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-->The economy is clearly not what it once was. Americans and Maconites are cutting back on spending and are stopping by the local pawnshops and eBay to pick up some extra cash in exchange for the crap they don’t need.
Americans unload prized belongings to make ends meet. (AP)
Pawn shops receive more traffic as times become financially tougher. (Macon.com)
Low Spending Is Taking Toll on Economy. (New York Times)
Big Retailers Scaling Back Expansion Plans and Shutting Stores. (New York Times)
My put positions love the sound of this news: General Electric’s quarterly net off 6%; outlook cut.
LONDON (MarketWatch) — General Electric Co. pulled an unpleasant surprise on investors Friday, reporting a 6% drop in first-quarter net profit — largely over trouble in its financial-services businesses — and revising lower its 2008 outlook.
General Electric said net income dropped to $4.3 billion, or 43 cents a share, from profit generated during the first quarter of 2007, while revenue rose 8% to $42.24 billion.
Though GE’s financial-services businesses may be the main culprit, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the economy is slowing down, people are spending less, and the price of basic materials and commodities are growing. Look out below.
Five experts from the American Enterprise Institute (a former employer of mine) have graded and assessed the Federal Reserve’s recent policy decisions. Each expert gives good analysis, but the feeling I get is that the majority of would give Fed should get an “A” for effort and good intentions but a “C” for delivery.
Next, the Resourceful Bear Blog says Lehman Brothers is likely another Bear Stearns. The fact that Golman Sachs and Lehman Brothers debt was downgraded on Good Friday by S&P is cited as an indicator of this possibility.
Finally, according to Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney, Merrill Lynch and and UBS may suffer respective first-quarter write-downs of $6.03bn and $11.06bn.
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