Despite a surprisingly gloomy December housing sales report, stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs) are starting the week off on the right foot by sitting in positive territory. But will it last?
Sales of existing homes fell a sharper-than-expected 16.7% in December, the largest drop in more than 40 years, reports Alan Zibel for the Associated Press. The drop was especially surprising, considering the extension of the array of tax credits now available to homebuyers. iShares FTSE NAREIT Residential (NYSEArca: REZ) is down nearly 1% this morning. [For more stories about real estate, go here.]
Is Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) in trouble? The discount retailer announced it would be cutting more than 11,000 jobs at Sam’s Club, which is about 10% of its workforce. The cuts are being made, they say, because they’ll begin outsourced product demonstrations and eliminating other positions, reports Reuters. Vanguard Consumer Staples (NYSEArca: VDC) is up slightly this morning; Wal-Mart is 8.8%. [For more stories about retail, go here.]
The U.S. dollar has resumed its slide this morning as concerns about the economic recovery grow. This morning’s report about housing sales caused the dollar to give back most of its gains on the yen, reports Fabio Alves for The Wall Street Journal. PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Bearish (NYSEArca: UDN) is up slightly this morning. [For more stories about the U.S. dollar, go here.]
Look for earnings reports this week from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN), Delta Airlines (NYSE: DAL), Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD), Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ).
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.