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Latest Articles: Business
Obama Vows To Eliminate "Excessive" Regulation For Big Business
Post Date: 2011-01-18 11:34:49 by Brian S
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President Barack Obama penned an op-ed in this morning's Wall Street Journal that reads like an apology to the business community. During the first two years, the Obama administration focused on economic recovery and the prevention of a future meltdown through financial regulatory reform. Today, however, his positions seems to have shifted as he announces a new executive order to review federal regulations and eliminate rules where possible. Citing recent healthcare legislation and financial regulatory reform, major American corporations are shying away from spending money on growth. This is despite the fact that these companies hold over $2 trillion in cash and liquid assets. The ...
Manufacturing in New York Region Accelerates as Factories Propel Recovery
Post Date: 2011-01-18 11:12:57 by Brian S
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Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Orders and sales at factories in the New York region picked up in January, signaling manufacturing will keep contributing to the expansion. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index rose to 11.9 from a revised 9.9 in December. Economists projected an increase to 12.5, based on the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Readings greater than zero signal expansion in the so-called Empire State Index, which covers New York, northern New Jersey, and southern Connecticut. Rising exports and demand for business equipment are boosting demand at manufacturers such as Intel Corp. Improving consumer spending may fuel production even more, giving ...
BP Signs Deal With Russia To Explore Arctic
Post Date: 2011-01-16 14:35:16 by Brian S
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BP has struck what it describes as an “historic” agreement with the Russian government, in a £10 billion deal to exploit potentially huge deposits of oil and gas in the Arctic. The UK energy giant, recovering from its Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster, will swap 5% of its shares, valued at $7.8bn, for 9.5% of Russia’s state-controlled Rosneft in an agreement that immediately raised concerns about US economic security from at least two American lawmakers and criticism from environmentalists. The deal covers huge areas of the South Kara Sea in the Arctic that BP said could contain billions of barrels of oil and gas and had been previously off limits to foreign ...
US Automakers Attract Crowds During Public's First Day At Detroit Auto Show; GM A Top Draw
Post Date: 2011-01-15 20:06:08 by Brian S
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DETROIT (AP) - Sharp designs with pizazz, power and elegance helped pull in crowds during the public opening Saturday of the North American International Auto Show, with U.S automakers doing their best to impress consumers looking for signs of the industry's recovery. Thousands of people from around the world filed from exhibit to exhibit inside the sprawling Cobo Center in Detroit. They perused the newest models from General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler, as well as top competition from Europe and Asia. "The last two years, people would come and look. But now, they are sitting in the vehicles and asking questions," said 43-year-old Sherry Fedewa, a manager in an auto ...
Rather Than Asking OPEC to Increase the Supply of Oil, Perhaps We Should Ask the Federal Reserve to Decrease Supply of the Dollar
Post Date: 2011-01-14 18:19:59 by Capitalist Eric
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News headlines as of late have been alluding to the idea that the reason for rising oil prices in the last 18 months is OPEC’s refusal to boost supplies. <1>The global economy can withstand an oil price of $100 a barrel, Kuwait’s oil minister said on Saturday, as other exporters indicated OPEC may decide against increasing output through 2011 as the market was well supplied. Analysts have said oil producing countries are likely to raise output after crude rallied more than 30 percent from a low in May because they fear prices could damage economic growth in fuel importing countries. Source: MSNBC The trend of higher prices in oil and other commodities will most certainly ...
AIG Moves Closer To Bailout Repayment As Treasury Closes Stock-Conversion Deal
Post Date: 2011-01-14 14:05:59 by Brian S
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Aig Bailed-out insurance giant American International Group on Friday moved closer to repaying the government for its rescue, completing a stock conversion deal with the Treasury Department that is key to unwinding the federal stake in the company. The Treasury converted the preferred shares in AIG it received as part of the complex bailout into 1.655 billion shares of common stock, increasing the government's ownership stake to 92% from 80%. The Treasury plans to sell the shares over time to end taxpayer support of the company. “Treasury remains optimistic that taxpayers will get back every dollar of their investment in AIG,” said Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner. ...
