“We should not be waiting any longer,” said new European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in a speech to Eurozone officials and bankers earlier today, regarding the implementation of agreed-upon measures to solve the Eurozone debt crisis. Draghi also articulated that downside economic risks continue to increase.
Bleak as this may sound, it still must be counted as an overall positive to hear a speech such as this coming from the head of the ECB. Denying you have a disease is no way to get better. It’s also something you never heard from Jean-Claude Trichet, the former head of the ECB.
Here at home, the so-called Super Committee of congressional leaders have so far failed to make drastic cuts in federal spending, with a deadline of November 23 fast approaching. Failure to reach a deal by that date will result in an automatic trigger to cut $1.2 trillion from Defense, Medicare and other federally funded programs. Somehow not surprisingly, the only new idea certain members of the Super Committee seem to be adhering to is that this automatic trigger might be done away with. Ah, Washington politics…
In earnings news, H.J. Heinz (HNZ)reported EPS 5 cents lower year over year due to long-term efficiency expenses. This news is not expected to move the market, however.
Actually, even though we look toward Retail for earnings numbers at this late end of earnings season, focus in the industry currently is more on Black Friday and holiday sales. With cash-strapped consumers entering another gift buying season but overall economic news looking more favorable recently, there may be reason to suspect pent-up demand and consumers feeling more confident might usher in a stronger holiday sales season in 2011.
Then again, beating holiday sales from the past couple years should be a pretty easy hurdle to jump over.
