Wow! Manufacturing Activity Plummets In New York Region; For Investors Only: RAIL Has A Bad Day; Devon Energy Beats

Is this surprising? MarketWatch is reporting:

Manufacturing activity in the New York region slipped in February after hitting its highest reading since May 2012 in January, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Tuesday. The regional bank's "Empire State" general business conditions index retreated to 4.5 in February from 12.5 in January. The drop was larger than expected. A MarketWatch survey of economists called for a reading of 9.0 in February. Readings above zero signal expansion. Details of the report were also strong. The new orders index fell back into negative territory after hitting a two-year high in January. Shipments also fell to 2.1 in February from 15.5 in the prior month. Unfilled orders remained negative. Employment indexes were little changed.

One may want to compare this note with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis note posted yesterday.

 

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Yahoo!Finance is reporting: One of the unintended consequences of Dodd-Frank is that billionaire activist investors can now exhort more influence on corporations while investing relatively little amounts, says Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital.

Unintended? LOL. I think not. These are not dummies that write these bills. They know exactly what they are doing. 

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Six companies announced increased dividends or distributions.

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This surprised me. RAIL had a rough day yesterday.Freightcar America reports Q4 (Dec) results, misses on revs: Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $1.03 per share, may not be comparable to the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.03; revenues fell 31.6% year/year to $79.7 mln vs the $96.68 mln consensus. RAIL is down 4% in pre-market trading. It's not going to get any better when they have to start retro-fitting tank cars. Or maybe it will.


Devon Energy beats by $0.03, misses on revs; Increased proved oil reserves to highest level in company history (see 06:12 post for earlier news): Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $1.10 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.07; revenues rose 1.7% year/year to $2.62 bln vs the $2.8 bln consensus.

Duke energy beat. Forecast 95 cents. Actual, $1.00.