First time unemployment claims: down 6,000. Forecast: 265,000 (previous 253,000). Actual: 247,000. Forecast was for a 12,000 increase; in fact, dropped 6,000. Huge miss by analysts? Four-week rolling average: 260,500. This is a four-decade low.
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GM's profits doubles. Link over at the WSJ. Wasn't there a report recently that GM won't be paying federal income taxes for decades (an old link, but I thought there was a more recent story also):
The tax benefit stems from so-called tax-loss carry-forwards and other provisions, which allow companies to use losses in prior years and costs related to pensions and other expenses to shield profits from U.S. taxes for up to 20 years. In GM's case, the losses stem from years prior to when GM entered bankruptcy.The gift that keeps on giving.
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Amazon to add 1,000 jobs at Dallas fulfillment center. Dallas Morning News is reporting:
Amazon.com said it’s planning a sixth Texas fulfillment center and its fourth in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.The newest facility will be in Fort Worth at 15201 Heritage Parkway. Amazon already has one fulfillment center that opened in 2013 nearby in Haslet.
The 1 million-square-foot center will process and ship smaller merchandise orders such as books, electronics and toys. It’s being developed by Trammell Crow Co. and Prudential.
Amazon said the new building will employ 1,000 people. The company already has more than 8,000 full-time hourly employees in Texas.
The Seattle-based online retailer’s other Texas fulfillment centers are in Coppell, southern Dallas and Schertz, which is near San Antonio. A fifth location is under construction in San Marcos.Coppell is on the north side of the DFW airport. The new site is along 35W, near the I-35W- SH114 interchange, and just south of the Texas Motor Speedway.
Bottom line: three (3) in the DFW metroplex area; three (3) in the San Antonio area. None in Houston; none in west Texas.
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KMI shelves $3 billion natural gas pipeline through Massachsetts, New Hampshire; didn't get the necessary commitments. AP is reporting:
The decision also raises more questions for Massachusetts' energy future, coming on the heels of the announcement to shutter the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in May 2019.
Jim Roche, president of the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire, said Kinder Morgan's decision could put pressure on regulators to approve other infrastructure projects to help ease electricity prices in New Hampshire and New England.
Not to worry. Consolidated Edison and Crestwood Equity Partners have entered into an agreement to form Stagecoach Gas Services for the northeast:Those energy prices are among the highest in the U.S.
ConEd to purchase a 50 percent stake in a new entity that will hold Crestwood Equity Partners LP's natural gas pipeline and storage business for $975 million.
The joint venture will own natural gas pipelines and storage facilities that provide a critical link between natural gas fields and Northeast U.S. markets.
Not to worry. GE will increase capacity in Connecticut:The new entity, Stagecoach Gas Services LLC, will have an implied market value of about $2 billion, the companies said in a statement.
General Electric Co. is poised to announce a deal to upgrade a U.S. power plant with its newest gas turbine and equipment from the recently acquired Alstom energy business.
Under the latest agreement, GE will supply one HA, a steam turbine and associated equipment to expand the Bridgeport Harbor Generating Station in Connecticut.
The upgraded plant, which will be able to supply enough energy to power almost 500,000 homes, is scheduled to begin commercial operations in 2019, GE said.
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OPEC might discuss a production freeze at the June meeting.
| 4/21/2016 | 04/21/2015 | 04/21/2014 | 04/21/2013 | 04/21/2012 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active Rigs | 28 | 91 | 184 | 185 | 210 |
RBN Energy: update on the Panama Canal.
GDP Now: no change; 1Q16 GDP forecast -- 0.3%.
The GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the first quarter of 2016 is 0.3 percent on April 19, unchanged from April 13. After last Thursday's Consumer Price Index release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the forecast for first-quarter real consumer spending growth ticked up from 1.8 percent to 1.9 percent.
After this morning's report on new residential construction from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the forecast for real residential investment growth declined from 9.0 percent to 8.5 percent.Sun Edison one big mess.
The deal-making frenzy that hastened SunEdison Inc. ’s collapse could continue to cause problems for the solar-power company during any bankruptcy.
Potential legal damages stemming from deals SunEdison failed to close while its finances were deteriorating could total hundreds of millions of dollars, according to court filings and people familiar with the deals. Litigation over the failed deals could add to the company’s already lengthy list of creditors and possibly extend to its publicly traded subsidiaries.
SunEdison, once a darling of the clean-power industry, has lost 99% of its market value since last summer and is working with advisers on a chapter 11 filing. The company owes creditors nearly $10 billion, according to regulatory filings.
SunEdison’s swift rise and fall, chronicled in a Wall Street Journal article last week, was fueled by its appetite for takeovers and the availability of cheap money from Wall Street to finance them. When that financing dried up during a volatile period in the markets and a slide in oil prices, SunEdison backed out of several transactions.
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When The Minivan Comes Without a Booster Seat
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