The markets are reacting to the bad news concerning unemployment in the US which was reported today.  At the time of this post, the Dow was down 186 points. 
“Employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate climbed to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent. Workers also saw weekly wages fall, [...]

In order to buy a failed banking institution, an equity fund will have to meet new criteria under newly proposed rules.   Several people involved with the proposal have argued that these rules need to be scaled back in order to avoid “scaring off money” which would otherwise be available to save a failed institution. 
“Bair [...]

I got this notice from a bankruptcy practitioner with the international firm of Salans (offices in France, United-Kingdom, Germany, Spain, USA, Poland, Russian Federation, Hungary, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Romania, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, China) regarding the most recent changes to the bankruptcy laws in Russia.  This report states: “Readers will recall, on December 30, [...]

Overall, sales continue to decline, which is not a shock.  Sales figures for Ford (off 11%), Honda (off 30%)  and Nissan (off 23%) were all somewhat better than expected, although still clearly in the red.  Sales for GM (off 34%), Toyota (off 32%) and Chrysler (off 42%) were all significantly worse than expected.  “Ford, which [...]

The idea that the Federal Reserve should be granted even more power than it already has is raising the eyebrows of at least one observer: Eliot Spitzer.  He writes: “The United States should not lightly put our fate back in the hands of the very entity whose oversight of the economy and financial sector brought [...]

“Whether the men are really Japanese, as their passports declare, is unclear but Italian and US secret services working together soon concluded that the bills and accompanying bank documents were most probably counterfeit, the latest handiwork of the Italian Mafia.
Few details have been revealed beyond a June 4 statement by the Italian finance police announcing [...]

The Federal Reserve has been the primary actor along, with the Treasury Department, in the bailing out of Corporate America, primarily its financial institutions.  As a result, its debt has gone (by one report) from 900 billion in October of ’08 to over 2 trillion presently.  “The most recent Fed Balance Sheet reading of $2.16 [...]

Too much debt forced Eddie Bauer into bankruptcy and now an entity which owns several other retail chains is offering to buy its assets, maintain its corporate headquarters in Bellevue and continue current management.  “CCMP [the stalking horse] hopes to complete the sale within 45 days because a quick transfer of ownership would allow Eddie [...]

It is now trite to use the phrase “never before in history” as it is applicable to so many activities, especially economic ones.  But smugglers caught with suitcases holding 134 billion in US bonds…that has never happened before!  “Two Japanese men are detained in Italy after allegedly attempting to take $134 billion worth of U.S. [...]

Some big banks are trying to extricate themselves from government interference with their corporate governance…read salary caps…by repaying TARP money.  It is interesting that the Treasury Department had to approve the repayments (this being unlike normal loans, which is an understatement) and one wonders about the effect that this repayment has on the very public [...]