U.S. Economy » 2012 » March

March 2012
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Jobs, housing data show economy has some muscle

By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, pointing to resilience in the labor market despite belt-tightening by Washington. The improving employment picture is helping to prop up housing, with rising home prices keeping domestic consumption supported, limiting the drag from tighter fiscal policy that is dampening factory activity. "All the eggs are in housing and the consumers' baskets this quarter. ...

Goldman unveils checks on conflicts in bid to fix image

By Lauren Tara LaCapra SALT LAKE City (Reuters) - After dozens of meetings with executives and regulators, 100,000 hours of employee training and an immeasurable amount of public grief, Goldman Sachs Group Inc CEO Lloyd Blankfein claimed success in putting his bank and his legacy back on track. At Goldman's annual meeting on Thursday, Blankfein unveiled details of a three-year review and overhaul of the bank's practices in dealing with clients, following high-profile missteps that tarnished its reputation in the aftermath of the financial crisis. ...

Wall Street mostly dips, but off lows with help from HP

By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks mostly edged lower on Thursday but were sharply off their session lows as a rally in Hewlett-Packard's shares offset worries about weak Chinese manufacturing data and the prospects of the Federal Reserve reducing its monetary stimulus. Hewlett-Packard jumped nearly 15 percent and helped the Dow stay in positive territory, a day after the world's largest PC maker raised its outlook. For most of the morning, the market had been pulled lower by worries that the Fed's stimulus may be scaled back sooner than hoped and after weak factory data in China. ...

Who repaid U.S. loan first? Chrysler, Tesla don't see eye to eye

By Deepa Seetharaman DETROIT (Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC and Tesla Motors Inc , both led by media-savvy executives, are trading public jabs over the definition of payback. Tesla wired $452 million on Wednesday to repay the remaining portion of its U.S. Department of Energy loan with interest. The company described itself as "the only American car company to have fully repaid the government. Chrysler's snappy rejoinder came four hours later: "Not exactly, Tesla." In 2009, Tesla won a federal loan as part of a DOE program to promoted advanced vehicle development. That same year, the U.S. ...

EU wants big companies to reveal national tax bills

By John O'Donnell BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's top regulatory official is seeking to force large companies to disclose how much tax they pay in each country where they operate, a measure some politicians say could curb tax avoidance. Michel Barnier, the European commissioner in charge of drafting business regulation, said in a speech in Amsterdam that rules which will force banks to report their profits, taxes and subsidies by country from 2015 should be extended to cover other companies. "We will expand these reporting obligations to large companies and groups," he said on Thursday. ...

Apple enjoyed Irish tax holiday from the start

By Poornima Gupta and Padraic Halpin SAN FRANCISCO/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Apple has operated almost tax-free in Ireland since 1980, welcomed by a government keen to bring jobs to what was then one of Europe's poorest countries, former company executives and Irish officials have said. Chief Executive Tim Cook faced criticism from a Senate subcommittee in Washington on Tuesday over the iPad and iPhone maker's tax practices, which had been shrouded from full view behind secretive tax-exempt Irish-based corporate entities. ...

Elan rejects Royalty's $6.4 billion raised offer

By Padraic Halpin DUBLIN (Reuters) - Elan rejected Royalty Pharma's increased $6.4 billion bid on Thursday, shortly after the U.S. firm cut the acceptance bar for its latest offer to 50 percent plus one share. Royalty raised its hostile cash bid to $12.50 per share on Monday, from $11.25 previously, but made the new offer conditional on Elan shareholders rejecting at a meeting due to be held on June 17 the series of defensive transactions recently announced by the Irish drug firm. ...

New car sales seen up 6-8 percent in May: analysts

DETROIT (Reuters) - Auto sales in May are expected to rise 6 percent to 8 percent and the annual sales pace should rebound back above 15 million vehicles after a disappointing result in the prior month, two research reports said on Thursday. Sales of new cars and trucks in May are expected to top 1.43 million vehicles, while the annual sales pace is forecast to hit 15.2 million vehicles, according to a report by J.D. Power and Associates and LMC Automotive, as well as one by TrueCar.com. Kelley Blue Book's forecast is slightly more conservative, as it sees sales rising 6 percent to almost 1. ...

U.S. prosecutors sought testimony from top SAC executives: WSJ

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors are seeking testimony from three senior executives of the $15 billion hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York issued subpoenas to SAC's president, chief compliance officer and head of trading, according to the Journal's report. Others at SAC, including the firm's founder Steven A. Cohen, were asked last week to testify before a grand as part of the U.S. government's insider trading probe of the hedge fund, Reuters has previously reported. ...

Ally to pay $2.1 billion to settle claims tied to ResCap

By Tom Hals (Reuters) - Ally Financial Inc agreed on Thursday to pay $2.1 billion to settle legal claims tied to its bankrupt Residential Capital LLC unit, nearly triple the amount it initially offered to creditors of the subprime mortgage business. Ally hopes the deal will finally end allegations that ResCap was stripped of choice assets such as its online bank, Ally Bank, before being put into bankruptcy, leaving the mortgage unit's creditors empty-handed. Putting the issue behind it will help Ally focus on its core business of auto lending and on repaying the U.S. ...

Archive for March 17th, 2012

17 Mar

Growth China’s top priority, inflation key risk-NDRC

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s economic policy priority is to maintain relatively fast growth, but Beijing cannot lower its guard against inflation risks, the head of the country’s top planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, said on Sunday. “First of all, we need to maintain steady and relatively fast economic growth — development is [...]

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Archive for March 17th, 2012

Growth China’s top priority, inflation key risk-NDRC