Nov. 5, 2010 at 5:36 p.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Policy,
Politics
By Reuters
Government-controlled mortgage buyer Fannie Mae is asking for $2.5 billion in additional federal aid after posting a narrower loss in the third quarter.
Fannie Mae also said Friday it was likely that the market disarray and suspension of foreclosures due to big lenders’ problems with flawed documents will have a negative impact on the delinquency rates of its loans, its expenses and foreclosure timelines. However, the company said, “we cannot yet predict the extent of its impact.” Get the full story »
Nov. 5, 2010 at 4:06 p.m.
Filed under:
Policy,
Politics
From The Bond Buyer | The city of Chicago is postponing next week’s $804 million bond sale, hoping to secure better interest rates. Chicago’s credit ranking has been cut by Fitch Ratings twice in less than three months. “We are trying to minimize the perceived Illinois penalty by showing investors that the city’s exposure to state payment delays is limited and that we don’t have the same risk as some other borrowers because of Chicago’s home-rule status,” said city chief financial officer Gene Saffold. “The state collects our share of income taxes and sales taxes but it is pretty well caught up.”
Nov. 3, 2010 at 5:23 p.m.
Filed under:
Exchanges,
Policy,
Regulations
By Reuters
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler says he’s so close to his counterpart at the Securities and Exchange Commmision that SEC Chief Mary Schapiro gave him a treat a couple weeks back.
“Mary and I talk often,” he told a crowd at the Futures Industry Association’s annual meeting in Chicago. “It was my birthday a few weeks ago. She made me cupcakes. They were good cupcakes too, and they were homemade!”
Schapiro and Gensler have taken great pains to publicly show they are working together instead of feuding over turf, as their agencies historically often did. Get the full story »
Nov. 3, 2010 at 10:17 a.m.
Filed under:
Earnings,
Housing,
Policy,
Politics,
Real estate
By Associated Press
Government-controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac on Wednesday posted a narrower loss of $4.1 billon in the third quarter as it asked for an additional $100 million in federal aid — substantially less than the $1.8 billion it sought in the second quarter.
Nov. 2, 2010 at 5:32 p.m.
Filed under:
Food,
Policy,
Politics
By Tribune newspapers
San Francisco’s board of supervisors has voted, by a veto-proof margin, to ban most of McDonald’s Happy Meals as they are now served in the restaurants.
The measure will make San Francisco the first major city in the country to forbid restaurants from offering a free toy with meals that contain more than set levels of calories, sugar and fat. Get the full story »
Nov. 2, 2010 at 11:08 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Policy,
Politics
By Reuters
The U.S. Federal Reserve opens a two-day meeting on Tuesday that is expected to conclude with a decision to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy to stir the tepid recovery out of its doldrums. Get the full story »
Nov. 2, 2010 at 11:00 a.m.
Filed under:
International,
Policy,
Politics,
Trade
By Reuters
America’s transport watchdog vowed on Tuesday not to slow global trade by piling security measures onto the aviation industry in response to terror threats as air lobby group IATA warned against rash action. Get the full story »
Nov. 1, 2010 at 3:33 p.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Policy,
Politics,
Small business
By Reuters
Small U.S. businesses stepped up borrowing in September, data released by PayNet Inc on Monday showed, suggesting the recovery is gaining steam even before the Federal Reserve Bank embarks on an expected new round of monetary stimulus.
The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, which measures the overall volume of financing to U.S. small businesses, rose 16 percent in September from a year earlier, PayNet said. The index rose 15 percent in August, and is now at the highest level in almost two years. Get the full story »
Oct. 29, 2010 at 8:22 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Policy,
Politics
By Don Lee | The U.S. economy continued to plod along at sluggish pace in the third quarter, not enough to generate momentum or bring down the nation’s high jobless rate. The nation’s gross domestic product, or the value of all goods and services produced inside U.S. borders, grew at an annualized rate of 2 percent in the July-to-September quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday.
Oct. 29, 2010 at 7:36 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Jobs/employment,
Layoffs,
Policy
By Associated Press
Employment costs posted another modest gain in the July-to-September quarter, with compensation for state and local government employees turning in the weakest performance in nearly three decades.
Oct. 29, 2010 at 7:33 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Policy,
Politics
By Reuters
NYU economics professor Nouriel Roubini. (Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)
The U.S. economy is a “fiscal train wreck” waiting to happen that risks ushering in a period of stagnation featuring minimal growth, high unemployment and deflationary pressure, U.S. economist Nouriel Roubini wrote on Friday.
In a commentary for the Financial Times, Roubini — one of the first economists to predict the housing crash in the United States and known as ‘Dr Doom’ for his pessimistic forecasts — said fiscal and monetary stimulus had prevented another depression.
But he said that further quantitative easing likely to be announced by the Federal Reserve next Wednesday will have little effect on U.S. growth in 2011, “so fiscal policy should be doing some of the lifting to prevent a double dip recession,” he said. Get the full story »
Oct. 29, 2010 at 6:28 a.m.
Filed under:
Consumer news,
Policy,
Politics
By Reuters
The financial industry continues trying to thwart the Obama administration’s effort to set up an effective consumer protection agency, though one is needed now more than ever, new consumer czar Elizabeth Warren charged on Thursday.
“We fought hard to get here, and those who tried to block the agency’s creation have already said that they will be back,” Warren said in remarks prepared for delivery at the University of California in Berkeley,
“Every day, they spend money to find a way to cut back the agency’s power — even before its work has begun,” she added. A text of her remarks was issued in advance in Washington. Get the full story »
Oct. 29, 2010 at 5:36 a.m.
Filed under:
Health care,
Pharmaceuticals,
Policy
By Reuters
Vivus Inc.’s weight-loss drug candidate Qnexa failed to win over U.S. health regulators, who declined to approve the diet pill, asking for evidence related to heart risk and other information.
The Food and Drug Administration told Vivus on Thursday that its new drug application for Qnexa could not approved in its present form. Get the full story »
Oct. 28, 2010 at 3:10 p.m.
Filed under:
Investing,
Policy
By Kathy Bergen
Less than two weeks before Chicago plans to sell $804.3 million in bonds, Fitch Ratings downgraded the city’s bond rating for the second time in less than three months.
Fitch cited the city’s continued use of long-term financial reserves and other non-recurring revenues to patch budget deficits, its large and increasing unfunded pension liability and the high unemployment and foreclosure rates locally.
“The downgrade reflects the city’s weakened financial flexibility,” Fitch stated in the report it issued this afternoon. Get the full story »
Oct. 28, 2010 at 1:59 p.m.
Filed under:
Policy,
Politics
By Reuters
A sign at a Tea Party rally in September. (Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)
The popularity of Tea Party candidates in U.S. elections could spell renewed efforts to curtail the power and independence of the Federal Reserve, which has been cast as an emblem of big government overreach.
Outsider candidates thriving on the right flank of the Republican Party have tapped anger at bank bailouts, soaring budget deficits and President Barack Obama’s health care and regulatory initiatives to topple establishment GOP politicians in elections around the country.
Tea Party members have lambasted the Fed for its unprecedented and aggressive steps to bolster the economy in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, saying the moves have exposed a lack of accountability at the Fed and raise the risk of damaging inflation down the road. Get the full story »
