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Latest Articles: Business
Whitacre Says GM Eager to End ‘Government Motors’ Tag
Post Date: 2010-08-05 19:48:10 by Brian S
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Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. Chief Executive Officer Ed Whitacre said while an initial public offering filing isn’t likely in the next few weeks, he is eager for the U.S. to sell its shares to investors. GM, the largest U.S. automaker, is preparing to file a registration statement for an IPO this month so the stock sale could be held by November, people familiar with the matter have said. When asked today whether he expects a filing within a couple of weeks, he replied: “No, I don’t.” The automaker is 61 percent owned by the U.S., which would sell a fifth of its stake in the initial offering and reduce its ownership to less than half, people said. Whitacre ...
Obama to Set $250 Million Loan Guarantee for Ford Exports
Post Date: 2010-08-05 11:26:30 by Brian S
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President Barack Obama will announce a $250 million loan guarantee today to finance Ford Motor Co. exports, as he defends his administration’s bailout of the U.S. auto industry, according to a White House statement. Obama will tour an automobile factory in Chicago, where Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford, the only Big 3 U.S. automaker that didn’t take bailout money, will begin assembling the new 2011 Explorer later this year. Ford is spending about $400 million to add 1,200 jobs to build the Explorer sport-utility vehicle. The factory Obama will tour is already hiring new workers at an entry-level wage of about $14 an hour, under a two-tier wage system that starts at about half the ...
Commercial real estate maturities will peak in 2012 – $350 billion in loans coming due and hundreds of additional bank failures. Bank lending in the CRE market collapsing.
Post Date: 2010-08-04 19:02:27 by Capitalist Eric
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The commercial real estate disaster is sinking banks on a weekly basis. Talk of a V-shape recovery is now largely a moot point since we are past the point of a quick and strong recovery. The question now revolves around what we are going to face for the next few years. Commercial real estate really is a harbinger of what went wrong in the last decade. Banks and builders hungry for massive profits overestimated the demand for Starbucks and Macys locations around the country. After all, you actually need money to spend and many average Americans are struggling just to pay their monthly bills. The only way commercial real estate (CRE) was going to do well is if we had a booming population of ...
U.S. Economy: Service Companies Expanded Faster in July
Post Date: 2010-08-04 12:03:11 by Brian S
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Service industries expanded in July at a faster pace than forecast, reflecting an increase in employment that eases the risk U.S. economic growth will slacken in the second half of the year. The Institute for Supply Management’s index of non- manufacturing businesses, which covers about 90 percent of the economy, rose to 54.3 from 53.8 in June. Readings above 50 signal expansion and the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a drop to 53. Another report showed companies added more jobs than projected last month. Record-low mortgage rates may prevent housing from slumping much more, while July’s rebound in stock prices, the first gain in three months ...
Ford Will Hire More UAW Jobs Than Contract Required
Post Date: 2010-08-04 11:58:31 by Brian S
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Ford Motor Co., the second-largest U.S. automaker, plans to add 27 percent more UAW positions at its U.S. plants than originally planned, citing flexible labor contracts that reduced the cost of employing union members. Ford has agreed to add 1,975 jobs, 416 more than originally agreed to, by 2012 to do work traditionally done by suppliers. The automaker has added 1,340 of those jobs since 2008. The jobs at nine U.S. plants will be filled by a mix of idled current Ford workers and new hires, Jennifer Flake, a spokeswoman, said in an interview. Ford said agreements with the United Auto Workers union make the new positions possible by allowing the carmaker to do work in house that it had ...
GM Sales Rise 5 Pct As Buyers Return To Dealers
Post Date: 2010-08-03 12:32:51 by Brian S
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DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors Co. said Tuesday U.S. sales of its cars and trucks rose slightly last month from a slower-than-normal June, a sign that consumers are still willing to spend on big-ticket items. But the gains could be short-lived because shoppers are still anxious about slow economic growth and hiring. GM's sales rose 2.6 percent over June and 5 percent from July of last year, helped by promotions to make room for 2011 models. GM says sales from its four brands - Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac - jumped 25 percent over July of 2009. Buick and Cadillac sales more than doubled. GM's total sales include Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer, which are brands it has sold or is ...
