financial crisis

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US Benefits From China Stimulus

Construction in China boosts US business, from steel to fried chicken

(Newser) - While Americans await the fruits of their $787 billion bailout, China is moving ahead with public-works projects at a staggering pace, pumping up its own economy as well as America’s, the Wall Street Journal reports. US industrial-equipment makers, struggling with effectively zero domestic growth, are back near record levels...

Debit Cards Overtake Credit

 Debit Cards Overtake Credit 
Apr 30, 2009 8:35 AM CDT

Debit Cards Overtake Credit

A surge in debit-card usage reflects a shift from the days of easy credit

(Newser) - The recession has boosted the popularity of debit cards, the Wall Street Journal reports. In the last quarter of 2008, debit-card transactions processed by Visa were 50.4% of the company’s volume, surpassing credit cards for the first time. Rival MasterCard’s debit volume surged 13% last year as...

Last-Minute Chrysler Talks Hinge on Smaller Lenders

Bankruptcy remains a possibility

(Newser) - Chrysler is still preparing for bankruptcy in case the Treasury's last-minute negotiations with hesitant creditors crumble, the Wall Street Journal reports. Most big lenders have agreed to write down part of Chrysler’s debt in exchange for stakes in the company, but smaller hedge funds also have to agree for...

Economy Shrinks Faster Than Expected in 1st Quarter

6.1% pace fueled by biz cutbacks, export drop

(Newser) - The US economy shrank at a worse-than-expected 6.1% pace at the start of this year as sharp cutbacks by businesses and the biggest drop in US exports in 40 years overwhelmed a rebound in consumer spending. Today's Commerce Department report dashed hopes that the recession's grip on the country...

Cond&eacute; Nast Shutters Portfolio
 Condé Nast Shutters Portfolio 
Apr 27, 2009 11:25 AM CDT

Condé Nast Shutters Portfolio

(Newser) - Condé Nast’s once-ballyhooed Portfolio magazine will cease publishing immediately, staffers were told this morning. “The five main categories of advertising a publication like ours depends on are really in trouble,” Condé Nast’s group president told the New York Times. The magazine launched in April 2007, and...

Recession-Wary Teens Cut Back on Spending

Teens spend less on food, apparel while video games and DVDs still popular

(Newser) - The downturn is causing teens, who usually spend through recessions while parents absorb the pinch, to cut back, Advertising Age reports. Teenagers are spending about 14% less this spring than last, a “dramatic impact” from a demographic that spends an average of $125 billion each year. Unemployment is also...

At NY Fed, Geithner Got Cozy With Wall Street

Geithner's cozy history with the high finance club draws critics' ire

(Newser) - While some feel Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has been an aggressive steward of the public trust, some critics point to his days as New York Fed president as proof he’s too cozy with the very banks that crippled the financial system. The New York Times investigates his tenure there,...

Thain Accuses BofA of Lying About Bonuses

Fired Merill CEO tries to 'set the record straight' about $3.6B payout

(Newser) - In his first lengthy interview since being pushed out as CEO of Merrill Lynch, John Thain tells the Wall Street Journal that Bank of America—which acquired Merrill in September—is lying about its involvement in the $3.6 billion in bonus payouts that made Thain the poster boy for...

Iceland PM Wins Mandate in Crisis Election

Leftist coalition seeks EU membership after economy's collapse

(Newser) - Iceland's interim center-left government, which came to power in February after the spectacular collapse of the nation's economy, has won a resounding victory in a snap election, reports the Times of London. The "great, historic victory" was an endorsement of her plans to have Iceland "start thinking about...

Fed Describes 'Stress Tests'
 Fed Describes 'Stress Tests' 
Apr 24, 2009 4:06 PM CDT

Fed Describes 'Stress Tests'

(Newser) - At the behest of the Federal Reserve, the 19 biggest US banks are projecting their losses on 12 categories of financial product such as loans and mortgage securities, the New York Times reports. The Fed, which asked the institutions to project a hypothetical scenario of a “stressed economic environment,...

