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26 Jan 2011 11:17

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Biz: Housing numbers: Prices, sales on the up-and-up right now

  • 17.5% jump in single-family home sales source
  • » Oh, and home prices are on the up, too: Good news, everybody. The housing market appears to be improving – home prices are at their highest since April 2008, and sales of single-family units are at their highest in eight months. This is a fundamental suggestion that the recovery seems to be gaining wings. But will it last? It seems like just yesterday we were talking about the anger of a double-dip.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jan 2011 19:16

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Politics: Obama’s State of the Union plan: Jobs, jobs and more jobs

  • My number one focus is going to be making sure that we are competitive, that we are growing, and we are creating jobs not just now but well into the future.
  • President Barack Obama • Revealing to supporters through his Organizing for America grassroots thingy that he would be focusing on jobs during the State of the Union this time around. “We’re up to it, as long as we come together as a people – Republicans, Democrats, Independents – as long as we focus on what binds us together as a people,” he said. Odds are that Tea Partier Michele Bachmann will pop a hole in that optimism for bipartisanship by the second minute of her response-to-the-response SOTU response, which, based on her long track record, will most assuredly be loaded with lies. So much for that hope, Obama. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jan 2011 10:40

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Biz: Some positive home sales news, because we need some

  • 12.3% jump in existing home sales in December source
  • » Oh yeah, some more good news: The annual rate of 5.28 million homes, while far below the mid-naughts peak of 7 million in September 2005, is a bit higher than analysts expected. The number hit a low of less than 4 million home sales back in the middle of last year. Granted, people’s homes are still getting foreclosed en masse, but this isn’t bad news.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2011 09:50

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Biz: With 2011 in full swing, so are fresh jobless claims

  • 35,000 the rise in jobless claims last week source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2011 09:38

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Biz: A record year: How bad were home foreclosures in 2010?

  • 2.9 million the number of foreclosure notices homeowners received in 2010 – a record, but only modestly above 2009
  • 1 million the number of people who lost their homes as a result – Nevada led the nation in Foreclosures, BTW source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jan 2011 21:21

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Biz: Auto bailouts: Chrysler on the comeback trail, slowly but surely

  • I haven’t gotten any questions yet today like, ‘Will you be here next year?’
  • Chrysler chief executive Sergio Marchionne • On the company’s slow bounceback. Chrysler hasn’t had the dramatic turnaround that Ford and GM have had since the nadir of the financial crisis, but they appear to be making headway with a new generation of vehicles – particularly the newest Jeep Grand Cherokee, which has done well despite the fact that SUVs have fallen out of fashion lately. The company’s collaboration with Fiat has also helped buoy Chrysler. So, how about paying back those loans from the bailout and other sources? “We are going to repay one hundred cents on every dollar of loans we received,” Marchionne said. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Jan 2011 09:35

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Biz: Unemployment dips in December, but job growth only moderate

  • 103,000 the increase in jobs last month – decent but lower than expected (and mostly private job growth)
  • 9.4% the decrease in unemployment, which is down nearly half a percentage point source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

05 Jan 2011 11:23

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Biz: Could unemployment rate drop? Key indicator looks very positive

  • 297k new payrolls among private employers in December, according to payroll processor ADP, which tracks stuff like this
  • 100k new payrolls were expected in the December survey, so this is an extremely positive sign for economic growth
  • eleven straight months of growth for private-sector payrolls … but will unemployment drop? (those numbers will come Friday) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jan 2011 21:54

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Biz: Henry Paulson personally lost $1 million in the housing crisis

  • See? Treasury secretaries suffer just like the rest of us. You can call Henry Paulson a lot of things, but one thing you can’t call the Bush-era Treasury Secretary is “unaffected by the financial crisis.” See, Paulson’s home just got sold on the D.C. housing market, and it went for far less than he bought it for. Let’s check the numbers already:
  • $4.3M the cost he paid for his home, near the National Cathedral, in 2006 (which is swank, BTW)
  • $4.6M the amount Paulson, no longer a bureaucrat, put the home on the market for in April
  • $3.25M the amount Paulson’s home finally sold for a couple of weeks ago – a $1 million loss source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Dec 2010 12:10

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Biz: New jobless claims back down to pre-financial-crisis numbers

  • 388,000 the number of new jobless claims last week (the week of Christmas), the lowest it’s been in ages
  • 07/12/08 the last time new jobless claims dipped below 400,000 in a week – in the midst of the housing crisis source
  • » Is this a corner turned? It’s important to note that while weekly jobless claims figures aren’t exactly the end-all-be-all of unemployment statistics, the number has been headed in downward direction for weeks and is nearly 250,000 less than its peak in March 2009. While the numbers are seasonally adjusted, the Christmas holiday can have an effect on them, so it’s good to keep an eye on this number to see where it goes after the first of the year.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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