What to Watch This Week
Tuesday, look for the Washington State Employment Security Department to release February's preliminary statewide employment statistics.
Through the week, earnings announcements should shape much of Wall Street's sentiment. We will get announcements from Adobe, General Mills, Oracle, Nike, Barnes & Noble, FEDEX, and Blockbuster. Personally, with analyst expectations set so high for Oracle, I believe their announcement will prove to be the one to watch.
Although not something we concentrate on, look for a lot of focus on oil throughout the week. Last week, oil seemed to be overlooked by the media, but, in actuality, there was a lot of behind-the-scenes activity from OPEC. The outcome of the meeting of OPEC ministers in Vienna will be newsworthy.
Finally, expect more PR from the banks throughout the week. Given that relatively insignificant comments made by JP Morgan's and Citi's CEO's triggered last week's rally, it only makes sense that others will try follow suit, utilizing the opportunity as a catalyst to instill a belief of stability and confidence in the banking sector.
What I Saw Last Week
Last week's rally, bear market or not, was somewhat unexpected but welcome nonetheless!
Monday kicked off the week with what was widely regarded as the first major deal of 2009 when Merck announced its plan to purchase Schering-Plough for $41.1 billion.
Tuesday "really" kicked off the week when an internal memorandum from Citigroup's CEO Vikram Pandit circulated and indicated that the company's first quarter performance to date has been the best since the bank last recorded a net gain for a full quarter.
This triggered frenetic activity on Wall Street, causing the Dow to close up 380 on the day.
While I couldn't help but smile at finally seeing some green ticker symbols, part of me couldn't disregard the wording of Citi's memo which stated that, "Based on historical revenue and expense rates, Citi's projected earnings before taxes and one-time charges would be about $8.3 billion for the full quarter."
Let's hope for either some accounting changes or minimal one time charges!
Wednesday and Thursday's headlines included GM's announcement that it doesn't need the $2B in additional loans it had originally sought; the House getting pledges from the Financial Accounting Standards Board to issue new guidelines to ease mark-to-market accounting rules; retail sales surprising analysts by showing a 0.7 percent gain in February, and analysts cheering GE's new double -A credit rating.
Continuing with what felt like the longest run of positive news for some time, Friday's announcement from Reuters and the University of Michigan indicated that consumer confidence increased from 56.3 last month to 56.6 in March.
Even more dramatic was their announcement that the increase in "confidence in economic policy" from February to early-March was the largest ever recorded. Apparently the masses have taken note of recent administrative action and appreciate the effort...
Quote of the Week
Will You Want A Job In That State After College?
Though a few weeks old, a quote within the article that specifically stuck out to me was: "The result: It (Washington State) had the second most new businesses launched per capita in the country over the past three years."
In view of recent happenings at large/local think tanks, such as Microsoft, it's exciting to consider what could potentially materialize in the wake of what was viewed as a very negative transpiring.
Here's one link to help imagine my thoughts on the matter...
Xbox Live creator's new gig: stealthy Seattle startup
