October 2009

1. October 30th

Stocks Get Pummeled
CNN Money

NEW YORK -- Stocks tumbled Friday, erasing the previous session's gains, as investors dumped a variety of shares at the end of a rough week and choppy month on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 220 points, or 2.2%, with about 90 minutes left in the session. The Dow had lost as much as 273 points earlier.

Since bottoming at a 12-year low on March 9, the S&P 500 has rallied 57.6% as of Thursday's close. But the gains had been more robust until about a week ago, when enthusiasm about the better-than-expected quarterly results gave way to worries about the pace of the recovery. Since peaking on Oct. 19, the S&P 500 has lost 5% as of Friday afternoon.



Gas Prices Highest in a Year
The Associated Press

Retail gasoline prices chugged higher Friday to a new peak for the year, forcing consumers to dig deeper into already-thin wallets to pay for fuel.

At the same time, natural gas prices also were moving up again and have now climbed 16 percent in the past two months — just in time for furnace season to kick in.

The worst part: Supplies of oil and gas are plentiful. In fact, storage points for gas are so jammed, producers are running out of places to put it and crude supplies are well above average levels.

House Ethics Panel to Investigate Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) and Rep. Maxine Water (D-CA)
CNN

Richardson's case involves whether she received preferential treatment in the foreclosure and eventual re-acquisition of her home in Sacramento, California.

Waters is being investigated for allegedly seeking preferential treatment fron a bank linked to her husband. [OneUnited Bank]

9 Banks in Major Holding Company Fail
CNN Money

NEW YORK -- Nine subsidiaries of FBOP Corp., a multistate holding company that included California National Bank of Los Angeles, succumbed Friday to the nationwide banking crisis, bringing to 115 the number of banks closed by regulators so far this year.

The bank failure count for 2009 is still far from 1989's record high of 534 bank closures which took place during the savings and loan crisis. There are about 8,000 banks in the nation, and an average of 10 banks have failed per month this year, nearly four times the number that failed in 2008, and the highest tally since 1992 when 181 banks failed.

Federal Reserve Policy Audit Legislation ‘Gutted,’ Paul Says
Bloomberg

Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Representative Ron Paul, the Texas Republican who has called for an end to the Federal Reserve, said legislation he introduced to audit monetary policy has been “gutted” while moving toward a possible vote in the Democratic-controlled House.

The bill, with 308 co-sponsors, has been stripped of provisions that would remove Fed exemptions from audits of transactions with foreign central banks, monetary policy deliberations, transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee and communications between the Board, the reserve banks and staff, Paul said today.

2. October 29th

US GDP Grows In Third Quarter
CNN Money

NEW YORK -- The U.S. economy grew at a 3.5% annual rate in the third quarter, ending a string of declines over four quarters that resulted in the most severe slide since the Great Depression. But some economists raised doubts about how long such strong growth can last.

The increase in GDP, reported by the government Thursday morning, was slightly better than expectations. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast 3.2% growth in gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economic activity. The economy shrank at a 0.7% rate in the second quarter.

Robert Brusca, an economist with FAO Economics said that the fact that businesses are still cutting inventories "tells us that the economy has not yet turned any corner very sharply."

But Bill Hampel, chief economist of the Credit Union National Association, said it's encouraging that the economy was able to grow at all without businesses actually rebuilding inventory. He said that is a positive sign of growth yet to come.



3. October 28th