U.S. Retail Sales Climbed in December to Cap Best One-Year Gain Since 1999
Post Date: 2011-01-14 11:43:56 by Brian S
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Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Sales at U.S. retailers rose in December for a sixth consecutive month, capping the biggest one- year gain in more than a decade. Purchases increased 0.6 percent after climbing 0.8 percent in November, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 0.8 percent rise. Sales advanced 6.7 percent in 2010, the most since an 8.2 percent jump in 1999. Analysts this month boosted 2011 forecasts for household spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy, as tax cuts and an improving job market put more money in Americans’ pockets. Ford Motor Co. and Dollar General Corp. are ...
Industrial Production in U.S. Climbs 0.8%, More Than Economists Estimated
Post Date: 2011-01-14 11:25:51 by Brian S
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Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Industrial production in the U.S. rose in December more than forecast, boosted by gains in business equipment and home electronics that indicate factories remain at the forefront of the recovery as the new year begins. Output at factories, mines and utilities climbed 0.8 percent, the most in five months, after a revised 0.3 percent increase in November, figures from the Federal Reserve showed today in Washington. Economists forecast a 0.5 percent gain, according to the median of 82 projections in a Bloomberg News survey. Manufacturing climbed 0.4 percent, and utility output increased 4.3 percent as snowstorms swept parts of the nation. Manufacturers such as Joy ...
U.S. Consumer Confidence Unexpectedly Declines on Jobless Rate, Fuel Costs
Post Date: 2011-01-14 11:20:52 by Brian S
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Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Confidence among U.S. consumers unexpectedly declined in January as more Americans worried about the effects of higher gasoline prices on their finances. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment for the month dropped to 72.7, the lowest since November, from 74.5 in the previous month. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a gain to 75.5, according to the median forecast. Consumers anticipated stagnant incomes this year along with rising inflation, a product of the highest gasoline prices at the pump since October 2008. Buying plans declined, indicating faster job growth may be required to keep consumer spending ...
Higher commodity prices may spur inflation
Post Date: 2011-01-13 21:23:07 by Brian S
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rising wholesale prices for food and energy are putting pressure on manufacturers and retailers to pass higher costs to customers. It's a trend that could raise inflation in the United States and slow economies in Asia and Latin America. U.S. gas prices have topped $3 a gallon, and grain prices have reached a 2 1/2-year high. Some lawmakers say the increases illustrate the need for tighter limits on speculation in commodities markets. Airlines, clothing manufacturers and some grocery stores have already raised retail prices. And even those companies that have resisted increases because they worry that customers can't afford them may be more reluctant to hire ...
Long Shadows Cast Over US Economy 2011
Post Date: 2011-01-13 17:24:12 by Capitalist Eric
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Numerous are the threats to the USEconomy and US financial structures. Many are hidden threats, subtle challenges to undermine increasingly fragile support systems, planks, and cables that hold the system together. The year 2011 will be when the system breaks in open visible fashion, when the explanations that justify it sound silly and baseless, when the entire bond world endures major crashes. All thing financial are inter-related. Recall that in summer 2007, the professor occupying the US Federal Reserve claimed the subprime mortgage crisis was isolated. The Jackass countered with a claim that the bond market was suffering a crisis in absolute terms, where all bond markets were on ...
Ford Workers' Profit-Sharing Checks Expected To Top $5,000
Post Date: 2011-01-13 17:13:29 by Brian S
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DETROIT — The sweeping overhaul and surprising recovery of the American auto industry is about to pay off handsomely for the blue-collar workers at Ford and General Motors. The two big Detroit carmakers will announce profit-sharing checks this month for their hourly workers, perhaps the largest in a decade, company officials and industry analysts say. While the payouts — expected to top $5,000 at Ford — underscore the turnaround being celebrated at the Detroit auto show this week, they also foreshadow the enormous challenge awaiting the rebounding companies: how to maintain and build on their financial health while keeping their historically restive work force in line. ...
Federal Regulators Take Step Toward Limiting Speculative Futures Trading In Commodities
Post Date: 2011-01-13 13:32:33 by Brian S
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WASHINGTON — Federal regulators took a step Thursday to limit speculative trading of oil, food products and other commodities, responding to critics who say that has driven up consumer prices. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission proposed limiting the volume of futures contracts that financial investors can trade for 28 commodities. The panel voted 4-1 to advance the rule, which opens it to public comment. The restrictions are aimed at Wall Street firms and others who trade them to profit from swings in market prices. Agricultural companies, airlines and others who use futures trading to hedge against price changes would not be affected. Lawmakers had proposed establishing ...
