Greece is on fire as riots broke out and workers walked off of their jobs today.
The Cola wars are heating up as Pepsi is trying a new strategy of not emphazing in marketing their higher profit margin less healthy products but rather targeting a new healthier minded consumer.
The financial headlines for today are:
1) Strong Nike earnings help lead stocks higher-From the AP
Maybe the global economy isn't in such bad shape after all.
After weeks of worries about the economy pulled stocks down, indexes have risen sharply for two days in a row.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 140 points Tuesday, thanks in part to signs that concerns of a global slowdown may be overblown.
Quarterly results from Nike Inc. bested analysts' expectations and sent its stock up 10 percent. That helped lead to a rally in stocks of clothing stores, restaurants and jewelers. Such companies tend to do well when consumers are less worried about things like high gas prices and are willing to spend on themselves.
Other industries that do well during periods of economic expansion led the stock market higher. Caterpillar Inc., one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow, gained the most, rising 3 percent. Industrials gained 1.5 percent overall. Consumer discretionary companies gained 1.9 percent.
Both sectors are still well below their highs for the year. Industrials and consumer companies have lost 5.8 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively, since peaking on April 29.
The Dow gained 145.13 points, or 1.2 percent, to 12,188.69. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 16.57, or 1.3 percent, to 1,296.67. The Nasdaq composite index added 41.03, or 1.5 percent, to 2,729.31. All three indexes are down more than 3 percent for the month.
Signs that the housing market is improving helped lift Home Depot Inc. It's sales benefit when consumers spend money on home improvement. Home Depot gained 2.4 percent following a report that home prices rose in April in 13 of the 20 cities tracked by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index. The index rose for the first time in eight months thanks to an annual push to buy homes in the spring.
2) Greece grinds to a halt as general strike gets underway-From the Drudge Report
Workers across Greece walked off the job on Tuesday, kicking off a crippling 48-hour strike with a mass protest in the capital, Athens, as parliament debated a new austerity plan. Police fired tear gas in clashes with protesters.
Greece ground to a halt Tuesday as angry workers launched a 48-hour general strike against an austerity drive ordered by its bankruptcy-threatened government in exchange for a European bailout.
Crowds converged early on Syntagma Square, where parliament will vote on sweeping spending cuts as planes, ships and most public transport came to a halt.
Europe's economic tsar Olli Rehn in Brussels warned that Greece faced "a critical juncture" and the austerity programme was the "only way to avoid immediate default."
But that view was not shared by protestors, determined to block passage of the package.
"We don't want your money Europe," Iamando, 36, told AFP on the square where police were already out in force at 11:00 am (0800 GMT). "Leave us alone -- please, please, please."
3) PepsiCo Wakes Up and Smells the Cola-From the Wall Street Journal
The snack-food and beverage giant is launching the first new advertising campaign for its flagship Pepsi-Cola in three years—offering one of the most visible signs PepsiCo is throwing new weight behind its biggest brand after it sank to No. 3 in U.S. soda sales last year, trailing not only Coke but Diet Coke.
Ceding the top two spots to rival Coca-Cola Co. marked a huge embarrassment in a cola war that traces its roots to the 19th century.
With summer in full swing, many Pepsi bottlers, who rely on soda for much of their profit, are anxious for the campaign to get off the ground.
"Would I have liked to have it 30 days ago? Yes," said Keith Reimer, chief executive of Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC, who said he is excited PepsiCo is putting more money again behind cola.
Quote of the Day from Dave Ramsey.com:
There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem. — Harold Stephens
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