financial crisis

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Soaring Jobless Claims Leave Stocks Flat

 Soaring Jobless Claims 
 Leave Stocks Flat 
MARKET Open
Nov 13, 2008 8:55 AM CST

Soaring Jobless Claims Leave Stocks Flat

Jobless claims reach 7-year high

(Newser) - Jobless claims rose to a 7-year high last week, but that didn’t appear to move the needle for stocks, which barely budged at today's open. The Dow crept up 66 points, while the S&P and Nasdaq rose 0.9% and 0.4% respectively. A staggering 32,000 filed...

Bailout Oversight: 'It's a Mess'
Bailout Oversight:
'It's a Mess'
Nov 13, 2008 8:34 AM CST

Bailout Oversight: 'It's a Mess'

$700B plan operates without watchdog as lawmakers spat

(Newser) - More than one-third of the $700 billion bailout package has been committed, but the program is operating without any government oversight, reports the Washington Post. The provisions intended to monitor the disbursement for corruption and waste are being overlooked, and no one has been nominated to the newly created post...

$148M Loss Bites Into Crocs
 $148M Loss Bites Into Crocs 

Nov 13, 2008 3:02 AM CST

$148M Loss Bites Into Crocs

Demand for colorful clogs tanks

(Newser) - Crocs, the maker of hugely popular colorful plastic clogs, suffered a $148 million third quarter loss on a 32% drop in demand in Europe and the US. The Colorado-based company has shuttered a factory in Canada, will close another in Brazil next month, and has amassed extensive unsold inventory, reports...

Winter Oil Heating Costs to Fall
 Winter Oil Heating
Costs to Fall
Nov 13, 2008 1:51 AM CST

Winter Oil Heating Costs to Fall

Demand and energy prices continue to fall

(Newser) - The cost of heating an American home with oil this winter will fall 13%, according to government price forecasts released yesterday. The average heating bill for a typical winter for oil customers will be just under $1,700, reports USA Today. But those who use natural gas for heating—who...

Sun Is Setting on Once-Golden Calif.
 Sun Is Setting on 
 Once-Golden Calif. 
ANALYSIS
Nov 12, 2008 7:54 PM CST

Sun Is Setting on Once-Golden Calif.

State's progressive approach, and status as beacon for rest of US, falls prey to politics

(Newser) - California may have once been the land of literal and figurative gold, but recent policies have placed it in an unenviable position, Joel Kotkin writes for the American. The state people once flocked to is now hemorrhaging citizens, he writes, and a myopic focus on environmental issues, and the death...

Startups Seek Ways Around Venture Capital

Twitter, others explore other revenue streams to avoid investors' raised demands

(Newser) - While Wall Street investors have taken advantage of the tanking economy to nab low-priced stocks, Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists have likewise enjoyed a buyer’s market, demanding larger ownership stakes in startup outfits in exchange for their coveted funds. Companies like Twitter—initially funded with $22 million in venture...

To Avoid Recession, Cheer Up: Aussie Pol

Finance minister pushes power of the positive

(Newser) - Australia's finance minister apparently didn't see what happened to Phil Gramm  last summer when he declared that the US economic slowdown was "mental" and called Americans a "nation of whiners."  The recession would disappear, said Ken Henry, if Australians would  just buck up, Australia’s News...

Bailout? Detroit Needs a Brain
 Bailout? Detroit 
 Needs a Brain 
OPINION
Nov 12, 2008 10:28 AM CST

Bailout? Detroit Needs a Brain

US auto industry needs to re-learn how to innovate; Mich. lawmakers not immune, either

(Newser) - The appalling prospect of a $25 billion bailout for Detroit automakers—“ an industry that became brain dead”—has Thomas Friedman, writing in the New York Times, outraged. He blasts “a very un-innovative business culture, visionless management, and overly generous labor contracts” for the mess, and heaps blame...

Consumers Not Buying... Um, Anything
 Consumers 
 Not Buying... 
 Um, Anything 
ANALYSIS
Nov 12, 2008 10:16 AM CST

Consumers Not Buying... Um, Anything

Worried Americans scaling back spending, saving more—bad news for retailers

(Newser) - The US consumer has “gone from being the world economy’s greatest strength to its Achilles’ heel,” writes David Leonhardt in the New York Times. Just as Wall Street’s turmoil begins to calm, consumer spending—an economic mainstay—has gone into hiding, helping to accelerate General Motors’...

