On Tuesday May 18, 2010, 5:56 pm
Wal-Mart's 1Q net income rises 10
percent
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s
first-quarter net income rose 10 percent as the world's largest retailer
benefited from cost-cutting and robust growth in its international business.
But Wal-Mart said a key measure of
revenue dropped for the fourth consecutive quarter as it continued to see a
decline in customer counts at its U.S. namesake stores.
It also offered a muted outlook for the
current quarter as shoppers worry about jobs and their finances.
Wal-Mart said Tuesday net income was
$3.32 billion, or 88 cents per share for the period ended April 30. That
compares with $3.02 billion, or 77 cents per share in the same quarter last
year.
Home Depot 1Q profit, revenue, transactions
climb
CHICAGO (AP) -- Customers returned to
Home Depot Inc. in its fiscal first quarter, boosting the home improvement
super store chain's profit and raising a key performance measure for the first
time since 2005, the company said Tuesday.
The results come after years of efforts
to improve customer service at Home Depot, tweak its merchandise assortment and
win back customers who fled for competitors.
Revenue in U.S. stores open at least a
year rose 3.3 percent. It was the first gain since 2005's fourth quarter for
that figure, considered key for retailers because it isn't skewed by results
from stores that opened or closed during the year.
Home building gain likely to fade with
tax credit
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Home construction
rebounded last month to the highest level in 18 months as buyers capitalized on
tax incentives. But now that those tax credits have expired, builders are
scaling back.
That means the homebuilding industry
isn't likely to contribute as much to the economic recovery. Analysts expect
sales to fall this summer as the effect of the tax credits fades.
The rate of construction of
single-family homes and apartment buildings rose 5.8 percent last month to a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 672,000, the Commerce Department said
Tuesday. That's the highest level since October 2008.
German regulator issues naked
short-selling ban
BERLIN (AP) -- Germany's market
regulator announced a ban Tuesday on so-called naked short-selling of eurozone
government debt and shares of major financial companies, a move that came as
European officials seek to strengthen control of markets.
The regulator, BaFin, said the ban --
which was to take effect at midnight Tuesday and run through March 31 of next
year -- also would apply to naked credit default swaps involving eurozone debt.
The move, it said, was aimed at upholding financial stability amid the
continent's persistent debt crisis.
Still, the ban itself appeared to
underline markets' concerns about European policymaking, and the euro fell
Tuesday evening. It bought around $1.22, after trading well above $1.23 earlier
in the day.
Stocks slide after euro falls to new
4-year low
NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors uneasy about
the news coming out of Europe Tuesday went back to selling stocks sharply
lower. The falling euro and news that German regulators plan to limit some
kinds of short selling fed the drop.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell
almost 115 points to 10,510.95 after giving up an early gain of 93. The Dow and
broader indexes lost more than 1 percent.
The euro gave stocks a boost early in
the day when 10 European Union countries sent bailout money to Greece. The move
raised confidence about Europe's ability to prevent its debt crisis from
spreading to other economies including the U.S.
AP Sources: Exchanges to impose new
trading rules
NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stock exchanges
would briefly halt trading of some stocks that have big prices swings under new
trading rules aimed at avoiding market plunges, according to two people
familiar with the plan.
The rules are expected to begin in
mid-June under a six-month pilot program agreed to by exchanges and regulators,
the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not
been made public.
Under the plan, trading of any Standard
& Poor's 500 stock that rises or falls 10 percent or more would be halted
for five minutes. These rules, known as "circuit breakers," would be
applied if the price swing occurs between 9:45 a.m. and 3:35 p.m. Eastern time.
That's almost the entire trading day.
HP net income jumps 28 pct; raises 2010
outlook
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Hewlett-Packard
Co.'s net income jumped 28 percent in the latest quarter as stronger demand for
computers is helping to heal a battered technology industry.
The company also raised its 2010
forecast, sending shares higher.
The results mark a continued growth in
profit at the world's No. 1 maker of personal computers and printers. Although
HP had been making money even during the height of the recession, its net
income had been getting smaller each quarter. But for three straight quarters
now, net income has been growing.
Interior secretary acknowledges lax oil
regulation
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Grilled by skeptical
lawmakers, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday acknowledged his agency
had been lax in overseeing offshore drilling activities and that may have
contributed to the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Salazar's appearances before two of the
three Senate panels holding hearings Tuesday on the giant oil spill came as the
federal officials kept a wary eye on the expanding dimensions of the problem.
The government increased the area of the Gulf where fishing is shut down to
46,000 square miles, or about 19 percent of federal waters. That's up from
about 7 percent before.
Oil gives up early gains, heads down
again
It looked for a while on Tuesday that
the two-week slide in oil prices that dragged crude down to its lowest price of
the year would end. It didn't.
Benchmark crude for June delivery fell
54 cents to settle at $69.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
That's the lowest settlement since Sept. 29, when crude settled at $66.71. Oil
was as high as $72.52 earlier in Tuesday's session.
Analysts say fresh worries about the
European debt crisis and the declining euro pulled the rug out from Tuesday's
early rally.
Crude has dropped more than 20 percent
after hitting $87.15 a barrel on May 3, the highest point since October 2008.
Pfizer to trim 6,000 jobs, shut 8
plants worldwide
NEW YORK (AP) -- Pfizer Inc. said
Tuesday it will cut 6,000 jobs as it trims manufacturing capacity for health
care products worldwide after acquiring smaller rival Wyeth last year.
The world's biggest drugmaker and
producer of Viagra says it will cease operations at eight plants in Ireland,
Puerto Rico, and the U.S. by the end of 2015, and reduce operations at six
other plants over the next several years. The plants make a range of
pharmaceutical and consumer health products. Overall, the company operates 78
plants internationally and employs about 116,000 workers.
The New York-based company said in
April it would cut 20,000 jobs as it integrates Wyeth, which it bought in
October for $68 billion.
By The Associated Press
The Dow fell 114.88, or 1.1 percent, to
10,510.95.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index
fell 16.14, or 1.4 percent, to 1,120.80, while the Nasdaq composite index fell
36.97, or 1.6 percent, to 2,317.26.
Benchmark crude for June delivery fell
54 cents to settle at $69.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its
lowest settlement since Sept. 29.
In other Nymex trading in June
contracts, heating oil fell 2.37 cents to settle at $1.9615 a gallon. Gasoline
settled unchanged at $2.0431 a gallon. Natural gas gave up 5.6 cents to settle
at $4.342 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, the Brent crude July contact
dropped 67 cents to settle at $74.43 on the ICE futures exchange.