Tag: market news

Optimism over the progress of crucial U.S. budget talks combined with hopes that Greece will finally get its next batch of bailout cash to shore up markets Monday in spite of concerns over the fighting in the Middle East.

The advance followed a rebound late Friday amid signs that President Barack Obama and leaders of Congress were making headway in their efforts to agree a budget deal by the end of the year. Without a settlement, the U.S. faces the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts _ a scenario that some analysts say could knock around 5 percentage points off the U.S. economy, seriously derailing the global recovery.

"Hope that U.S. politicians can avoid the fiscal cliff has been gaining traction over the weekend after lawmakers expressed confidence that they can reach a deal," said Jane Foley, an analyst at Rabobank International. "Clearly if an agreement is reached the U.S. should be able to avoid be plunged back into recession early next year." Continue reading "U.S. Budget hopes shore up markets" →

Austere "fiscal cliff" tax increases and federal spending cuts set for the end of the year would send the economy back into recession and cause a spike in the jobless rate to 9.1 percent by next fall, congressional budget analysts said Thursday.

The tax and spending changes, which a lame-duck session of Congress will dig into next week, would cut the federal deficit by $503 billion through next September, said the Congressional Budget Office report. But the adjustments also would cause the economy to shrink by 0.5 percent next year.

The report, updating an analysis from last May, comes as a newly re-elected President Barack Obama and Congress seek ways to avert or at least ease possible damage from the scheduled changes. All sides are promising cooperation, but many difficult decisions await and the politics of raising tax revenue and cutting federal benefits programs is exceedingly tricky.

The new study estimates that the nation's gross domestic product would grow by 2.2 percent next year if the Bush-era tax rates were extended and would expand by almost 3 percent if Obama's 2 percentage point payroll tax cut and current jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed are extended. Continue reading "Congress: Fiscal cliff cuts would mean recession" →

Wall Street greeted a second Obama term the way it greeted the first.

Investors dumped stocks Wednesday in the sharpest sell-off of the year. With the election only hours behind them, they focused on big problems ahead in Washington and across the Atlantic Ocean.

Frantic selling recalled the days after Obama's first victory, as the financial crisis raged and stocks spiraled downward.

Four years later, American voters returned a divided government to power and left investors fretting about a package of tax increases and government spending cuts that could stall the economic recovery unless Congress acts to stop it by Jan. 1.

In Europe, leaders warned that unemployment could remain high for years, and cut their forecasts for economic growth for this year and 2013. The head of the European Central Bank said not even powerhouse Germany is immune. Continue reading "Dow loses 313 in post-election sell-off" →

It's only been a day, but November on Wall Street is already looking a lot better than October.

Strong economic data and corporate news converged Thursday to give U.S. stocks their best day since mid-September. Positive signs about the job market and soaring sales figures pushed stock futures up before the market opened. A half-hour into trading, reports on manufacturing and consumer confidence added another log to the fire.

The Dow Jones industrial average had already risen 100 points when the mid-morning reports came out. The data _ including news that manufacturing grew for the second straight month _ pushed it up as much as 177 points. It fell back some, but held a steady gain for the rest of the day.

The Dow closed up 136.16 points, or 1 percent, to close at 13,232.62. It was the best day for the Dow since Sept. 13. Continue reading "November starts off strong" →