Archives: February 2009

Blueprint for New U.S. Budget Priorities

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on February 27, Categories: early

President Barack Obama delivered his first budget to Congress Feb. 26, an ambitious $3.6 trillion spending plan that would fund big new investments in education, health care, and energy...

Obama's Bold Budget

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 26, Categories: late

It’s a set of proposals of astonishing ambition, one of the boldest programs of government activism in decades. President Barack Obama unveiled a $3.6 trillion budget blueprint that includes...

RBS Notches a Record Loss

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on February 26, Categories: early

As expected, the Royal Bank of Scotland on Feb. 26 reported an enormous $34 billion annual loss for 2008, including nearly $23 billion in goodwill writedowns from its troubled...

U.S. Housing: Still a Bleak Landscape

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 25, Categories: late

There’s apparently no end to bad housing news. The National Association of Realtors reports that existing-home sales fell 5.3% in January after a surprise uptick in December that briefly...

Obama to Use 'Full Force' of Government to Jumpstart Economy

Posted by: Mark Scott on February 25, Categories: early

In his first address to the U.S. Congress as Commander-in-Chief, President Barack Obama said he would act with the "full force of the federal government" to support the financial...

Brighter Days in 2010?

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 24, Categories: late

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke did his best to wax optimistic in testimony before Congress, saying that the recession should end this year and that 2010 “will be a year...

Looming Crisis in Central Europe

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on February 24, Categories: early

The post-Communist economic boom that turned Poland, Hungary, and other former Soviet satellites into some of the world's hottest markets is showing worrisome signs of collapse. The downturn substantially...

A Landmark Deal in Detroit?

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 23, Categories: late

Ford and the UAW announced that they had reached agreement on retireee health benefits, an accord that could well serve as a model for GM and Chrysler. Under the...

Citigroup and U.S. Talk Investment

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on February 23, Categories: early

Sources say that Citigroup, the largest bank in the U.S., is in talks with federal officials over a plan for the government to expand its ownership of the troubled...

Latin American Regulators Clamp Down on Stanford

Posted by: Ian Rowley on February 20, Categories: early

From Bogotá to Quito, regulators have taken control of Stanford Financial Group’s Latin American affiliates as investors scramble to recoup their pesos, bolivars, dollars and soles. U.S. regulators placed...

UBS: It's Not Over

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 19, Categories: late

Just a day after the big Swiss bank agreed to pay $780 million to avoid prosecution on charges that it helped thousands of wealthy U.S. clients evade taxes, the...

Obama's Mortgage Rescue Plan Faces Risks

Posted by: Dexter Roberts on February 19, Categories: early

The Obama Administration's $75 billion homeowner-rescue plan offers a lot of help to people in imminent danger of losing their homes. It does far less for those who are...

Obama Unveils Mortgage Rescue Plan

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on February 18, Categories: late

President Barack Obama on Feb. 18 announced a plan to stabilize the faltering housing market by allowing up to 9 million families to refinance or restructure at-risk mortgages through...

GM, Chrysler Want another $21.6 Billion

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on February 18, Categories: early

General Motors said it needs $16.6 billion in additional bailout funds from the government, and smaller rival Chrysler said it needs $5 billion. The two automakers made the announcements...

Another "Massive" Financial Fraud?

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 17, Categories: late

The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission stepped in to halt what they described as an $8 billion fraud “orchestrated” by financier R. Allen Stanford. The SEC charged the Texas...

Japanese Finance Minister Resigns

Posted by: Chi-Chu Tschang on February 17, Categories: early

Japan's Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa has resigned after appearing intoxicated at a meeting of the G-7 finance ministers in Rome over the weekend. Nakagawa answered reporters questions with slurred...

Hammering Out the Stimulus Details

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on February 13, Categories: early

Congressional leaders moved quickly on Feb. 12 to schedule votes on a compromise $789 billion economic stimulus package to revive the U.S. economy. But details of the plan are...

