Main Street 9

 
Europe may be reeling from the worst recession in living memory, but in Italy you can barely tell.
As leaders around the continent suffer the backlash from factory closures and job losses, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is more popular than ever, there is not a hint of social unrest and unemployment remains close to record lows.
It’s [...]

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U.S. oil prices rose above $35 a barrel  parring but not reversing  nearly 7% drop on renewed economy concerns, slumping demand and bloated inventories.
U.S. crude for March delivery rose 32 cents to $35.25 a barrel.
“The crude market is still hanging on to the low end of its range,” said Tom Bentz, an analyst at BNP [...]

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General Motors and Chrysler LLC said Tuesday they could need an additional $21.6 billion in federal loans between them because of worsening demand for their cars and trucks.
The two firms, in documents submitted to the Treasury Department, also detailed plans to cut 50,000 jobs worldwide by the end of the year. GM said it plans to [...]

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Only good economic news lately has been the collapse of oil prices. At the beginning of July, just five months ago, the price of a barrel of was more than $140. By the beginning of December, it was down to about $45. That’s a drop of more than two-thirds. In the U.S., we consume about [...]

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The White House said a disorderly bankruptcy in the motor industry would be a huge blow which the US economy could not withstand.
Meanwhile General Motors said it was temporarily stopping some production.
And Honda is also to cut back output in North America.
GM, which has been pleading for an emergency government loan to avert collapse, said [...]

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Just how would you raise prices if you were an oil supplier? Controlling the supply — as in the 1973 OPEC embargo — has become less effective with more sources of oil worldwide. And oil suppliers clearly cannot raise prices by controlling demand in the physical oil market; ultimately, they need to sell their oil, [...]

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While the Federal Reserve had been tipped to leave rates on hold, analysts said a cut looked more likely after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.
The Fed has sought to soothe nerves and earlier injected $70bn  into markets to boost liquidity.
Central banks worldwide have faced the twin threat of quickening inflation and a wider economic slowdown.
“The [...]

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Wall Street remained on alert late Sunday as hopes for a buyout of beleaguered Lehman Brothers faded and following extensive efforts by both executives and regulators to stave off a broader financial crisis.
As the weekend drew to a close, the Federal Reserve announced plans to expand its lending to the banking industry in an effort [...]

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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 the Bear [...]

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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 second [...]

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