Category: weekend

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on September 11

U.S. Consumer Confidence Ticks Up Again The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment rose to 70.2 in September from 65.7 in August. Economists had expected a smaller…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on September 04

U.S. Unemployment at a 26-Year High Joblessness jumped to 9.7%, higher than expectations and the highest rate since June, 1983. The Labor Dept. announced that the country lost 216,000…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 28

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…

Bernanke Sees Recovery in Global Economy

Posted by: Justin Bachman on August 21

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…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on August 14

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…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 07

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…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 31

Second-Quarter GDP: Not So Bad The U.S. economy contracted at a slower place than expected in the second quarter. The Commerce Dept says the annual rate of decline was…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 24

Buffett: C’mon In, the Water’s Fine In an interview on CNBC, the Sage of Omaha said it’s a good time to buy stocks even with the Dow at 9000….

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 17

Mixed Results for Tech This week saw a slew of earnings report from tech industry bellwethers, but the numbers revealed no clear trends. On July 14, Intel reported second-quarter…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on July 10

GM Exits Bankruptcy General Motors emerged from bankruptcy on July 10, after a just a 40-day stint under court protection. The new GM, which is 60.8% owned by the…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on June 26

Consumer Spending, Incomes Up Is the stimulus working? That appears to be the case, as U.S. consumer spending rose in May by 0.3%. That’s the first gain in three…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on June 19

Unemployment Rises in 48 States Balancing out yesterday’s news that the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits dropped, the Labor Dept. reported today that California’s unemployment rate rose to…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on June 12

Cheerier Consumers, but Rising Prices U.S. consumer confidence hit a nine-month high in June, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan survey. The index rose to 69.0 from 68.7 in…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on June 05

A Mixed Report on U.S. Jobs The Labor Dept. reported that joblessness reached 9.4% in May, up from 8.9% in April, the first time it has passed 9% in…

Top News of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on May 29

GM Clears Another Hurdle One potential obstacle to General Motors’ reorganization was removed when UAW members voted overwhelmingly to approve a new pact with the carmaker. UAW chief Ron…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on May 15

U.S. Consumer Prices Flat Last Month The cost of living changed not a whit in April, remaining flat after slipping 0.1% in March. Falling food and energy prices offset…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on May 08

Job Losses Lose Steam At any other time, it would be seen as a disastrous number, but in the context of this severe downturn, April’s loss of 539,000 jobs…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on May 01

Ford Outruns Toyota in the U.S. Encouraging news from Detroit? It’s an unlikely concept these days, but Ford outsold Toyota in the U.S. in April, the first time that…

Top News of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on April 24

Ford Boosts the Street U.S. stock investors got encouraging news from Ford, which announced that it believes it has enough cash to get through the rest of the year….

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on April 17

Citi’s Solid First Quarter Citigroup became the third big bank this week, after Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, to announce decent first-quarter results. Citi reported net income of…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on April 10

Goldman Ponders a Big Stock Offering Goldman Sachs is eager to repay at least some of its $10 billion TARP loan from Washington, so it’s considering a major stock…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on April 03

More U.S. Jobs Go Poof! The Labor Dept. reported that the U.S. economy shed 663,000 jobs last month, the fourth straight in which job losses totaled more than 600,000….

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on March 27

Consumers Haven’t Given Up Entirely “Some of the dire forecasts for economic growth in the first quarter may not be true,” says one analyst in reaction to the news…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on March 20

Citi’s Shuffle at the Top Citigroup CFO Gary Crittenden has been reassigned to a new job. He’ll now head up Citi Holdings, the unit that holds $850 billion worth…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on March 13

U.S. Trade Deficit Narrows Some More America’s trade deficit shrank by 9.7% in January, to $36 billion, compared with $59.16 billion in the same month last year. But that’s…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on March 06

The U.S. jobless rate jumps again Unemployment jumped to 8.1% in February from 7.6% in January, as the economy lost 651,000 jobs, said the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 27

A Steeper GDP Fall Last Quarter That lousy last quarter of 2008? It was a lot worse than you thought. The Commerce Dept. released revised figures for the quarter,…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 20

Gold Hits $1000 an Ounce Gold futures closed above $1000 an ounce in New York, crossing the key threshold for the first time in nearly a year. Investors are…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 13

Three Banks Freeze Foreclosures After big-bank executives got grilled on Capitol Hill this week, Bank of America, Citigroup, and JP Morgan Chase announced a temporary freeze on mortgage foreclosure….

