1st Quarter 2014 Corporate Profits

Today’s GDP release (Q1, 2nd Estimate)(pdf) was accompanied by the BLS Corporate Profits report for the 1st Quarter. Of course, there are many ways to adjust and depict overall Corporate Profits.  For reference purposes, here is a chart from the St. Louis Federal Reserve (FRED) showing the Corporate Profits After Tax (last updated May 29, 2014, …

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Additional Thoughts Concerning Retail Sales

On May 1, 2014 I wrote a post titled “Retail Sales – Various Thoughts” concerning various notable changing aspects of retail sales, including aspects of rising stress in retailing. Subsequent to that post, there have been additional noteworthy developments concerning retail sales and retail stocks. As many are aware, April advance retail sales were considered …

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Retail Sales – Various Thoughts

There are various changing dynamics regarding retail sales that I believe lack recognition. For reference purposes, here are charts depicting overall retail sales, as seen in Doug Short’s post of April 14, 2014 titled “March Advance Retail Sales Retail Sales Beat Expectations“: While the above chart seems to depict a continual (strong) upward trend, if …

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CEO Confidence Surveys 1Q 2014 – Notable Excerpts

On April 9, 2014, The Conference Board and PwC released the 1st Quarter Measure Of CEO Confidence.   The overall measure of CEO Confidence was at 63, up from 60 in the fourth quarter. [note:  a reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses] Notable excerpts from this April 9 Press Release include: …

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Deloitte “CFO Signals” Report Q1 2014 – Notable Aspects

Recently Deloitte released their “CFO Signals” “High-Level Summary” report for the 1st Quarter of 2014. As seen in page 2 of the report, “One hundred and nine CFOs responded during the two-week period ending February 21. Sixty-nine percent of the respondents are from public companies, and 81% are from companies with more than $1B in annual revenue. For …

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Corporate Profits As A Percentage Of GDP

In the last post (“4th Quarter 2013 Corporate Profits“) I displayed, for reference purposes, a long-term chart depicting Corporate Profits After Tax. There are many ways to view this measure, both on an absolute as well as relative basis. One relative measure is viewing Corporate Profits as a Percentage of GDP.  I feel that this metric …

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4th Quarter 2013 Corporate Profits

Thursday’s GDP release (Q4, 2nd Estimate) was accompanied by the BLS Corporate Profits report for the 4th Quarter. Of course, there are many ways to adjust and depict overall Corporate Profits.  For reference purposes, here is a chart from the St. Louis Federal Reserve (FRED) showing the Corporate Profits After Tax (last updated March 27, 2014, with …

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March 2014 Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey – Notable Excerpts

On March 12, 2014 the March Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey (pdf) was released.  It contains a variety of statistics regarding how CFOs view business and economic conditions. In this CFO Survey, I found the following to be the most notable excerpts: Increasing the minimum wage nationwide to $10 per hour would lead to substantial job losses among …

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CEO Confidence Surveys 4Q 2013 – Notable Excerpts

On January 8, 2014, The Conference Board and PwC released the 4th Quarter Measure Of CEO Confidence.   The overall measure of CEO Confidence was at 60, up from 54 in the third quarter. [note:  a reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses] Notable excerpts from this January 8 Press Release include: …

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December 2013 Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey – Notable Excerpts

On December 11 the December Duke/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey (pdf) was released.  It contains a variety of statistics regarding how CFOs view business and economic conditions. In this CFO Survey, I found the following to be the most notable excerpts: Nearly half of U.S. companies are reluctant to hire full-time employees because of the ACA. One in …

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