Stocks plunged on GE's disappointing Q1 earnings report. Since 2005, GE managed to report earnings within a penny of final results. This time, their 43¢ was far below the 50-53¢ guidance. Dow was down 256 (partially due to GE's 4.70 decline), decliners ahead of advancers 4-1 & NAZ down 61. Stocks closed at the lows, always a bad sign. For April, Dow is only up 63 & that's due to big gain on April 1. Another way to look at it, is those gains were an April Fool's joke.
Overlooked with the excitement about GE, the Michigan Surveys of Consumers reported its index of confidence fell to 63.2 in Apr, its lowest point in 26 years & down from 69.5 in March. Economists had expected the index to fall to 68.0. This puts the idea of recovery in the second half in greater doubt. As the head of the FED said, the economy is fighting headwinds.
Showing posts with label GE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GE. Show all posts
Friday, April 11, 2008
GE sends stocks tumbling
GE's disappointing Q1 report sent stocks tumbling. Dow is down 144, decliners ahead of advancers 5-2 & NAZ down 31. GE, a Dow stock & volume leader, is down 11% on volume of 180MM shares already. GE reported what can only be described as disappointing earnings of 43¢. This is down a penny from last year & below the guidance area of 50-53¢ they had been using. GE is a bell-weather company with many divisions competing on a worldwide basis with their financial business being especially important.
"We had planned for a difficult environment," according to Jeff Immelt, CEO. He cited the near-collapse of Bear Stearns Cos. as a reason for the performance of GE's commercial business. He continued, "We had planned for an environment that was going to be challenging, but what I would say is kind of late in the quarter, particularly after the Bear Stearns event, we experienced an extraordinary disruption in our ability to complete asset sales and incurred marks of impairments and this was something that we clearly didn't see until the end of the quarter." More of CNBC's interview with Jeff Immelt. GE's announcement is an ominous sign for other earnings releases in coming weeks!
"We had planned for a difficult environment," according to Jeff Immelt, CEO. He cited the near-collapse of Bear Stearns Cos. as a reason for the performance of GE's commercial business. He continued, "We had planned for an environment that was going to be challenging, but what I would say is kind of late in the quarter, particularly after the Bear Stearns event, we experienced an extraordinary disruption in our ability to complete asset sales and incurred marks of impairments and this was something that we clearly didn't see until the end of the quarter." More of CNBC's interview with Jeff Immelt. GE's announcement is an ominous sign for other earnings releases in coming weeks!
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