"Banking was one of the brightest spots. The better-than-expected results for banks reassured many investors that the industry is not as sick as many feared"
Oh, now I'm not.
So why did they need trillions of taxpayer loot then?
Don't tell me we were LIED TO AGAIN!!!!!!!!!
"First quarter shows hint of recovery
First-quarter earnings so far from across the market are coming in better than expected -- largely as a result of a very low bar.
The results have some people now uttering economic buzzwords like "deceleration," "signs of recovery," "the bottom" and the very precise "less bad."
More than half the companies in the S&P 500 have reported their first-quarter results. Of those, 65 percent beat analyst expectations. But overall, results were still down roughly 30 percent from a year ago.
Yup, WE are SINKING but there is LESS WATER coming in so pull up a deck chair and take some sun!
"It's bad -- but it's not as bad as we thought," said Bob Doll, global chief investment officer for equities at investment manager BlackRock. The quarterly results hint at signs of recovery, but the picture remains very murky. It's unclear if the banks at the heart of the meltdown are seeing better results because the worst is over or due to the benefit of new accounting measures.
Translation: They can FUZZY the MATH to make things look better! You know, the exact thing that elicited such outrage about Enron, etc.
And some retailers, who are the litmus test of consumer spending, say the worst in their earnings reports may be over but only due to tighter inventories, job cuts and store closures.
Even within industries, the reports were a mixed bag. In the technology sector, one of the highlights came from Apple Inc., where strong iPhone sales helped boost quarterly profit 15 percent. But more often, the recession took its toll, even on names like Google Inc. The company's profit rose 9 percent for the quarter because of cost-cutting, but revenue grew at the slowest rate in Google's history as a public company.
See: Google's Giggles
Doll noted that across the board, most of the companies that beat expectations did so through cost reductions rather than showing top-line growth.
Translation: They CUT JOBS!!!!
In other words, the better results came from job cuts and store closures during the quarter, rather than more cars and refrigerators being sold....
But hey, that's a GOOD THING!!!
For example, in restaurants, sit-down chains like the Cheesecake Factory reported better-than-expected profits as sales slid because it was able to offset sales and traffic declines with cost cuts. Meanwhile, fast-food chain McDonald's Corp. saw its first-quarter profit climb nearly 4 percent as more customers worldwide came to them for a lower-priced meal....
Yeah, SCREW YOUR HEALTH!!!
Then the MSM will come back and CHIDE YOU for OBESITY after eating that s***!!!!
Banking was one of the brightest spots. The better-than-expected results for banks reassured many investors that the industry is not as sick as many feared when 2009 began.... But many of the financial companies' results were marked by odd accounting twists that kept many investors skeptical about the industry's health....
Translation: THEY LIED!!!
--more--"
Well, you now know WHO tops the PRIORITIES LIST, readers!
Any surprise?
