1. Stocks Late Fall and Home Sales Continuous Decline Round Out Last Week’s Markets
By Sophia Williams
March 20, 2014
New York, NY—U.S. stocks showed weak numbers after a drop by the end of week. Earlier in
the week stocks performed above analysts’ expectations. Chief investment strategist, Steven
Weiting of Citi Private Bank, predicted that U.S. stocks will begin to show reasonable gains with
an estimated 7% earnings per share.
On Friday, the S&P 500 index dipped by 3.53 points, 0.2 percent, to 1836.25; after an earlier
increase to 1847.5, the highest climb of the day, due to Federal Reserve Chair, Janet Yellen’s
positively received talk on continuing to cut back on the Fed’s bond buying and mortgage-
backed securities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also lost 29.93 points, or 0.2 percent, to
16,103.30.
Home sales slid downhill as the numbers show their largest drop within one month. Home sales
fell to 5.1 percent in January, missing analysts’ expectations. Analysts attribute the decline in
home sales to freezing temperatures and snow storms. Weather conditions have halted
construction on new homes and prevented many potential buyers from attending open house
events.
Wal-Mart fourth-quarter results just met analysts’ expectations with the stock falling by 1.8
percent to $73.52 per stock, and U.S. comparable store sales falling by 0.4 percent.
Additionally, its consolidated net income fell by 21 percent to $4.4 billion, and had a 1.5%
increase in revenues, totaling $127.7 billion. Wal-Mart attributes its lackluster performance to
weather conditions, food stamps cuts, and rising economic costs. Morningstar markets editor,
Jeremy Glaser suggests that if Wal-Mart “get people to shop at its smaller stores more often and
not just on big shopping trips, they may be able to turn things around and really fight against
some of these headwinds.”

2. Amongst many big merger announcements in the past few weeks, Facebook made public that it
will acquire the messaging service, WhatsApp, in a $19 billion cash-and-stock deal. Since the
announcement, Facebook stocks rose 2.3 percent to $69.63 per stock. Facebook’s acquisition of
WhatsApp will help to strengthen its growth internationally. Glaser, provided three reasons for
Facebook’s huge payout. One, he said, is that, “they’re trying to head off at the pass a potential
competitor in the social networking space.” Second, “they make use of their shares which are
currently overvalued, and that will make Facebook’s economic value a little less.” Finally, this
deal “helps them get into some markets that are not as penetrated right now.”
For the week ahead, home sales will continue making news as new home sales will be released
on Wednesday. S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index will be released on Tuesday. Case-Shiller
covers changes in the value of homes within 20 large cities. The Federal Housing Finance
Agency House Price Index will come out on Tuesday as well and that covers single family
housing financed by federal housing agencies. On Tuesday, consumer confidence report is
released, which follows consumer’s feelings and demands toward spending on economic goods.
Lastly, Yellen, will appear in front of the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday to report on
the Fed’s monetary policy.
NOTE: This story is re-write of Feb. 23 original story