Jobless Claims Down to 631,000

Jobless claims are down to 631,000. Personal consumption in March fell at a seasonally adjusted rate of 0.2% compared to the month before, the Commerce Department said Thursday. It was the fourth decline in six months. Spending increased a revised 0.4% in February; originally, spending was seen up 0.2%.

Chrylser Bankruptcy Underway

Chrylser will make an announcement on its government deadline today while President Obama is set to deliver remarks on the auto industry, with CNBC’s John Harwood; Gerry Greenwald, Greenbriar Equity Group and Robert Barbera, ITG chief economist.

Analyst Upgrades Banking Sector

Trone and his team decided to run similar tests themselves and Fox-Pitt Kelton’s results were quite different. They found none of the top 19 banks needed any money!

Stress Test – BOA and Citigroup Need More Capital

WSJ just published an article stating that “Regulators have told Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. that the banks may need to raise more capital based on early results of the government’s so-called stress tests of lenders, according to people familiar with the situation.
The capital shortfall amounts to billions of dollars at Bank of [...]

Cramer – Stress Tests Analysis

“The bears are overmatched by both [Fed Chairman] Bernanke and [Treasury Secretary] Geithner,” “All they’re trying to do is stall and delay,” “SKF cannot go up on this” -Cramer

Swine Flu May Hit Stocks

Find who and where to avoid via the Swine Flu Tracker below.

Bullish Sectors – Pharma (NVAX – Novavax, GSK – GlaxoSmithKline, RHHBY.PK – Roche).
Bearish Sectors – Airlines (DAL, UAUA, AMR), Mexico

Memory: Stock Market Crash of 1929

The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash or the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and longevity of its fallout.

Ivanka Trump – Credit Conditions Still Bad

“We’re only looking at acquisitions where either we can come in with a large cash amount, which you need to in this environment, or that the seller will do seller financing” and that we have not hit bottom.