Filed under: International Markets

A new Bloomberg News survey indicated another modest setback on the global economic front as confidence in the world economy fell in March on concern that the lateral effects from Greece’s budget crisis would hurt the recovery.

The Bloomberg Professional Global Confidence Index (BPGCI) fell to 53.8 in March from a record-high 54.9 in February, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday. However, the index remained above 50 for the eighth consecutive month. Readings above 50 mean there were more optimists than pessimists in the survey. The index was at 66.6 in January.

Continue reading Poll: Global Economic Confidence Dips on Greece’s Debt Woes

Poll: Global Economic Confidence Dips on Greece’s Debt Woes originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Bad News

They don’t all work out. The fundamentals of Central Garden & Pet Company (CENT), first written about here on June 22, 2009 at a price of $10.16, have not improved considerably, after about a year’s performance window.

What’s more, the U.S.’s ‘frugal consumer’ era, strong competition, and the 50/50 prospect for a sluggish U.S. housing sector recovery do not provide encouragement, moving forward, hence the calculation is to close the position at this time and take the roughly $1 gain.

Continue reading Central Garden & Pet: The Patience Ends

Central Garden & Pet: The Patience Ends originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: China, Economic Data, Currency

China’s exports rose 46% in February, signaling a sharp pickup in consumer demand in the United States and Europe. China reported a $7.6 billion trade surplus for the month.

This is the third month of increases in exports and the fastest in three years. Orders from the U.S., Europe and Japan accounted for almost half of the growth.

China’s imports also rose by 45% over the previous year, led by crude oil for its factories.

Continue reading China’s Exports Rise a Whopping 46%

China’s Exports Rise a Whopping 46% originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Good news, Employees, Market Matters, Economic Data, Recession

Unemployment has been a major concern for Americans over the past couple of years, but we get a bit of good news that job openings rose by 7.6% in January, compared with December.

Indicating that employers are at least starting to hire again, new job openings rose to 2.7 million. This is the highest level since back in February 2009.

Continue reading Increased Job Openings Shed Light On Unemployment

Increased Job Openings Shed Light On Unemployment originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Consumer Experience, Market Matters, Kroger Co (KR), Costco Wholesale (COST), Recession

The earnings season is winding down, but there are still many big name companies due to report, and tomorrow features grocer giant Kroger Co. (KR). Kroger will be reporting its fourth quarter numbers before the market opens.

Going into tomorrow’s earnings report, analysts expect Kroger to earn $0.34 per share. Should the company match analyst estimates it would mark a 34% drop from the 53 cents it earned during the same period last year.

Continue reading Kroger Fourth Quarter Earnings Preview

Kroger Fourth Quarter Earnings Preview originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Products and Services, Launches, Best Buy (BBY)

U.S. consumer electronics behemoth Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY) will be joining Japan’s Panasonic Corp. to unveil and heavily promote newer 3D television sets this quarter. As flat panel televisions continue selling at a decent but middling pace, the “next big thing” in home entertainment is ready to roll off shelves. Best Buy believes it will be 3DTV, apparently.

Continue reading Best Buy, Panasonic To Unleash 3D Televisions With 50% Off Pricing

Best Buy, Panasonic To Unleash 3D Televisions With 50% Off Pricing originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Employees, Economic Data, Recession

While looking around NYTimes.com I stumbled across this rather scary-looking graph. That’s a graph of the job losses in the past recessions, and ours is that rather nasty-looking dark blue line. Notice how steep the decline compared to other recessions at the same time.

Yes, this recession has been rather ugly, but I am not telling you any “breaking news” here. The article points out that 6.1% of the economy’s nonfarm payroll jobs were lost since the beginning of the recession. Unfortunately, we can’t be certain that we have reached the end of the job losses.

Continue reading The Scary Unemployment Picture

The Scary Unemployment Picture originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Small Business

It’s really the last resort, but sometimes you need to do it: hire a collections agency. Of course, this is more likely now because of the grinding recession.

But, if you pick the wrong agency, you could do more harm than good. So to help things out, Tony Reisz has some helpful advice. He’s the CEO of Ontario Systems, which provides technologies to nine of the ten largest collection agencies and has been in business for more than 30 years. Here’s what he has to say:

Continue reading Entrepreneur’s Journal: Steps to Take When Hiring a Collections Agency

Entrepreneur’s Journal: Steps to Take When Hiring a Collections Agency originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Products and Services, Internet, Competitive Strategy, Microsoft (MSFT)

Instigated by an agreement negotiated between the European Commission (EC) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), a new browser selection utility has just become available. Although the browser choice software is intended mainly to be distributed through the Windows update system familiar to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) users, it is also available online for anyone to access.

It is reported that Microsoft IE currently holds approximately 62% of browser market share. That is a powerful position for the company to be in when considering that web browsers are absolutely essential pieces of software. That is, in part, why the EC put pressure on Microsoft to open up the playing field to lesser known browser utilities. With their demands, European regulators essentially cut Microsoft’s exclusive IE umbilical cord in July of 2009.

Continue reading Microsoft and the Browser Wars

Microsoft and the Browser Wars originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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