Summer Deals Lure Car Buyers In July For Best Sales Month So Far This Year
Post Date: 2010-08-02 15:48:01 by Brian S
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DETROIT (AP) - U.S. car buyers were back in the market last month. Analysts are expecting July to be the best month for U.S. auto sales since last August, when Cash for Clunkers caused a sales boom. They say July's model-year clearance sales helped bring out buyers after lackluster sales earlier this summer. Edmunds.com predicts July sales were up 8 percent from the same month last year and up 9 percent from June. Analysts say shoppers were looking for bargains. Chrysler was offering to make buyers' first two months' payments in July, while Toyota started its usual summer clearance sale a month early. But the good times may not last. Automakers are trying to hold the line ...
Oil Prices Top $81 A Barrel On Manufacturing Data, Stock Market Rallies
Post Date: 2010-08-02 12:18:19 by Brian S
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(AP) - Oil prices topped $81 a barrel Monday on positive economic news and rallying stock markets. The increase could translate into higher pump prices in the weeks ahead. The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.735 Monday, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. It's about 0.8 cent less than it was a month ago and about 19.7 cents more than a year ago. Benchmark crude for September delivery rose about 3 percent in after positive reports on manufacturing in both the U.S. and Europe. A report in the U.S. concluded the manufacturing sector grew in July for the 15th straight month. The reports indicated the global economy is ...
Manufacturing Grows For 12th Straight Month
Post Date: 2010-08-02 11:50:50 by Brian S
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NEW YORK — The manufacturing sector grew in July for the 12th straight month, providing a boost to the slowing economic recovery. The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its manufacturing index slipped to 55.5 in July from 56.2 in June. That marked the third straight month of declines. Still, a reading above 50 indicates growth and the index has been above that level for the past year. In a separate report, the Commerce Department said construction spending edged up 0.1 percent in June. But all the strength came from government building. Private sector activity in both housing and nonresidential projects fell. Manufacturing has helped drive the recovery as many ...
Economy Gets Healthier as Company Bond Yields Fall
Post Date: 2010-08-02 11:44:27 by Brian S
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For all the concern about another recession, the outlook for America’s economy is looking brighter in the bond market, where investors are accepting the lowest yields since 2004 to lend companies money. Lenders typically require higher interest rates when the economy cools and default risks rise. Instead, yields over Treasuries on corporate debt have shrunk as much as 0.38 percentage point on average to 2.9 percentage points from the high this year in June, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data. Debt sales totaled $90.1 billion last month, the busiest July on record, Bloomberg data show. While the government said July 30 that gross domestic product slowed to a 2.4 ...
Chrysler To Add 900 Jobs To Midsize-Car Plant
Post Date: 2010-07-30 15:12:35 by Brian S
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DETROIT (AP) -- Chrysler Group LLC said Friday that it will add nearly 900 jobs at a factory in suburban Detroit and spare it from a planned closure. The decision is a show of optimism that consumers will embrace the company's refurbished midsize sedans. The automaker made the announcement at another Detroit-area plant just before President Barack Obama spoke there about the success of the government-funded auto industry bailout. The jobs will staff a second shift at Chrysler's assembly plant in Sterling Heights, Mich., just north of Detroit, which makes the slow-selling Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring midsize sedans. In the fall, the company plans to start selling new ...
GM Hikes Production Capacity For Volt By 50 Pct Due To Strong Public Interest
Post Date: 2010-07-30 15:10:20 by Brian S
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DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors said Friday that it is boosting production capacity for its new Chevrolet Volt due to strong public interest in the electric car that goes on sale this year. GM will now have a production capacity of 45,000 vehicles in 2012, up from previous plans for 30,000 vehicles. The automaker made the announcement as President Barack Obama toured the Volt production facility in Detroit. The federal government sank $50 billion into GM as part of the broader rescue of the auto industry, giving taxpayers a majority stake in the nation's largest auto company. The Volt, priced at $41,000, can go 340 miles on a single battery charge, according to GM. The vehicle is ...
