Oil was down another $5.00 per barrel today, yet that failed to cause a major rally despite a $9.00 in just two days. Today's end of day rally was led by financials after an FDIC conference which led to excitement about the sector. If you were looking for any brightness in home sales, May's pending home sales came in at -4.7% year over year. We also saw wholesale inventories in May rise by +0.8%. Perhaps more interesting is that the MAY Consumer Credit rose more than expected to $7.8 Billion. Below are the unofficial closing bell levels for today: DJIA 11,384.21 (+152.25) S&P500 1,273.68 (+21.37) NASDAQ 2,294.42 (+51.10) 10YR T-Note 3.88% (-0.05%) 52-WEEK LOWS TOP 10 ANALYST CALLS
Hank Paulson's speech gave some support after his speech didn't ring of the "Death of GSE's" and shares of Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) were up over 10% at $17.40 in today's final minutes.
Office Depot is going to announce its second quarter numbers later this month, and investors got a better picture of just what to expect this morning after the company stated that it is now forecasting a 10% drop in its same-store sales for the quarter, citing the slowing American economy as the main reason.
The company also warned it expects the remainder of the year to remain difficult. While the retailer believes that sales trends should improve slightly, it is remaining pessimistic. Margins for the quarter, it says, have declined by about 200 basis points than what it had previously anticipated. Even before today's revision, the company had estimated about 200 to 250 basis point decline in its margins. Looking at the rest of the year, the company thinks that its margins should increase sequentially in both Q3 and Q4.
Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) is recently trading at $8.86 in pre-open trading, below its close of $10.41.
ODP announced Q2 same-store sales fell nearly 10% versus the prior year. ODP will announce Q2 EPS on July 30. ODP expects its profit margins to improve sequentially in the third and fourth quarter.
ODP July option implied volatility is at 74, August is at 69; above its 26-week average of 54 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement
Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com
Profit From the Fantastic Four Take a look at these 26 stocks, funds and exchange-traded funds that key in on the fast-growing BRIC nations -- Brazil, Russia, India and China. Profit From the Fantastic Four - Kiplinger.com
Southwest's Seven Secrets for Success By some estimates, the country's major carriers have consumed perhaps $100 billion in capital during the past decade, but Southwest Airlines continues to be profitable. It's been in the black for 33 consecutive years and, last week, for the 127th consecutive quarter. While its competitors are shrinking, Southwest will add a handful of flights this fall. What does Southwest know that no one else in airlines does? It keeps things simple and consistent, which drives costs down, maximizes productive assets, and helps manage customer expectations. Why Southwest Succeeds - Portfolio.com
Industrial conglomerate Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) said Tuesday it would cut 16,750 jobs, or 4.2% of its global work force of 400,000 people. Most of the cuts would be administrative jobs. Siemens is attempting to cut nearly $2 billion in costs by 2010 as a slowing economy is affecting its business.
Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) shares are sinking 13.5% in premarket trading after the office-supplies retailer said that "pressure from weakening business conditions" has hurt second-quarter sales, and forecast a nearly 10% drop in second-quarter North American same-store retail sales.
General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Ford (NYSE: F) shares are declining 1.5% and 2.2% respectively in premarket trading despite reporting strong first-half sales in China, where the auto market is booming. GM said sales of its brands rose 12.7%, and Ford said its sales rose 21%.
Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC) designs, develops, manufactures and markets hard drives. Its devices are used for non-volatile data storage in personal computers, servers, network storage, video game consoles, digital video recording devices and TV set-top boxes. The firm sells its products worldwide to manufacturers, distributors and such retailers as Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) and Target (NYSE: TGT).
Shareholders were pleased last week, when Robert Baird issued positive remarks regarding Western Digital's prospects. Baird noted healthy overall trends in the hard disk drive industry and believed that Western's recent acquisition of Komag gave it a strategic advantage over many competitors. Also last week, Caris boosted its Western Digital unit estimates.
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says lots of companies now thrive with crude up here.
Oil's not a tax on everything -- it's a tax on the consumer. That's what I come down to when I see the charts this weekend and ponder what's happening in so much of industrial America.
Company after company that I examine -- the new techs, as I call them -- actually benefit from higher oil prices. Or they can pass them on with ease, because of the worldwide demand being so strong.
Take all of the companies involved with making a Boeing (NYSE: BA) (Cramer's Take): Boeing itself, Alcoa (NYSE: AA) (Cramer's Take), Honeywell (NYSE: HON) (Cramer's Take) and Precision Castparts (NYSE: PCP) (Cramer's Take) being good examples. Each of these is necessary because the new Dreamliner burns lots less fuel, and with fuel the biggest airline cost, it stands to reason that higher energy prices make the plane more desirable even at a higher price point.
Shares of office supply retailer Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP) have been surging in the premarket despite the fact that company reported a big fall in its first-quarter profit. However, Office Depot was able to report earnings per share that topped analysts' forecasts, giving a lift to its shares.
The retailer reported that quarterly profit plunged 55% to $68.8 million, or 25 cents a share, as the housing meltdown brought deep declines for the company's sales in Florida and California. These numbers are down from $153.8 million, or 55 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding one-time items, Office Depot's earnings would have come at 29 cents a share. Analysts' forecasts (which typically exclude one time items) were for 22 cents per share.
