Archive for Economy

NYTimes World Business: 15 February 2009

February 16th, 2009 • Business, Economy, Money, NYTimes, World

CBS News Business Headlines: 15 February 2009

February 16th, 2009 • Business, CBS News, Economy, Money

  • Bank Execs Still Clock In Despite Failures
    At banks that are receiving federal bailout money nearly nine out of every 10 of the most senior executives from 2006 are still on the job, according to an Associated Press analysis of regulatory and company documents.

  • Congress Takes Aim At Wage Discrimination
    Congress sent the White House what is expected to be the first legislation that President Barack Obama signs into law, a bill that makes it easier for women and others to sue for pay discrimination.

  • Senate Grills SEC Officials On Madoff
    A multibillion-dollar pyramid scheme allegedly spawned by Bernard Madoff is being probed by a Senate panel that will question federal regulators responsible for inspecting investment firms and enforcing action against violations.

  • Investors Robbed Of $370M In Ponzi Scheme
    The owner of a New York investment firm ran a $370 million Ponzi scheme, luring in clients with promises of astronomical returns while secretly blowing tens of millions of dollars on bad trades and conspicuous spending, federal authorities said.

  • After Bailout, Lavish Spending Lives On
    Citigroup has received so much bailout money to date that the American taxpayer is now its major stockholder. So there was outrage when it was reported that the company is taking delivery of a new, $50 million luxury corporate jet.

  • State Farm To Fla.: We’re No Longer There
    Florida’s largest private homeowners insurer - State Farm Florida - is planning to stop selling property insurance in the state.

  • Missing Hedge Fund Mgr. Surrenders To Feds
    A Florida hedge fund manager who disappeared after agreeing to an independent audit turned himself in to authorities to face securities and wire fraud charges. Arthur Nadel is accused of bilking investors of over $300 million.

  • Treasury Weighs Hard Choices To Save Banks
    President Obama’s top advisers are in the final stages of debating several perilous options to right the financial system, all of which are likely to prove unpopular and in some cases carry a significant risk of failure.

  • Yahoo Swings To Loss, But Beats Street
    Yahoo handily cleared Wall Street’s pessimistic earnings expectations for a grim fourth quarter and matched anticipated revenue, but charges swung the Internet pioneer to a net loss for the quarter.

  • Starbucks Stops Brewing Decaf After Noon
    Starbucks customers who are used to getting their decaf grande mochachino after lunch will have to wait a little longer than usual to get their fix.

  • Time To Buy House May Be Approaching
    An expert explained her thinking, and offered some buying strategies, on The Early Show.

  • Dire Warnings Hang Over Davos
    The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression cast gloom over the opening of the World Economic Forum with warnings against creeping protectionism and expectations that government bailouts alone will restore the world’s economies.

  • Toyota Announces Recall Of 1.3M Cars
    Toyota is recalling 1.3 million vehicles worldwide due to a seat belt defect. The recall includes more than 130,000 Yaris models sold in the U.S.

  • Treasury Doles Out $386M To 23 Banks
    The Treasury Department said Tuesday it has distributed another $386 million to 23 banks, the first awards from the federal bailout fund since President Barack Obama took office.

  • GM To Cut Controversial “Jobs Bank”
    General Motors Corp. said Wednesday that its “jobs bank” program will end Monday, following a similar move at Chrysler LLC that helps satisfy the conditions the government imposed when it lent the automakers $17.4 billion late last year.

  • Boeing Posts Loss, Slashes 10,000 Jobs
    Boeing Co., the world’s second-largest airplane maker, swung to a surprise fourth-quarter loss, hurt by a labor strike that disrupted deliveries. It also announced job cuts totaling 10,000 and forecast 2009 earnings that missed analyst expectations.

  • Japan Airline Boss Sets Exec Example
    He’s out to set an example: a Japanese airline CEO who takes no corporate perks. Barry Petersen meets the executive who rides the bus, eats in the cafeteria, and even cut his own salary.

  • Fed Keeps Rates Near Zero, Vows More Moves
    The Federal Reserve says the economy has weakened further and signaled it will keep a key interest rate near zero for quite “some time” to cushion the fallout.

  • The Impossible-To-Track Bank Bailout
    It’s been impossible to track what the banks are doing the federal billions of tax dollars they got from the bailout, as Sharyl Attkisson found out when she tried to follow the money.

  • If Money Is Cheap, Why Can’t I Get A Loan?
    Even after the banks have been given more than half-a-trillion dollars in bailout funds, the Fed said Wednesday that credit conditions “remain extremely tight,” reports Anthony Mason.