As Money Dries Up, So Does Architecture

Koolhaas reflects on 'end to a period' of megabuildings

(Newser) - When the tower next to Rem Koolhaas’ mammoth CCTV skyscraper in Beijing went up in flames, it seemed to mark the end of an era. After years of pricey signature projects, architects are seeing commissions cut, and projects are languishing. “I don't even know about the word ‘downturn,...

How Wall Street Went Hollywood (and Brought Down Our Economy)

(Newser) - During the Great Depression, legend has it a group of Wall Street bankers went to Hollywood to see if it was worth investing in, only to be immediately repulsed by the brazen displays of wealth they saw there. Now that it's the bankers being pilloried for their excesses, writes Neal...

For Teens Hip to the Recession, Cheap Is In

Abercrombie takes a back seat to discounts, value brands

(Newser) - For the oft-studied, rarely understood teen demographic, cheap is the new black. Teen spending is off 14% this spring, the New York Times reports, reflecting the larger economic crisis. But the recession has also caused a realignment among the stores teens find hip, as discounters and heavy promoters become popular...

BofA CEO Says Feds Urged Silence on Merrill Losses

Shareholders kept in the dark to ensure deal

(Newser) - Bank of America's CEO felt pressured by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury chief Henry Paulson to withhold details of last year's Merrill Lynch acquisition from shareholders, including mounting losses at Merrill that triggered a $20 billion bailout, the Wall Street Journal reports. BofA CEO Ken Lewis said in testimony...

IMF: Blame Europe for Longer Recession

EU policy blunders likely to result in longer slowdown for rest of world

(Newser) - The European economy will sink deepest out of all global economies, bounce back slowest—and delay recovery for the rest of the world to boot, according to the IMF's latest forecast. The agency predicts the EU's economy—at $18 trillion, nearly a third of the world's total—will shrink 4%...

Robber Told Bank He Was Fed Up With Bailouts

Gets away after SF bomb-threat heist

(Newser) - Police are looking for a man who robbed a San Francisco branch of Bank of America—ostensibly out of disgust for corporate bailouts, the Chronicle reports. The man requested a meeting with a manager and told him he represented “a corporation” concerned with the bailouts—before threatening to detonate...

Md. Man Who Killed Family Was $460K in Debt

Father detailed mortgage, credit card woes in notes

(Newser) - The Maryland man who murdered his family before shooting and killing himself complained of his financial troubles in notes left at the scene, the Washington Post reports. Christopher Wood’s family was at least $460,000 in debt from two mortgages and credit card charges. The family owned a Florida...

Dow Up 128 on Geithner Talk
 Dow Up 128 on Geithner Talk 
MARKETS
Apr 21, 2009 3:25 PM CDT

Dow Up 128 on Geithner Talk

Banks rally after comments by Treasury secretary, Bank CEOs

(Newser) - Stocks gained today on upbeat comments from Timothy Geithner and the CEOs of Citigroup and US Bancorp, the Wall Street Journal reports. Banks rallied after the Treasury secretary said that the “vast majority” have sufficient capital. The Dow closed up 127.83 at 7,969.56. The Nasdaq rose...

Bankers Leave Street in Rear View; Head for Academia

Execs take teaching jobs amid crisis

(Newser) - With the financial tornado buffeting Wall Street, some of its leading figures are ditching their careers for work in academia, Time reports. Merrill Lynch’s former president is teaching at Yale; Citigroup’s former merger boss headed to Berkeley; a onetime Goldman Sachs exec is now at Harvard. “It’...

Life Tough for 'TARP Wives'
Life Tough for 'TARP Wives'
OPINION
Apr 21, 2009 11:42 AM CDT

Life Tough for 'TARP Wives'

While media blitz stresses CEO hubby, spouse pinches those bailout pennies

(Newser) - Things aren’t easy for still-relatively-rich Wall Street execs and their spouses. “I haven’t even looked at spring clothes,” writes an anonymous, self-proclaimed “TARP wife” in Portfolio. “God forbid someone catches me out in something new.” Her husband, like most CEOs, is “scared...

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