WSJ By The Numbers - Top 10 for Oct.5
Tech
Hot Spot 2.0: Overall, 278 companies in
the San Francisco Bay Area got either first-round or seed financing in
2005, up from 250 in 2004 and 216 in 2003, according to research firm
VentureOne. According to a recent
report from the American Electronics Association, high-tech workers in San
Jose, made an average annual wage of $126,700 in
2004, compared with the national average for high-tech workers of
$72,400. San Jose, the self-styled Capital of Silicon Valley, boasts
284 tech workers per 1,000 people, compared with the national
average of 51 tech workers per 1,000 people, according to the electronics
association report. (New
Hot Spot For Tech Firms Is the Old One)
Metacafe, the Internet video site which has 20 million users watching 450 million video streams a month, jumped from Israel to Silicon Valley. Others start-up moves to the Valley include VideoEgg, Mobius Microsystems, LicketyShip, Meetro, and Box.net.
| Pepsi, with net income of $4.1 billion last year on revenue of $32.6 billion, is one of the biggest sellers of sugary colas and high-calorie snacks. Company's "Smart Spot" items (more than 250 products, from Diet Pepsi to reduced sugar Cap'n Crunch Swirled Berries cereal) accounted for $8.7B of the $22.1 billion sales in North America in 2005. Pepsi spent more than $1 billion on marketing in the U.S. last year. About 32% of all U.S. adults are obese, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Pepsi Sales Force Tries to Push 'Healthier' Snacks in Inner City) | $8.7B "Smart Spot" |
| Wal-Mart said sales at stores open at least 12 months were up only 1.3%. Kohl's reported September same-store sales jumped 16.3%. Last month, Target raised its September sales forecast to a 5% gain. Federated has raised its third-quarter outlook to a 3% to 5% gain in same-store sales. (Wal-Mart Raises Worry With Cut In Estimate of September Sales) | 1.3% Wal-Mart |
|
The European Union voted to impose antidumping tariffs on imports of leather shoes from China and Vietnam, with tariffs of 16.5% on shoes made in China and 10% on those made in Vietnam for two years. The tariffs will affect 11% of the 2.5 billion shoes bought every year in Europe: 174 million pairs from China and 103 million from Vietnam. According to the EU, imports have caused European footwear production to fall 30% since 2001, resulting in a loss of 40,000 jobs. European imports from China increased last year to €158 billion ($201 billion) from €127 billion a year earlier. (EU Levies Tariffs on China, Vietnam) |
2.5B Shoes |
| Since 1980, the return on Dow industrials has averaged 13.89% per year, well above the 13.06% recorded for the S&P 500. As Dow Industrial hit the records two days in row, the S&P 500 would have to rise some 14% to get back to its record of 1527.46 reached in March 2000. Excluding the tech sector, the S&P 500 would be 16% above its level reached in 2000. Within the S&P 500, more than two-thirds of stocks are above the price they reached in 2000, but the big cap tech stocks had so much weight then that their collapse forced the whole index lower now. (Industrials Revolution) | 13.89% Dow |
| RuneScape, a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), has more than 5 million active players, 55% of whom are in the U.S. Over 850,000 of RuneScape's users pay $5 a month for access to extra playing levels and better customer support. That's more than $50 million in annual subscription revenue for Jagex. The MMOGs genre is receiving more attention from big game companies following the huge success of World of Warcraft, which has more than 6.5 million subscribers world-wide. (The Knights of Networking) | 5M RuneScape |
| Drug maker Allergan's spending on consumer advertising has soared from zero to more than $120 million since it launched its Botox Cosmetic product in 2002. Allergan estimates that its aesthetic sales now account for about 30% of the world-wide market. Allergan sees the overall aesthetics market growing at an annual clip of 25%, reaching $6.5 billion in five years, excluding physician services. (Allergan Bets on Aesthetic Medicine) | $6.5B Aesthetics |
| Gasoline prices have dropped more than 20% in the past two months. Heating-oil-futures prices are 17% lower than a year ago and natural-gas futures are down 58% in the past year. Recent research by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago found that the poorest 25% of wage earners spend 9.2% of their income on energy costs, versus 6.7% for those in the top 25% income bracket. Global Insight estimated that consumer spending will get a $1 billion monthly boost for every sustained, 10-cent drop in the retail price of gasoline. That means the recent 70-cent drop in gas prices from August to September, if sustained, will free up $7 billion per month. The Chicago Fed study found energy costs accounted for 8.5% of total household spending last year, down from 11% in the early 1980s. (Gasoline Prices Could Fall More) | 8.5% Energy Costs |
|
Moody's Economy.com a report released this week says that median house prices are likely to decline more than 10% over the next few years in 20 metro areas, and prices may keep falling until 2008 or even 2009 in some areas. In all, prices are falling or likely to decline soon in about 100 metro areas, the firm says. A survey from the U.S. Census Bureau showed that 35% of American homeowners with mortgages last year spent 30% or more of their household income on housing costs, including loan payments, real-estate taxes, insurance and utilities. (The Shifting Calculus Of Buying a House) |
10% Housing Decline |
| In a 2002 survey, the American Dietetic Association found that 91% of Americans take leftovers home at least occasionally, and 32% on a regular basis. ('A Doggie Bag, S'il Vous Plaît') | 91% Leftovers |
|
WSJ By The Numbers - Metrics 2.0 |
|
