Good News for the Week of April 16

Corporate layoffs, falling profits and talk of recession have dominated the headlines and the media’s attention.

But Your World is keeping track of some of the good news that you may have missed in all of the doom and gloom.

April 19

Women's clothes seller Chicos FAS splits its stock 3-for-2. At a time when most retailers are sucking wind, Chicos is sucking up customers and profits, sending its stock up 130 percent in the past year.

Sears sales and profits are down and will be for another quarter. But, the company says, the second half is looking better and its should do at least as well this year as it did last year.

Viacom recently cancelled plans to sell Blockbuster, because its profits are up 23 percent and climbing. And the video chain plans to open another 250 stores this year.

April 18

Abby Joseph Cohen, chief market strategist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., is still bullish, saying the markets won't end the year as high as she first thought, but that they will end higher than they began.

Gillette reports razor thin profits now but is looking for sales and earnings to be a cut above for the rest of the year. Although that didn't stop its stock from dropping more than two points.

April 17

In a hopeful sign for a sector that many say was in a recession, America’s industrial production rose 0.4 percent in March, its first gain since September. Credit the U.S. auto industry for that, cranking out a million more cars in March than they did the month before.

Barnes and Noble predicts booming book sales will boost its first-quarter’s bottom line 23 percent, even without a lot of promotional effort.

April 16

Drug giant Eli Lilly beats street estimates thanks to strong sales of its diabetes and depression drugs.

Pepsico announces soda sales are surging and profits should climb 15 percent or more in its first-quarter.

Online travel concern Expedia, fighting the Internet shake-out and falling ad revenues, predicting it will soon report its first-ever profit a year earlier than expected.

America Online announces its membership is up by one million in the past month and now tops 29 million around the world.