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The dollar jumped against major currencies Monday as markets expect the Federal Reserve to restart economic stimulus programs.
The central bank will likely leave its federal funds rate near zero at its meeting Tuesday, but could sound plans to resume purchasing mortgage-backed securities or buying Treasury bonds. The central bank’s programs ended earlier this year when it appeared the recovery was proceeding well. Get the full story »
There is a “significant” chance the U.S. economy will slip back into recession in the next two years though a reversal is unlikely in the next few months, researchers at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank said Monday.
The probability of another recession over the next 18 to 24 months is higher than that of expansion, researchers said in the latest issue of the regional Fed bank’s Economic Letter. Get the full story »
The employment picture in the U.S. remained bleak last month as the nation’s payrolls fell for a second straight month, with private-sector businesses adding a disappointingly scant number of new jobs. The jobless rate held steady at 9.5 percent in July, the government said Friday. Get the full story »
Fitch Ratings reduced its rating on city bonds Thursday, citing Chicago’s rapid use of one-time reserves to balance past operating budgets, its underfunding of pension obligations and its steep declines in tax revenue.
Fitch cut its rating on $6.8 billion in outstanding general obligation bonds by one notch, from AA+ to AA, which is the third rung from the top (and still considered high quality.) But the agency also issued a negative outlook, and warned that further downgrades were possible if the city doesn’t balance its operating budget and address its retiree benefit costs — or if the local economy gets worse. Get the full story »
President Barack Obama today told workers at a South Side Ford plant that his bailout push helped save an “industry on the brink.” More » Get the full story »
U.S. mortgage rates fell in the past week to the latest in a series of record lows amid concerns about the state of the economy, according to a survey released on Thursday by Freddie Mac.
Rock-bottom rates offer a glimmer of hope for a housing market struggling to gain traction since the recent expiration of popular home-buyer tax credits.
Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, the most widely used loan, averaged 4.49 percent for the week to Aug. 5, down from 4.54 percent a week earlier and 5.22 percent a year ago, according to the survey. Get the full story »
Mayor Richard Daley sounded like a politician who’s going to run for re-election as he delivered his annual State of the City speech, said several aldermen who heard it today. Throughout the 40-minute talk, Daley touched on future improvements he thinks are important for Chicago’s success in areas of job growth and education.
President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies in the Senate earned a long-sought win Wednesday as a $26 billion measure to help states and local school boards with their severe budget problems cleared a GOP filibuster.
The bill advanced by a 61-38 tally that ensures the measure will pass the Senate on Wednesday or Thursday. It would then return to the House for a final vote that would deliver it to Obama for his signature.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is expected Wednesday to back the idea of letting tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans lapse as a step toward getting the nation’s fiscal house in order.
“Borrowing to finance tax cuts for the top 2 percent would be a $700 billion fiscal mistake,“ Geithner is expected to say, according to released excerpts of his prepared remarks before the Center for American Progress in Washington. “It’s not the prescription the economy needs right now, and the country can’t afford it.“ Get the full story »
U.S. auto sales ticked higher in July in an uneven recovery that left Toyota Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. sputtering with declines from strong year-earlier results.
By contrast, the two U.S. automakers run through government-funded bankruptcies last summer, General Motors Co. and Chrysler, posted sales gains of 5 percent each.
Ford Motor Co. only kept pace with a 5 percent gain excluding results for its now-sold Volvo brand, disappointing investors who had hoped for an outsized gain for the only U.S. automaker to have avoided a bailout. Get the full story »
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday said the unemployment rate could rise for a couple of months before it goes down. “It’s possible you’re going to have a couple of months where it goes up,” he said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” show. “But what we expect to see … is an economy that’s gradually healing, of course we want to do what we can to reinforce that process.” Get the full story »
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday promised not to swamp Wall Street with red tape and vowed to move quickly to put in place new rules for the financial marketplace to dispel uncertainty. Get the full story »
The manufacturing sector grew in July for the 12th straight month, providing a boost to the slowing economic recovery. The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its manufacturing index slipped to 55.5 in July from 56.2 in June. That marked the third straight month of declines. Still, a reading above 50 indicates growth and the index has been above that level for the past year.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says he thinks the economy is having a modest recovery, but right now there’s a “pause” in that recovery, so it feels like a “quasi-recession.”
Greenspan says long-term unemployment is pulling the economy apart even though large banks are doing much better and large companies are in excellent shape. Greenspan predicts that unemployment will remain where it is, hovering around 9.5 percent, for the rest of the year.
U.S. economic growth slowed in the second quarter as companies invested heavily in equipment from abroad and the pace of consumer spending eased, raising concerns about the recovery in the rest of 2010. Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.4 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said in its first estimate on Friday, after an upwardly revised 3.7 percent growth pace in the January-March quarter.
Financial markets had forecast GDP, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, growing at a 2.5 percent rate in the second quarter from a previously estimated a 2.7 percent rate for the first three months of this year. Get the full story »
