Archives: August 2009

Disney Snares Spidey

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 31, Categories: late

Look out, Green Goblin. Spiderman will have some new money behind him now that Walt Disney is buying Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in cash and stock. It’s Disney’s...

Japan’s Opposition Wins in a Landslide

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 31, Categories: early

Japanese voters tossed out the Liberal Democratic Party government, breaking 54 years of almost unbroken one-party rule. In yesterday’s elections, the opposition Democratic Party of Japan won 308 of...

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 28, Categories: weekend

U.S. Consumers Loosen Up a Bit Spurred by the cash-for-clunkers program, consumer spending rose 0.2% in July, about what economists had expected and the third straight monthly gain. An...

Regulators Take Aim at Phone Operators

Posted by: Mark Scott on August 28, Categories: early

U.S. regulators have launched an investigation into the country's mobile phone industry surrounding competition between the big four wireless network operators: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and Deutsche Telekom's...

The FDIC Is Running Low

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 27, Categories: late

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s piggy bank fell to just $10.4 billion at the end of June, from $13 billion the previous month, as bank failures continued to proliferate...

Apple Prepares iPhone for China

Posted by: Mark Scott on August 27, Categories: early

Apple is close to start selling iPhones in China -- one of the last major phone markets the company has yet to tap. If Apple can break into the...

More Good Cheer on Housing

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

For the second straight day, a report on the U.S. housing market suggests that the worst is over. The Commerce Dept. said today that sales of new homes in...

Obama Raises Deficit Projections

Posted by: Mark Scott on August 26, Categories: early

U.S. President Barack Obama now expects the country's projected budget deficit to be $2 trillion higher over the next 10 years than had previously been predicted. The announcement comes...

Housing: On the Upswing

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

Two gauges of U.S. home prices gave further indication that the market has hit bottom and is on the way up. The S&P Case-Shiller 20-city home-price index declined 15.4%...

Bernanke Gets to Finish the Job

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 25, Categories: early

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will get the nod for another four-year term from President Barack Obama this morning, ending weeks of speculation but likely surprising few economists or policymakers....

Cash for Clunkers: The Hangover

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

After the cash-for-clunkers auto-subsidy program ends at midnight tonight, dealers expect a sharp decline in the pace of sales, which rose at a surprising rate while the program was...

Bernanke Sees Recovery in Global Economy

Posted by: Justin Bachman on August 21, Categories: weekend

The world economy is slowly emerging from recession, although the pace of recovery will be sluggish, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Aug. 21 at an annual Fed gathering...

U.S. Economy Stops Shrinking, Heads for Expansion, Index Shows

Posted by: Ian Rowley on August 21, Categories: early

In another sign the worst of the U.S. recession is over, a gauge of current conditions showed the economy steadied last month. The Conference Board’s coincident index was unchanged...

Federal 'Cash for Clunkers' Program to End Aug. 24

Posted by: Justin Bachman on August 20, Categories: late

Declaring the 'cash for clunkers' auto stimulus a success, federal officials said that sales under the program will end at 8 p.m. EDT on Aug. 24. The $3 billion...

Swiss Government Sells UBS Stake

Posted by: Mehul Srivastava on August 20, Categories: early

After a U.S. brokered deal that will result in UBS turning over as many 4,450 names of American holders of Swiss bank accounts, the Swiss government will sell its...

UBS To Turn Over Data on 4,000-plus Accounts

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on August 19, Categories: late

UBS will divulge information on 4,450 accounts in order to settle a lawsuit brought forward by U.S. authorities as part of a wider crack-down on tax evasion. The Internal...

China Stocks Fall 20% from Year’s High

Posted by: Moon Ihlwan on August 19, Categories: early

China’s stocks fell, driving the benchmark index into a so-called bear market -- or more than 20% below this year’s high -- on concern the nation’s economic recovery will...

U.S. Investors Get That Sinking Feeling

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on August 17, Categories:

U.S. stocks got swept up in a global downdraft on Monday, as investors fretted that an incipient recovery in the U.S. may be in danger of stalling out. The...

Japan's Recession is Over

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 17, Categories: early

Japan’s economy is growing again. Between April and June, GDP edged up 0.9% compared to a year earlier. At an annualized rate, that’s equivalent to a 3.7% clip and...

