Ben Bernanke says declines in home prices have forced many Americans to cut back sharply on spending warns that the trend could continue to weigh on the economy for years. The Federal Reserve chairman drew the connection between home values and consumer spending, which fuels 70 percent of economic activity, on Friday during a speech to the National Association of Home Builders in Orlando.
States, Feds to Announce Mortgage Settlement
10:51 AM 2/9/2012
JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo & Co, Real Estate
U.S. states have reached a $25 billion deal with the nation's biggest mortgage lenders over foreclosure abuses that occurred after the housing bubble burst. Federal and state officials announced the deal Thursday. It is the biggest settlement involving a single industry since a 1998 multistate tobacco deal.
The number of people seeking unemployment aid neared a four-year low last week, a positive sign that strong hiring could continue in the coming months. The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 358,000. That's the second-lowest level since April 2008.
Visa 1Q Profit Rises 16% as Card Use Rises
5:16 PM 2/8/2012
Visa said Wednesday that its fiscal first-quarter profit rose 16 percent, as card use rose both in the U.S. and overseas. The San Francisco-based payments processor posted a notable 10 percent increase in U.S. credit card use. But debit card use rose just 6 percent. That's the slowest debit card growth rate in more than a year, and comes during the first three-month period that new rules were in place to limit the fees retailers pay to accept the cards.
McDonald's Key Revenue Figure Up 6.7% in Jan.
10:40 AM 2/8/2012
McDonald's said Wednesday that a key revenue figure climbed 6.7 percent in January as U.S. customers spent more on breakfast items, beverages and its new Chicken McBites. The world's biggest hamburger chain's strongest January results were in the U.S., as revenue in restaurants open at least 13 months rose 7.8 percent there. The metric increased 7.3 percent in the region made up of Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and 4 percent in Europe.
Verizon-Redbox Deal Adds to Online Video Choices
12:22 PM 2/7/2012
Technology, Media, Netflix, Sony, Apple, Wal-Mart Stores, Verizon, Comcast, Amazon.com
Verizon and Coinstar are joining forces in a new Internet streaming video venture built around Redbox's DVD-rental kiosks. Details are sketchy so far, but it will bundle streaming and DVDs, and it'll probably cost less than dominant player Netflix's service.
Wal-Mart Debuts 'Great for You' Seal
10:40 AM 2/7/2012
Wal-Mart Stores plans to help its customers figure that out by adding a new green icon that reads "Great for You" to packaging of some of its house-brand foods. The green and white seal, which shows the stylized outline of a human figure with its arms spread toward the sky, is part of a multiyear campaign the world's largest retailer is undertaking to promote healthier products and fight childhood obesity.
Tax reform sounds like a good idea to lots of people, but where to start? Eliminate the popular deduction for home mortgages? End the write-off for charitable contributions? How about expanding the Social Security payroll tax? Not likely. Politicians of all stripes in this presidential election year are clamoring for simplifying the tax code and closing loopholes. But that would mean Americans would lose some of their prized deductions.
Employers went on a hiring spree in January and drove down the unemployment rate for a fifth straight month to 8.3 percent, its lowest point in nearly three years. The result pointed to a resurgent job market, and it sent stock futures surging. The Dow Jones industrial average futures, which were flat before the report, jumped 95 points.
US Auto Sales Rise in January, Led by Chrysler, VW
2:00 PM 2/1/2012
U.S. auto sales are off to a strong start this year, continuing the brisk pace from late 2011. Chrysler had its best January in four years while Ford got a boost from small cars and SUVs. Volkswagen, which wants to aggressively expand in the U.S., reported much higher sales. One sour note was GM, where sales fell.
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| Symbol | Last | Change / % | Volume |
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Most Actives
| 8.06 | -0.12 -1.47% | 160.88M | |
| 2.20 | +0.26 +13.14% | 99.13M | |
| 12.43 | -0.26 -2.05% | 28.59M | |
| 18.79 | -0.34 -1.78% | 27.41M |
% Gainers
| 32.85 | +8.95 +37.45% | 14.45M | |
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| 10.60 | +1.20 +12.77% | 2.69M |
% Losers
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