Looking at revenue, Office Depot saw a drop of 3.2% to $3.96 billion, as the retailer faced North American sales declines. Analysts predicted a higher revenue of $4.07 billion for the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters.
Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) is urging shareholders to reject the efforts of Levitt Corp. (NYSE: LEV) and Woodbridge Equity Fund to elect two of their nominees to the company's board of directors at the company's April 23rd annual meeting. The investors, who own about 1% of the company, are seeking to replace the company's current CEO and chairman and its former CEO and chairman; they have nominated the company's former COO and the former president of Staples (NYSE: SPLS) to replace them.
In a press release, the company said that it "believes that removing two of the most experienced retailing executives from the Office Depot Board would be highly disruptive, and could destabilize the Company and damage prospects for a successful turnaround. The Board has a strong long-range plan that is in the process of being implemented under difficult macroeconomic conditions."
As with many situations like this, the chart tells the story. Over the past 10 years, Office Depot has lost nearly 50% of its value while Staples has more than doubled in value. Obviously the current strategy is a failure, and the "experienced retailing executives" have destroyed billions of dollars in shareholder value. They might as well give someone else a shot and, if these directors should be opposed, the opposition shouldn't come from a board of directors with a horrendous track record.
Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit slid 85% to $18.8 million, or 7 cents per share as sales fell 3% in North America. Adjusted earnings, though, were 10 cents per share compared with 51 cents per share and still much lower than expectations of 17 cents per share.
CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) says its profit fell 14.6% in the fourth quarter to $286.2 million or 42 cents per share, as its revenue slipped 3% to $3.76 billion. Adjusted per-share earnings, however, rose to 54 cents from 53 cents due share repurchases, beating analysts' estimates of 52 cents.
Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) says a surge in subscriber numbers to 8.3 million (2.3 million more than a year ago) and lower costs helped narrow its fourth-quarter loss to $166.2 million, or 11 cents per share, compared with a loss of $245.6 million, or 17 cents per share, a year ago. Analysts had expected 13 cents per share according to Thomson Financials. Revenue grew 29% to $249.8 million. While CEO Karmazin mentioned the merger with rival XM Satellite (NASDAQ: XMSR), there is no decision from the DOJ yet.
Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) today introduced Yahoo! Buzz, which "measures consumer votes and search patterns to identify interesting and timely stories and videos from large news sources as well as niche blogs around the Web. Top stories are then given primary editorial consideration for feature placement on Yahoo.com." If it's anything like Yahoo! Answers, this could be an interesting service.
Most Well-Known Stocks Under $10; Are They a Buy or a Sell? Inexpensive stocks doesn't mean they are a good buy, but they do to tend to have larger percentage moves both up and down, on news. Here are $10 stocks which trade an average of 10 million shares a day and a look at where they might be in a year. They include Sirius, Ford Motor, AMD, Charter Communications, Level 3, E*Trade, Sprint, Office Depot, Circuit City and Dendreon. 24/7 Wall St.: Ten Stocks Under $10: Looking Out A Year
Tips for Antsy Investors With the economy teetering at the brink and markets swinging wildly, what should you do? Here are five tips designed to ease anxieties and prepare you for whatever 2008 brings. Recession Watch: Tips for Antsy Investors
Sure It's From AARP, But Is It Really a Good Deal? Few names are more closely associated with retirement than AARP. The organization is best known for its advocacy on behalf of those 50 and over. But AARP also has a thriving business licensing financial and health insurance products which get mixed reviews. AARP: Not Always a Great Deal - BusinessWeek
Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) closed at $13.81 Thursday, near a six-year low.
ODP has a market cap of $3.7 billion. ODP has long term debt of $581 million. ODP reported total September 2007 revenue of $3.9 billion. ODP has been frequently mentioned buyout candidate over the last two years.
ODP overall option implied volatility of 59 is above its 26-week average of 49 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.
As you gear up your business for 2008, I'm sure you have lots of good ideas. But there is something that is often ignored – getting organized. And with the explosion of email and digital media, being organized is getting even tougher.
Ricci's core filing system is called F.A.I.T.H, which involves:
File It: If something requires filing, then file it now.
Act: Have an action file for your recurring tasks.
In Progress: This is a file for things that don't fit in a category. Examples: invitation to an event, plane tickets, directions to a client location, or even a birthday card.
Toss: Don't be a pack rack.
Hand Off: Maybe something will be useful for a colleague?
"Everyone should set aside time once a month to sort and slim the files," said Ricci. "Put the date in your planner for one hour on the last Friday of every month."
Office Depot
Here are some highlights from this past week's 
Shares of office supply retailer 
In a press release, the company said that it "believes that removing two of the most experienced retailing executives from the Office Depot Board would be highly disruptive, and could destabilize the Company and damage prospects for a successful turnaround. The Board has a strong long-range plan that is in the process of being implemented under difficult macroeconomic conditions."
Office Depot
As you gear up your business for 2008, I'm sure you have lots of good ideas. But there is something that is often ignored – getting organized. And with the explosion of email and digital media, being organized is getting even tougher.
and the founder of 
Before the bell: Futures lower as oil rises, despite Alcoa earnings
Alcoa's Q2 2008 earnings transcript
Sir John Templeton, best contrarian investor of the 20th Century, dies at 95
