In the US, the transportation industry is a big winner from falling oil prices. It is one of the few where industry analysts have responded quickly to the drop in energy prices by raising their S&P 500 Transportation earnings forecasts for 2014, 2015, and 2016. As a result, forward earnings rose 17.0% during the second half of last year, up from the first half’s increase of 8.5%. The forward profit margin for the sector is up from last year’s low of 9.0% during the week of January 23 to 10.4% at the end of last year.
Today's Morning Briefing: Job Machine. (1) ADP payroll data augur well for BLS measure. (2) Humming along. (3) Oil still gushing in Texas and N. Dakota. (4) No sign of trouble in jobless claims yet. (5) Direct impact of oil plunge on US employment and capital spending is very small. (6) ADP data should get more respect. (7) Small firms turning into larger firms account for lots of employment gains. (8) Oil windfall for advanced economies is almost $1 trillion. (9) Ditto for emerging economies. (10) Industry analysts raising profit margin and earnings forecasts for S&P 500 Transportation stocks. (11) Focus on overweight-rated S&P 500 Transportation sector.
