A Stern Glance

(Excerpted from Ameristar’s news release)
Consolidated net revenues decreased from $324.8 million in the prior-year quarter to $315.8 million in the first quarter of 2009, mostly as a result of the ongoing economic recession and increased competition that opened in the second half of 2008 in our East Chicago and Vicksburg markets. Net revenues at our [...]

Consumer spending fell for the first time in three months while income growth slipped for a second straight month, indicating that the economy is still struggling to emerge from the recession.
The Commerce Department reported today that consumer spending dropped by 0.2 percent in March, worse than the 0.1 percent decline that economists had expected.
Incomes, reflecting [...]

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported today that Community Bank of Nevada has asked regulators for permission to consolidate its banks:
Community Bancorp, a $1.9 billion-asset bank holding company based in Las Vegas, has asked regulators for permission to merge its Arizona and Nevada banks to improve efficiency and boost capital of the Nevada bank although it [...]

Merrill Lynch believes so. It issued a lengthy report on the industry that said, “Despite near-term uncertainty around gaming fundamentals and the dramatic disruptions faced by the global economy, we continue to like the longterm outlook for the sector. We believe that the core attributes that made the Gaming sector so attractive to investors prior [...]

The United States economy contracted at a steeper-than-expected pace in the first quarter, hurt by sharp declines in exports and business inventories, according government data. Gross Domestic Product, which measures total goods and services output, dropped at a 6.1 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department reported today, after shrinking 6.3 percent in the fourth quarter.
The [...]

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index™, which had posted a slight increase in March, improved considerably in April. The Index now stands at 39.2 (1985=100), up from 26.9 in March. The Present Situation Index increased to 23.7 from 21.9 last month. The Expectations Index rose to 49.5 from 30.2 in March.
The Consumer Confidence Survey™ is [...]

Sales of newly built U.S. single-family homes dropped 0.6 percent in March, but the stock of homes for sale at the end of the month still plummeted at a record pace, the Commerce Department reported today.
The inventory of new homes shrank in March, to 311,000 from 328,000 in February. That left the supply of homes [...]

New U.S. orders for durable goods slipped 0.8 percent in March, far less than Wall Street expected, Commerce Department data showed on Friday.
Durable goods orders have now fallen for seven months out of the last eight, the Commerce Department said. The sole rise in that period, in February, has been revised to 2.1 percent from [...]

Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE: WAL) reported a net loss of net loss of $86.5 million, or $2.33 per share for the first quarter ended March 31, 2009, compared to net income of $4.1 million, or $0.14 per share for the a year earlier.
The company said first quarter 2009 results include a non-cash goodwill impairment charge [...]

In March, employers took 2,933 mass layoff actions involving 299,388 workers, the highest levels on record. Mass layoff events increased by 164 from February, and initial claims increased by 3,911. Twenty-six states reached program highs for March in terms of average weekly initial claims.
Additionally, new jobless claims rose more than expected last week. Both figures [...]