For the first time since 1992, federal regulators have closed over 100 banks across the United States, a sign that the financial crisis is not yet over for financial institutions that have suffered heavy losses from the weakness of the real estate market. Seven banks were closed just yesterday, which brings this year’s total to 106.
While the situation is far from reaching 1992’s levels of bank closures, which topped 179 as the result of a savings-and-loan crisis, the fact that 106 banks have been closed spells a lot of trouble for the employees of the banks and the communities which …read more

While improvements to the employment picture have been seen in recent months, the unemployment rate is persistently high, and companies are not hiring. Even if job losses slow, the fact that businesses are reluctant to hire more workers continues to cause problems in the overall economy. Only seven states reported that there were job gains in September, and the jobless rate rose to a 26-year high of 9.8%.
Employment is one of the cornerstones of the economy, since the economy relies so much on the ability of people to spend money. Businesses rely on consumer spending to help them with meeting …read more

Florida’s unemployment rate hit 11 percent in September, sending the number of jobless residents of the state to a staggering 1 million for the first time in the state’s history. The state’s unemployment figures marks a 0.2 percent increase from August and are 1.2 percent higher than the national average of 9.8 percent.
October 1975 was the last time that Florida’s jobless rate topped 11 percent. According to the Director of the Agency for Workforce Innovation, Cynthia Lorenzo, the economic recovery is coming slowly. Lorenzo also pointed to the fact that there have been less closings and large-scale layoffs as a …read more

Cosmetics giant Estee Lauder has stated that it expects its quarterly profit to be much higher than it had originally predicted and will post a boosted fiscal-year forecast later this month. The company’s decision comes after an unexpected increase in sales figures, sending Estee Lauder’s shares up 5 percent.
However, Estee Lauder, which is best known for its Estee Lauder line and its brands such as Clinique, still expects that slow consumer spending will keep its results in check and will remain cautious.
As consumer spending has fallen, Estee Lauder has struggled as more consumers shy away from spending on products that …read more

For the third consecutive month, production output at America’s factories, mines, and utilities has risen in September more than analysts expected. However, analysts have warned that industrial output may slow significantly once federal stimulus money has all been spent and industrial companies must once again rely on their own capital.
September’s increase came largely from increased production of auto vehicles and parts, which was in part due to the government’s Cash for Clunkers program and its impact on the demand for new vehicles. Steel and other industrial sectors also posted increases while General Electric posted growth in its industrial businesses in …read more

As earnings season continues, questions about the economy naturally arise. So far, third quarter earnings have been quite encouraging. And today, the good news continued. JP Morgan reported spectacular third quarter earnings, and that is providing hope that the rest of the financial sector will follow suit. The news has prompted the U.S. stock market to head quite a bit higher, fueling hopes that the Dow will hit 10,000 sometime before the week ends.
But is all of this earnings goodness actually indicative of a better economy? The answer might be no. This is because part of the reason that profits …read more

Earlier, the Obama Administration had proposed taxes on multinationals in order to help raise $200 billion in revenue. However, at the urging of big business, that plan has been shelved. Businesses have managed to dodge a tax bill that some were concerned would tax businesses at a time when the recession is causing problems for the economy. The fact that earnings news is improving apparently doesn’t provide enough of an incentive to change things.
The $200 billion proposal would have changed the way overseas profits would be taxed, resulting in higher taxes for large multinational companies doing business in other countries. …read more

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, James Bullard, recently said that he expects unemployment to head unavoidably into double digits and that inflation poses a larger risk than many analysts believe in the medium term. At a time when many Americans are looking for good news related to the economy, Bullard’s statements sadly come as no surprise.
Data released earlier this month confirmed that unemploymet has reached a 26-year-high of 9.8 percent, a staggering figure that has far-reaching rammifications on the economy and on the life of the average American. Bullard’s prediction that unemployment will continue to soar …read more

For the first time since August 2008, U.S. retailers have posted a collective gain in same-store sales in the month of September, a development that may signal relief for the battered retail industry. The news comes as a surprise to many analysts, especially considering the sour state of the economy, rising unemployment, weak consumer spending, and other negative economic factors.
Analysts largely expected the retail industry to do much worse in the month of September: while Thompson Reuters predicted that its retail same-store sales index would show a 1.1 percent drop in sales, they actually rose 0.6 percent. The surprising outcome …read more

After a couple of months of respite on the labor market, September turned out to have been something of a disappointment. Unemployment has hit 9.8%, and jobless claims rose in September. For the most part, the pace of unemployment has been slowing since things reached a high in January. However, September betrayed the fact that there is still weakness with regard to the labor market, and that a jobless recovery is becoming more of a reality.
Some companies are also cutting back hours as they continue to try to save money even while trying to avoid laying off too many workers. …read more