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on August 14, Categories: weekend

U.S. Stocks Slump on Negative Consumer Data Investors tempered their optimism on Aug. 12 as more signs emerged that U.S. consumers are not ready to start spending again. The...

How to Get Consumers Spending Again

Posted by: Andy Reinhardt on August 14, Categories: early

After two months of meager gains in U.S. consumer spending, July retail sales fell back by 0.1%—and would have been down 0.6% if not for the stimulus effect of...

U.S. Retail Sales Weaker Than Anticipated

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on August 13, Categories: late

A disappointing retail sales report and a so-so jobless-claims numbers on Aug. 13 suggested that a patch of blight may be appearing on the economy's much heralded "green shoots."...

France and Germany Escape Recession

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

The French and German economies turned in unexpected growth during the second quarter of this year, signaling that Europe's two largest economies have put the recession behind them and...

Fed To Slow Treasury Purchases

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on August 12, Categories: late

The Federal Reserve committee that sets interest rates voted unanimously to leave the benchmark interest rate unchanged at between zero and 0.25%. In a statement, the Federal Open Markets...

Fed to Give Cautiously-Optimistic View of Economy

Posted by: Mark Scott on August 12, Categories: early

The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to say the recession is slowing, but that the recovery will long slog in an attempt to dampen expectations of interest rate rises....

Productivity Shoots Up

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 11, Categories: late

Maybe it’s a no-brainer: As companies lay off thousands of workers and those remaining do all the work, productivity improves. In any case, U.S. productivity shot up in the...

No Deal Yet Between BofA and the SEC

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

A federal judge refused to approve a proposed settlement between Bank of America and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over the payment of bonuses to Merrill Lynch employees,...

A REIT Takes Drastic Measures

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

Maguire Properties, one of Southern California’s biggest real estate investment trusts, said two of its subsidiaries have defaulted on their debt. It added that its board has approved the...

Fed Needs to Make Tough Decisions

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

The U.S. Federal Reserve has tough decisions to make when it meets later this week. Central bankers must curb rising expectations that the Fed is ready to starting raising...

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 07, Categories: weekend

U.S. Job Losses Slow Down It’s better than almost anyone expected. The Labor Dept.’s jobs report for July is the most hopeful since last summer, showing that the economy...

U.S. Job Losses Continue, but at Slower Rate

Posted by: Mark Scott on August 07, Categories: early

Today's U.S. jobs report will offer fresh evidence that the domestic economy is gradually moving towards recovery. The nonfarm payrolls report -- one of the best indicators of economic...

Mixed Messages from Europe

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 06, Categories: late

European Central Bank Chairman Jean-Claude Trichet said that Europe’s economy may recover more rapidly that expected, and signaled that as a result, the ECB is unlikely to provide any...

Senate to OK Extension of Cash for Clunkers

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 06, Categories: early

Senators will vote today to inject another $2 billion into the "Cash for Clunkers" program after Majority Leader Harry Reid announced a deal last night to save the rebate...

Jobs, Service Data Drag Down Stocks

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on August 05, Categories: late

U.S. stock indices sagged on Wednesday as investigators digested a pair of negative reports on the economy. A survey from payrolls firm ADP pegged job losses for the month...

Lloyds Posts $5.2 Billion Loss from Bad Loans

Posted by: Moon Ihlwan on August 05, Categories: early

British lender Lloyds Banking Group posted a first-half loss of $5.2 billion because of mounting bad debts at HBOS, which it took over in January. The group set aside...

Mixed News on U.S. Economy

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 04, Categories: late

U.S. consumer spending ticked up 0.4% in June after a 0.1% gain the previous month, said the Commerce Dept., while the National Association of Realtors reported that its Pending...

Apple, Google: Tech's Newest Rivalry?

Posted by: Kenji Hall on August 04, Categories: early

Over the past three decades, a few titanic rivalries have defined the technology industry's megatrends, ultimately determining which products eventually end up in consumers' and companies' hands. Now, adding...

Big Moves at BofA

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

Bank of America agreed to pay $33 million to settle SEC charges that the bank lied to investors in connection with its deal last year to buy Merrill Lynch....

Cash For Clunkers Helps Ford To July Gain

Posted by: Ian Rowley on August 03, Categories: early

Ford Motor Co. on Monday will post a single-digit sales gain over the same month a year ago, the first monthly sales gain the automaker has posted since 2007....