Main Street 9

  After six years of steady decline, the U.S. currency is on a major upswing, fueled by fears of a global recession and a meltdown in financial markets. The New York dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s value against the currencies of major trading partners, is up 14% off an all-time low set in [...]

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Nearly a quarter of U.S. fuel production had been shut down due to the approach of Hurricane Ike, according to a government assessment released Friday. By 10:00 A.M. ET, 13 of the 26 Texas refineries, representing a production capacity of 3.6 million barrels of fuel a day, had been shut down, the Energy Department said. [...]

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Federal regulators said Thursday they could not determine after a lengthy review how much speculators have influenced commodity prices, especially the runup earlier this year in oil prices. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission released a much-anticipated report examining the activities of large index investors and so-called “swap” traders – those who trade on behalf of [...]

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  Oil prices fell Thursday, testing a 5-month low, as the market remained focused on slumping demand and the stronger dollar but also watched the threat that Hurricane Ike poses to the Texas Gulf Coast. Crude futures traded down 94 cents at $101.64 a barrel, having been as low as $100.18 earlier. On Wednesday, U.S. [...]

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The federal government’s takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may save the battered real estate market from a complete meltdown. But financial experts say the bailout won’t lead to a housing recovery just yet. Instead, some on Wall Street said the housing sector is in as tough shape today as it was before Sunday’s [...]

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Comments by chief producer Saudi Arabia that the market was “fairly well-balanced” was seen to suggest that output would be unchanged. US light, sweet crude for October fell $1.15, to $105.19. London Brent crude dropped $1.17 to $102.27. Prices have sunk from a record of more than $147 a barrel seen in July. Opec members [...]

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(Fortune Small Business) — With commodity, fuel and insurance costs hitting record highs, small-business owners are anxious about next week’s federal minimum wage hike, which will require employers in 26 states and the District of Columbia to raise their base to at least $6.55. Next week’s increase of the current $5.85/hour minimum wage is the [...]

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President Bush on Saturday tried to pin the blame on Congress for soaring energy prices and said lawmakers need to lift long-standing restrictions on drilling for oil in pristine lands and offshore tracts believed to hold huge reserves of fuel. “It’s time for members of Congress to address the pain that high gas prices are [...]

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Oil companies once viewed drilling in the deep waters off Florida as cost prohibitive. Politicians feared even the slightest sign of support would be career suicide. No more. Record crude oil prices are fueling support for oil and natural gas exploration off the nation’s shores. In Florida, movement was underway even before President Bush called on [...]

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The economic downturn is hitting middle-aged and older American workers hard, forcing more than one in four to postpone retirement, according to a survey released Tuesday by the AARP. Twenty-seven percent of workers aged 45 and older said they had put their retirement plans on hold because of the slowing economy, AARP reported. “The current [...]

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