NFIB Small Business Optimism – March 2011

The March NFIB Small Business Optimism was released April 12.  The headline of the Press Release is “Hiring Up, But Optimism Down in March.” The Index of Small Business Optimism declined 2.6 points in March, falling to 91.9. Here are some excerpts from the report that I find particularly notable: “The index is consistent with recession-level readings. The …

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Conference Board CEO Confidence 1Q 2011

On March 31, I wrote a post about the latest Business Roundtable’s CEO Economic Outlook Survey and the Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey. Subsequent to that post, the Conference Board released its 1st Quarter CEO Confidence Survey.   The overall measure of CEO Confidence was at 67, up from 62 in the first quarter. An excerpt …

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CEO & CFO Surveys 1Q 2011

On March 30 the Business Roundtable’s CEO Economic Outlook Survey was released for the 1st quarter.  The March Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey was released on March 9.  Both contain a variety of statistics regarding how executives view business and economic conditions. In the CEO survey, of particular interest is the CEO Economic Outlook …

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The Changing Dynamics Underlying Profit Margins

In past posts I have written of the challenges businesses face in pricing, given today’s economic environment.  One aspect that I mentioned in the December 16 post was how PPI (Producer Price Index) growth was significantly outpacing that of CPI. Since that December 16 post, the PPI-CPI growth rate issue has been exacerbated.  Doug Short, …

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Conference Board CEO Confidence 4Q 2010

On December 27, I wrote a post about the latest Business Roundtable’s CEO Economic Outlook Survey and the Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey. Subsequent to that post, the Conference Board released its 4th Quarter CEO Confidence Survey.   The overall measure of CEO Confidence was at 62, up from 50 in the third quarter. An …

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NFIB Small Business Optimism – December 2010

The December NFIB Small Business Optimism was released January 11.  The headline of the Press Release is “NFIB Small Business Optimism Index Remains Weak.” The Press Release contains a variety of statistics.  One excerpt from the Press Release that I found especially notable was: “Weak sales remains the top problem, stagnating hiring and spending on …

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CEO & CFO Surveys 4Q 2010

On December 14 the Business Roundtable’s CEO Economic Outlook Survey was released for the 4th quarter.  The December Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey was also released on December 14.  Both contain a variety of statistics regarding how executives view business and economic conditions. In the CEO survey, of particular interest is the CEO Economic …

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PPI & CPI Trends

On Tuesday the November PPI figures were released, and they continue their recent trend of being significantly higher than the CPI figures. Should this trend continue, it will of course likely have a significant impact on many companies’ profitability. I believe there are many reasons for why PPI growth is trending significantly higher than CPI. …

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Companies Fastest To $1 Billion In Sales

In Friday’s post, I mentioned consumers’ migration to lower-priced stores. This continual consumer migration to lower-priced sources can be seen in a variety of statistics.  One statistic that I find particularly interesting is contained in a Forbes story of September 3, 2010 titled “The Next Web Phenom.” At the end of the story it states …

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3Q 2010 Corporate Revenues

For the last few quarters, I have been commenting upon revenue growth in corporate results.  I have focused on a variety of diversified manufacturers and distributors, all of them well-respected S&P500 firms.    Prior posts on this issue are found at this link. For the recently released 3Q 2010 financial results, there generally has been …

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