Financial Sector

What the housing boom giveth, the bust taketh away. The slump in California's once-effervescent real estate market is taking its toll on jobs, a state report released Friday showed. Mounting losses in construction and financial services -- the two sectors most dependent on home building and sales -- contributed to the second increase in the state's unemployment rate in two months. The rate rose to 5.2% in May from 5.1% in April, the California Employment Development Division said.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York found in a study of American financial markets little evidence that the industry was becoming more dominated by a small number of securities companies. The "review of how U.S. financial market structure has changed over the last decade finds no pervasive pattern of high and increasing concentration," the New York Fed said in a statement Thursday. The paper was written by a group of New York Fed economists and researchers.

Stocks rose Monday after oil prices settled below $60 a barrel, easing concerns about the effect of high fuel costs on consumers and prompting investors to shift money out of energy shares and into the undervalued technology and financial sectors. Technology bellwether Intel and Citigroup, the world's largest financial services company, were among the biggest positive influences on the blue-chip Dow average.

When President Bush began filling his campaign war chest in May and June, executives at Merrill Lynch & Co. answered the call by helping to round up $250,000 in donations. Top leaders of Lehman Bros. and Bear Stearns also came through for him, with bunches of contributions totaling more than $100,000.

President Bush has been uncompromising in his insistence that his 10-year, $1.6-trillion tax-cut proposal not be adorned with special breaks for particular industries or groups. But as soon as Congress completes action on Bush's bill, which would benefit mostly individuals, the high-tech industry is ready with additional measures that would slash its tax bill by $300 billion or more over 10 years.

The value of the dollar plummeted on Wednesday, accelerating a shift that bodes well for most of Asia and, if it stands, changes the calculus of the global economic crisis. Responding to evidence that Japan at long last is nearing a political deal to rescue its tottering banking system, the yen surged and the dollar tumbled 8.1%--its biggest one-day loss against the Japanese currency in 25 years. The explosive move, which brought the dollar as low as 118.90 yen before closing at 120.25 from 130.

At the core of the stock market's meltdown is faltering profit growth for U.S. corporations--whether at the hands of drooping commodity prices, economic turmoil overseas or the U.S. dollar's strength against foreign currencies. Nothing prompts knee-jerk selling by investors like a company's announcement that its upcoming earnings will fall short of earlier forecasts, and those disclosures--and the selling--have been building all summer. Among the latest victims is Procter & Gamble Co.

As it is the world's second largest economy and principal source of excess global savings, it is important to get Japan right. With yen interest rates so low and funds from Japan cascading into international markets, any major change in the country's fundamental economic situation, financial balances or management of its regulatory structure would have profound global implications.