financial crisis

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Chrysler Idling US Plants for 30 Days

Supply to be slowed so it meets lowered demand, company says

(Newser) - Ominous news on the auto front: Chrysler will idle all its North American plants for at least 30 days beginning Friday, a move meant to realign the company's supply with plummeting demand, the Detroit News reports. Ford, meanwhile, will close 10 assembly plants for an extra week in January, the...

Dow Off 100 as Rate Rally Dies
 Dow Off 100 as Rate Rally Dies 
MARKETS
Dec 17, 2008 3:27 PM CST

Dow Off 100 as Rate Rally Dies

Stocks fall on poor earnings, more job cuts

(Newser) - Stocks turned lower as jubilation over the Fed’s rate cut yesterday died down and concerns about the slumping economy returned today, the Wall Street Journal reports. Losses by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs dragged financials lower. The Dow closed down 99.80 at 8,824.34. The Nasdaq fell...

Mukasey Steps Off Madoff Case

Rogue financier, meanwhile, placed under house arrest

(Newser) - Attorney General Michael Mukasey is recusing himself from the Bernard Madoff investigation because his son is representing an employee involved with the fraud case, Bloomberg reports. Mukasey also graduated from an Orthodox Jewish school where Madoff’s wife has taught and which placed $6 million in the fraudulent scheme. A...

'Helicopter Ben' Should Shower Us With Cash
'Helicopter Ben' Should Shower Us With Cash
OPINION
Dec 17, 2008 11:56 AM CST

'Helicopter Ben' Should Shower Us With Cash

Fed can prevent deflation, but problems lurk down the line

(Newser) - With interest rates functionally zero, Ben Bernanke is soon going to have to resort to the central banker's ultimate weapon: printing cash and showering Americans with money. There's no question that the "helicopter drop" will prevent the dreaded spiral of deflation, writes Martin Wolf in the Financial Times....

Bernie Madoff, Gentleman of Leisure

Inside the personal life of America's favorite scam artist

(Newser) - Bernard Madoff maintained a very public life, and, like a perfect con man, no one thought he was capable of the crimes he stands accused of. Two weeks ago he popped into his  barber shop for his usual haircut, shave, mani, and pedi. “For me, he was a gentleman,...

4 Financial Doomsday Scenarios
 4 Financial Doomsday Scenarios 
ANALYSIS
Dec 17, 2008 11:20 AM CST

4 Financial Doomsday Scenarios

(Newser) - James Rickards is far more pessimistic about the economic crisis and its global implications than most of his analyst colleagues, Politico reports. But he’s also well respected by US intelligence and defense services. Here are four of his nightmare scenarios.
  • Terrorism: Al-Qaeda has long sought to disrupt the US 
...

More Families Ditch the 2nd Car

Analysts see rare year-over-year drop in US vehicle fleet

(Newser) - As more US families give up second vehicles in favor of public transportation, “it’s very likely the fleet will shrink next year,” an industry analyst tells Bloomberg. The number of cars on the road has gone down only nine times in the past century, and another decrease...

Madoff Scheme Not Much Worse Than Legal Ones
Madoff Scheme Not Much Worse Than Legal Ones
OPINION
Dec 17, 2008 10:30 AM CST

Madoff Scheme Not Much Worse Than Legal Ones

End of communism let Wall Street become unhinged: Friedman

(Newser) - Wall Street used to be the epicenter of capitalism that the whole world wanted to emulate, but, on a trip to Hong Kong, Thomas Friedman discovers that the American financial establishment has lost its credibility. "We don’t just need a financial bailout," he writes in the New ...

Fed Cut Won't Translate Into Much for Consumers ... Yet

Its plans to buy more debt may unfreeze market in '09, but consumer rates stuck for now

(Newser) - Consumers hoping for lower interest rates on credit cards, car loans, and mortgages after the Federal Reserve dropped a key interest rate to near 0% yesterday aren’t likely to get a break soon, reports MarketWatch. But loans could be easier to get once the Fed’s other actions—buying...

Crisis-Stricken LA Museum Mulls Merger

MoCA director prepares to resign as bigger museum offers lifeline

(Newser) - The future of LA's troubled Museum of Contemporary Art became somewhat clearer yesterday, as the institution's director began negotiating his resignation and the larger Los Angeles County Museum of Art proposed a merger. Tomorrow the MoCA board will meet to decide the fate of the troubled museum, which has teetered...

