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| Earnings may fool grim forecasters
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| Just hope analysts have become too gloomy. Even before Alcoa kicked off the earnings season with weaker-than-expected results, the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled more than 186 points Tuesday. Investors are bracing for the worst as companies start revealing how they've fared amid the financial crisis and worldwide recession during the first three months of the year. But if it turns out that corporations coped better than analysts are expecting, investors could be treated to a new rally.
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| @ Chicago Tribune | Posted: 04/08/09 at 0201 EDST
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| The Recovery Begins
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Home, retail and auto sales point to a turnaround.
Editor's Comment: A very good comparison to the 1973 - 75 recession.
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| @ Forbes | Posted: 04/08/09 at 0415 EDST
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| Restaurants in Florida, 2 other Southeast states post 2008 gains
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| restaurant traffic in Florida, Georgia and Alabama was up a modest 2 percent for the year, according to a report compiled by NPD Group. It was among only three regions of the country to show any gain in traffic in what was a flat year nationally.
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| @ St. Petersburg Times | Posted: 04/08/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Restaurant Industry Outlook Remains Uncertain as Restaurant Performance Index Stood Below 100 for 16th Consecutive Month
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| Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) – a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry – stood at 97.5 in February, up 0.1 percent from its January level for its second month of increase.
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| @ National Restaurant Association | Posted: 04/08/09 at 0330 EDST
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| Florida's tax strategy assailed
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| One report likens state revenue system to a faltering Ponzi scheme
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune
| Posted: 04/08/09 at 0315 EDST
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| Manatee county to cut road impact fees 50 percent
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| Bending to the pleas of local developers, the Manatee County Commission moved forward to trim road impact fees 50 percent for two years in hopes of stimulating the construction economy. After weeks of discussion and lobbying, and following in the footsteps of the Manatee County School Board and the Bradenton City Council, the issue of suspending the fees charged to builders to help pay for growth reached a climax at the county commission level Tuesday. County Administrator Ed Hunzeker presented figures showing a 50 percent suspension would cost the county about $9 million over the two years.
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| @ Bradenton Herald | Posted: 04/08/09 at 0345 EDST
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| Tallahassee real estate market slowed by potential buyers leery of costs
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| "Why are people waiting by sitting on the fence?" Greg Lane, an appraiser at Timberlane Appraisal Associates and chair of the statistics subcommittee of the Tallahassee Board of Realtors' Multiple Listing Service Committee said. "Number one, a lot of them are waiting for that phantom 3.5 percent interest rate." Others are waiting for the bottom of the housing market, believing there are even lower prices possible. Lane said others are staying out of the housing market because they are uneasy about their own job security.
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| @ Tallahassee Democrat
| Posted: 04/08/09 at 0400 EDST
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| Economists Rush to Disagree About Crisis Solutions
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| Some economists say the stimulus plan will only make things worse. Others admit they don't know the right course. A Keynesian "Dangerous Spiral?" But a vociferous contingent of economists says that deficit spending by the government would only make matters worse. Many of them argue that the economy is going through a healthy and necessary "reset" in which spending, investment, and stock prices are being adjusted downward to reflect a lower and more sensible reassessment of long-term growth expectations.
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| @ Business Week | Posted: 04/08/09 at 0419 EDST
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| The mess in La Mancha
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| Part of Spain’s bad-debt problem is hidden within its savings banks
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| @ The Economist | Posted: 04/08/09 at 0646 EDST
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| Deterioration in UK jobs market eases slightly
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| “While some observers might see small upticks in all these indicators as evidence of green shoots of recovery, the reality is that the availability of permanent and temporary jobs in the UK continues to decline, salaries are being reduced and the pool of available candidates is rising further."
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| @ Financial Times - UK | Posted: 04/08/09 at 0652 EDST
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| U.S. slaps 10% duty on Canadian lumber
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| The United States will slap a 10 per cent duty on some imports of Canadian lumber after Ottawa failed to abide by a trade tribunal ruling, the U.S. Trade Representative said yesterday. The new tax in the long-running bilateral dispute between the world's two biggest trading partners comes amid growing concerns over nations around the world walling off their borders to protect jobs. Canada was found in breach of its softwood lumber trade deal with the United States earlier this year, when the LCIA, formerly the London Court of International Arbitration, ruled that Canada miscalculated quotas for some lumber exports for the first half of 2007.
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| @ Toronto Star | Posted: 04/08/09 at 0655 EDST
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