One hundred fifty years ago today President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address for those who fought for liberty, freedom and free enterprise. Today we celebrate free enterprise as markets touched emotional highs yesterday of 16,000 on the Dow and 1800 on the S&P 500.
Home Depot profits surged 47% in the 3rd quarter as sales climbed 7.4%. The company says they are seeing homeowners start to implement long-delayed home improvement projects as the economy improves. (Reuters)
Best Buy says their margins are being compressed by the aggressive and competitive holiday shopping season. The company announced a $54 million profit last quarter compared to a $10 million loss a year ago. (Reuters)
Wal-Mart is kicking it up a notch. The world’s largest retailer will kick off its Black Friday deals a week early. In addition Wal-Mart enhanced its price matching program to cover specials from competitors a week before Thanksgiving. (Fox Business News)
Women are getting more jobs than men. A record 67.5 million women are in the workforce, more than at the last peak in 2008 when we fell into recession. But only 69 million men are employed as compared to the 70.9 million at its peak in 2008. The current unemployment rate for women is 6.9% and 7.6% for men. (Department of Labor)