U.S. Shoppers Loosen Up a Bit

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 12, Categories: late

What happened? U.S. consumers actually increased their spending by 1% in January after months of declines, surprising many economists. The rise came mostly from rising gasoline prices and higher...

Will Bailout 2.0 Pack a Bigger Punch?

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on February 12, Categories: early

Initial market reaction to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's new plan to aid the ailing banking sector was downbeat, to say the least. But sentiment could change if the government's...

U.S. Legislators Agree on $789 Billion Stimulus

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on February 11, Categories: late

U.S. legislators on Wednesday appeared to have struck a deal on an economic stimulus package. At $789 billion, the plan is smaller than the $838 billion bill approved by...

U.S. Legislators Agree on $789 Billion Stimulus

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on February 11, Categories: late

U.S. legislators on Wednesday appeared to have struck a deal on an economic stimulus package. At $789 billion, the plan is smaller than the $838 billion bill approved by...

Geithner Plan Lands with a Thud

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on February 11, Categories: early

In the long-awaited delivery of the Obama Administrations proposal to revive U.S. banks and financial markets, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner promised forceful action to get credit flowing again. But...

Geithner's Plan Lays an Egg on the Street

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 10, Categories: late

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner described the Obama Administration’s new bank bailout plan in a speech, but the vagueness of the plan seemed to dismay Wall Street. As expected, Geithner...

U.S. Stimulus Package Heads for Vote

Posted by: Mark Scott on February 10, Categories: early

The U.S. $800 billion stimulus package moved one step closer to reality after senators voted to halt further debate and move to a final vote on the bill on...

GM May Take Back Delphi Plants

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 09, Categories: late

General Motors may buy back some units of Delphi, the auto parts maker that it spun off a decade ago and that is now in bankruptcy proceedings. The move...

U.S. Delays Bank Bailout to Focus on Stimulus

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on February 09, Categories: early

The Obama Administration is postponing the announcement of its highly-anticipated proposal to aid the financial services sector until Tuesday, Feb. 10 to keep lawmakers, the press, and the public...

A Cruel Month for Retailers

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 05, Categories: late

Retailers continue to be clobbered by the recession as consumers chop their spending. Sales tracker Thomson Reuters said a group of 35 retailers saw same-store sales fall by 1.8%...

Lenovo Boss Amelio Out After Big Loss

Posted by: Chi-Chu Tschang on February 05, Categories: early

William J. Amelio, CEO of Lenovo, the world’s No. 4 maker of PCs, resigned after the computer company announced a quarterly loss of $96.7 million, triple what most analysts...

New Reports Detail Job Destruction

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on February 04, Categories: late

Whichever way you slice the numbers, January was a rotten month for American workers. U.S. employers announced 241,749 layoffs for the month--up 45% from December and the highest January...

Obama to Cap Executive Pay of Bailout Beneficiaries

Posted by: Chi-Chu Tschang on February 04, Categories: early

The Obama administration will today announce plans to cap the salaries of top executives of banks and other companies that receive government bailouts at ">$500,000 annually. Apart from regular...

An Abysmal Month for Carmakers

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 03, Categories: late

Carmakers reported January sales indicating that the industry hasn’t yet begun to recover from last year’s crash. General Motors sales cratered by 49% from the same month last year....

U.S. Property Owners Lost $3.3 Trillion in Home Value Last Year

Posted by: Chi-Chu Tschang on February 03, Categories: early

The U.S. housing market lost $3.3 trillion in value last year and almost one in six owners with mortgages owed more than their homes were worth as the economy...

Big Layoffs at Macy's

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 02, Categories: late

Citing “current economic conditions and expectations for lower sales in 2009,” Macy’s announced that it will cut 7,000 jobs, about 4% of its global workforce, in an effort to...

Obama Confident of Winning Support for Stimulus Package

Posted by: Chi-Chu Tschang on February 02, Categories: early

President Obama is confident his economic stimulus package will eventually win “substantial support” from Republicans as Democratic senators suggest they will be open to altering the bill to reflect...

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