Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer
Washington may be focused on the Sotomayor confirmation hearings, but Wall Street is prepping for earnings from the nation’s biggest banks.
Among the financial institutions reporting this week are Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup. Other big names like Johnson & Johnson, IBM, General Electric and Intel also report this week.
Traders are buzzing about Goldman Sachs in particular, which recently paid back its share of government bailout money. Analysts are predicting the bank earned a profit of more than $2 billion in the March-June period, due to its trading prowess across world markets.
If they’re right, Goldman’s rivals will once again be left to wonder exactly how the bank, long the envy of Wall Street, could have rebounded so dramatically only months after the nation’s financial industry was shaken to its core.
Oil prices dip below $59/barrel
Oil prices briefly dropped below $59 per barrel today, dipping to a 7-week low below before rebounding on concerns about the state of the global economy.
Crude dropped 11% last week - the biggest weekly decline since late January - as traders worried the possibility of another dip in economic activity before the onset of recovery, which could delay a rebound in oil demand.
Gas down nearly 40% from last year’s record high
Gas prices dropped 8-tenths of a cent overnight to $2.529 - the 22nd straight day of declines.
In the last 22 days, the average price has decreased 16.4 cents, or 6.08 percent. The average price of a gallon of gas is also down $1.585, or 38.5 percent, from the record high price of $4.114 that AAA reported on July 17, 2008.
The highest gas prices are in Hawaii ($3.270). The cheapest are in Missouri ($2.281).
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| Rebecca Leberman |
July 13th, 2009 1:45 pm ET Hey, when the next bailout goes through why doesn't the government make checks payable to the banks in the names of struggling homeowners that way both main street and Wall Street both get helped out, and the tax payers get a two for one deal. |
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| Gail Ellis Duncan |
July 13th, 2009 2:30 pm ET Please tell me help is on the way for us little people. Hello? |
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| Joanne Pacicca |
July 13th, 2009 2:37 pm ET It must be about jobs. Whatever aid can foster supporting employment for the almost 10% of the unemployed workforce should herald the need for government intervention. If we are talking bonus for the fat executives, let's examine their choices and put pressure on our representatives to make responsible constituent-centered decisions. |
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| RLWellman |
July 13th, 2009 5:07 pm ET Why is it only the big companies and the executives got the bailout? Why is it, we the non-important, small, American tax payer that needs the help and are paying for the bailout, don't get one? |
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| A.M. Deist, Fort Walton Beach, FL |
July 13th, 2009 6:30 pm ET Why in the world are we punishing Americans who bought more house than they could afford, or maxed out credit cards and now can't afford the interest on those loans while we are allowing companies to reward incompetent managers with huge bonuses? Seems like it would make more sense to give those bonuses to the people who need to pay the loans, so they can continue to pay the banks and help our financial crisis. |
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| Annie Kate |
July 13th, 2009 10:33 pm ET How did Goldman Sachs turn around so fast? And paying bonuses again? Will they never learn? Bonuses are really insulting to the people who really lost in the economic downturn. I guess though that Goldman Sachs doesn't care what us average people think of them though. |
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