2014 Recap --Looking Back; Investment & Finance Thread - Dec. 14

Weekly investment & finance thread ^ | Dec. 21, 2014 | Freeper Investors

[abb]

Every year, it seems, we’re bombarded with stories about the “poor retailer” and how end of year sales are gonna be down, Black Friday ain’t what it used to be - blah, blah, blah.

And every year, somehow, someway, sales increase. Check out the chart at the link.

[expat_panama]

Good morning!  So far it's light trade w/o big price swings --perfect for vacation time and it's true for both metals (hanging on) and stocks ("flat in half session").   We even got "crude prices steady above $60 in thin Christmas trading"!   This morning we're wrapping up our 'part-time' week as futures peg stock indexes up +0.16% and metals down -0.45%. 

Other active econ threads:

• High GDP Numbers for Q3? We Can Thank Obamacare and Forced Consumer Spending
• Merry Christmas from Texas to the World
• The Destruction Of The Middle Class Is Nearing The Final Stages
• Vanity: How does the economy feel near you?
• New York Times Insider: Multi-Million Dollar Shortfall Causing Drastic Cuts

[expat_panama]

Check out the chart

Dang --subscribers only!  Tell me what's plotted & I can get out the original numbers.

-- and a top of the bright & early new day to you!

[abb]

-- and a top of the bright & early new day to you!

"Money's a bitch that never sleeps."

[expat_panama]

"Money's a bitch that never sleeps."

--and money comes out of no where --just numbers made up at banks.   That's ok, last night I was watching an excellent documentary "The Secrets of Quantum Physics" - BBC, and it turns out that just about everything is not really there either.  For me the hard part is I still got to deal w/ all this stuff that's not there.   Wait, where's my coffee?  Ah, at least my coffee's really here...

[1010RD]

Merry Christmas to you. Hope you’re well and thanks for all you do.

As a point of order, shouldn’t we, when discussing oil prices and the topic of Libya comes up, remind everyone that the blood, rape, mayhem and chaos in Libya is a direct result of Democrat meddling - thanks Hillary and Barak (blood on their hands).

[bert]

Well, not exactly. The Italians had a big though not noted by am Americentric press hand in the events in Libya.

[expat_panama]

--and best wishes for a happy Christmas season for you & yours too!

Sure we can add Libya, but this list is getting awfully long though..

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Lot of markets closed for Boxing day. This is the day we pay homage to Joe Louis, Cassius Clay, Max Schmeling and the rest.

[abb]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/job-engine-running-low-on-gas-as-energy-costs-tumble-1419619419?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

Job Engine Running Low on Gas
Sharp Drop in Energy Prices Pinches Employers in the Oil Patch, Spurring Layoffs

By Jeffrey Sparshott
Dec. 26, 2014 1:43 p.m. ET

U.S. oil and gas companies have been an engine of economic growth through much of an otherwise lackluster economic expansion, providing steady employment, solid wages and fierce competition for workers across the country.

Now, after a roughly 50% plunge in oil prices, exploration and production companies are cutting capital budgets, service companies are weighing layoffs and nonenergy firms that popped up to support the industry are bracing for a slowdown.

Houston-based Hercules Offshore Inc. is laying off 324 employees, roughly 15% of its workforce, because oil companies aren’t renewing contracts for its offshore drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico while crude prices are depressed.

“It’s been breathtaking,” said Jim Noe, executive vice president of Hercules. “We’ve never seen this glut of supply and dislocation in oil markets. So we’re not surprised to see a significant decline in demand for our services.”

It is a possible early sign of what’s to come for the broader industry as the sharp drop in oil prices is set to dim what had been one of the brightest patches of the labor market.

Within the narrow set of sectors most closely related to oil and gas extraction, including oil-field services and equipment manufacturing, employment jumped by 56% to almost 758,000 jobs from the start of 2010 through October, compared with a nationwide gain of only 10%.

Wages in such industries also saw a marked increase, the data showed. Average earnings for workers in oil and gas extraction, for example, climbed 21% to more than $1,700 a week over that period, not adjusting for inflation. That compares with an 11% increase to $848 for all workers.

snip

[abb]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/27/us/falling-oil-prices-have-ripple-effect-in-texas-louisiana-oklahoma.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0

In Oil States, Bracing for a Price Bust’s Ripple Through the Economy

By MANNY FERNANDEZ and JEREMY ALFORDDEC. 26, 2014

HOUSTON — States dependent on oil and gas revenue are bracing for layoffs, slashing agency budgets and growing increasingly anxious about the ripple effect that falling oil prices may have on their local economies.

The concerns are cutting across traditional oil states like Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Alaska as well as those like North Dakota that are benefiting from the nation’s latest energy boom.

Here in Houston, which proudly bills itself as the energy capital of the world, Hercules Offshore announced it would lay off about 324 employees who work on the company’s rigs in the Gulf of Mexico at the end of the month. Texas already lost 2,300 oil and gas jobs from October to November, according to preliminary, seasonally adjusted data released last week by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. On the same day, Fitch Ratings warned that home prices in Texas “may be unsustainable” as the price of oil continues to plummet.

In Louisiana, the drop in oil prices had a hand in increasing the state’s 2015-2016 budget shortfall to $1.4 billion and prompting cuts that eliminated 162 vacant positions in state government, reduced contracts across the state and froze expenses for items like travel and supplies at all state agencies. Another round of reductions is expected as soon as January.

And in Alaska — where about 90 percent of state government is funded by oil, allowing residents to pay no state sales or income taxes — the drop in oil prices has worsened the budget deficit and could force a 50 percent cut in capital spending for bridges and roads. Moody’s, the credit rating service, recently lowered Alaska’s credit outlook from stable to negative.

snip

[1010RD]

What was the Italian “job” in Libya?