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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FJB who wrote (786530)	5/27/2014 9:48:21 PM
From: joseffy	1 Recommendation Recommended By FJB Respond to of 1575481

The Retail Death Rattle Grows Louder Submitted Tyler Durden on 05/26/2014 Retail store results for the 1st quarter of 2014 have been rolling in over the last week. It seems the hideous government reported retail sales results over the last six months are being confirmed by the dying bricks and mortar mega-chains. In case you missed the corporate mainstream media not reporting the facts and doing their usual positive spin, here are the absolutely dreadful headlines: *Wal-Mart Profit Plunges By $220 Million as US Store Traffic Declines by 1.4%* *Target Profit Plunges by $80 Million, 16% Lower Than 2013, as Store Traffic Declines by 2.3%* *Sears Loses $358 Million in First Quarter as Comparable Store Sales at Sears Plunge by 7.8% and Sales at Kmart Plunge by 5.1%* *JC Penney Thrilled With Loss of Only $358 Million For the Quarter* *Kohl’s Operating Income Plunges by 17% as Comparable Sales Decline by 3.4%* *Costco Profit Declines by $84 Million as Comp Store Sales Only Increase by 2%* *Staples Profit Plunges by 44% as Sales Collapse and Closing Hundreds of Stores* *Gap Income Drops 22% as Same Store Sales Fall* *American Eagle Profits Tumble 86%, Will Close 150 Stores* *Aeropostale Losses $77 Million as Sales Collapse by 12%* *Best Buy Sales Decline by $300 Million as Margins Decline and Comparable Store Sales Decline by 1.3%* *Macy’s Profit Flat as Comparable Store Sales decline by 1.4%* *Dollar General Profit Plummets by 40% as Comp Store Sales Decline by 3.8%* *Urban Outfitters Earnings Collapse by 20% as Sales Stagnate* *McDonalds Earnings Fall by $66 Million as US Comp Sales Fall by 1.7%* *Darden Profit Collapses by 30% as Same Restaurant Sales Plunge by 5.6% and Company Selling Red Lobster* *TJX Misses Earnings Expectations as Sales & Earnings Flat* *Dick’s Misses Earnings Expectations as Golf Store Sales Plummet* *Home Depot Misses Earnings Expectations as Customer Traffic Only Rises by 2.2%* *Lowes Misses Earnings Expectations as Customer Traffic was Flat* Of course, those headlines were never reported. I went to each earnings report and gathered the info that should have been reported by the CNBC bimbos and hacks. Anything you heard surely had a Wall Street spin attached, like the standard BETTER THAN EXPECTED. I love that one. credit The1Stockman

To: FJB who wrote (786530)	5/27/2014 9:49:58 PM
From: i-node	1 Recommendation Recommended By steve harris Respond to of 1575481

I read that article and had the impression those data were pretty old. That the administration has said they won't disclose the data any further raises the question of whether they're just trying to hide anticipated levels of dropouts, or whether the losses to churn are far higher than anyone expects. I have long expected that the losses would be much worse than anyone was thinking about, just because it is a hell of a lot harder to scrounge up $500 every month than it is to get $500 for the first month's premium. I made a visit to one of my customers today -- an OB/GYN clinic -- where I was next to the appointment scheduler for a while. Every new patient who called was asked whether their insurance card had the word "metallic" in the upper-right corner indicating it was an Obamacare plan. If so, they were telling them the full fee would be due at the time of their initial visit pending determination of what their insurance would pay. I heard that spiel a few times during that period, and not one of them went on to schedule an appointment.