GM Picks Mets Over Yankees for Ad Dollars

Cash-poor automaker wants toehold in NYC but 'can't do both'

(Newser) - General Motors, citing the poor economic climate and its shortage of cash, has declined to renew its sponsorship of the New York Yankees, Bloomberg reports. The struggling car manufacturer will, however, re-up with the New York Mets. “We still want a presence in New York and we can’t...

Pets Are Losing Homes, Too
 Pets Are Losing Homes, Too 
Dec 16, 2008 2:29 PM CST

Pets Are Losing Homes, Too

Recession sparks rise in animal abandonment

(Newser) - Animal shelters are being filled with pets abandoned because of the recession and home foreclosures. In Massachusetts, a rescue league has seen a 45% jump in owners citing money or housing problems when they surrender a cat or dog. Others are just leaving their pets on the streets or in...

Fed Cuts Rate to 0%-0.25%
 Fed Cuts Rate to 0%-0.25% 
Dec 16, 2008 1:40 PM CST

Fed Cuts Rate to 0%-0.25%

Target is record low as Reserve battles recession

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve today cut its target for a key interest rate to the lowest level on record and pledged to use "all available tools" to combat a severe financial crisis and prolonged recession. The central bank says it reduced the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge...

Why Asian Automakers Don't Want Detroit to Fail
Why Asian Automakers Don't Want Detroit to Fail
ANALYSIS
Dec 16, 2008 11:01 AM CST

Why Asian Automakers Don't Want Detroit to Fail

Big Three bankruptcy would disrupt supply chain, further sour US economy

(Newser) - As Detroit’s Big Three await word on the fate of their much-needed bailout, an unlikely group of supporters has assembled in their corner: foreign automakers. A collapse of General Motors, Ford, or Chrysler would devastate overseas manufacturers as well, CNNMoney reports, spreading bankruptcy to suppliers around the globe and...

Feds Let Lehman Fail—Then Loaned It $138B Anyway

Paulson & Co. say cash was to 'facilitate orderly wind-down' of trades, but questions persist

(Newser) - After refusing to bail out Lehman Brothers, the Federal Reserve funneled $87 billion to a subsidiary through JPMorgan Chase on Sept. 15, then another $51 billion the next day. The feds say they aimed to “facilitate an orderly wind-down” of Lehman’s broker-dealer operations, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in...

Toyota Delays US Prius Factory
 Toyota Delays US Prius Factory 

Dec 16, 2008 8:02 AM CST

Toyota Delays US Prius Factory

A planned Mississippi plant is on hold as market for autos weakens

(Newser) - It’s not just the Big Three. Toyota has delayed indefinitely the opening of a Prius factory near Tupelo, Miss., the Wall Street Journal reports, in the wake of plummeting demand. The factory was originally intended to build the Highlander sport-utility vehicle; when gas prices hit a high last spring,...

Financials Push Dow Off 65
 Financials Push Dow Off 65 
MARKETS
Dec 15, 2008 3:24 PM CST

Financials Push Dow Off 65

US industrial output falls for November

(Newser) - Stocks lost value today as investors await tomorrow’s meeting of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate committee, and digested various bits of bad news on financial firms and manufacturing, MarketWatch reports. The Dow fell 65.15 to 8,564.53. The Nasdaq lost 32.38, closing at 1,508.34,...

Record Low Rates Leave Investors Cold

Cut is likely tomorrow, but Wall Street wants more varied approach

(Newser) - Tomorrow the Federal Reserve will probably cut its target interest rate to 0.5%, the lowest in decades. But, the Wall Street Journal reports, investors are unlikely to be cheered by a further slash, instead waiting to hear what further measures Fed chief Ben Bernanke is preparing now that interest...

States Running Out of Cash for Jobless Benefits

Many cut taxes, weren't prepare for down turn

(Newser) - The ranks of the unemployed reached their highest levels since 1982 last week, and about 30 states are running out of money to fund them, the New York Times reports. Some states, including Indiana and Michigan, are already borrowing heavily from the federal government to keep up with jobless benefits,...

New Yorkers Fight Crisis With Pills

Prescriptions shoot up in Sept., Oct.

(Newser) - At least there's one market that's booming in New York—the market for pills for your sleeplessness, anxiety, and depression, Crain’s New York Business reports. The meltdown in the financial industry has caused a surge in prescriptions: In September, as Lehman Brothers was collapsing, and AIG and Merrill Lynch...

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