  • Jobless Claims For Americans Hit Record
    The number of people receiving unemployment benefits has reached an all-time record, the government said Thursday, as layoffs spread throughout the economy.

  • Ford Posts $5.9B Loss, But Won’t Seek Aid
    Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it lost $5.9 billion in the fourth quarter as auto sales slumped, but it has no plans to seek federal aid unless economic conditions worsen.

  • New Home Sales Slow At Record Pace
    The hobbled homebuilding industry posted its worst annual sales results in more than two decades.

  • OPEC Poised For More Oil Production Cuts
    OPEC is readying to make further production cuts if prices don’t rise in the coming weeks, its secretary-general said.

  • Madoff Paper Trail Leads To NYC Warehouse
    The paper trail in the Bernard Madoff fraud case has led investigators to a warehouse containing boxes and file cabinets stuffed with documents that could reveal more clues about the $50B Ponzi scheme, an official said.

  • Wireless Savior: Cells Keep Industry Alive
    Two of the nation’s largest Internet service providers are expected to be among a group of ISPs that will cooperate with the music industry in battling illegal file sharing, three sources told CNET News.

  • Famed Waterford Crystal Shutters Doors
    Waterford Crystal workers have mounted a sit-down protest in their world-famous factory after union leaders informed them that the debt-crippled company is closing immediately.

  • Tech Ads Shoved To Sidelines For Big Game
    With price tags that can reach nearly $3 million, Super Bowl ads are something that could disappear quickly from a budget amid financial panic.

  • ExxonMobil Shatters Annual Profit Record
    ExxonMobil Corp. reported a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a U.S. company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33 percent from a year ago.

  • Economy Logs Worst Showing In 25 Years
    The economy shrank at a 3.8 percent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, as the deepening recession forced consumers and businesses to throttle back spending.

  • Refinery Workers Set To Go On Strike
    With a third contract offer rejected, some 24,000 refinery workers from the Gulf of Mexico to Montana prepared to head to the picket lines Saturday just hours before an existing labor agreement expires.

  • Under Armour Takes Chance On Shoe Market
    The relatively young athletic apparel company Under Armour is launching its first running shoe line, betting it can compete against the likes of Nike in one of the biggest categories in the shoe world and in the midst of a recession.

  • China: Up To 26M Migrants Now Jobless
    An estimated 26 million desperately poor rural Chinese are jobless after pinning their hopes on factory jobs that dried up. An official said widespread unemployment could threaten the country’s social stability.

  • Super Bowl Ads Hits & Misses
    A lot of people tuned into the Super Bowl last night just to see the commercials. A Doritos ad was the hands-down fan favorite according to a “USA Today” consumer opinion poll.

  • Americans Are Saving More, Spending Less
    Americans’ savings rate as a percentage of after-tax incomes rose to 2.9 percent in the last three months of 2008. The Commerce Department also reported consumer spending fell for a record sixth straight month in December.

  • Bailout Banks Sought More Foreign Workers
    Even as the economy collapsed last year and many financial workers found themselves unemployed, the dozen U.S. banks now receiving the biggest bailouts requested visas for tens of thousands of foreign workers to fill high-paying jobs.

  • Treasury Doles Out Another $1.15B To Banks
    The Treasury Department says it has provided $1.15 billion to 42 banks in new payments from the government’s $700 billion financial rescue fund.

  • GM, Chrysler Offer More Buyouts
    General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC are offering blue-collar employees another round of buyout and early retirement offers as the automakers try to cut their work forces and reduce expenses.

  • GM Sales Plunge 49%; Ford Down 40%
    Ford Motor Co. says its U.S. sales fell 40 percent in January, starting 2009 at an abysmal pace for the automaker and the industry. Japanese rival Toyota posted a 32 percent drop for the month but managed to outsell Ford.

  • Bank Failures Will Cost FDIC $40 Billion
    Federal regulators now believe U.S. bank failures will cost the deposit insurance fund more than $40 billion over the next four years as the economy weakens.

  • Liquidation Sale Caution Flags
    There are many deals to be had at such events, but you also have to beware being ripped off, Vera Gibbons warns.

  • Bailed-Out Bank Nixes Lavish Vegas Junket
    Wells Fargo & Co. is canceling a pricey Las Vegas casino junket for employees after a torrent of criticism that it was misusing $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money.

  • Panasonic To Slash 15,000 Global Jobs
    Panasonic Corp. says it will slash 15,000 jobs and shut down 27 plants worldwide to cope with plunging demand for its TVs, semiconductors and other electronics products.

  • Citigroup Ballpark Naming Deal Denounced
    A 2006, $400 million agreement for the bank, which has since been bailed out, to buy naming rights to the New York Mets’ new home may be scrapped, reports say.

