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| Florida |
| Some Analysts See an End to Market Rally
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| It’s been a blockbuster summer for the bulls on Wall Street. Shares are up more than 15 percent since mid-July, investors are feeling optimistic, and once-idle money is pouring back into equities. But as Wall Street heads into September, historically its worst-performing month, the party may be winding down. Some of the analysts and investors who called a bottom in March, when the markets hit their worst levels in more than a decade, now say they are detecting a peak in share prices, and they warn that stocks could be headed for a sharp pullback.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 09/01/09 at 0201 EDST
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| Subprime lenders benefit
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| Subprime lenders who were blamed for the turmoil in the banking industry may receive billions in taxpayer dollars through a program aimed at stemming foreclosures, according to the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity. Under the $75 billion federal program, Making Home Affordable, lenders will receive money in exchange for lowering mortgage payments of distressed homeowners.
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| @ Tampa Tribune | Posted: 09/01/09 at 0315 EDST
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| Life without unemployment benefits
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| The National Employment Law Project estimates 540,000 people nationwide will exhaust all of their unemployment benefits by the end of September, and 1.5 million will run out by the end of December. The National Employment Law Project’s estimates take into account the two sets of federal extensions — emergency unemployment compensation and extended benefits — depending on what’s available in each state. Extended benefits are available in all but 17 states.
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| @ Bradenton Herald | Posted: 09/01/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Orlando commercial sales down but leveling off in 2nd quarter
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| Orlando's commercial real-estate sales fell 55 percent during the 12 months that ended in June. The San Francisco-based company reported that the Orlando market reported $974 million in sales for the yearlong period, compared with $2.1 billion the previous year.
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| @ Orlando Sentinel | Posted: 09/01/09 at 0330 EDST
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| Midwest |
| Argonne's new center really computes. National, near Chicago; lab gets lots more elbow room for scientists
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More than 600 Argonne employees from six different divisions will move into the seven-story, 200,000-square-foot building in two weeks as the laboratory looks to consolidate its computing-based disciplines under one roof. Until now, scientists from those fields had been housed throughout the massive campus, often in cramped quarters. With computer-based research rapidly growing at the laboratory, which is located near Lemont and owned by the Department of Energy, the need for new digs was clear.
Editor's Comment: Your Editor is biased on this article. His Dad worked at Argonne in Reactor Engineeering for 22 years.
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| @ Chicago Sun Times | Posted: 09/01/09 at 0345 EDST
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| Business activity in the Milwaukee region expanded for the first time in 17 months in August.
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| The indicator rose to a seasonally adjusted 56 points from 45 in July. A reading over 50 indicates overall business expansion and below 50 indicates contraction. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago, said its index rose to exactly 50 points, arriving at the threshold of growth after 10 months of contraction. The Chicago increase was greater than expected after economists widely had forecast a reading of 48.
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| @ Milwaukee Journal | Posted: 09/01/09 at 0400 EDST
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| Jobless rate rises to 7.7% in Quad-Cities
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| Unemployment in the Quad-City region rose slightly in July, to 7.7 percent from 7.5 percent in June, according to a report released Thursday by the Illinois Department of Employment Security. By comparison, the jobless rate in July 2008 was 5 percent.
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| @ Quad City Times | Posted: 09/01/09 at 0415 EDST
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| Prices milk dairy farms
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| Industry groups tout production quotas as way to stabilize markets
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| @ Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette | Posted: 09/01/09 at 0419 EDST
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| National |
| Gallup Economic Weekly: Confidence Hits 20-Month High
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| Still, consumer spending continued its summer doldrums, declining for the second consecutive week, and is down 36% from a year ago. This spending new normal not only confirms the continued delinking of consumer confidence and spending but also reflects the continued deterioration of the job market -- if at a somewhat lower rate than earlier this year.
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| @ Gallup | Posted: 09/01/09 at 0419 EDST
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| Downturn Has Paid Dividends For Hyundai
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| The South Korean automaker that was once an industry laughingstock will announce its best retail month ever and that despite the vast shrinkage of the U.S. market, it expects this year's sales to exceed last year's.
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| @ Washington Post | Posted: 09/01/09 at 0419 EDST
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| Time for a shopping spree?
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| After two decades of stumbling between recessions, Japan's newly elected Democratic Party needs to convince the Japanese population to spend some of its vast cash savings, which now equal 1.5 times GDP.
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| @ Reuters | Posted: 09/01/09 at 0646 EDST
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| Germany Jobless Total Unexpectedly Declined in August
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| German unemployment unexpectedly fell in August, helped by government stimulus programs and subsidies aimed at encouraging companies to keep workers on payrolls.
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| @ Bloomberg News | Posted: 09/01/09 at 0652 EDST
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| Do Longer Holidays Translate to Greater Productivity?
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| Americans may take less vacation, but are they really more efficient than their European colleagues? Figures from the World Economic Forum certainly show the US remains the world's most competitive country. Yet other data, including countries' GDP per hours worked, reveal Europe still gives America a run for its money. That means many parts of the Old World are at least as productive as the US, if not more, with the added bonus of up to eight weeks off a year.
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| @ Der Spiegel | Posted: 09/01/09 at 0655 EDST
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