Producer Prices Up the Most in 11 Months in December
Post Date: 2011-01-13 12:12:26 by Brian S
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Is the Federal Reserve succeeding at raising inflation? The Producer Price Index (PPI) for finished goods rose by 1.1% in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's the biggest increase since January. But most of the rise in prices was due to two types of goods: food and energy. That makes it a little more difficult to make any strong predictions about longer-term inflation trends. Let's start with the chart for PPI for finished goods: It's pretty easy to see how big a jump producer prices took in December. But as mentioned, food and energy were responsible for most of this increase. Their finished good prices rose by 0.8% and 3.7%, respectively. If ...
Fed Says Economy Expanded Across U.S. on Manufacturing, Holiday Spending
Post Date: 2011-01-12 14:32:48 by Brian S
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Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve said holiday- season spending and increased manufacturing drove an economic expansion across the U.S. in November and December, with businesses cautiously optimistic about their 2011 outlooks. Six Fed regions including Atlanta and Chicago showed economies growing “modestly to moderately,” and four areas including New York and Boston had “improving” conditions, the Fed said today in its anecdotal Beige Book report. The Minneapolis region “continued its moderate recovery,” and San Francisco “firmed further,” the central bank said. The report gives more evidence of an improving economy after Fed Chairman Ben ...
Hoover and Bush, Interventionism Turns Crisis into Great Depression
Post Date: 2011-01-11 18:49:39 by Capitalist Eric
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The most basic rule of economic policy is to allow prices to adjust to market conditions. This maintains Say's Law and produces what Frédéric Bastiat called economic harmony. Furthermore, unhampered markets minimize distortions and disruptions introduced by external forces. Most importantly, the unhampered price system minimizes the impact of the business cycle on the economy. This paper examines two historical episodes where interventionist policies turned business cycle corrections into depressions.[1] The first episode occurred in the Great Depression during the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations. The second episode is the current economic crisis, which began during ...
John Williams Eyes Gold as Insurance Against Hyper Inflation Armageddon
Post Date: 2011-01-11 18:10:41 by Capitalist Eric
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Stronger corporate balance sheets, tighter reins on costs and better stock performance in 2010 haven't swayed ShadowStats Editor John Williams' assertion that the bottom-bouncing economy is weaker than ever, with specters of hyperinflation and systemic financial collapse on the not-so-distant horizon. As he says in this exclusive Gold Report interview, the yellow metal is his “insurance against Armageddon” ---or at least the single best asset that people can use to ride out the storm. The Gold Report: In our last two interviews, you noted that based on the contraction in the M3 in 2009, you anticipated a resulting contraction in the general economy six to nine months ...
Less Worried About Layoffs, Jobholders Spend More
Post Date: 2011-01-10 15:53:24 by Brian S
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WASHINGTON (AP) – A steady decline in layoffs is giving the vast majority of adults who have jobs the confidence to spend more freely and help energize the economy. They no longer worry so much about losing their jobs. Their renewed confidence has boosted retail sales – just what's needed to spark what economists call a "virtuous cycle": Higher consumer spending raises company profits, which spurs hiring, which fuels more spending and growth. Consumer spending is critical because it powers about 70 percent of the economy. It rose for five straight months through November, kicking off the strongest holiday shopping season since 2006. Many shoppers are showing ...
Ford Plans To Hire 7,000 US Workers By 2012
Post Date: 2011-01-10 12:47:28 by Brian S
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DETROIT (AP) -- Ford Motor Co. says it will add more than 7,000 workers in the U.S. over the next two years as it begins producing several new vehicles. The company plans to hire 4,000 manufacturing workers this year. Almost half those workers will be at the Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky that will make the new Ford Escape starting late this year. It expects to add at least 2,500 new manufacturing jobs in 2012. Ford also plans to hire 750 engineers with expertise in batteries and other areas to work on electric vehicles. The company says it is beginning a recruiting effort in Detroit and eight other cities this week. Ford introduced three future electric and hybrid vehicles Monday ...