Business Activity in U.S. Expanded Faster in July
Post Date: 2010-07-30 11:35:59 by Brian S
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Business activity in the U.S. expanded in July at a faster pace than projected, signaling manufacturing is driving growth in the world’s largest economy. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said today its business barometer rose to 62.3 this month, exceeding the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, after 59.1 in June. Figures greater than 50 signal expansion. Rising demand in developing countries is lifting factory output and causing manufacturers like Caterpillar Inc. to raise earnings forecasts. The report may help reduce concern an easing in consumer spending would lead to a broader economic slowdown. “Export growth is still pretty strong ...
S.E.C. Charges Brothers With $550 Million Fraud
Post Date: 2010-07-30 09:13:31 by go65
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WASHINGTON — Samuel and Charles Wyly, the billionaire brothers from Dallas who are large donors to philanthropies and to conservative causes, were charged Thursday with conducting an extensive securities fraud that the Securities and Exchange Commission said reaped $550 million in undisclosed gains. The brothers, who founded Sterling Software, a business software and services company that they sold for $4 billion in stock to the software company CA in 2000, were also charged with insider trading violations from which they profited by more than $31 million, the S.E.C. said The civil charges, coming just two weeks after the S.E.C. reached a $550 million settlement with Goldman Sachs, ...
President Obama Says Government Will Get Back All Of The Money From Auto Bailouts
Post Date: 2010-07-29 19:18:52 by Brian S
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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama said the government will recover all the taxpayer money his administration provided to bail out the auto industry last year. In an interview aired Thursday on the ABC daytime talk show "The View," Obama said the auto industry "tells a good story" of his administration's efforts to rescue the economy. He planned to highlight that story with stops at three auto plants over the next several days, including stops at General Motors and Chrysler plants in Detroit on Friday. "You now have all those U.S. auto companies showing a profit. They've rehired 55,000 workers. We are going to get all the money back that we invested ...
The Death of Paper Money
Post Date: 2010-07-29 12:36:16 by Capitalist Eric
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As they prepare for holiday reading in Tuscany, City bankers are buying up rare copies of an obscure book on the mechanics of Weimar inflation published in 1974. Ebay is offering a well-thumbed volume of "Dying of Money: Lessons of the Great German and American Inflations" at a starting bid of $699 (shipping free.. thanks a lot). The crucial passage comes in Chapter 17 entitled "Velocity". Each big inflation -- whether the early 1920s in Germany, or the Korean and Vietnam wars in the US -- starts with a passive expansion of the quantity money. This sits inert for a surprisingly long time. Asset prices may go up, but latent price inflation is disguised. The effect is ...
Target's Tea Bag-Loving CEO Lands Company In Hot Water
Post Date: 2010-07-27 22:45:10 by Brian S
6 Comments
GLBT groups were pissed off last week when they learned that Target Corp., which they thought of as gay-friendly, was backing anti-gay marriage Republican candidate for governor Tom Emmer through $150,000 in seed money to MN Forward. But Target's public support for Emmer is merely a mirror of its CEO's private preference for Republicans, including Crazy Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Federal campaign finance disclosures show that Gregg Steinhafel and his wife have personally donated tens of thousands of dollars over the years to the Republican Party of Minnesota, and the campaign coffers of Bachmann, Erik Paulsen, John Kline, former Sen. Norm Coleman, a whole string of House and ...
Foreclosures Jump Among Prime US Borrowers
Post Date: 2010-07-27 11:51:04 by Brian S
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Credit-worthy borrowers with straightforward mortgages are entering foreclosure at a record pace, according to a report released on Tuesday by Lender Processing Services, which tracks and analyses mortgages. Foreclosure rates among “agency prime” loans, which conform to guidelines set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage finance companies, have jumped 425 per cent since January 2008, with a particular acceleration in the last two months, LPS said. That increase is second only to the foreclosure rate of “jumbo” non-agency loans on properties typically worth in excess of $729,750. Agency prime loans, by far the largest swath of the mortgage ...
Consumer Confidence Drops By More Than Expected (more hope and change at work)
Post Date: 2010-07-27 10:34:26 by Nebuchadnezzar
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Consumer Confidence Drops By More Than Expected Vincent Fernando, CFA | Jul. 27, 2010, 10:02 AM | 320 | comment 9 * The consumer confidence index dropped to 50.4 in July, which was a larger decline than consensus had anticipated. The consensus forecast was 51.0 according to Finviz and June's reading was 54.3. The Present Situation Index and The Expectations Index declined to 26.1 from 26.8, and 66.6 from 72.7 respectively. Conference Board: Says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center: “Consumer confidence faded further in July as consumers continue to grow increasingly more pessimistic about the short-term outlook. Concerns about business ...
