Foreign central banks’ overall holdings of marketable securities at the Federal Reserve fell in the latest week, data from the U.S. central bank showed on Thursday. Get the full story »
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Democrats mull alternative to Obama tax plan
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are considering a counterproposal to the one drafted by President Barack Obama and Republicans to extend all Bush-era tax cuts, Democratic Representative Adam Schiff said on Thursday. Get the full story »
Dec. 8, 2010 at 5:29 p.m.
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Filed under: Credit Cards, Policy, Politics, Privacy issues, Updated WikiLeaks backers attack MasterCard, Visa sites
Credit card giants MasterCard and Visa came under intense cyber attack Wednesday as supporters of WikiLeaks retaliated for moves against Julian Assange after the release of U.S. diplomatic cables that angered and embarrassed Washington.
The Swedish prosecution authority, whose arrest order for Assange over accusations of sexual offenses led a British court to remand the 39-year-old WikiLeaks website founder in custody, also said it had reported an online attack to police. Get the full story »
Americans say China’s economy is No. 1
Only one in five Americans believe that the U.S. has the world’s strongest economy, while 47 percent believe that China deserves that honor, according to a new poll released Wednesday by Northbrook-based Allstate Corp. and the National Journal.
It’s the first time that the Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll has posed the question.
The survey also found that 67 percent of Americans believe that their financial situation will get worse or remain the same in 2011, rather than improve. Get the full story »
AIG, Treasury plan large stock sale
The government's bailout of AIG during the financial crisis caused controversy, but an offering of AIG stock could come as early as March. Here, workers protest outside of AIG's Chicago offices in 2009. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
The U.S. Treasury could cut its stake in bailed-out insurer American International Group by as much as 20 percentage points through a large stock offering in the first half of 2011, sources familiar with the matter said.
AIG and the Treasury would both sell stock in the offering, which could total more than $10 billion, according to the sources.
The government has seen strong market appetite for stock in bailed-out companies in the past few months, allowing it to be more aggressive in winding down its unpopular rescue of financial firms and other businesses. Get the full story »
Google nips Microsoft as govt. moves to the cloud
Google won a share of a federal government contract last week that the company hopes will give it a boost over rival Microsoft as they race to convert government agencies to cloud computing. Get the full story »
DeVry says fall student starts drop at some colleges
For-profit education provider DeVry Inc. said fall 2010 new student enrollment declined at some of its colleges, hurt by lower demand. DeVry, along with other for-profit education companies, has been under fire from regulators and the Obama administration for saddling students with big debts and not fully preparing them for jobs. Get the full story »
Survey: U.S. to see 3 percent growth in 2011
U.S. economic growth and inflation is expected to pick up a bit next year, while the jobless situation will improve slightly, according to a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Get the full story »
Treasury to publicly offer 2.4 billion Citi shares
The Treasury said on Monday it is commencing an underwritten public offering of its remaining 2.4 billion shares of Citigroup common stock. Get the full story »
Illinois passes pension fix for cities
From Bloomberg News | The Illinois General Assembly recessed until early January without acting on a $3.7 billion bond proposal to make payments into state employee pension funds, saying it didn’t have enough votes to pass the bond plan.
Fed’s Bernanke did not rule out more bond buys
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke did not rule out further purchases of Treasury bonds beyond the $600 billion program announced last month, CBS television reported Bernanke as saying in an interview on the show “60 Minutes”. Get the full story »
U.S.-South Korea trade pact nears with tariff deal
South Korea has agreed to give the United States five years to phase out a 2.5 percent tariff on Korean-built cars, rather than cut the tariff immediately, clearing the way for a deal on a stalled U.S.-South Korea trade pact, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
BP challenges U.S. estimates of oil spill rate
BP is mounting a new challenge to U.S. government estimates of how much oil flowed from the runaway well deep below the Gulf of Mexico. The issue will be critical in determining the size of federal pollution fines the company will pay.
House passes symbolic tax-cut renewal
The House of Representatives on Thursday voted to extend Bush-era tax cuts on individual income up to $200,000 a year and $250,000 for families, letting extra cuts for the wealthiest to expire. Get the full story »
