Home Depot May Say Profit Fell Again as Housing Slump Continued

May 19 (Bloomberg) — Home Depot Inc., the world’s largest home-improvement retailer, may say tomorrow that profit declined for the seventh straight quarter as consumers were buffeted by the deepest housing slump in at least 25 years.

First-quarter net income, which Home Depot said will include expenses to close stores, may fall 68 percent to $331 million, said Daniel Binder, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. Excluding the costs, the average profit estimate of 21 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 37 cents a share. Revenue excluding the wholesale-supply unit sold last year may have fallen 4.9 percent to $17.6 billion, 17 analysts predict.

Chief Executive Officer Frank Blake, who took over last year after the ouster of Robert Nardelli, is trying to revive sales amid a housing slump that hindered consumer spending and borrowing for remodeling projects. Blake hasn’t stopped a drop in customer satisfaction or market-share losses to Lowe’s Cos., which analysts project will report a profit decline today.

Saudi Increase Will Not Lower Oil Price, Iraq Says (Update1)

By Matthew Brown and Ayesha Daya

May 18 (Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia’s decision to increase oil production in June will not help lower the price of crude, Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said.

The oil market is “well supplied,” and prices are being driven by “speculative flows” and not supply and demand, Shahristani said today in an interview in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, at the annual World Economic Forum.

“Everyone is pumping as much as they can at the moment,” he said. “Iraq has added 500,000 barrels over the last six months and it has made no difference.”

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter and the most influential member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said it will increase oil output by 300,000 barrels a day following requests by clients and U.S. President George W. Bush. The Saudi decision had little impact on oil prices, which closed that day at a record $126.29 a barrel in New York after reaching $127.82 during the day, the highest since trading began in 1983.

Trouble on the ranch

No Relief / Alberta cattle exports to the U.S are higher today than before the mad cow crisis, yet ranchers are still in deep financial trouble and the province wants the industry to come up with some answers
Sheila Pratt, The Edmonton Journal
Published: 2:04 am

But to deliver those products, Canada Gold needs its own slaughterhouse independent of the two big American packing plants, Tyson and Cargill, which process most of Alberta’s beef for the American market. That’s the rub.

Erik Butters, chairman of the Alberta Beef Producers, who also attended the October meeting, says he wishes the beef group luck with the Canada Gold plan. But he’s not optimistic about the prospects of a new packing plant, especially given Alberta’s high labour costs.

“It’s a high-volume, low-margin industry, so it’s tough. I’m all for producer-owned anything, but the small guys just can’t cut the mustard. The Tysons can weather the tough times.”

China holding 3 days of mourning for quake victims

BEICHUAN, China (AP) — Flags flew at half-staff, public entertainment was canceled and 1.3 billion people were asked to observe three minutes of silence as China began three days of mourning Monday for the victims of the nation’s massive earthquake.

Officials asked for the horns of cars, trains and ships and air raid sirens to sound as people fell silent at 2:28 p.m. — exactly one week after the quake splintered thousands of buildings and killed an estimated 50,000 people. Chinese news portal sina.com said the government had ordered all visitors to online entertainment and game pages to be redirected to Web sites dedicated to commemorating earthquake victims.

The Olympic torch relay — a potent symbol of national pride in the countdown to August’s much anticipated Beijing games — was also suspended during the mourning period.

The national flag in Tiananmen Square, which is raised in a solemn ceremony every morning at dawn, fluttered at half staff.