Morning Journal-Austerity is not a 4 letter word

Economics
This Week’s Data

March pending home sales rose 4.1% versus expectations of a 1.0% increase.

The second revision of first quarter GDP came in +2.2% versus estimates of +2.5%’ the GDP deflator was +1.5% versus forecasts of +2.0%
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2012/04/real-gdp-increased-22-annual-rate-in-q1.html


Other

Are the numbers shifting from painting an accelerating economy to a decelerating one? (short):
http://www.capitalspectator.com/archives/2012/04/has_the_labor_m.html#more

Uh Oh, those evil speculators are at it again (short):
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2012/04/gasoline-futures-prices-tumble-due-to.html

Truck tonnage continues to improve (short):
http://scottgrannis.blogspot.com/2012/04/truck-tonnage-continues-to-increase.html

While rail traffic remains mixed (short):
http://pragcap.com/rail-traffic-data-remains-mixed

Tax collections are rising (short):
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/04/withholding-tax-collections-tick-up/

Politics

Domestic

When did austerity become a four letter word (medium):
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/when-did-austerity-become-4-letter-word

The problem with social security (medium):
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-social-security-has-real-problem

International

Grading the effectiveness of the recent EU funding facility (medium):
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/ltro-fail-2-european-credit-supply-and-demand-fading-fast

News on Stocks in Our Portfolios

More quarterly earnings per share reports:

Reported Expected

ExxonMobil $2.00 $2.09
United Parcel Svc 1.00 1.02
Reliance Steel 1.54 1.50
NuSkin Enterprises .74 .70
Leggett & Platt .30 .33
VF Corp 1.94 1.87

Johnson & Johnson raised its quarterly dividend per share from $.57 to $.61

Steve Cook received his education in investments from Harvard, where he earned an MBA, New York University, where he did post graduate work in economics and financial analysis and the CFA Institute, where he earned the Chartered Financial Analysts designation in 1973. His 40 years of investment experience includes institutional portfolio management at Scudder, Stevens and Clark and Bear Stearns. Steve's goal at Strategic Stock Investments is to help other investors build wealth and benefit from the investing lessons he learned the hard way.