Home improvement retailer Lowes saw profits climb 16% in Q1 on sales that climbed 2%. The company cited the rough winter for the lower than expected sales increase and expects to be up 5% for the entire year. (Associated Press)
Dick’s Sporting Goods saw its fifth quarter of single digit earnings growth posting a 4% increase in the first quarter. That comes as sales increased 8%. The number was below expectations as the company saw big declines in their golf and hunting lines. (Investor Business Daily)
Mortgage applications for new home purchases fell 3% last week and are down 12% from a year ago. This is despite conforming loan rates, homes below $417,000, being at their lowest levels since last Thanksgiving and jumbo rates being their lowest in a year. (Mortgage Bankers Association)
All-cash home purchases accounted for 43% of all home sales in the first quarter of 2014. That is up 19% from a year ago. Only 5.6% of all sales were investors, the rest were purchasing homes to live in. (Market Watch)
A Gallup poll shows only 27% of Millennials (those born after 1980) own stocks – down from 33% in April 2008. The group was scared by the Great Recession and as a group has missed the big rally that followed and the corresponding gains. (Bloomberg)