could hurt that.

Asia markets:

  • Nikkei 225, up 1.05 percent to 8,604
  • Hang Seng higher by 1.94 percent to 19,508.

Europe:

  • FTSE 100 down 0.38 percent to 5,524 on troubled Italy bond auction
  • DAX down 0.41 percent to 6.032.

WTI crude down 0.42 percent to $98.54.

Gold off 0.4 percent to $1,781.

U.S. 10-year up 0.02 to 2.08 percent

(Douglas A. McIntyre—24/7 Wall St./The Blaze)

Comments (8)

  • Vanquisher
    Posted on November 14, 2011 at 2:34pm

    With all the uncertainty in Europe and the Euro, is this any suprise? Airbus could be insolvent soon!

    Report Post »  
  • Halo9x
    Posted on November 14, 2011 at 11:03am

    I like my new iPhone. Yes, I‘m a bit disappointed in the battery issue but has anyone compared the iPone’s battery time with the Android side? 4G is even worse as is Flash use.
    I’m willing to bet that they are equally just as short. The reality is probably that smartphones in general eat more energy than non-smartphones and take a bit more effort to turn off processes that are not needed. I found many of my apps were intact running in the background and have since started making it a point to turn off nearly everything. Don’t worry, they still work when you need them.
    Everyone wanted multi-tasking on their phones. That takes energy to keep all those apps open, even if they are idle! Even if you have to recharge every night, you still have more than enough power to get you through the day. If you are using your smartphones THAT much then plug it in while in your car as you drive. Just remember to let it drain all the way down at least once a month and do a full re-charge.
    Battery life issues are part of the cost of using a smartphone and while I‘m sure Apple will do it’s best to resolve what it can, it’s still going to take a “smart” person to deal with the what can’t be solved with a software fix.

    Report Post »  
  • sWampy
    Posted on November 14, 2011 at 10:34am

    Sad…but interesting!
    The day the Democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009, it was actually January 3rd 2007, the day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the 110th Congress.
    The Democratic Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.

    For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is “Bush’s Fault”, think about this:
    January 3rd, 2007, the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress:
    The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77
    The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%
    The Unemployment rate was 4.6%
    George Bush’s Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB CREATION!
    Remember that day…
    January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.
    The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy?

    BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!
    THANK YOU DEMOCRATS (especially Barney ) for taking us from 13,000 DOW, 3.5 GDP and 4.6% Unemployment…to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!

    (BTW: Bush asked Congress 17 times to stop Fannie & Freddie – starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy). Barney blocked it and called it a “Chicken Littl

    Report Post »  
  • poverty.sucks
    Posted on November 14, 2011 at 9:58am

    Morning Market Round Up, very informative. Hope the Blaze can keep it true to thearket and refrain from inserting articles on advertisers.

    Report Post » poverty.sucks  
  • lukerw
    Posted on November 14, 2011 at 9:36am

    You mean… the Financial People do not care who caused the Debt if you are Bankrupt? WHAT… that is Anti-Obama/Democrat!

    Report Post » lukerw  
  • forthepeople
    Posted on November 14, 2011 at 9:18am

    Hell with the brokers, it seems our political representatives know more than anyone on buying stock !

    Report Post » forthepeople  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on November 14, 2011 at 8:53am

    Well we see once again the insanity of the stock and commodities market is on the way well and true to oblivion; how soon until the EU finally goes?

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • garyM
    Posted on November 14, 2011 at 8:53am

    Dubai is where all the money in the world is located! Arab oil!

    Report Post »  

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