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    • Breaking News
    Mar 20, 2024
    • The Federal Reserve left its key lending rate unrevised, signaled possible rate cuts, and lifted its economic growth outlook.

      The Federal Open Market Committee left the fed funds target rate range unrevised between 5.25% and 5.50% for the fifth meeting in a row and held rates steady at a 23-year high. 

      The rate-setting committee, also noted in the so-called dot plot, anticipates three rate cuts that could bring down the fed funds rate range to between 4.50% and 4.75%. 

      At the same time, the committee raised its forecast for rates at the end of 2025 to a range of 3.75% to 4.0% from the December forecast range between 3.50% and 3.75%.

      Investors bid up stocks after the monetary policy decisions indicated the possibility of as many as three rate cuts in the next nine months. 
      • Mar 19, 2024
      • U.S. housing starts and permits increased in February, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

        Low home inventories are forcing more and more buyers to buy new homes as buyers struggle with elevated mortgage rates and home affordability. 

        Seasonally adjusted privately owned housing starts rose to 1.521 million, an increase of 10.7% from January and 5.9% from a year ago. 

        Building permits increased 1.9% from the previous month and 2.4% from a year ago to a total of 1.518 million. 

        Housing completions surged 19.7% from January and increased 9.7% from a year ago to 1.73 million. 
        • Mar 15, 2024
        • Ulta Beauty dropped 7.6% to $522.0 after the cosmetic retailer estimated a lower-than-expected full-year sales outlook. 

          Net sales in the fourth quarter ending on February 3 increased 10.2% to $3.6 billion from $3.2 billion, net income advanced to $394.4 million from $340.7 million, and diluted earnings per share rose to $8.08 from $6.68 a year ago. 

          The fourth quarter included one extra week compared to a year ago because of the calendar shift. 

          Calendar-adjusted comparable store sales in the quarter slowed sharply to 2.5% from 15.6% in the period a year ago. 

          During the fourth quarter, the retailer repurchased 352,005 shares of its common stock at a cost of $159.5 million, and in fiscal 2023, the company repurchased 2.2 million shares of its common stock at a cost of $1.0 billion. 

          As of February 3, 2024, $99.9 million remained available under the $2 billion share repurchase program announced in March 2022. 

          On March 12, 2024, the company’s board of directors approved a new share repurchase authorization of $2 billion, replacing the current program in place since March 2022. 

          The company estimated fiscal 2024 sales to range between $11.7 billion and $11.8 billion, an annual increase between 4% and 5%. 

          The retailer estimated diluted earnings per share in the fiscal year 2024 to fall between $26.20 and $27.0, based on opening net new stores between 60 and 65 and operating margins between 14.0% and 14.3%. 
          • Mar 14, 2024
          • Seasonally adjusted retail and food services sales, but not adjusted for prices, increased 0.6% from the previous month and rose 1.5% from a year ago in February. 

            Despite elevated inflation and rising interest rates, consumer spending is holding up, but consumers are sticking to basic necessities and avoiding discretionary items. 

            Nonstore retail sales increased 6.4%, and food services and drinking place sales advanced 6.3% from a year ago. 

            Retail sales in February rose by 0.6% on a monthly basis, and January's monthly sales decline was lowered to 1.1% from the previous estimate of a 0.8% fall. 

            Total retail sales over the three-month period to February 2024, which covers the critical holiday period, rose 2.1% from the same period a year ago. 

             
            • The producer price index for the final demand increased by 0.6% from the previous month in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday. 

              The annual measure of wholesale inflation accelerated to 1.6% in the month from 0.9% in January after high energy prices drove goods prices to increase at the fastest pace in six months. 

              Goods prices increased 1.2%, and the cost of services edged up 0.3%. 

              However, the core rate of inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose at a slower pace of 0.3% after rising 0.5% in the previous month. 

               
              • Dick's Sporting Goods rose 4.9% to $197.0 after the athletic goods retailer posted record quarterly sales in the fiscal fourth quarter. 

