Chicago-based Hart Davis Hart reported its yearly wine auction sales totaled $39.2 million, a 63 percent increase over 2009. Get the full story »
Filed under: Economy
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Source: Hedge funds may skirt direct Fed scrutiny
The Federal Reserve does not believe any one hedge fund can topple the financial system and therefore the private pools of capital may escape direct supervision by the central bank, an industry source familiar with the Fed’s position said. Get the full story »
‘Austerity’ is top-searched word in a rocky year
It provoked protests in European capitals from Athens to Brussels, hurt sales of Heineken beer and stole the spotlight at a June G20 summit in Canada. “Austerity” is now Merriam-Webster’s top word of 2010.
“Austerity,” which the Springfield, Massachusetts-based publisher defines as “enforced or extreme economy,” spiked to the top of the company’s top ten list based on the number of searches at its website, www.merriam-webster.com.
Coupled with No. 2 “pragmatic,” the list reflects a year when searchers were still worried about a rocky world economy, said Peter Sokolowski, the dictionary’s editor at large. Get the full story »
Obama signs bill extending Bush tax cuts
President Barack Obama signed into law a huge, holiday-season tax bill extending cuts for all Americans on Friday, saluting a new spirit of political compromise as Republicans applauded and liberals seethed. The benefits range from tax cuts for millionaires and the middle class to longer help for the jobless. Get the full story »
Dec. 17, 2010 at 10:39 a.m.
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Filed under: Economy, Housing, Jobs/employment, Manufacturing, Markets Leading indicators show strength heading into ‘11
A gauge of future economic activity rose in November, at the fastest pace since March, suggesting the economy will strengthen early next year.
The Conference Board said its index of leading economic indicators rose 1.1 percent last month — the biggest increase since March, when the index jumped 1.4 percent. Get the full story »
Dow within reach of new record in 2011
Could the Dow set a record high next year? That question would have seemed crazy early last year when fear and panic enveloped the stock market and the Dow Jones industrial average plunged to 6,547 on March 9. Many investors thought it would take a decade or longer to get back to the record of 14,165, set on Oct. 9, 2007.
Now we could be on the verge. The Dow has soared 76 percent the past 21 months, and it would have to climb just 23 percent from Thursday’s close of 11,499 to set a record.
That’s a big jump, but the Dow has risen 23 percent or more six times since 1985, or roughly 1 in 4 years. Many analysts don’t expect quite that strong a run in 2011, but they agree conditions are in place for the rally to continue. Get the full story »
Factory orders grow for fifth straight month
U.S. factory output grew for the fifth straight month in November, adding to evidence that manufacturing remains an engine of growth.
The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that output by the nation’s factories, utilities and mines increased 0.4 percent last month, after falling 0.2 percent in October. Get the full story »
Credit-card delinquencies fall in November
Credit-card delinquency rates fell at major U.S. lenders in November as fewer consumers fell behind on their bill payments, signaling that they are recovering from the stress of the financial crisis.
But consumers are also avoiding racking up more debt on their credit cards, even during the holiday shopping season, in a sign that lenders will be struggling to rebuild their businesses for some time. Get the full story »
U.S. consumer prices rise mildly in November
U.S. consumer prices rose slightly less than in November, while prices excluding food and energy edged up for the first time since July, according to a report on Wednesday that implied virtually no inflation pressures amid an anemic recovery. Get the full story »
Extra inflation hawk to have a Fed vote next year
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will likely face more pressure from some of his own colleagues next year to scale back the Fed’s $600 billion bond-buying program to rev up the economy.
Two regional Fed bank presidents known to be especially vigilant about the risk of price increases will become voting members of the Fed’s main policymaking group, the Federal Open Market Committee. Get the full story »
Analysis pegs U.S. debt service at $800B by 2020
Interest payments on the U.S. debt could balloon to $800 billion a year, or 3.4 percent of the economy, by 2020 under current spending and tax laws, a congressional budget analysis released Tuesday said.
The report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said that U.S. debt held by investors, which stands at $9.3 trillion, will exceed $16 trillion by the end of the decade under current law. Rising interest rates means federal spending to service the debt will increase to at least $800 billion by the end of the decade from $197 billion, about 1.4 percent of gross domestic product, in 2010. Get the full story »
Consumer confidence improves, still weak
U.S. consumer confidence improved in the latest week, according to an ABC News index, as economic pessimism fell to its lowest point in six years.
The overall consumer-comfort index reading was -43 on its scale of -100 to +100, improved from the -45 it had been at for the prior two weeks. The average for the year is -46, while the worst-ever reading was last year’s -48. Get the full story »
Fed stands pat on bond repurchase plans
The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Tuesday the economic recovery was still too slow to bring down unemployment, reaffirming its commitment to purchase $600 billion in bonds to stimulate growth and create jobs.
In a statement that contained remarkably little acknowledgment of a recent uptick in the economic data, the Fed characterized the U.S. expansion as “continuing,” a modest upgrade from its November description of the recovery as “slow.” Get the full story »
Germany signs on to EU capitalization plan
European Union paymaster Germany said on Tuesday that it would support giving the European Central Bank more capital to help fight a sovereign debt crisis that continues to shake the euro zone.
ECB sources told Reuters the bank’s governing council would consider at a meeting on Wednesday and Thursday whether to seek a capital increase from euro zone members to cover the risk of losses on government bonds it has bought to support the 16-nation single currency area. Get the full story »
