economy eyes

By Mark Deen

April 22 (Bloomberg) — Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling today will deliver a U.K. budget with what may be the biggest deficit on record, limiting his ability to counter the worst recession since World War II.

The shortfall this year may jump to 160 billion pounds ($232 billion), or 11 percent of gross domestic product, according to a survey of 24 economists conducted by the Treasury. Darling, who estimated an 8 percent gap in November, will announce his figures to Parliament at 12:30 p.m. in London. Read the rest of this entry »

No surprise here: The New York-based insurance company that spawned an out-of-control London derivatives dealership is now a $170 billion (and counting) headache for the American taxpayer. The bulk of the losses came from the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of contracts created by AIG Financial Products to pay off holders of mortgage-backed securities if the home loans that backed them defaulted. Read the rest of this entry »

London – Thomson Reuters today announced plans to support the growth in commodities trading through new enhancements made to its multi-asset class transaction service, Reuters Trading for Exchanges. The major enhancements to Reuters Trading for Exchanges (RTEx) were unveiled today, just ahead of Trade Tech Paris, which extend the service’s use beyond the equity markets by featuring spread trading capabilities for commodity instruments, as well as provide seamless integration and click-to-trade functionality from its premium desktops. Read the rest of this entry »

Yahoo said last October it would cut about one-tenth of its workforce, or about 1,600 jobs. The company finished 2008 with roughly 13,600 employees and said it would take severance charges from the new round of layoffs during the second quarter.

Yahoo said its operating cash flow, excluding certain items, was $409 million in the first quarter, at the high end of the $365 million to $415 million range it forecast in January. Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. stock markets plunged yesterday after several major firms cautioned that the recession continues to weigh on their businesses, prompting investors to lock in profits from the past month’s rally.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 3.6 percent, or 289.60 points, to 7841.73. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index dropped 4.3 percent, or 37.21 points, to 832.39, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 3.9 percent, or 64.86 points, to 1608.21. Read the rest of this entry »

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said yesterday that the “ultimate test” for determining which banks can repay government bailout money is whether the entire financial system is capable of offering enough credit to revive the economy.

Geithner’s remarks indicate that regulators will require banks to meet high standards to get out from under the government’s thumb. Industry and federal officials are bracing for a showdown over this issue beginning Friday when the chief financial officers of 19 of the nation’s major banks will be summoned to the Federal Reserve and told the results of the government’s “stress tests.” Read the rest of this entry »

The abandoned amount in the U.S. apparently jumped in January to the accomplished akin in 16 years as crumbling sales affected administration to carve staff, economists activity letters this anniversary will show.

Unemployment climbed to 7.5 percent, and payrolls fell by 530,000, the 13th afterwards decrease, according to the average appraisal in a Bloomberg News analysis advanced of Activity Department abstracts Feb. 6. Other letters may appearance manufacturing, casework and apartment shrank further, signaling added firings ahead.

Plunging appeal and arctic acclaim are causing companies from Caterpillar Inc. to General Motors Corp. to carve jobs and achievement to anticipate unsold appurtenances from axle up. Concern that the recession will deepen afterwards the abridgement apprenticed at the fastest clip in 26 years endure division is bidding President Barack Obama to advance for quick access of his bang plan. Read the rest of this entry »

Royal Dutch Shell Plc and the abutment apery refinery workers continued talks on a new arrangement for at atomic 24 hours, dabbling a accessible bang that may affect about two-thirds of U.S. capacity.

The groups fabricated “sufficient progress” during talks yesterday, Lynne Baker, a United Steelworkers spokeswoman, said in a blast interview. The rolling 24-hour addendum began at 12:01 a.m. U.S. Central Time today and renews anniversary 24 hours until the two abandon ability an acceding or the abutment terminates the arrangement and gives 24 hour apprehension that it will strike.

“When you go to rolling 24-hour extensions, it appears they wish to ability a settlement, which will accumulate the abutment alive afterwards abolition refinery operations,” said Andy Lipow, admiral of Lipow Oil Associates LLC in Houston. Read the rest of this entry »

Amazon.com Inc., the world’s bigger online retailer, acquired 18 percent in Nasdaq trading afterwards sales and accumulation topped estimates, signaling that the aggregation is outpacing EBay Inc. and its e-commerce rivals.

Fourth-quarter net assets rose 8.7 percent to $225 million, or 52 cents a share, the Seattle-based aggregation said bygone afterwards markets closed. Sales climbed 18 percent to $6.7 billion.

Amazon.com had its bigger anniversary division ever, application low prices, shipment promotions and artefact alternative to allure shoppers during a recession. At EBay, anniversary sales fizzled, with annual acquirement bottomward for the aboriginal time in the company’s history. Amazon.com’s addition and chump account gave it an edge, said Collins Stewart LLC’s Sandeep Aggarwal. Read the rest of this entry »

The U.S. economy shrank the most in the fourth quarter since 1982 as consumer spending recorded the worst slide in the postwar era, a trajectory that’s likely to continue in coming months.

The 3.8 percent annual pace of contraction was less than forecast, with a buildup of unsold goods cushioning the blow. Excluding inventories, the decline was 5.1 percent, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. A survey of purchasing managers also indicated today that business in January was the weakest in almost 27 years.

“The economy carried a lot of negative momentum into the first quarter,” former Federal Reserve Governor Laurence Meyer said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Without President Barack Obama’s planned stimulus, the deepening recession will cause the jobless rate to soar to 9.5 percent or higher, he said.
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