                Net sales in the holiday quarter ending on February 3rd increased 7.85 to $3.9 billion from $3.6 billion, net income advanced 26% to $296 million from $236 million, and diluted earnings per share rose to $3.57 from $2.60 a year ago. 

                The company estimated fiscal 2024 earnings per share to range between $12.85 and $13.25 and estimated same-store sales to rise between 1% and 2%. 
                • Mar 12, 2024
                • Oracle Corp. increased 11.5% to $127.26 after the database and cloud computing company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings. 

                  Revenue in the fiscal third quarter ending on February increased 7% to $13.3 billion from $12.4 billion, net income advanced 27% to $2.4 billion from $1.8 billion, and diluted earnings per share rose to 85 cents from 68 cents a year ago. 

                  Cloud revenue increased 25% to $5.1 billion and cloud infrastructure surged 49% to $1.8 billion, respectively. 

                   "Large new cloud infrastructure contracts signed in Q3 drove Oracle's total Remaining Performance Obligations up 29% to over $80 billion—an all-time record," said Oracle CEO, Safra Catz.

                  The company also signaled strong demand for its cloud computing products and indicated sustained revenue growth at least for the remainder of 2024. 

                  "We expect to continue receiving large contracts reserving cloud infrastructure capacity because the demand for our Gen2 AI infrastructure substantially exceeds supply—despite the fact we are opening new and expanding existing cloud datacenters very, very rapidly. 

                  We expect that 43% of our current $80 billion of Remaining Performance Obligations will be recognized as revenue over the next four quarters, added Catz. 

                  The company also indicated that its Gen2 Cloud Infrastructure business "will remain in a hypergrowth phase for the foreseeable  future" after surging 53% in the fiscal third quarter. 
                  • Consumer price inflation in February unexpectedly increased to 3.2% from 3.1% in the previous month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. 

                    The rising cost of shelter and gasoline contributed about 60% of overall inflation as rents continued to rise across the nation. 

                    On a monthly basis, inflation held steady at 0.4% and matched the rate in January. 

                    Core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, rose at a slower annual pace of 3.8%, compared to 3.9% in January. 

                    Prices of food, shelter, new vehicles, and medical care continued to rise, but at a slower pace in the month. 

                    Food price inflation slowed to 2.2% from 2.6%, housing costs eased to 5.7% from 6.0%, new vehicle prices rose 0.4% from 0.6%, and medical care inflation eased to 2.9% from 3.0%. 

                    However, transportation costs accelerated to 9.9%, compared to 9.5% in the previous month. 
                    • Mar 8, 2024
                    • Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 275,000 in February, and the unemployment rate increased to 3.9%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. 

                      The February month's increase was higher than the average 230,00 monthly gain in the last 12 months. 

                      The unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to 3.9% in February, and the number of unemployed people increased by 334,000 to 6.5 million. 

                      A year earlier, the jobless rate was 3.6%, and the number of unemployed people was 6.0 million.

                      The number of long-term unemployed, those seeking jobs for 27 weeks or more, held steady at 1.2 million in February. 

                      Moreover, the employment participation rate and employment-to-population ratio held steady for the third month in a row at 62.5% and 60.1%, respectively. 

                      In addition, there are 5.7 million people still seeking jobs, but not in the labor force, as in the previous month. 

                      Average hourly earnings for all employees rose at a slower monthly pace of 0.1% and an annual rate of 4.3% to $34.57 in February. 

                      The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for December was revised down by 43,000 to 290,000, and the change for January was revised down by 124,000 to 229,000. 

                      With these revisions, employment in December and January combined is 167,000 lower than previously reported. 
                      • Mar 7, 2024
                      • American Eagle jumped 11.7% to $26.20 after the specialty apparel retailer reported better-than-expected quarterly results. 

                        The company also took on an impairment and restructuring charge of $98.3 million related to its internal logistics business, Quiet Platform, which the company put together through various acquisitions during the COVID-19 pandemic years between 2020 and 2022. 

                        Revenue in the holiday quarter increased 12% to $1.68 billion from $1.5 billion, net income plunged to $6.3 million from $54.6 million, and diluted earnings per share dropped to 3 cents from 28 cents a year ago.