Economic News This Week

The economic focus this week is on the preliminary third quarter GDP report.

September Durable Goods Orders to be released at 8:30 AM EDT on Tuesday are expected to improve to 0.7% versus -2.4% in August.

October Consumer Confidence to be released at 9:00 AM EDT on Tuesday is expected to improve to 54.0 from 53.1 in September.

September New Home Sales to be released at 10:00 AM EDT on Wednesday is expected to increase to 440,000 from 429,000 in August.

Preliminary third quarter GDP to be released at 8:30 AM EDT on Thursday is expected to increase to 3.0% from -0.7% in the second quarter.

September Personal Income to be released at 8:30 AM EDT on Friday is expected to be unchanged versus a gain of 0.2% in August.

September Personal Spending to be released at 8:30 AM EDT on Friday is expected to decline 0.4% versus a gain of 1.3% in August.

October Chicago PMI to be released at 9:45 AM EDT on Friday is expected to increase to 48.5 from 46.1 in September.

October Michigan Sentiment to be released at 9:55 on Friday is expected to increase to 70.0 from 69.4.

Earnings News

Canadian companies are prominent on the list of companies reporting third quarter earnings this week.

Monday sees reports from Avon, Corning, Electronic Arts and Verizon.

Tuesday sees reports from Apollo, Canadian Pacific, Massey Energy, Methanex, Norfolk Southern, Open Text, Rogers Communications, TransAlta, U.S. Steel and Visa.

Wednesday sees reports from Agnico Eagle, Conoco Phillips, General Dynamics, Goodyear, Exxon Mobil, Imperial Oil, Kellogg, Lundin Mining, Newmont and Procter & Gamble.

Thursday sees reports from Aetna, Apache, Barrick Gold, Canfor, Colgate, Exxon Mobil, Imperial Oil, Kellogg, Lundin Mining, Newmont and Procter & Gamble.

Friday sees reports from Chevron, Domtar, Eldorado Gold, Tim Horton and Weyerhaueser.

HUMOR

Louise Yamada Interview On Gold, Inflation, Deflation, Commodities And Fiat Currencies

Louise Yamada with an extensive and very interesting audio interview. A great opportunity to see the markets from a technical trader’s perspective. Louise Yamada shares her outlook on gold, the US Dollar and the sectors that are either in structural bear or bull markets.
To listen click here

Huge commercial real estate lender may file bankruptcy, heightens meltdown fears

Analysts have been warning for months that commercial real estate would be the next financial tsunami. Vacancy rates have hurt landlord receipts. Tenants are able to force lower rents in negotiations due to the rising vacancies. Some tenants are filing bankruptcy or walking away from leases completely.

Commercial real estate losses have already started to show up in the financial statements of the largest banks. Some of the 106 banks closed this year under the supervision of the FDIC had tremendous losses on their commercial real estate portfolios. (more)

Detroit house auction flops for urban wasteland

In a crowded ballroom next to a bankrupt casino, what remains of the Detroit property market was being picked over by speculators and mostly discarded.

After five hours of calling out a drumbeat of "no bid" for properties listed in an auction book as thick as a city phone directory, the energy of the county auctioneer began to flag.

"OK," he said. "We only have 300 more pages to go."

There was tired laughter from investors ready to roll the dice on a city that has become a symbol of the collapse of the U.S. auto industry, pressures on the industrial middle-class and intractable problems for the urban poor. (more)

Top 10 States make up 55 Percent of United States GDP. 6 of the top 10 States have Unemployment Rates over 10 Percent.

It should come as no surprise that the economic production of each state is not evenly divided. There are many variables including population, industrial base, and regional specialties. With this deep recession it is important to get an understanding of how things are divided in the United States. It is easy to get into the mode of thinking everything is evenly divided or the recession is being felt equally across state lines. It is not. Some states like California had historical housing bubbles that saw real estate prices in some areas triple in 10 years only to come crashing down. Other areas like Texas had minor real estate appreciation. In the United States 10 states make up 55 percent of all GDP. The U.S. in 2008 had a GDP of $14.16 trillion and these states produced $7.89 trillion of that amount. (more)

Experts see rebounding economy shedding jobs

Forget a jobless recovery. The economy may be entering a recovery with job losses.

Third-quarter estimates this week are expected to show that the economy grew for the first time since the quarter ending in June 2008. Despite the estimated 3 percent expansion and a stock market that has been on a tear since March, hundreds of thousands of people are still being laid off each month.

Eight million jobs have been lost nationwide since the recession began two years ago, and by some measures workers face the worst job market since the Depression. The average laid-off worker has been without a job for 61/2 months, a post-World War II record. Many of those workers will never recover financially. (more)