Reuters - Stock markets are up sharply since
March. The recent batch of economic data has not looked as dire
as feared. The U.S. Federal Reserve is finding fewer takers for
its loan auctions. A fine-art sale drew a record $86 million
price for a Francis Bacon painting.
Reuters - Martin Feldstein, President of the
National Bureau of Economic Research, said in a newspaper
interview published on Monday he had seen a clear reversal in
U.S. monthly economic indicators since December or January.
AP - First the good news: The worst of the painful housing slump and the credit crunch might come to an end this year. Now the bad: The economy will weaken further and unemployment will rise.
AP - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday that financial markets are "considerably calmer" now than they were two months ago. He predicted the economy will be rebounding by the second half of this year.
Reuters - Inflation is too high but may be
slowing and the economy is suffering a "pronounced and serious
downturn," Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis
Lockhart said on Friday. -- read full article
AFP - US homebuilding showed a surprisingly strong jump in April, signaling a ray of hope amid the rubble of the worst housing slump in decades, according to government data released Friday.
AP - Wall Street capped a week of big gains with modest moves Friday as investors grappled with surging energy prices that overshadowed news of a surprise increase in home construction.
Reuters - Consumer confidence tumbled to its
lowest in 28 years this month, a survey showed on Friday, as
short-term inflation expectations reached the highest levels
since the stagflationary early 1980s.
AP - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday that financial markets are "considerably calmer" now than they were two months ago. He predicted the economy will be rebounding by the second half of this year. -- read full article
Reuters - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
said on Friday that markets have calmed down to the point where
prices will be driven by economic factors including an
improving housing market rather than by fear.
AFP - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday he believes the financial crisis is winding down, but that it would take some time to fully emerge from the economic malaise.
Reuters - Stocks finished little changed on
Friday as surging oil prices lifted energy shares and offset
data that showed consumer confidence sank to its lowest in 28
years.
