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| Florida |
| Florida bank losses near $1 billion at mid-year
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| Nearly 70 percent of the state's banks and 80 percent of the thrifts have lost money this year, far outpacing the national rate, according to data released Thursday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 08/27/09 at 0201 EDST
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| South Florida tourism is down, but bargain sales to foreign visitors are up
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| International tourism to the United States is falling sharply this year, but not to the Sawgrass Mills shopping mall in Sunrise. While most retailers suffer, sales at North America's largest outlet mall are up by single digits this year, with foreigners accounting for at least 40 percent of purchases, said general manager Luanne Lenberg.
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| @ Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel | Posted: 08/27/09 at 0315 EDST
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| South Florida home prices, consumer confidence edge up
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| Florida's consumer confidence and home prices both inched up for the first time in months, amid signs that the real estate market is stabilizing and hopes that the worst of the recession may be behind us.
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| @ Miami Herald | Posted: 08/27/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Agency lowers rating on Florida home insurer
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| One of the nation's top insurance-rating agencies has serious doubts that a longtime Florida-based insurer will be able to pay claims if more than one major hurricane hits the state this year. A.M. Best downgraded the financial strength of Tower Hill Insurance Group two levels, from fair to poor.
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| @ Tampa Tribune | Posted: 08/27/09 at 0330 EDST
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| Midwest |
| Old Chicago post office site goes for $40 million to anonymous buyer
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| The winning bidder provided little clue as to what is in store for the building. "We are not prepared at this time to discuss our redevelopment plans, but we are looking forward to working collaboratively with the mayor, the alderman and city staff to ensure the success of this project," the company said in a statement. "To paraphrase Daniel Burnham, let me assure you that we shall make no small plans."
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| @ Chicago Tribune | Posted: 08/27/09 at 0345 EDST
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| 52 Wisconsin banks unprofitable in the second quarter
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| About one of every five Wisconsin banks was unprofitable in the second quarter as loans continued to deteriorate in the struggling economy, a report Thursday shows. Fifty of Wisconsin's 282 banks posted net losses, and two others broke even, in the second quarter, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
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| @ Milwaukee Journal | Posted: 08/27/09 at 0400 EDST
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| More Twin Cities community banks in red
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| Roughly 40 percent of the metro area's small banks — those with assets of less than $2 billion — reported losses for the quarter, according to data made available by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Thursday. That's up from about one-fifth in the second quarter last year and one-third as of March 31.
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| @ St. Paul Pioneer Press | Posted: 08/27/09 at 0415 EDST
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| Indiana Realtors: First-timer tax credit recharging home sales
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| Sales to first-time buyers are up by a third over normal times, according to estimates from local agents, accounting for 40 percent or more of all sales of existing homes in the metro area
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| @ Indianapolis Star | Posted: 08/27/09 at 0419 EDST
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| National |
| GDP revision confirms economy shrank at annual rate of 1% in 2nd quarter
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| Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- decreased at an annual rate of 1.0 percent in the second quarter of 2009, (that is, from the first quarter to the second quarter), according to the "second" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP decreased 6.4 percent.
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| @ Bureau of Economic Analysis | Posted: 08/27/09 at 0419 EDST
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| Natural gas falls to a 7-year low
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| Despite some recent signs of economic stability, the severe contraction during the first half of the year contributed to an estimated 3.8-percent decline in daily average natural gas consumption compared with consumption during the first half of 2008.
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| @ Energy Information Administration - US Department of Energy | Posted: 08/27/09 at 0419 EDST
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| U.K. Second-Quarter GDP Falls Less-Than-Forecast 0.7%
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| The fall in gross domestic product was less than the 0.8 percent calculated last month, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median forecast of 28 economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for no revision. The economy shrank 5.5 percent from a year ago, the most since records began in 1955.
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| @ Bloomberg News | Posted: 08/27/09 at 0646 EDST
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| UK economy contracts 0.7%
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| The UK economy shrank by 0.7 per cent in the second quarter, marginally less than the 0.8 per cent initially estimated. Compared with a year earlier, the economy contracted by 5.5 per cent, the largest year-on year decline since records began.
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| @ Financial Times - UK | Posted: 08/27/09 at 0652 EDST
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| UK Recession tracker
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The UK economy contracted 0.8% between April and June, more than double the 0.3% figure economists had expected. The contraction was much less than the 2.4% seen in the first quarter but nonetheless suggests that hopes for a quick recovery could be premature. The UK government predicts that the economy will continue to decline through most of 2009, at annual rate of 3.5%, but recover in 2010.
Editor's Comment: Excellent graphics.
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| @ BBC | Posted: 08/27/09 at 0655 EDST
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