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May 7, 2014 Despite the Easter holiday shift, Whole Foods reported second quarter revenue of $3.32 billion, a record increase of 10% from the prior-year quarter.  But the record was not enough for Wall Street, which expected $3.34 billion. The company’s earnings per share of 38 cents for the quarter also came in below expectations... Read more »

May 8, 2014 Builder confidence in the single-family 55+ housing market for the first quarter of 2014 is up year over year, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) latest 55+ Housing Market Index (HMI) released today.  Compared to the first quarter of 2013, the single-family index increased 4 points to a level... Read more »

May 7, 2014 The health of housing is key for the overall state of the U.S. economy and housing stands poised to serve as an engine of job growth with the right policies in place, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) told Congress today. Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Policy... Read more »

May 6, 2014 Office Depot said it plans to close 400 of its 2,000 stores as it looks to realize efficiencies related to its merger with OfficeMax. An estimated 150 of the stores will close this year, according to the company, which reported first quarter results and continued weakness in same store sales.  The company... Read more »

May 5, 2014 Walgreens posted April sales of $6.49 billion, an increase of 8.8% from $5.96 billion for the same month in fiscal 2013. Total front-end sales increased 8.8% in April compared with the same month in fiscal 2013, while same-store front-end sales increased 8.2%.  Customer traffic in comparable stores increased 2.6% while basket size... Read more »

May 2, 2014 Despite severe weather-related issues during the first quarter, CVS reported “solid results” across the enterprise and executives expressed optimism in achieving 2014 goals. “It is unusual to hear us talk about the impact of weather on our business.  Historically, it has been our practice to not blame the weather when we explain... Read more »

May 5, 2014 Last week: Perhaps the biggest news in this data-heavy week is the rebound in wage growth.  Factories and stores, idled by winter weather, were back in business in March.  The jobs report shows they continued to catch up in April.  But as The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index has been signaling for... Read more »

May 5, 2014 The Conference Board Employment Trends Index increased in April.  The index now stands at 118,000, up from 117.77 (an upward revision) in March.  This represents a 5.5 percent gain in the ETI compared to a year ago. “April’s increase in the Employment Trends Index, and continued improvement in recent months, is signaling... Read more »

May 2, 2014 The labor market remains surprisingly and resiliently strong, as evidenced by the gain of 288,000 new jobs created in April.  The gain this month was aided by some catch up – hiring that perhaps would have happened earlier if not for the widespread inclement weather.  But that is only one part of... Read more »