Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Photo Richard Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in Washington.Credit Win Mcnamee/Getty Images In the world of consumer finance, they are chameleons: payday lenders that alter their practices and shift their products ever so slightly to work around state laws aimed at stamping out short-term loans that can come with interest rates…
WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) – – The U.S. trade deficit in December widened sharply to its highest level since 2012 as imports rose despite a lower energy bill, which could see the fourth-quarter growth estimate revised down. The Commerce Department said on Thursday the trade deficit jumped 17.1 percent to $46.6 billion, the largest since…
And so after that epic 5.0% Q3 GDP print, driven largely by Obamacare, the payback begins, and the annualized Q4 GDP print, which came in at nearly half the previous quarter run rate, or 2.6%, is about to tumble by another ~0.5% following the just released trade data for December which saw a 17.1% surge…
It all makes perfect sense. Challenger announced this morning that layoffs in January soard 17.6% year-over-year with planned job cuts at the highest level in almost 2 years… Jobless claims in Shale states continues to trend higher as oil prices collapse… but initial jobless claims beat expectations – hovering near cycle lows – though did…
Employers cut 53,041 jobs in January as the energy industry slashed positions in the face of falling oil prices, Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported. Layoffs hit nearly 2-year high in Jan: Challenger – Yahoo Finance.
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer5:38 a.m.Feb. 5, 2015 In this Jan. 12, 2015 photo, a workman moves along a commercial construction site in Philadelphia. The Labor Department reports its first estimate for productivity in the fourth quarter of 2014 on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. worker productivity went…
More people sought unemployment benefits last week, but the number of applicants remained near historic lows in a positive sign for job growth. The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications rose 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 278,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell 6,500 to 292,750. That average has plunged 15 percent…
Over the years we have had our fair share at the epic social(ist) experiment that is Venezuela. Below is a random selection of stories over the past years or two, which truly capture the essence of Venezuela’s socialist revolution: Unfortunately, the country whose president two weeks ago said that “Venezuela Must Deepen Socialism To Improve…
article start Several large banks eased mortgage lending standards at the end of 2014 amid softer demand, including for loans that were eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, a Federal Reserve survey found.Still, nearly 85% of banks said underwriting standards remained basically unchanged, while 14% said credit standards eased somewhat from October…
main LONDON (CNNMoney) Greece’s banks were slammed Wednesday as the country’s new anti-austerity government abandoned commitments made to its international lenders. Officials from Syriza, the party that won power in Sunday’s elections, said they would halt the privatizations of a major electricity company and port, and hike the country’s minimum wage. The party has also…