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on January 30

A Truly Awful Fourth Quarter U.S. gross domestic product contracted at the fastest pace since 1982 in the fourth quarter, falling at an annual rate of 3.8%, reported the…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on January 16

Circuit City Going Out of Business The second-largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S. announced on Jan. 16 that attempts to find a buyer for the 567-store chain have…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on January 09

Jobs: The Hole Gets Deeper The U.S. economy shed 524,000 jobs in December and 2.6 million for 2008 as a whole. True, the yearly number is the worst since…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on December 19

At Last, An Auto Bailout President George W. Bush announced a $17.4 billion financing package for Detroit carmakers that was notable for putting off the really tough decisions until…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on December 12

Hedge Fund Investors Could Lose $50 Billion in Scam This one may prove bigger than Enron. Longtime Wall Street securities trader former Nasdaq chairman Bernard Madoff was arrested Thursday…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on November 21

Citigroup Worries Mount Investors are quickly losing faith in Citigroup. Shares of the company, once the largest and mightiest U.S. bank by assets and market value, have plunged close…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Cristina Lindblad on November 14

U.S. Retailers Are Reeling This holiday season is shaping up to be the battle of the better deal—and it’s a bloody battle indeed. For months, retailers have been throwing…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on November 07

Jobs Evaporate Even Faster Jobs reports don’t get a whole lot worse than this, at least short of a full-scale depression. The Labor Dept. says the U.S. economy lost 240,000…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on October 31

Consumers Are Pinching Pennies As if to fortify its report yesterday that GDP declined in the third quarter, the Commerce Dept. today said that consumer spending dropped by 0.3%…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on October 24

Another Ugly Day on the Bourses Just when you think the financial crisis might be easing, it gets worse again, this time mostly provoked by the spreading shockwaves around…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on October 17

Homebuilders Aren’t Building The Commerce Dept. reported that housing starts fell 6.3% in September, to a 17-year low. And starts of single-family homes dropped even more steeply, by 12%,…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on October 10

Panic Still Reigns on the Bourses Fear in the markets is ricocheting from the U.S. to Asia to Europe, feeding on itself and picking up momentum. After dizzying drops…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on October 03

The House Comes Around In the end, it wasn’t even close. The House of Representatives passed the $700 billion financial rescue package by a vote of 263-171, as many…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on September 26

Back to the Negotiating Table In the wake of yesterday’s contretemps in Washington, furious negotiations proceeded on the bailout bill, with both Democrats and Republicans expressing optimism that a…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on September 19

Confidence-Boosters Lift Stocks As Washington seemed to be moving at breakneck speed to craft a monster bailout for the financial system, investors around the world voted with their dollars….

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on September 12

Mixed Reports on the Economy Two monthly reports offered up both bad news and good for the U.S. economy. First, the Commerce Dept. said that retail sales fell unexpected…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on September 05

Jobs: It’s Getting Worse The U.S. unemployment rate jumped sharply in August, from 5.7% to 6.1%, the Labor Dept. reported. Nonfarm payrolls sank by 84,000, compared with an upwardly…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 29

Spending Less, Paying More Their tax rebates largely spent, U.S. shoppers slacked off a bit in July. Consumer spending rose just 0.2% after a 0.6% increase in June, said…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 22

Korean Bank Interested in Lehman Korea Development Bank confirmed on Aug. 22 that it has its eye on struggling Lehman Brothers. A spokesman at state-run KDB said the bank…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 15

Slightly Cheerier Consumers For the first time in nearly two years, consumer confidence rose for the second straight month, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan Index. The index rose…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 08

A Big Loss for Fannie Joining its sibling Freddie Mac, the nation’s biggest mortage company, Fannie Mae, racked up a $2.3 billion second-quarter loss, indicating that the housing crunch…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on August 01

A Shocker From GM The automaker reported second-quarter results that could hardly have been worse. It lost $15.5 billion, the third-worst quarter in its 100-year history. It’s true that…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 25

Signs of life in the economy U.S. orders for durable goods unexpectedly rose 0.8% in June, largely thanks to a burst in defense industry bookings, said the Commerce Dept….

