By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 commentator
Dallas, TX – It's Friday so "It's Only Money," a review of the big and not-so-big stories of the week. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.
Houston-based Media Audit, in the same survey that I quoted yesterday, found that out of the 85 metro-markets they survey, the number of people who traded stocks/bonds/securities declined by 2.5% last year. And after today, who would blame 'em? See, if you follow Microsoft, today's news would have spun you around like a whirling dervish. Last night, Microsoft announced its earnings for their third quarter (they go by a different calendar). Now, we all know by now that the numbers themselves mean nothing - it's how the analysts perceive or analyze these numbers, right?
So overnight, the European markets broke on the perceived negative news that Microsoft is lowering its outlook. This morning, the spin on Microsoft...it's going to be negative for the market. Why, the Wall Street Journal online had a heading: "Microsoft Dour Outlook Could Weigh on the Market."
About a half hour before the opening, analysts changed their minds and said Microsoft's earnings were in line with expectations and, the word was the market was going to open higher on Microsoft earnings. But get this?I went back to Wall Street Journal online and clicked on that article about Microsoft weighing on the market, and the heading was there but the article wasn't. This is why it is highly suggested that one not day trade.
In the pie-in-the-sky category, yet another airline went public yesterday. While Jet Blue has had a nice rally since its public offering last week, Expressjet, the regional-jet business of Continental Airlines, has fallen flat. So I'll just keep asking the question: why would an airline go public when most airlines are reporting record losses? Except for our very own Southwest, whose profits might have been down a whooping 82% from last year, but at least they were profits.
And if you have $300 million to spare, The Galleria is for sale. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 P.M.