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Markets React to Bear Sterns, Weekend Fed Action
JP Morgan Chase has snatched up Bear Sterns in a rapid transaction for a huge discount of $2 a share. JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to buy Bear Stearns Cos. for $240 million, about 90 percent less than its value last week, after a run on the company ended 85 years of independence for Wall Streets fifth-largest securities firm.Shareholders of Bear Stearns will get stock in JPMorgan equivalent to about $2 a share, compared with $30 at the close on March 14, the New York-based companies said in a statement late yesterday. The Federal Reserve is providing financial backing to JPMorgan, the second-biggest U.S. bank, and also cut the rate on direct loans to banks in its first emergency weekend action in almost three decades to stave off a broader market panic. The Fed also moved in with a rare weekend move and dropped the emergency lending rate a quarter of a point. President Bush also weighed in predicting a turnaround. President Bush rushed to strike a note of calm to the turbulent situation on Monday morning, hailing the Feds action and saying: Weve taken strong decisive action. The president spoke after meeting at the White House with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and other members of his economic team. Were in challenging times, Bush said.Despite all the action to help prevent losses stocks are still in negative territory again today. The Financial Times says investors are waiting for the next domino to fall.Permalink | Recent Headlines | WWFeeds.com

Electricity Supplier Offers Ebay Auction
A Connecticut electricity supplier called MXEnergy has found an unusual way to sell energy - by auctioning it on eBay.MXEnergy, one of several electricity suppliers in the states deregulated market, is offering homeowners and small businesses electricity rates that are locked in, similar to power purchases by large commercial and industrial customers.To promote its business among United Illuminatings 320,000 customers, the Stamford-based MXEnergy is auctioning off 1 megawatt of electricity to the highest bidder before Dec. 13. As of Friday afternoon, the highest of 18 bids was $132.50.MXenergy will accept the highest bid on a megawatt, or 1,000 kilowatts, of electricity and divide it by 1,000 to determine the rate at which the winner can purchase up to 10 megawatts in a year after signing up with MXenergy.Thats about how much electricity an average household uses annually, said Jeffrey Mayer, president and chief executive of MXEnergy.MXEnergy has 500,000 customers according to the Fool.com story. The eBay auction listing can be found here.Permalink | Recent Headlines | WWFeeds.com

Jobs Report Shows Weakening Economy
Yesterdays jobs report told a tale of weakness. The U.S. economy lost over 60,000 jobs in the short month of February and over 20,000 jobs in January. An AP article says the pink slips have increased and some economists hear the recession bell ringing.The grim snapshot of the countrys employment climate underscored the heavy toll the housing and credit debacles are taking on companies, jobseekers and the economy as a whole.It sounds like the recession bell is ringing for the U.S. economy, although it is still faint, said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group.On Wall Street, stocks tumbled. The Dow Jones lost 146.70 points, a little more than 1 percent to close at 11,893.69. The Dow was down 370 for the last two days of the week.The worsening situation will prompt the Federal Reserve to cut a key interest rate deeply -- perhaps by as much as three-quarters of a percentage point -- at its next meeting March 18, or possibly sooner, to help brace the teetering economy, analysts predicted.The shower of pink slips was widespread. Factories, construction companies, mortgage brokers, real-estate firms, retailers, temporary-help firms, child day-care providers, hotels, educational services, accounting firms and computer designers were among those shedding jobs. All those cuts swamped job gains at hospitals and other health care sites, bars and restaurants, legal services and the government.President Bush was quick to reassure everyone that the economy is not in a recession. Bush said, I know this is a difficult time for our economy, but we recognized the problem early and provided the economy with a booster shot. We will begin to see the impact over the coming months.Less and less people are expecting the quick recovery that President Bush is. With the DOW falling under the 12,000 mark Friday next week could be a difficult one.Permalink | Recent Headlines | WWFeeds.com

Economy Growing Very Slowly
The GDP grew 2.2% in 2007 and slow 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 2007. Raw Story says economists were expecting 1.2% growth in Q4.For all of 2007, the economy grew by just 2.2 percent, the weakest performance in five years, when the country was struggling to recover from the 2001 recession. The housing collapse dealt the economy its biggest blow last year. Builders slashed spending on housing projects by 16.9 percent on an annualized basis, the most in 25 years.The economy has been subject to something of the perfect storm here. It has been hit by the housing slump the credit squeeze, the subprime slime and stock price declines on Wall Street, said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. The economy is weathering some pretty stormy seas but it is weak.The fourth-quarters performance was much weaker -- half the pace -- than economists were expecting. They were forecasting growth to clock in a 1.2 percent pace.The 0.6 percent annualized increase in gross domestic product GDP marked a big loss of momentum from the third quarters brisk, 4.9 percent showing. The fourth-quarter pace was the slowest since the first quarter of last year.IDEAglobals chief U.S. economist calls it stall speed according to MarketWatch.com. The GDP hit stall speed, wrote Joseph Brusuelas, chief U.S. economist at IDEAglobal.GDP hadnt been any slower since the end of 2002, when the economy was struggling to recover from the recession a year earlier.The 1st quarter 2008 GDP is going to be interested. Will the economy tread along, pick up speed or start to step into a recession?Permalink | Recent Headlines | WWFeeds.com

Dow Up Over 400 Points
News that the Fed is going to provide additional liquidity for the credit markets help boost stocks to huge gains today The Dow scored its best one day percentage increase in 5 years according to Reuters. The Dow climbed 416 on the day and the Nasdaq was up 86 points.At the same time cities are starting to feel the impact of the tough housing markets. There are more homeless people. There is more crime. There are less revenues for U.S. cites.The mortgage foreclosure crisis has caused a drop in cities revenues, a spike in crime, more homelessness and an increase in vacant properties, a survey of elected local officials out today shows.About two-thirds of 211 officials surveyed by the National League of Cities reported an increase in foreclosures in their cities in the past year, according to the online and e-mail questionnaire. A third of them reported a drop in revenues and an increase in abandoned and vacant properties and urban blight.Theres a reduction in revenues at the same time that more services are needed, says Cynthia McCollum, president of the National League of Cities and councilwoman in Madison, Ala., a suburb of Huntsville. Because of foreclosures, people are stealing, crime is on the rise and we dont have more money for cops on the street.The market had a boost today but the foreclosure crisis is worsening.Permalink | Recent Headlines | WWFeeds.com

Bush Says Administration Will Expand Mortgage-Relief (Update1) - Bloomberg
NECNBush Says Administration Will Expand Mortgage-Relief Update1Bloomberg - 19 hours agoBy David Scheer March 29 Bloomberg -- President George W. Bush said the government will expand efforts to help homeowners avoid foreclosure as Democrats increase pressure on his administration to reduce unaffordable home-loan payments.Bush may expand help for struggling homeowners ReutersCongress poised to tackle tricky mortgage crisis NewsdayImperial Valley News - Voice of America - The Associated Press - Philadelphia Inquirerall 515 news articles