credit crisis

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Fed Will Buy Up Short-Term Debt to Boost Credit

New plan to ease credit pushes the central bank toward a commercial bank role

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve today launched a new plan to buy up companies’ unsecured short-term debt in yet another effort to unfreeze the credit markets, the New York Times reports. Underscoring a sense of urgency on Wall Street as the crisis spread across Europe and Asia yesterday, the radical plan would...

Russia Drops $5.4B on Iceland's Imploding Economy

Nordic nation pegs exchange rates, nationalizes another bank

(Newser) - Iceland is in talks to receive a $5.43 billion loan from Russia to stave off economic collapse, as the tiny Nordic country nationalized yet another bank and fixed its currency's to the euro. An oversized banking system has left Iceland dangerously exposed to market gyrations, and the prime minister...

In Crisis, Buffett Is Modern JP Morgan

'Oracle of Omaha' offers financial, psychological help to stressed America

(Newser) - Amid the financial panic of 1907, financier JP Morgan stepped in to play the role of central bank, crafting an economic rescue plan and using his personality to offer worried Americans a psychological boost. Today, Warren Buffett’s financial aid to Wall Street and calming influence on Main Street are...

Europe Scrambles to Save Banks

Governments rescue troubled institutions, pledge to back deposits

(Newser) - Barely a day after rejecting the need for a massive unified rescue plan, European leaders are wading into two substantial bailouts and vowing to save banks, Bloomberg reports. France’s BNP Paribas will take over Fortis in Belgium and Luxembourg, while Germany’s government and banks bail out Hypo Real...

Paulson Lost Some Cred
 Paulson Lost Some Cred 
ANALYSIS

Paulson Lost Some Cred

Demands and attitude have soured a once promising relationship between the administration and lawamakers

(Newser) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson may have gotten what he wanted from Congress on the Wall Street bailout, but his performance in selling the deal left lawmakers with a sour taste, the Wall Street Journal reports. Many think his original proposal, which would have granted him virtually unlimited powers, and his...

For Paulson, Toughest Part Lies Ahead

Treasury has just weeks to create asset-buying behemoth

(Newser) - The real work for the Treasury Department begins now that the bailout bill has passed, the New York Times writes. Secretary Henry Paulson has less than a month to get a massive asset management firm up and running, and to start pricing the toxic securities that have flummoxed experts. The...

Consumers Squeezed, Spending Stalls
Consumers Squeezed, Spending Stalls

Consumers Squeezed, Spending Stalls

As prices rise, wages fall and unemployment jumps, spending growth has stalled

(Newser) - The current economic crisis is shaping up to be different than others Americans have weathered in the past 20 years in an important respect, the Washington Post reports: consumer spending, which the nation could always count on to propel the economy through, has stalled. Real spending, the catalyst behind 70%...

French Economy Enters Recession

After Ireland, it's the second EU nation in economic trouble

(Newser) - France has entered a recession. The national statistics agency projects that the economy will contract by 0.1% in the third and fourth quarters of 2008, meeting the generally accepted definition. Finance Minister Christine Lagarde blamed the troubles on high oil prices, the strength of the euro earlier this year,...

California, Out of Cash, Begs for $7B From Treasury

Cash-starved Calif, credit markets, may need bailout of its own

(Newser) - California is almost out of cash, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned the Treasury Department yesterday, and may need an emergency loan of up to $7 billion from the federal government, the Los Angeles Times reports. California is the largest of several states locked out of the bond market by the credit...

Wells Fargo Buys Wachovia for $15.4B, Trumps Citigroup

After initial no, Bay Area bank buys out troubled lender

(Newser) - Wells Fargo will buy struggling bank Wachovia in a $15.4 billion takeover, reports the Wall Street Journal. The deal was announced today and comes just days after Wachovia had reached an agreement to sell its banking operations to Citigroup. The Wells Fargo purchase requires no government assistance, and the...

House Steels for High Noon Bailout Vote

Efforts to sway votes move into overdrive as second effort looms

(Newser) - Leaders and lobbyists are scrambling to marshal support for the revamped bailout bill before it returns to the House at midday today, the Washington Post reports. Democratic and GOP chiefs believe they can sway enough votes to swing it—although only a few have switched so far. Some Republicans who...

FDIC May Need Its Own Bailout
FDIC May Need Its Own Bailout
ANALYSIS

FDIC May Need Its Own Bailout

Agency lacks funds to insure present level, much less proposed raise to $250K

(Newser) - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has quietly and effectively done its job safeguarding Americans’ money since 1933, but the financial crisis will thrust the agency into the spotlight, reports Big Money, Slate’s financial offshoot. The bailout bill increases the amount the FDIC insures, from $100,000 to $250,000,...

Small Businesses Feel Credit Crunch Trickle Down

High rates, worry about economy keep many from expanding

(Newser) - Small businesses, which employ 40% of the workforce and account for half the nation’s output, are starting to be squeezed by the credit crisis, reports the New York Times. Many find themselves denied credit, offered loans at exorbitant rates, or too worried about the economy to borrow. “Small...

Credit Crunch Shuts Down State, City Projects

Projects shelved as municipal bond market dries up

(Newser) - The credit crisis is squeezing the life out of local governments, reports the New York Times. Cities and states have found themselves shut out of bond markets for the last 2 weeks, and big projects, from new hospitals to highway repairs, are being shelved or delayed. Analysts believe the days...

Fed, Treasury Fall Back on Existing 'Inadequate' Tools

With no federal deal, agencies limited to ad hoc solutions

(Newser) - With yesterday’s failure of the $700 billion bailout, the Fed and Treasury are reconsidering their options, the New York Times reports. Fearful of cutting interest rates, they're back to rescuing struggling institutions on a case by case basis, and printing money—offering $150 billion in emergency loans to banks...

European, Asian Markets Edge Up After Dive

US economic illness goes viral

(Newser) - Europe markets edged back up after an early drop today as the failure of the US bailout package continued to sap confidence worldwide, Bloomberg reports. Asia's markets went into freefall on opening this morning but gradually recouped some losses on hopes of a fresh deal. The Nikkei index was down...

Countdown to Failure: How Bill Unraveled

Stunned silence grips House after last vote

(Newser) - As members of the House of Representatives cast their ballots on the $700 billion bailout package yesterday morning—the negative votes piling up even as the market plummeted—the Los Angeles Times was blogging. Kicked off by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's final words to the House—"The alternative is...

Mac Blames Bailout on Obama, Who Returns Fire

(Newser) - John McCain blamed Barack Obama and the Democrats for injecting partisan rancor into a House vote that killed the $700 bailout plan today, Reuters reports. They "infused unnecessary partisanship into the process," McCain said in Iowa. A McCain advisor went further, saying Obama had "failed to lead,...

TV News Struggles to Explain Crisis Even as Ratings Surge

Networks see viewer interest in formerly esoteric financial instruments

(Newser) - TV news programs are grappling with explaining the financial crisis to an audience suddenly much more interested in business news, the New York Times reports. With CNBC seeing its highest ratings ever and CNN, Fox and MSNBC seeing bumps in recent weeks, news shows have put teams of business pundits...

Here Come the Peasants With Pitchforks
Here Come the Peasants With Pitchforks
ANALYSIS

Here Come the Peasants With Pitchforks

Meltdown, bailout provoke populist fury against Wall St., DC

(Newser) - The financial meltdown may have brought simmering economic resentments to a boil and prompted a populist backlash, writes Nina Easton in Fortune. Public opinion indicators—polls, calls to Congress—show widespread fury at the bailout. Long-building anger over growing economic inequality may have combined with disgust at the current crisis...

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