Harvey Norman Earnings Hit
Harvey Norman, one of our most successful retailers, has seen its earnings whacked by the global slowdown.
Harvey Norman, one of our most successful retailers, has seen its earnings whacked by the global slowdown.
It is a sea of red today – we are down 168 or 3.5% but have had a good bounce after being down as much as 267 early on. Wall Street saw a massive 777 point fall overnight after Congress unexpectedly failed to pass the $US700bn Stabilisation Bill. All sectors getting canned - Resources down 5.7%, Financials down 3.6%, Property down 2.4% and Energy is 4.7% lower.
The credit crunch and the sharp loss of confidence since the failure of Lehman Brothers a fortnight ago claimed four victims in the European finance sector over the weekend and another major US bank.
Shareholders in Australian Foundation Investment Company (AFI) were not given much in the way of optimism at the 2008 annual meeting in Melbourne yesterday, but in view of the volatile state of financial markets, the sober approach was welcome.
Troubled shopping central group, Centro Properties and its related Centro Retail Trust, have won more breathing space from their banks to assemble a recapitalisation plan.
Retailer Myer Group has joined rival David Jones in forecasting a tough 2009.
US politicians bailed out of helping correct the mess they and their financial groups created on Monday, sending the world economy into waters not visited since the Great Depression.