National Debts Soars To Highest Level Since WWII

July 1, 2010

USA Today

By John Fritze

The federal debt will represent 62% of the nation’s economy by the end of this year, the highest percentage since just after World War II, according to a long-term budget outlook released today by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

Republicans, who have been talking a lot about the debt in recent months, pounced on the report. “The driver of this debt is spending,” said New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. “Our existing debt will be worsened by the president’s new health care entitlement programs…as well as an explosion in existing health care and retirement entitlement spending as the Baby Boomers retire.”

Click here for the full report.

US Financial Conditions At Crisis Level

June 24, 2010

The Business Insider

By Vincent Fernando

Deutsche Bank has a new and improved index of U.S. financial conditions, and this index just slumped back towards the lows of our recent crisis.

Click here for the full report.

New Home Prices Drop To Lowest Level Ever

June 23, 2010

Yahoo Finance

By Alan Zibel

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new homes collapsed in May, sinking 33 percent to the lowest level on record as potential buyers stopped shopping for homes once they could no longer receive government tax credits.

The bleak report from the Commerce Department is the first sign of how the end of federal tax credits could weigh on the nation’s housing market.

The credits expired April 30. That’s when a new-home buyer would have had to sign a contract to qualify.

“We fear that the appetite to buy a home has disappeared alongside the tax credit,” Paul Dales, U.S. economist with Capital Economics,” wrote in a note. “After all, unemployment remains high, job security is low and credit conditions are tight.”

New-home sales in May fell from April to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 300,000, the government said Wednesday. That was the slowest sales pace on records dating back to 1963. And it’s the largest monthly drop on record. Sales have now sunk 78 percent from their peak in July 2005.

Click here for the full report.

Stocks Hit 7-Month Low

June 8, 2010

Google News

By Stephen Bernard and Tim Paradis

NEW YORK — Stocks fell to their lowest level in seven months Monday after traders couldn’t shake fears that Europe’s economic problems will derail a global recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 115 points, or 1.2 percent, to its lowest close since November. The Dow lost 323 Friday after the government’s May jobs report fell short of expectations.

Broader indexes logged steeper percentage drops Monday. The technology-focused Nasdaq composite index fell 2 percent.

Monday’s drop was a smaller-scale repeat of Friday as traders again dumped stocks in the final hour. That signals traders would rather sell than be hit by surprises, especially because Europe’s business day begins before trading opens in the U.S. Some traders say the slide has been overdone but that the market isn’t likely to find much stability until there is a better sense about how Europe’s economies will hold up under heavy cost-cutting.

With only a sprinkling of economic and corporate news to go on, traders again tracked the moves of the euro. The 16-nation currency hit another four-year low and hurt European markets. The euro fell as low as $1.1878 before rising to $1.1915. A drop in the currency is seen as a sign of flagging confidence in Europe’s ability to rein in its debt without falling back into recession.

Click here for the full report.