BUSINESS
February 6, 2010 | By Tom Petruno
In crisis there usually is opportunity. Now, here's the opportunity if the latest global financial-market upheaval worsens: The U.S. government, still the borrower that never lacks for lenders, can launch a major economic-stimulus plan to be financed by yet more sales of Treasury securities. Frightened global investors would again be happy to shovel their money into Treasuries at low-single-digit interest rates. The U.S. would, in effect, then recycle those dollars back into the economy, preferably through business and personal tax cuts this time rather than another pork-barrel spending bill.
BUSINESS
January 30, 2010 | By Tom Petruno
In the banking industry in 2009, the rich got richer -- which has, of course, infuriated much of the nation. But that same basic idea, mostly minus the public infuriation factor, is playing out across the business world. The Great Recession has killed untold numbers of small firms, many of which were unable to line up financing to keep their operations afloat. But money is no problem at all for corporate America. And the biggest businesses don't need banks, at least not for loans.
BUSINESS
January 28, 2010 | By Don Lee
As Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke appeared to gain enough backing for confirmation to a second term, the central bank offered a more upbeat assessment of the economy than it did last month but still affirmed a pledge to keep interest rates near zero for "an extended period." For the first time in a year, however, the Fed rate-setting panel's statement, issued at the end of a two-day meeting Wednesday, came with a dissenting vote, which could presage an earlier-than-expected move to raise rates.
BUSINESS
January 27, 2010 | By E. Scott Reckard
Applications for home loans fell nearly 11% last week despite low interest rates, with refinancing activity apparently running out of steam, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. said in a report Wednesday. Adjusted for seasonal factors, purchase-loan applications decreased 3.3% from the week before while refinancing applications fell 15.1%. This occurred despite no significant change in rates, according to the trade group. It calculated that the average rate was 5.02% for a 30-year fixed-rate loan, compared with 5% a week earlier.
BUSINESS
January 25, 2010 | By Bernard Condon and Tim Paradis
It was the fat cats' fault before. But now it's becoming Obama's. With the unemployment rate stubbornly high, people were already shifting blame for their economic woes to President Obama one year into his presidency. Last week, investors joined them. For 10 months, the stock market climbed at breathtaking speed. But the Dow Jones industrial average suffered its worst week since dropping to a 12-year low in early March. It fell 552 points Wednesday through Friday, including 216 on Friday.
BUSINESS
January 22, 2010 | By E. Scott Reckard
Freddie Mac's widely watched survey of the mortgage market provided homeowners and would-be home buyers with another round of good news Thursday: A third straight week of falling interest rates has taken the average rate on 30-year fixed-rate home loans below 5% again. According to Freddie Mac, the rate on that standard mortgage averaged 4.99% this week, down from 5.06% last week and 5.16% a year ago. Borrowers paid on average 0.7% of the loan amount in upfront lender fees.
BUSINESS
January 21, 2010 | By Alejandro Lazo
Brutish winter weather drove housing starts in the U.S. down in December, but the South and the West fared better than the chillier Midwest and Northeast. December starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000, a 4% decline from a revised November estimate of 580,000, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The figure was 0.2% above the December 2008 rate of 556,000. But another key indicator in the government data showed some signs of improvement for the construction industry.
BUSINESS
January 16, 2010 | By Jim Puzzanghera
After a month of intense pressure on banks and other mortgage servicers, the Obama administration on Friday reported improvement in its much-criticized program to reduce mortgage payments to stave off foreclosures. The number of temporary loan modifications that were made permanent had more than doubled to 66,465 as of Dec. 30, the Treasury Department said. In addition, 46,056 three-month trial mortgage modifications were approved and awaiting only the homeowner signatures before they were made permanent as well.
BUSINESS
January 16, 2010 | By Don Lee
Despite growing worries about a future surge in inflation, consumer prices barely budged last month and fell for all of 2009 -- the first annual decline in more than half a century. The latest report on the consumer price index, released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, increases the likelihood that Federal Reserve officials at their next meeting later this month will stand pat on their policy of setting interest rates at near zero for "an extended period." In recent weeks, there have been increasing signs of a split at the Fed over how soon the central bank should begin tightening credit and monetary policy to avoid a future outbreak of inflation.
BUSINESS
January 10, 2010 | By Kenneth R. Harney
For mortgage applicants and home buyers, it's been a six-year wait, but the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve finally have come out with consumer credit protection rules first required by Congress in 2003. In late December, the two agencies published regulations designed to safeguard loan applicants from overcharges on interest rates caused by erroneous or outdated negative information in their national credit bureau files. The rules require lenders to alert consumers when derogatory credit data cause them to be charged higher rates and down payments or receive less than optimal terms on a "risk-based pricing" system.