Corporate bond sales are taking a hit and borrowing costs are rising for the first time in eight weeks amid investor concern that the pace of economic recovery is flagging. Bond sales worldwide dropped 52 percent last week to $48 billion, from $99.8 billion in the previous period. Yield spreads widened for the first time since the five days ended November 27th, based on Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Global Broad Market Corporate Index. -Bloomberg
Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) Sam’s Club is slashing roughly 11,200 jobs, or about 10% of the warehouse’s workforce, in an effort to improve sales. The company decided to turn over the task of in-store product demonstrations to an outside marketing company. This is on top of a previous decision to close 10 underperforming warehouse locations, which results in 1,500 lost jobs. WMT shares rose nearly 1% ahead of the bell. –Daily Finance
Existing home sales fell in December, dipping lower than expected after three straight increases that were fed by a government tax credit. Home resales fell by 16.7% to a 5.45 million annual rate from an unrevised 6.54 million in November. Monday’s data showed that inventories shrank, and prices rose year over year for the first time in more than two years. –The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. dollar was mixed versus major rivals and against the euro today, as fiscally-troubled Greece found strong demand for its five-year syndicated bond issue. The dollar pared its declines after a report stated that U.S. sales of existing homes dropped much more than forecast last month. The euro rose as high as $1.419 in earlier trading and recently bought $1.414, compared to $1.413 in late North American trading. Reports showed managers of Greece’s sale of five-year bonds reported orders exceeded 20 billion Euros ($28.3 billion). Greece had planned to sell 3 billion to 5 billion euros of bonds. -MarketWatch
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is due to report earnings later in the day. Analysts estimate the company has earned at least $2.07 per share in its fiscal first quarter. The company is also expected to unveil its much “hyped” tablet computer. Rumors surrounding this device are endless, with TechCrunch quoting Steve Jobs as saying, "This will be the most important thing I’ve ever done." Meanwhile, other rumors claim AT&T (NYSE:T) will soon lose exclusivity of the iPhone. Shares of AAPL traded over 2% higher in early pre-market action. In other news, Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Q4 net income fell by about a half to $243 million, or 27 cents per share, as revenue fell by 24% to $3.7 billion. Results were in line with estimates. –Daily Finance
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