Economic News Articles in the Great Recession – Archive for Week of 01-22-2012
It was a big news week with jobless claims following my predictions for the first part of the new year and rising due to layoff of seasonal jobs. Those trying to resolve the euro crisis continued to find no traction for their efforts. The Federal Reserve hinted at a possible third round of quantitative easing, and the situation in Iran, which could have a major economic impact for everyone continued to heat up as anticipated.
Economic indicators tracked in the headlines
- Central banks buy gold, not dollars Central bank gold purchases are expected to have hit another record in 2011, driven mainly by purchases from emerging economies that are seeking alternative investments to the U.S. dollar. Many of these purchases happened during Q3 and Q4.
- Global bosses are gloomy about the economic future Nearly half of bosses interviewed by PricewaterhouseCoopers are forecasting that the global economy will decline this year. “The optimism that had been building cautiously since 2008 has begun to recede.†Just a quarter expect their firms to do better.
- Jobless Claims in U.S. Rise, Displaying Seasonal Volatility Claims for U.S. jobless benefits rose last week, displaying the usual volatility around holidays. Applications for unemployment insurance payments climbed back up to 377,000
Euro crisis updates in the economic news this week
- Europe’s four big dilemmas Like the US and UK, Europe faces an enormous overhang of accumulated government and private-sector debt, much of which is now not repayable. So the question is, how much gets written off, and who picks up the tab?
- FITCH GOES ON RAMPAGE: Cuts Spain, Italy, Belgium and Slovenia In Fitch’s opinion, the eurozone crisis will only be resolved when by broad economic recovery. Further, substantial reforms of eurozone government will be required, and such structural reforms are difficult to achieve politically and take time.
- Germany, France press for rapid Greek debt deal Greece and its private creditors are converging on a deal in which private bondholders would take a real loss of 65 to 70 percent on their Greek bonds, officials close to the negotiations say.
- Greece’s debt talks threatened by rising pressure Chief Negotiators for Greece’s creditors left Athens without a deal when asked to accept bigger losses. Greece’s Finance Minister told Parliament the debt plan would have to be in place Monday to give lenders time to draw up another bailout.
- IMF: Global economy ‘in danger zone’ over euro crisis The world’s economy is “deeply into the danger zone†because of risks from the eurozone, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.
- Screws tighten on Spain as recession looms Madrid’s struggle to fix its finances and chronic unemployment entered a worrying new phase. Spain’s mandatory deficit target is looking tougher to meet by the day. Nearly half of all Spaniards under 25 years old are unemployed.
The Federal Reserve’s actions in the economic headlines
- Bernanke says Fed pondering further stimulus Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the central bank was ready to offer the economy additional stimulus and repeated his view that the economy faces “significant downside risks†and “very, very slow†changes in unemployment.
- Fed’s Latest Easing Could Cost $1 Trillion: Economists The Federal Reserve is likely to step in with $1 trillion worth of easing that could be announced as soon as this month, according to a growing consensus of economists who see the recent uptick in economic growth as unsustainable.
Housing economic crisis articles
- Fannie, Freddie writedowns too costly: regulator The regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac told lawmakers that forcing the government-controlled mortgage firms to write down the principal on underwater home loans would require more than $100 billion in fresh taxpayer funds.
- buy cheap ambien online decreased 2.2%. The market remains constrained by high unemployment, falling prices and oversupply.” href=”http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2012/01/26/new-home-sales-fall-for-first-time-since-august/#ixzz1kaADVB1W” target=”_blank”>New Home Sales Fall for First Time Since August New single-family home sales unexpectedly fell in December … and the median home price dropped, dampening hopes that housing will boost the economy. Sales decreased 2.2%. The market remains constrained by high unemployment, falling prices and oversupply.
The Iranium Reaction as it relates to economic news
- Britain, US and France send warships through Strait of Hormuz Britain, America & France defied Iran, sending six warships led by a 100,000 ton aircraft carrier through the highly sensitive waters of the Strait of Hormuz. European Union foreign ministers are today expected to announce an embargo on Iranian oil.
- Iran moving closer to stage where it will be too late to destroy nuclear facilities, Israel warnsReviving Western concern that his government is contemplating unilateral military action against Iran, Ehud Barak said, “The Iranians are deliberately drifting into what we call an immunity zone where practically no surgical operation could block them.â€
- Iranian regime ‘frightens me,’ Canadian PM says. “In my judgment, these are people who have a fanatically religious worldview, and their statements imply no hesitation of using nuclear weapons if they see them achieving their religious or political purposes.â€
- US miffed as Israel hints at unilateral strike on Iran nuclear sites Ehud Barak is said to have told general Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, that Israel will give the US no more than 12 hours notice before it ventures to demolish Iran’s nuclear installations.
- US posts elite commandos near Iran Wired magazine says Washington has stationed a special team of highly trained commandos near Iran’s border for possible sabotage operations. “The primary, day-to-day mission of the team…is to mentor military units belonging to the US oil-rich Arab allies…
Articles of Justice during the Great Recession
- Stanford Told Investors ‘Lie After Lie,’ Prosecutor Says It was bait and switch. He told depositors that their money was in safe, conservative, highly liquid investments. In fact, billions of dollars were diverted to various personal businesses and investments that he himself owned.
U.S. banking / financial crisis in this week’s economic news
- Bankers will fight each other for their bonuses More than 100 bankers claim Commerzbank AG broke a pledge to set aside about $516 million for bonuses. The suit is the largest in the U.K. over bonus cuts resulting from the financial crisis following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
- Time for Goldman Sachs shareholders to get real on bonuses Goldmanites are still on course to grab a very fine slice of this year’s cake – even though the cake is looking a lot smaller than usual.
U.S. government moves and blunders in this week’s economic news
- Obama Pushes for New Taxes, More Spending in State of the Union “It’s time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts…. We will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad debt, and phony financial profits.â€
Other economic updates / headlines
- Davos elites to seek reforms of ‘outdated’ capitalism “We have a … morality gap, we are over-leveraged, we have neglected to invest …, we have undermined social coherence, and we are in danger of completely losing the confidence of future generations,†said Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum
- George Soros: Collapsing US Economy to Spark Street Violence As the U.S. economy worsens, protests such as those carried out by the Occupy Wall Street movement will turn ugly, breaking down into waves of violent unrest across the nation, says billionaire financier George Soros.
- Report: Taxpayers still owed $133B from bailout But do the number even add up, for most of the loans were paid with more recent loans.
- Trust in government has ‘suffered a severe breakdown’Governments are blamed for the financial and political chaos of 2011, public trust in government has suffered a severe breakdown across the world, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer. Trust in business also fell.
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February 6, 2012 @ 8:56 am
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