Four Shocking Bombshells Bernanke Did NOT Tell Congress About Last Week
Post Date: 2010-07-27 10:12:34 by Nebuchadnezzar
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Four Shocking Bombshells Bernanke Did NOT Tell Congress About Last Week by Martin Weiss Martin D. Weiss, Ph.D. In his testimony before Congress last week, Ben Bernanke lifted the Fed's skirt and gave us a glimpse of the disasters now sweeping through the U.S. economy. But there are four bombshells he did NOT talk about: FIRST and foremost, what's CAUSING the economy to sink? The stock market has not yet crashed. Interest rates have not yet surged. Gasoline prices have not skyrocketed. There has been no recent debt collapse, market shock, or terrorist attack. So what is the invisible force that's suddenly gutting the housing market, driving consumer confidence into a ...
Nielson Probability of US Hyperinflation or Debt Implosion
Post Date: 2010-07-26 19:08:41 by Capitalist Eric
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“The collapse of U.S. economy is a certainty - only the manner of the economic collapse has yet to be determined. In time the global derivatives bubble will produce the same result which has occurred to every other currency not backed by gold throughout history: those currencies, our “money”, will become worthless.” Those were the alarming words of Jeff Nielson of BullionBullsCanada.com in a recent speech* which I have edited and reformatted below (with his permission) for the sake of brevity and clarity.Derivatives: An Unregulated $1 Quadrillion Market “Warren Buffett once described derivatives as ‘financial weapons of mass destruction’ - and for a very ...
Six questions for Bruce Bartlett
Post Date: 2010-07-26 15:33:15 by Skip Intro
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IT'S difficult to classify Bruce Bartlett politically. He has worked on the staffs of Congressmen Ron Paul and Jack Kemp and Senator Roger Jepsen. He was senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House; and deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department during the first Bush administration. But he has also written a book titled, "Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy". So you could say that Mr Bartlett's loyalties are economic, not partisan. Currently Mr Bartlett is a columnist for the Fiscal Times, an online newspaper covering the economy, and he blogs at Capital Gains and Games. He has also written ...
GOLDMAN reveals where bailout cash went -- overseas banks!
Post Date: 2010-07-26 14:34:25 by jwpegler
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Goldman Sachs sent $4.3 billion in federal tax money to 32 entities, including many overseas banks, hedge funds and pensions, according to information made public Friday night. Goldman Sachs disclosed the list of companies to the Senate Finance Committee after a threat of subpoena from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Ia. Asked the significance of the list, Grassley said, "I hope it's as simple as taxpayers deserve to know what happened to their money." He added, "We thought originally we were bailing out AIG. Then later on ... we learned that the money flowed through AIG to a few big banks, and now we know that the money went from these few big banks to dozens of financial ...
June Sales of U.S. New Homes Climb More Than Forecast
Post Date: 2010-07-26 11:39:12 by go65
22 Comments
Sales of U.S. new homes rose in June more than forecast following an unprecedented collapse the prior month, a signal the worst of the slump triggered by the end of a government tax credit is over. Purchases increased 24 percent from May to an annual pace of 330,000, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. The rate was the second-lowest in data going back to 1963 after May’s downwardly revised 267,000 pace. The lowest mortgage rates on record may help underpin demand, stabilizing the industry that triggered the worst recession since the 1930s. Even so, increasing foreclosures are swelling the number of unsold existing homes, putting pressure on prices and ...
Geithner Hails 'Very Encouraging' Recovery, Stresses Private Growth
Post Date: 2010-07-25 13:09:22 by Brian S
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Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the economy was experiencing "very encouraging" recovery, but cautioned that a transition from government intervention to private investment needed to be made to keep recovery going. Geithner, appearing Sunday morning on both ABC's "This Week" and NBC's "Meet the Press," struck a mostly optimistic tone even when asked about Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks last week that the economic outlook was "unusually uncertain." On NBC, Geithner said he didn't find anything unusual about cautious growth given the severity of the recession. "Americans are still living with some caution," he ...
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