Oil Prices Surge After Alaska Pipeline Shuts Down
Post Date: 2011-01-10 11:48:28 by Brian S
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices rose above $89 a barrel Monday after the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline owned by BP PLC and four other companies was shut down because of a leak. Benchmark oil for February delivery climbed $1.24 to $89.27 a barrel in midday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The pipeline, which carries between 630,000 barrels and 650,000 barrels a day, was shut down Saturday after a leak was reported at a North Slope pump station. The leak has been contained but there is no immediate timeframe for reopening the pipeline, according to Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., which manages the line. The closure cut oil production on the North Slope to about 5 percent of normal. ...
Volt Wins Annual Car Award At Detroit Auto Show
Post Date: 2011-01-10 11:36:35 by Brian S
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DETROIT (AP) -- The 2011 Chevrolet Volt got another marketing jolt Monday, when it received the North American Car of the Year. The car that runs on electricity for 40 miles before a backup gas engine kicks in beat out the Nissan Leaf, another electric, and Hyundai Sonata in the annual ceremony on the first day of media previews for the Detroit auto show. The Ford Explorer won the truck of the year, the third year in a row the Dearborn-based automaker nabbed the honor. Truck finalists were the Dodge Durango, the Explorer and Jeep Grand Cherokee. Forty-nine auto journalists from the U.S. and Canada made the picks. The vehicles are judged on innovation, design, safety, handling, driver ...
Are stocks overvalued and overloved?
Post Date: 2011-01-08 16:11:55 by Capitalist Eric
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The unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 9.4 percent in December, and nonfarm payroll employment increased by 103,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment rose in leisure and hospitality and in health care but was little changed in other major industries. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 556,000 to 14.5 million in December, and the unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent. Over the year, these measures were down from 15.2 million and 9.9 percent, respectively. (This is largely due to unemployed workers running out of benefits. It appears that these people are no longer counted in the labor force, leaving as many as 3.91 million ...
Ford Unveils Gas-Free Ford Focus Electric
Post Date: 2011-01-07 19:39:31 by Brian S
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LAS VEGAS - Ford on Friday unveiled the Ford Focus Electric, the company's first-ever all-electric passenger car. Ford CEO Alan Mullaly unveiled the new car during a keynote presentation here at the Consumer Electronics Show. He said the Ford Focus Electric is "a great step forward in electrification." The zero-CO2-emissions, gasoline-free Ford Focus Electric will be available later this year and is one of five new electrified vehicles Ford will deliver by 2013 in North America and Europe. It can fully charge in three to four hours using an at-home, wall-mounted 240-volt charge station. Ford has partnered with Best Buy and its Geek Squad for charging station purchases ...
Chrysler CEO Says He Hopes Chrysler Will Repay Government Loans This Year
Post Date: 2011-01-07 16:26:13 by Brian S
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BRAMPTON, Ontario (AP) — Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne says he's wants to pay back the loans Chrysler got from the U.S. and Canadian governments this year if he can. Marchionne said Friday he remains committed to that objective. He made the remarks to reporters while at a Chrysler plant in Brampton, Ontario after meeting with employees to celebrate the production launch of the redesigned 2011 Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger He says Chrysler is paying more than $1 billion a year in interest to Canadian and U.S. taxpayers. Fiat took a 20 percent share in Chrysler LLC in 2009, gaining effective control after Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy. Fiat SpA ...
US Bancorp, Wells Fargo Lose Foreclosure Case at Massachusetts High Court
Post Date: 2011-01-07 11:56:16 by Brian S
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Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- US Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co. lost a foreclosure case in Massachusetts’s highest court that will guide lower courts in that state and may influence others in the clash between bank practices and state real estate law. The state Supreme Judicial Court today upheld a judge’s decision saying two foreclosures were invalid because the banks didn’t prove they owned the mortgages. “We agree with the judge that the plaintiffs, who were not the original mortgagees, failed to make the required showing that they were the holders of the mortgages at the time of foreclosure,” Justice Ralph D. Gants wrote. The court upheld a decision by ...
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