Economic News Articles in the Great Recession — Archive for the week of 03/11/2012

While the stock market rally slowly petered out, other signs of economic revival managed to hold on for another week. Inflation held fairly steady, except for gasoline prices, which escalated rapidly, due to the Iranium Reaction, which caused much talk among presidential candicates, including current U.S. president Barak Obama, about the president needing to move prices downward.

It is not as if there is a lot the president can do IF we’re going to continue to have a free-market economy … other than longterm changes in energy policy, which his administration has been working on from day one.

With oil prices rising quickly, Iran continued to be the predominant news.

Economic indicators seen in the news this week

• 03/13 Retail Sales in U.S. Rose in February by Most in Five Months Broad-based gains in the U.S. could indicate the world’s largest economy is picking up and may be a sign that an improving job market and more available credit are bolstering consumer spending. Cars last month sold at the fastest pace in four years.
• 03/13 Wall Street rallies in 2012’s best day, Citi falls late The Federal Reserve’s released results of its latest stress tests of banks. Most of the top banks did well, and their shares extended gains in trading after the closing bell.
• 03/14 Stock rally running out of steam U.S. stocks struggled for direction Wednesday, one day after a big rally, as investors focused on the banking sector, weighing the results of the Fed’s so-called stress tests.
• 03/14 US economy to gain traction, oil causes jitters Moody’s Analytics says of the economy, ” “I think we’re pretty close to off and running, assuming we don’t get unlucky or nailed by some unforeseen event.” (Decide for yourself if you believe it.)
• 03/15 Jobless Claims in U.S. Decrease, Matching Four-Year Low Applications for unemployment insurance payments fell by 14,000 to 351,000 in the week ended March 10. Claims reached the same level a month ago, the lowest since March 2008.
• 03/17 Gas prices up for 8th straight day  The national average price for a gallon of gasoline rose for the eighth straight day on Saturday to $3.835. That is now only about 7% below the record high.

Euro crisis updates as the Great Recession goes viral

•  03/12 Greece and Spain top agenda at Eurogroup meeting Earlier this month, Spain said it would miss a deficit target of 4.4% of GDP for 2012 agreed with Brussels. It now expects the deficit to be 5.8%. Spain is planning 30bn euros of spending cuts this year, at a time when the economy is contracting.
• 03/12 UK Mortgage scheme offers buyers help up the property ladder Governments it seems cannot stop themselves from basing their economies on housing construction. Nor can they stop themselves from making the taxpayer the lender of last resort with future bailouts in order to get banks to give out lo
• 03/12 Will Portugal Now Follow Greece Into Debt Relief? Bond markets seem to be preparing for Greek-style debt reduction in Portugal. Portugal’s 10-year bonds traded at a 47% discount to face value Friday. Almost every news story quotes a bond market participant proclaiming that the end is nigh.
• 03/14 Spain Has ‘Worse Problems Than Greece’ Spain’s eye-wateringly high unemployment and the collapse of its real estate market mean that Spain has significantly worse problems than Greece and could threaten the euro zone’s new-found, albeit fragile stability.

The Iranium Reaction as it makes and shakes the news

•  03/12 Israel to delay strike on Iran until after US elections? White House tells Sunday Times Obama pressed Netanyahu to postpone Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities until after the U.S. November elections. Obama has taken Israel’s warnings about a possible strike in Iran very seriously.
• 03/14 Dershowitz: Obama Could Be ‘Chamberlain of 21st Century’ Obama has shown he is friendly to Israel, but some of his chiefs haven’t. Panetta “has talked with mixed messages.” Dempsey “made the absurd statement that Iran should be considered … rational. Rational actors don’t slaughter 1000?s of their people.
• 03/14 NPR Commentary: The Debate Over Bombing Nuclear Facilities In Iran Is Israel bluffing about its eagerness to strike Iran just to intensify global sanctions? Is short-term destruction of nuclear plants sufficient for Israel, or is regime-change a more important goal? Bombing would cancel all hopes for regime change.
• 03/15 Obama: Iran’s window for diplomacy ‘shrinking’ “We’ll do everything to resolve this diplomatically, but we need somebody on other side of table,” says Obama. “Tehran must understand that it cannot escape or evade the choice before it. Meet your international obligations or face the consequences.”
• 03/15 US warns Iran: Accede or be attacked The United States asked Russia to send Iran a message that the upcoming round of nuclear talks is its last chance to avoid a military confrontation this year, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported Wednesday according to a diplomatic source.
• 03/16 Oil climbs on Iran tensions, dollar slips Oil prices rose more than 2 percent on Friday on support from the continuing tensions over Iran’s disputed nuclear program and the potential for supply disruptions in the region.
• 03/16 Saudi oil sales to U.S. jump; Iran response or just business? Saudi Arabia is preparing to extend this year’s unexpected jump in oil sales to the United States, adding to speculation about the response of the world’s top oil exporter to sanctions against Iran. Shipments have quietly risen 25%.

U.S. banking / financial crisis as it shapes the economic news of our times

•  03/13 Four US banks fail Federal Reserve stress test Citi, SunTrust, Ally Financial and MetLife failed to show they can survive. The Fed’s test was tougher than previous years because it wants to be sure US banks will be fit enough to meet new banking rules, known as Basel III, which come into force in 2014.
• 03/14 Five Mortgage Relief Programs That Fell Short The government’s five mortgage relief programs set out to help 13.4 million homeowners. They actually helped only 1.9 million. Some housing experts predict the settlement of the mortgage fraud case also may not have the impact government officials expect.
• 03/14 Foreclosure Sales About to Flood Market Foreclosures and other distressed properties account for over a third of all home sales, and data released today suggests that figure may soon grow even bigger. Lenders in January took back 29% more distressed properties than in the previous month.

U.S. government moves (and blunders) in articles about the economy

•  03/12 AIG shouldn’t get tax breaks say congressional ex-watchdogs A special benefit to being a major failure in America today is enormous tax breaks that continue for years to come. GM, Citigroup, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also suck the blood of taxpayers from this government gift.

Other economic updates / miscellaneous economic news articles

• 03/13 Most Americans back ‘Buffett tax’ Nearly two-thirds of Americans support imposing a minimum tax rate of 30 per cent on those who earn $1 million or more a year.
• 03/14 Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs Departing London executive director says, “The environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it…. It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off…. Directors refer to their own clients as ‘muppets.’”
• 03/15 Public Rebuke of Culture at Goldman Opens Huge Debate The resignation letter / editorial by one of Goldman Sach’s V.P.’s landed “like a bomb,” inside Goldman. It also reignited a debate throughout the Internet and on cable television over whether Wall Street was corrupted by greed and excess.

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March 19, 2012 @ 10:41 am

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