  • Lawmaker: SEC Impeding Madoff Probe
    A key House lawmaker is telling top Securities and Exchange Commission officials that the agency is failing to cooperate with a committee probe into its failure to uncover the alleged $50 billion Bernard Madoff fraud.

  • Bailout Bank Pay Caps Leave Wiggle Room
    Consultants on executive pay say the caps imposed by President Obama probably apply only to a few executives - not star traders, brokers and salespeople who routinely earn whopping pay packages.

  • When To Hire A Pro To Do Your Taxes
    Ray Martin offered a soup-to-nuts look, including how to find a good one if you decide to go that route, how much to pay, the info you’ll have to provide, and much more, on The Early Show.

  • Haven For The Ultrarich Goes Bankrupt
    The Yellowstone Club, an exclusive haven for the ultrarich now under federal bankruptcy protection, would be sold for $100 million to a Boston financial firm, under a deal outlined in court documents.

  • Sales Drop As Shoppers Tighten Wallets
    The nation’s retailers are reporting dismal January sales as shoppers dig deep into survival mode and curtail their spending as they grapple with rising layoffs and shrinking retirement accounts.

  • Court Documents Reveal Madoff Client List
    The names of several thousand clients who lost money investing with Bernard Madoff have been released in a court filing that reads like a Who’s Who: baseball great Sandy Koufax, actor Kevin Bacon and even Madoff’s defense lawyer.

  • Auto Suppliers Next In Line For Bailout?
    U.S. auto parts suppliers are in discussions with the Treasury Department about ways to address their financial troubles, industry trade groups said.

  • Panel: Bailout Overpaid $78B For Stocks
    A government watchdog group says the federal government overpaid for stocks and other assets from financial institutions under its $700 billion rescue program.

  • Obama Names Economic Team; Chides Congress
    President Barack Obama has announced a team of outside economic advisers to help boost an economy in a virtual free-fall, while also trying to rally support for his financial recovery plan.

  • Bloomberg TV Tries To Become A Player
    Bloomberg Television wants to be a player and shed its reputation as a semi-anonymous sinkhole.

  • Toyota Set For First Loss Since 1950
    Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, sank into the red for the October-December quarter and acknowledged it was heading for its first annual net loss since 1950 because of plunging global sales and the strong yen.

  • Jobless Rate 7.6%; Most Job Cuts Since ‘74
    Recession-battered employers eliminated 598,000 jobs in January, the most since 1974, and catapulted the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent. The grim figures were further proof that the nation’s job climate is deteriorating at an alarming rate.

  • SEC Speeds Way To Fight Corporate Bad Guys
    The new head of the Securities and Exchange Commission is ending a practice that she said had slowed the agency’s enforcement efforts against corporate wrongdoing.

  • Markets Gain Despite January Job Losses
    Wall Street has had another big rally as investors bet the government will take some big steps to help the economy. All the major indexes rose more than 2 percent Friday as investors looked past another bleak jobs report.

  • Cutting Cable: Companies Losing Customers
    While a weak economy invariably makes people pinch pennies, this is the first time that viewing shows online has become a viable competitor to pay TV, making cutting the cord easier.

  • Identity Theft Up, But Costs Fall Sharply
    A survey finds that while the number of Americans ensnared by identity theft is on the rise, victims are striking back more quickly and limiting how much is stolen.

  • CNBC Sends A Message
    Seven days ago, CNBC news chief Jonathan Wald had one of the most prestigious titles in the media industry. Now, he’s job hunting, and Jon Friedman says the implications for the media industry are severe.

  • Nissan To Slash 20,000 Jobs
    Nissan is slashing 20,000 jobs, or 8.5 percent of its global work force, to cope with what Japan’s third-largest automaker expects will be its first annual loss in nine years.

  • CEO Of The People
    When the Big Three automakers’ CEOs came to Congress begging for a bailout, they got a lecture for arriving in their private jets. Barry Petersen says maybe they could learn something from the boss of Japan Airlines, who takes the bus to work.

  • Controversial GM Executive To Retire
    The 76-year-old Lutz is credited with revamping GM’s product line and shepherding its efforts to roll out the Chevrolet Volt electric car. Lutz, however, made headlines in January 2008 with comments about global warming.

  • SEC, Madoff Reach Civil Fraud Case Deal
    The Securities and Exchange Commission says it has agreed with Bernard Madoff on a deal that could eventually force the disgraced money manager to pay a civil fine and return money raised from investors.

  • Following The Bailout Money To Wells Fargo
    Most banks won’t even say what they’ve done with your tax dollars as part of the federal bailout. Sharyl Attkisson has been investigating and now she Follows the Money to a big bank that just got bigger.

