Market Talk

The farm sector is in focus as Deere (DE) reports a 47% jump in earnings, although shares fall after issue a tepid outlook for Europe. BHP Billiton (BHP) also goes hostile with its $39 billion bid for Potash Corp (POT). But on the retail front, results from Target (TGT) show the consumer still has a ways to go.

Newswires’ Steve Wisnefski, Madeleine Lim and Michael Casey discuss on the Markets Hub.

Yeah, once again, it’s all about earnings, and what that might mean for the markets. John joins Madeleine and myself today on the Markets Hub to break it all down for you.

Earnings have been an interesting time for trading, you might say, and we explore some of that as well as expectations for earnings season. Well worth the three-minute investment of your time.

Leaders from the Group of 20 are gathering in Toronto to discuss the state of the global economy as markets have begun reassessing the growth outlook. Markets are also focusing again on BP, whose shares are getting another hammering as the costs of the spill continue to increase. Newswires editors Madeleine Lim and Mike Reid discuss on the Markets Hub.

Remember when Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said this week that the consumer was picking up the baton from the government as far as driving the recovery? Yeah, um, not so much, it turns out.

Stocks are down more than 10% from the April highs, and on today’s Markets Hub we talk about where it’s going from here.

It's worse than you think, Mr. President.

Listen, unless Congress is prepared to make the Census a continuous thing (rather than a once every 10 years thing,) we’re still stuck in a bit of a spot here in the land of Coca-Cola, no matter the President says the economy’s “getting better by the day.”

I don’t know how else to say: this was a very bad, damaging jobs report. We are almost a year away from the point most people consider the end of the recession, last July, and if you buy the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the private sector created 41,000 jobs in May. Sure, the unemployment rate fell, but that has more to do with people dropping out of the labor force rather than finding jobs, which also incidentally is not a good sign (and of course, those people once up a time were counted as part of the labor force rather than conveniently excluded these days.)

My colleague and co-host on the Markets Hub, Madeleine Lim, opined earlier this week that we are starting to see what the economy looks like without all that government stimulus.

The economy added 430,000 jobs in May. The Census Bureau added 411,000. The private sector added 41,000 (the public sector actually lost 20,000 jobs as states are being forced into a Grecian-style austerity mode.) With 15 million people out of work, and nearly half of them out of work for more than six months, you have to have some seriously rose-tinted glasses to interpret that as a sign of strength.

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The energy sector is under pressure, BP especially but it doesn’t end there, and that pressure isn’t going anywhere anytime soon (actually, it’s escaping to the tune of 12-19,000 barrels a day on the floor of the Gulf.) We discuss that on the Markets Hub today, as well as what’s going on with the euro and interbank lending in Europe.

The week started off with the risk trade in firm control, but it’s ending with the fear trade coming back on. Discuss.

Paul Vigna and Madeleine Lim discuss some very hopeful signs in tech, not so optimistic prospects in Europe and the widening trade deficit.

Paul Vigna and Madeleine Lim discuss plans for a one-time audit of the Fed, the impact of the eurobail and Britain’s path to a new government.