Yesterday we took a little breather as earnings season winds down. The S&P 500 is on track to have profits increase 5% over last year and sales were up 1%. Businesses are getting lean and mean.
Oregon’s other Fortune 500 company, Precision Castparts, has their stock at record highs thanks to a great earnings report. The company posted a profit of $414 million, up 23% from a year ago. Precision is bullish on the rest of the year.
Costco’s same store sales were up 4% in April. Lower gas prices and foreign exchange rates had a negative impact on the number. With those variables factored out sales were up 6%.
Sales of gold coins by the US Mint are at their highest level since December 2009. The mint suspended sales on April 23rd of coins after demand more than doubled from a year earlier.
Oregon icon Powell’s Books, has a new CEO as third generation owner Emily Powell shifts her focus to long-term planning. The company shed 39 workers and managers in 2011 as the brick and mortar book retailers struggled. In 2011 book sales at physical stores fell almost 13% and sales of all books fell 2.5%.
Join us Saturday at 10 for Financial Focus when we will talk real estate with our expert John Snippen.
The S&P 500 is up 3 and the NASDAQ is up 5.
Oil is down $2 at $94.50 a barrel.
Gold is down $35 at $1433 a Troy ounce.
