More Fall-Out From the Housing Slump

The situation at Home Depot is a good example of the “ripple effect” of the slump in the housing market, from Bloomberg.

Home Depot Inc., the world's largest home-improvement retailer, cut its forecast for annual profit after the U.S. housing slump deepened and the company sold its contractor-supplies unit.
Earnings per share will drop 15 percent to 18 percent in the year through Feb. 3, Atlanta-based Home Depot said today in a statement. . . . Sales may fall 2 percent this year, the first annual decrease in Home Depot's history. The company said today it's pressing ahead with store openings even as the housing-market decline curbs demand for renovations.

``While we expect the housing market to remain challenging for the rest of 2007 and into 2008, we plan to continue our reinvestment plans,'' Chief Financial Officer Carol Tome said in the statement.