Target’s 1Q profits up 1.2 percent
AP - Target Corp. reported a 1.2 percent increase in first-quarter profit and raised its earnings forecast for the full year due to strong sales of its food and cheap chic fashions. Target’s results illustrate that Americans are beginning to spend cautiously as economic uncertainty persists. The job and housing markets are still shaky has raised fears about a spring slowdown, but falling gas prices have given shoppers hope.
Target has found some success with drawing customers in with a larger selection of foods and a program it started in 2010 that offers a 5 percent discount for those who pay with Target-branded credit and debit cards.
BHP warns commodity markets to cool further
Reuters - BHP Billiton said it expects commodity markets to cool further and that investors have lost confidence in the longer-term health of the global economy, in the most cautious comments yet from the world’s biggest miner.
BHP also put the brakes on a plan announced by Chief Executive Marius Kloppers in 2011 to spend $80 billion over five years to expand its iron ore, coal, energy and base metals divisions, banking on continuing high demand from its main market, China. ”It is all about appropriate allocation of capital. When Marius (Kloppers) talked about the $80 billion, the environment was different,” Chairman Jacques Nasser told reporters after a Sydney business lunch on Wednesday.
Deere fiscal 2Q profit rises, beats expectations
AP - Deere posted a 17 percent spike in profits for the second quarter Wednesday and boosted its outlook for the year, predicting record-high global demand for farm equipment. The company beat Wall Street expectations on net income and revenue, posting a profit of $1.06 billion, or $2.61 per share, up from $904 million, or $2.12 per share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue jumped 12 percent to $10 billion, from $8.9 billion, as global net equipment sales increased 13 percent to $9.41 billion.
“Our results are a reflection of positive conditions in the global farm economy, which is continuing to show impressive strength and endurance,” Samuel Allen, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
Bankia IPO Causes Shareholders $2 Billion Loss Post Bailout
Bloomberg – Bankia SA, the Spanish lender taken over by the government in a bailout this month, struggled to convince money managers to take part in its initial public offering less than a year ago. The bank instead relied on individuals, investors who are typically less equipped to analyze stock risks, to fill orders for the IPO in July. About 347,000 investors, most of them individuals like Josefa Rodriguez, an 86-year-old retired housewife from Madrid, bought Bankia’s shares.
“My aunt is a lady with almost nil knowledge of financial products and this wasn’t an appropriate product for her,” said Marta Rodriguez, her niece, who spoke on her behalf in a phone interview as Josefa lives in a residential nursing home. “Staff at the bank was under a lot of pressure themselves to sell the shares.”
Gold drops ahead of Greek meetings
MarketWatch – Gold fell for a fourth day Wednesday, as concerns about political deadlock in Greece drained investors’ appetite for risk, helping to push the U.S. dollar higher. Comex gold for June delivery traded down $22.60, or 1.5%, to $1,534.50 an ounce in electronic trading.
The action extended weakness in the regular U.S. session Tuesday, where the gold contract settled at its lowest level since Dec. 29. Among other metals futures, July silver tumbled 2.8% to $27.29 an ounce, while July copper lost 1.4% to trade at $3.47 a pound.
GM’s Akerson Impatient to Improve His ‘B’ Grade as CEO
Bloomberg – Dan Akerson, who became chief executive officer at General Motors Co. (GM) in 2010, gives himself a “B” for his performance so far. He has too much work to do to think about retiring for at least another year or two, he said. GM’s accomplishments on Akerson’s watch include surpassing Toyota Motor Corp. as the world’s top-selling automaker and posting a record $9.19 billion profit last year. Still, the Detroit-based company needs to boost profits, develop more world-class vehicles and build on its “fortress” balance sheet, Akerson said. He also wants to build Chevrolet and Cadillac into global brands and make money in all regions of the world.
Akerson, 63, may even give up the top position in vehicles sold if it means becoming the industry’s most profitable carmaker. That would bolster the stock price, which has dropped 35 percent since GM’s November 2010 initial public offering.
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