Treasury May Require Matching Funds for Bailouts

Setting matching funds as a prerequisite for rescue cash puts investors back in the picture

(Newser) - Companies that take part in the second phase of the Treasury Department’s bailout plan could be required to raise private capital to match federal funds, reports the Wall Street Journal. The first phase of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which has been buying up stakes in banks, has no...

Struggling AmEx Asks Feds for $3.5B Infusion

Credit card company is reeling as consumers cut back spending

(Newser) - Falling consumer spending and rising defaults have prompted American Express—which has seen its stock plunge 57% this year—to ask for $3.5 billion from the government’s $700 billion bailout fund, reports the Wall Street Journal. The company Monday received Federal Reserve approval to become a bank holding...

Goldman Urged Clients to Bet Against Bonds It Sold for Calif.

Could have cost taxpayers millions

(Newser) - Goldman Sachs charged the state of California millions of dollars to handle a bond issue, then told big clients to bet against those bonds, a move that could have cost taxpayers millions, according to a confidential report the company sent out in September. While the advice isn’t illegal, it’...

Ad Vets Sit Out Super Bowl in Tough Year

Amid layoffs, some worry pricey publicity could backfire

(Newser) - The recession has loyal Super Bowl advertisers hesitating to buy spots, worried the $6 million-a-minute publicity could backfire. FedEx is concerned it looks “wrong” to drop the dollars while “asking employees to do more with less,” the Wall Street Journal reports. NBC sold most ad spots by...

US Pushes Banks for More Lending, Less Spending

Officials drafting guidelines to encourage banks to loan their bailout cash

(Newser) - Officials from several US banking regulators are finalizing guidelines for financial firms that will encourage them to lend more and curb executive pay, the Washington Post reports. The Treasury is taking $250 billion in equity stakes in various financial firms, but critics complain the firms are passing the taxpayer money...

Even Harvard, With $37B in Bank, Is Tightening Belt

President warns of budgetary reshuffling

(Newser) - Even its $36.9 billion endowment (as of June, that is) won't protect Harvard, the nation's richest university, from feeling the effects of the financial crisis, its president said yesterday. Drew Faust said cost savings would be in order, though specific plans aren’t settled, the Harvard Crimson reports. One...

UPS, FedEx Jump to Fill DHL's Holes

Big Brown targets customers with ad buy, in talks to add DHL load

(Newser) - After DHL announced yesterday it was vacating the US express-mail market, UPS and FedEx ratcheted up efforts to snare as many of the Belgium-based company’s customers as possible, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. DHL handles 1.1 million shipments per day, 5% of the express and ground market in which...

Fannie, Freddie to Offer Mass Loan Modifications

Housing giants aim to reduce foreclosures

(Newser) - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will roll out a plan today to modify hundreds of thousands of loans in an effort to prevent foreclosures, the Wall Street Journal reports. The mortgage giants, under federal conservatorship, aim to reduce mortgage payments to no more than 38% of household income. Private banks...

Movie, Munchie Sales Shrivel
 Movie, Munchie Sales Shrivel 
Nov 11, 2008 10:19 AM CST

Movie, Munchie Sales Shrivel

Cash-strapped moviegoers forego snacks, according to latest sales stats

(Newser) - Some Americans seeking a break from economic news may be sitting in the dark in movie theaters—but they're apparently not eating their Raisinets. That's the news from two cinema companies reporting a major munchie drop off. Conventional wisdom holds that people can always afford a movie. Not so. Admission...

Feds Under Pressure to Broaden Bailout

Treasury already needs to ask Congress for next $350B installment

(Newser) - With nearly half of the $700 billion bailout committed, a growing array of distressed companies is lobbying the government, the Wall Street Journal reports, increasing the likelihood the Treasury will ask Congress for the rest of the bailout cash soon. But varied interests among legislators and emerging unemployment risks could...

Citi to Aid Homeowners by Modifying $20B in Mortgages

The bank will amend mortgages to assist 130,000 borrowers

(Newser) - Citigroup will modify up to $20 billion in mortgages for borrowers current on their payments but at risk of falling behind, the bank announced this morning, mirroring similar moves by Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. Citi will reach out to half a million borrowers, ultimately reducing monthly payments for...

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