  • Live Nation, Ticketmaster In Merger Deal
    The boards of Live Nation and Ticketmaster approved a merger, citing cost savings. The new company, estimated to be valued at $2.5 billion, would pose a “near-monopoly” sales of concerts, critics charge.

  • China Beats U.S. In Monthly Auto Sales
    China’s monthly vehicle sales surpassed those in the United States for the first time in January, moving the country closer to becoming the world’s biggest auto market, new data shows.

  • New Bailout May Tip Scales At $1 Trillion
    The Obama administration promised an aggressive effort to combat America’s worst financial crisis in seven decades, unveiling a program that could mobilize well over $1 trillion in public and private support to get credit flowing again.

  • Stocks Skid As U.S. Unveils Bailout Plan
    Investors are frustrated with the government’s latest bank bailout plan - and showing it by unloading stocks. According to preliminary calculations, the Dow industrials fell 381.99, or 4.62 percent, to 7,888.88.

  • GM Cuts 10,000 Jobs In Bid To Stay Viable
    General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will cut 10,000 salaried jobs, citing the need to restructure itself with a government deadline looming and amid some of the worst sales in the U.S. auto industry’s history.

  • At Treasury, More Of The Same On Bailout
    Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner seemed to be following the Hank Paulson playbook, according to a wide consensus on Wall Street, in Washington, and beyond.

  • Madoff’s Wife Withdrew $15M Before Arrest
    Ruth Madoff took out a total of $15 million from Cohmad Securities Corp., which is co-owned by her husband Bernie Madoff.

  • N.Y. AG: Merrill Lynch Wasted Funds
    New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo accused Merrill Lynch & Co. executives of corporate irresponsibility by secretly and prematurely awarding $3.6 billion in bonuses as taxpayers were bailing out the industry.

  • House To Bankers: Time To Make Sacrifices
    Eight chief executives of major banks will slip behind a witness table in the Rayburn House Office Building to face a battery of questions about how they have used more than $160 billion in taxpayers’ money.

  • Jobless Numbers Hover Around 5 Million
    The government says the number of new claims for unemployment benefits dropped slightly last week but remains near a 26-year high as companies lay off workers amid a deepening recession. Overall unemployment rose to the highest amount on record.

  • Jet Makers Prod Execs: “Continue To Fly”
    Banks got lambasted for their corporate jets after receiving government funds. Congress and the public scourged auto executives for flying their private planes to Washington to beg for money.

  • Foreclosures Fall 10% From Dec. To Jan.
    The number of Americans on the verge of losing their homes fell in January but was still up from the same month a year ago. The numbers would have been higher if not for efforts to stall the foreclosure process.

  • Retail Sales Rise Unexpectedly In January
    U.S. retail sales jumped 1 percent in January, reversing a six-month declining trend and defying economists’ expectations by posting the biggest increase in 14 months.

  • GM Bankruptcy In Bondholders’ Hands
    We forgave billions in debt, now give us more money. This is the message General Motors bondholders have sent to the flailing automaker along with the threat of pushing the company into bankruptcy, according to a newspaper report.

  • Average American Net Worth Drops 23%
    The recession has cut many Americans’ net worth by about 20 percent as the value of homes, stock portfolios and businesses have plummeted, the Federal Reserve.

  • Toyota Cuts Exec Pay, Eliminates Bonuses
    Toyota Motor Corp. is reacting to the slump in U.S. auto sales by further cutting North American production, slashing executives’ compensation up to 30 percent and offering buyouts to about 18,000 workers.

  • Putting The Best Face On A Bad Economy
    In this recession, as so many businesses and families struggle, there are still some bright spots. Richard Schlesinger meets one woman who’s nearly doubled her income after leaving a steady job to pedal lipsticks and nail polish.

  • Peanut Supplier Files For Bankruptcy
    Most Americans know about a peanut-based national salmonella outbreak but many are wrong about what products are involved and few have confidence in food safeguards, according to a survey.

  • UAW Walks Away From GM Concession Talks
    Negotiators for the United Auto Workers walked out of concession talks with General Motors Corp. in a dispute over payments to a union-administered retiree health care fund, a person briefed on the talks said.

  • Obama To Create Auto Industry Panel
    President Barack Obama plans to appoint senior administration officials - rather than a single “car czar,” as had been discussed - to oversee a restructuring of the auto industry.

  • Congress Strengthens Exec Pay Limits
    Over the White House’s objections, Sen. Chris Dodd inserted strict rules into the $787 billion economic stimulus package limiting bankers’ bonuses.

ABC News Business And Money News: 15 February 2009

February 16th, 2009 • ABC News, Business, Economy, Money

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