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 18

Citi: Not So Bad Citigroup, the fourth closely watched megabank to report results this week—JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, and Wells Fargo are the others—came up with a smaller-than-expected loss…

Top Stories of the week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 11

Wall Street Feels Fannie and Freddie’s Pain U.S. stocks swooned as shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac tumbled to 17-year lows. Seeking to quash rampant speculation that the…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on June 27

Thank Heaven for Those Tax Rebates The tax rebates did their work in May. Consumer income, savings, and spending all increased for the month, but without the stimulus, incomes…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on June 20

Ford’s Slow Turnaround Not long after the carmaker said it wouldn’t reach breakeven until 2009, it took that prediction back. Ford lowered its estimates of U.S. car sales this…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on June 13

Inflation: Not Too Bad Traders on Wall Street were pleased that the consumer price index for May came in about as expected. At first glance it seems worrisome: Overall…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on June 06

The Jobless Rate Jumps U.S. nonfarm payrolls fell by 49,000 in May, about what economists had predicted. What they didn’t expect was a sharp boost in the unemployment rate,…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on May 30

United Airlines and Continental in Talks It is hard to keep tabs on who’s wooing whom in the U.S. airline industry these days. On Friday, UAL Corp’s United Airlines…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on May 23

Housing and Jobs: The Slippage Continues Sales of existing homes fell in April for the second month in a row, to an annual rate of 4.89 million, a 1%…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on May 16

Housing’s muddled picture Today’s housing news was mixed. The Commerce Dept. reported that housing starts unexpectedly jumped by 8.2% to an annual rate of 1.032 million, whereas economists had…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on May 09

Oil Blasts to a New High Crude oil futures continue to soar. The price of a barrel for June delivery traded higher than $126 earlier in the day before…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on May 02

April’s Job Losses Were Modest The U.S. economy shed jobs again last month, but not as many as economists expected. The Labor Dept. reported that nonfarm payrolls fell by…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on April 25

Microsoft drags tech down The software giant reported lackluster fiscal third-quarter results and trimmed its forecast for the fourth, causing investors not only to dump Microsoft stock but others…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on April 18

Citi Cheers Up the Street The numbers are enormous: $5.1 billion in losses for the first quarter, and $16 billion-plus in additional write-downs and loan-loss reserves. But both those…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on April 11

A shocker from General Electric Just what’s going on at GE? The stock-market bellwether sent shock waves across Wall Street by reporting a first-quarter profit that was skimpier than…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on April 04

The ranks of the unemployed get larger Yesterday’s report on initial jobless claims wasn’t encouraging, and this number is even less so: The Labor Dept. says that U.S. businesses…

S&P: Goldman, Lehman May Be Downgraded

Posted by: Justin Bachman on March 21

Standard & Poor’s has revised its outlook on Goldman Sachs Group and Lehman Brothers from stable to negative, citing the potential for steep revenue and profit declines amid contraction…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on March 14

Bear gets a lifeline Was it a case of self-fulfilling prophecy? After a week of seeing its stock hammered by rumors that it would run short of money, Bear…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on March 07

Jobs: It’s cold out there The Labor Dept. reported a decline in nonfarm payrolls of 63,000 in February, following a revised decline of 22,000 in January. December’s 82,000 gain…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 29

Consumer spending picks up Normally it’s good news for the economy when shoppers spend more money, but in this case it seems to be mainly a reflection of inflationary…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 22

Three bankers jailed in Enron case Guidelines suggested a stiffer term, but three former bankers still were sentenced to just over three years each in jail after being sentenced…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 15

What the Sage of Omaha is buying Everyone likes to know what legendary investor Warren Buffett is up to, so they watch his regulatory filings closely. The latest reveals…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 15

What the Sage of Omaha is buying Everyone likes to know what legendary investor Warren Buffett is up to, so they watch his regulatory filings closely. The latest reveals…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 08

Six die in sugar refinery explosion An Imperial Sugar plant near Savannah, Georgia, blew up, killing at least six and injuring 42. About 100 workers were in the area…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on February 01

Microsoft bids for Yahoo! The software giant, apparently concluding that there’s little point in competing with Google on its own, made a hostile $44.6 billion bid for the struggling…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on January 25

