CHICAGO, May 05, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst
Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest
news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks
recently featured in the blog include: J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP), Target
(NYSE: TGT), Kohl's (NYSE: KSS), Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY) and
Macy's (NYSE: M).

See the latest posts to the Analyst Blog:
http://www.zacks.com/blog/post_info.html?g=6

Here are highlights from Friday's Analyst Blog:

Questioning the Jobs Statistics

Just a gut check on the reality of the numbers -- let's look at
the B/D numbers for construction. The number in the official report
was a decline of 61,000 construction jobs in April. That is after a
B/D adjustment of plus 45,000 jobs. How reasonable is it to assume in
the current environment that people are flocking to start construction
companies right now, enough of these brand new firms to be creating
45,000 new jobs?

Even within the official report were some troubling numbers. The
number of people working part time for economic reasons rose by
306,000 in April to 5.2 million. That is a 6.25% increase in just one
month. Over the last year, the number of involuntary part-timers is up
849,000 -- a 19.5% increase. The average workweek fell by 0.1 hour to
33.7 hours. The average manufacturing workweek fell by 0.3 hours to
40.9 hours.

The average hourly wage rose by just $0.01, hardly enough to keep
up with inflation, particularly headline inflation which is what
counts for most people who do not sit on the Federal Reserve Open
Market Committee. Combined with falling hours, this caused the average
weekly wage to fall by $1.45. The index of aggregate hours worked fell
by 0.4.

These numbers do not bode well for the ability of the U.S.
consumer to go on spending at the usual rate. What money they get is
going into necessities like food and gasoline, leaving little left
over for discretionary purchases. Avoid the retail sector,
particularly mid-range firms like J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP), Target
(NYSE: TGT), Kohl's (NYSE: KSS), Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY) and
Macy's (NYSE: M).

Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to
http://at.zacks.com/?id=2649.

About Zacks Equity Research

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Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly
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