| Click here for yesterday's / today's market indices
|
|
| Florida |
| Crist OKs plan to build nuclear power plant in Florida
|
| Brushing off criticism that it would put the state's environment at risk, Gov. Charlie Crist and members of the Florida Cabinet on Tuesday greenlit the building of the state's first nuclear power plant in more than a generation.
|
| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 08/12/09 at 0201 EDST
|
| Older managers hit hard by recession in Jacksonville area
|
| According to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, one out of three unemployed people in July had been without a job for 27 weeks or longer. An online survey in July by WorkSource, a government-funded agency that helps people find work in Northeast Florida, found 40 percent of the respondents had been unemployed for six months or longer.
|
| @ Jacksonville Times Union | Posted: 08/12/09 at 0315 EDST
|
| Regulators crack down on workers' comp
|
| A whistle-blower Web site set up for referrals of alleged violations of workers' compensation rules has already produced hundreds of new complaints and more than $500,000 in penalties since its launch less than two months ago.
|
| @ South Florida Business Journal | Posted: 08/12/09 at 0320 EDST
|
| Bill might facilitate suits over bad drywall
|
| Legislation that has been introduced in the Senate could make it easier to sue over defective foreign products, such as Chinese drywall.
|
| @ Miami Herald | Posted: 08/12/09 at 0330 EDST
|
| Midwest |
| Chicago home sales jump in second quarter compared with 1Q
|
| Chicago-area home sales jumped almost 68% in the second quarter compared with the first quarter
|
| @ Crain's Chicago Real Estate Daily | Posted: 08/12/09 at 0345 EDST
|
| Illinois Home Sales Surge 61.8 Percent in 2nd Quarter from 1st Quarter
|
| Statewide total home sales (which include single-family and condominiums) increased by 61.8 percent in the second quarter of 2009 to 27,531 homes sold compared to 17,017 homes sold in the first quarter of 2009. Sales were down 16.4 percent from second quarter 2008 sales of 32,949. The Illinois median price in the second quarter of 2009 of $160,000 was up 9.6 percent from $146,000 in the first quarter; it was down 16.2 percent from $190,978 in the second quarter of 2008.
|
| @ Illinois Association of Realtors | Posted: 08/12/09 at 0400 EDST
|
| M&I reports wider second-quarter loss
|
| The Milwaukee-based bank revised its loss to $234 million, or 83 cents a share, compared with the previously reported loss of $139.3 million, or 50 cents. M&I is the largest bank based in Wisconsin.
|
| @ Milwaukee Journal | Posted: 08/12/09 at 0415 EDST
|
| Ethanol producers hopeful for rebound in E85 sales
|
| Ethanol producers who endured a hard winter and spring of low prices and high corn costs hope that more favorable prices for the 85 percent blend will boost fuel sales. "We know sales of E85 were down anywhere from 15 to 30 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year, but the second quarter should be gangbusters," said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.
|
| @ DesMoines Register | Posted: 08/12/09 at 0419 EDST
|
| National |
| GE sees tide coming in for water business
|
| General Electric Co predicts that water purification could grow from a drop in the corporate bucket to a major growth driver within years, just as its wind unit did.
|
| @ Reuters
| Posted: 08/12/09 at 0419 EDST
|
| Productivity up 6.3 percent in the business sector and 6.4 percent in the nonfarm business sector
|
| Productivity gains in both sectors were the largest since the third quarter of 2003, and were due to hours worked declining faster than output.
|
| @ Bureau of Labor Statisics | Posted: 08/12/09 at 0419 EDST
|
|
|
| Australia central bank a model for popping bubbles?
|
Policy makers daunted by the idea of puncturing asset bubbles in coming years can learn from Australia's central bank, one of the very few to have deflated a housing boom without turning it into a crash.
Editor's Comment: This is a good read
|
| @ Reuters
| Posted: 08/12/09 at 0646 EDST
|
| Hungary’s Inflation to Spur Rate Cut
|
| Hungary’s central bank, working to help the country overcome its deepest recession in 18 years, may gain momentum for its interest rate cuts after a tax increase accelerated inflation less than economists expected.
|
| @ Bloomberg News | Posted: 08/12/09 at 0652 EDST
|
| UK house shortage 'props up prices'
|
| A shortage of homes for sale in the UK propped up property prices in July, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). The survey said 8% more surveyors reported seeing price falls than those who said the cost of homes increased.
|
| @ BBC News | Posted: 08/12/09 at 0655 EDST
|
| -30- |
