Bloomberg News | The author of “The Black Swan” is urging investors who lost money in the global financial crisis to sue the Swedish Central Bank for awarding the Nobel to economists whose theories, he says, brought down the economy.
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95,000 jobs lost, unemployment holds at 9.6%
The nation’s bleak employment picture dimmed in September as private-sector hiring weakened and the economy lost a net 95,000 jobs over the month.
The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate last month remained at 9.6 percent, but that reflected a stagnant labor force in which people did not enter or return to the labor market to look for work. In what may be a more meaningful indicator this time, a broader measure of unemployed and underemployed workers, including part-timers who can’t find full-time work, rose to 17.1 percent last month from 16.7 percent in August.
Futures traders see no Fed rate hike until 2012
U.S. short-term interest rate futures traders are pricing in little chance the Federal Reserve will start raising interest rates until 2012, after a government report showed the U.S. economy lost more jobs than expected in September.
Traders are pricing in zero chance of an increase in the target rate for overnight lending between banks until December 2011, and are not pricing in a better-than-even chance of an increase until the first quarter of 2012, trading in Fed funds futures at CME Group Inc.’s Chicago Board of Trade shows. Get the full story »
Bullard: As goes centrist Bernanke, so goes Fed
St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said Friday he sees risks to further unconventional monetary easing by the U.S. central bank.
“There are risks to the balance sheet expansion policy, and you’ve got to balance those risks,” Bullard told CNBC. Get the full story »
Fed hawks still skeptical about more easing
Two senior Federal Reserve officials raised concerns about further monetary easing on Thursday but only one — one of the Fed’s most consistent policy hawks — expressed firm opposition to a move.
Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig, who has dissented against the U.S. central bank’s extremely easy money policies at every meeting policy-setting meeting this year, was blunt in stating distaste for further Fed help. Get the full story »
Gold, metals give away some gains
Gold and metals prices sank Thursday, as investors worried that Japan’s central bank might soon take action to weaken the yen. Get the full story »
Poverty spikes in suburbs around Chicago
Battered by the downturn, suburbs around Chicago and other cities are bearing the brunt of poverty that has climbed to its highest level in almost a half century.
At 4.27%, 30-year mortgage rates lowest on record
A sign offering a lot for sale is planted next to a sold home under construction in Nebraska. Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a new low for the ninth time in 12 weeks. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
U.S. mortgages reached new record lows in the latest week as economic data raised the appeal of safe-haven government debt, according to a survey released on Thursday by Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. mortgage finance company.
While rock-bottom rates offer a glimmer of hope for a housing market struggling to find its footing in the aftermath of the expiration of a popular home buyer tax credits, their effect on home loan demand has been modest as a weak jobs market and flailing economy weigh on consumer confidence.
Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, the most widely used loan, averaged 4.27 percent for the week ended Oct. 7, down from the previous week’s 4.32 percent and the lowest on record, according to the survey Rates were also below their year-ago level of 4.87 percent. Freddie Mac started the survey in April 1971. Get the full story »
Euro tops $1.40 as dollar weakens
The euro broke above the $1.4000 level Thursday on electronic trading platform EBS as the dollar continued to weaken on concerns about additional U.S. quantitative easing.
The euro last traded up 0.5 percent, at $1.4012 after climbing to $1.4015 on EBS.
New jobless claims dip to July level
In a good sign for the job market, the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly fell last week to their lowest level since July 10.
Initial unemployment claims dropped 11,000, to 445,000, in the week ended Oct. 2, the Labor Department said in its weekly report Thursday. New claims for the previous week, ended Sept. 25, were revised upward slightly to 456,000 from 453,000. Get the full story »
Europe holds interest rates at 1%
The European Central Bank will face scrutiny on Thursday over its response to a growing global battle over currencies and a spike in market interest rates after it held interest rates at a record low 1.0 percent.
The rate decision came as no surprise as all 79 economists in a Reuters poll had predicted the ECB would leave rates on hold for the 17th month in a row. The median forecast is for no change until the fourth quarter of next year. Get the full story »
U.S.: Markets must be allowed to drive currencies
Failure by global institutions to make a coordinated push to persuade countries such as China to let their currencies’ value rise would endanger the global economy, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday. Get the full story »
Report: Recession hit midsize cities harder this time
U.S. cities suffered more harm to their fiscal condition in the latest recession than during any other economic decline in nearly a quarter of a century, a survey released by the National League of Cities on Wednesday found.
And cities are just beginning to see the effect of the downturn that began at the end of 2007 on property taxes, though the recession officially ended in June 2009. Property taxes, a key revenue generator for cities, fell 1.8 percent in 2010 from 2009, according to the survey. Get the full story »
Planned layoffs up slightly in private sector in Sept.
The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms rose slightly in September, though it was the second lowest level of the year, a report Wednesday said.
Employers announced 37,151 planned job cuts last month, up 7 percent from the 34,768 job cuts reported in August, according to the report from global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Get the full story »
Kohl’s latest to boost holiday hiring
Kohl’s Corp. is increasing its holiday hiring this season by 21 percent, another major retailer to boost its employee count this winter.
The department store chain said Wednesday it expects to hire more than 40,000 people this season, up from 33,000 last year. Get the full story »