Asian bourses cheer up Asian markets, apparently cheered by Wall Street’s bounce-back on Wednesday, staged a rally led by Hong Kong, where the key index jumped 6.7%. Japan’s Nikkei…

Asian Bourses Cheer Up

Posted by: Harry Maurer on January 25

Asian markets, apparently cheered by Wall Street’s bounce-back on Wednesday, staged a rally led by Hong Kong, where the key index jumped 6.7%. Japan’s Nikkei rose 4.1%, and Mumbai’s…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on January 18

Bush outlines economic stimulus package The White House on Friday called for a $140 billion to $145 billion package, with tax rebates for households and incentives for businesses. Though…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on January 18

Bush outlines economic stimulus package The White House on Friday called for a $140 billion to $145 billion package, with tax rebates for households and incentives for businesses. Though…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on January 11

A rescuer for Countrywide Bank of America has agreed to buy the top mortgage lender in the U.S. for $4 billion in stock. The deal marks the demise of…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on January 04

U.S. joblessness jumps The labor markets continue to send signals of a slowing economy, perhaps even a recession. The Labor Dept. reports that the unemployment rate jumped from 4.7%…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on December 28

Another low for home sales The Commerce Dept. reports that new-home sales in November hit a 12-year low. Deals for single-family homes fell 9% to a seasonally adjusted annual…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on December 21

Shoppers: Still going strong? U.S. consumer spending rose more than expected in November, giving some comfort to observers to worried that a lackluster shopping season might have already tipped…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on December 14

Another alarming U.S. inflation report On Thursday, producer prices were reported to have jumped sharply in November. Today, consumer prices followed suit. The government said the Consumer Price Index…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on December 07

Jobs look moderately strong On the heels of an upbeat non-government report on jobs growth a few days ago, the Labor Dept. reports that U.S. employers added 94,000 jobs…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on November 30

Zander calls it quits The CEO of beleaguered Motorola,Ed Zander, will step down in January. He has run the company for four years. Greg Brown, the current president and…

Investors’ Gift From Ben & the Fed

Posted by: Justin Bachman on August 17

The Federal Reserve jolted Wall Street Aug. 17 with a significant, 0.5% cut in its overnight discount rate to 5.75%, while conceding that “downside risks to growth have increased…

Jobless Rate Climbs

Posted by: Michael Arndt on August 03

Employers in the U.S. added fewer jobs than forecast in July and the unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, from 4.5% in June, as the economy cooled in response to…

Stock Market Decline Deepens

Posted by: Michael Arndt on July 27

U.S. stocks extended their biggest drop in five months Friday on growing concern that takeovers will slow as the money to pay for them grows scarcer. In early-afternoon trading,…

Stocks Close Record Week With Sharp Dip

Posted by: Justin Bachman on July 20

A day after seizing the mantle of 14,000, the Dow Jones industrials suffered a sharp, 149-point setback on weak profit reports from long-time investment stalwarts Caterpillar and Google. Beyond…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 13

A Mixed Verdict for Conrad Black The Canadian newspaper mogul was convicted in Chicago of three counts of mail fraud and obstruction of justice. Three former associates were also…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on July 06

The Jobs Machine Cranks Up US jobs grew by 132,000 in June, about what economists expected. But they were surprised by sharp upward revisions in the job numbers for…

The iPhone’s Here (Finally)

Posted by: Justin Bachman on June 29

It’s the weekend of the iPhone, Apple’s long-awaited entry into the smartphone market. The gadgets, starting at $499, incorporate an iPod music player with a Web browser (and talk)….

The iPhone’s Finally Here

Posted by: Stuart Jackson on June 29

It’s the weekend of the iPhone, Apple’s long-awaited entry into the smartphone market. The gadgets, starting at $499, incorporate an iPod music player with a Web browser (and talk)….

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on June 22

Investors Love Those Blackstone Shares The private equity giant, which raked in $4.13 billion in its IPO on June 21, saw its fledgling stock rise as much as 23%…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on June 15

Inflation: Bad News, Good News At first glace the number looks awful: U.S. consumer prices rose 0.7% in May, the fastest in nearly two years—and this in a week…

Top Stories of the Week

Posted by: Harry Maurer on June 08

Immigration Bill Stalls in Senate Frustrated Democrats failed to push through the immigration reform bill. The legislation, which has the strong backing of President Bush, fell 15 votes of…