1) The woes of traditional American big box retailers continues with J.C. Penney seeking strategies to keep their money losing company afloat. The company is in talks with specialist on reorganizing their trouble companies debt. Dressbarn, another retailer has announced the closing of all its retail stores starting this August with the closing of 53 stores.
2) The American retiree population is running out of money too soon. Three fifths of retirees do not have any traditional pension plan. The much vaunted 401K plan for replacing retirement plans, which became popular in the last quarter of the twentieth century, is failing to provide the needed retirement income despite the soaring stock market of the last ten years. This will leave America’s young people with a massive burden who themselves are facing financial challenges with shrinking job markets and displacement by technology.
3) The renowned airline manufacture Boeing announced they are taking a $4.9 billion dollar charge in the second quarter which will wipe out all of it’s profits for that quarter. This charge is compensation to airline companies for having their aircraft grounded, resulting in loss of business and revenues. Furthermore, Boeing has cut production of their best selling product as deliveries are backed up pending acceptance of their software fix by the government.
4) Stock market closings for – 19 JUL 19:
Dow 27,154.20 down 68.77
Nasdaq 8,146.49 down 60.75
S&P 500 2,976.61 down 18.50
10 Year Yield: up at 2.05%
Oil: up at $55.74