Financial news: 02/26/2013

• MarketWatch: The Dollar Index recently hit a six month high
• Bloomberg: Fed budget cuts to cost .4% in GDP growth
• CNN: Economy benefits from indebted individuals per data 
• Fox: U.S. checking accounts reach 54 yr high of $902 billion
• MN: Recession a real risk of fed spending cuts per governors 
• BI: Increased equity market valuation defies bearish analysis
• ZH: Monetary policy is misguiding investor economic reasoning
• BBC: After 2.5 yr low against dollar, U.K. pound falls further
• Reuters: Italian markets feel sting of national election results
• AP: German Central Bank advocates French austerity
• CNBC: Japan's economy likely to feature monetary easing

Financial news: 02/25/2013

• MN: Billionaires including Warren Buffett are selling stocks
• Bloomberg: Living cost $10,000 extra for a coffin buyer
• CNBC: Dollar value to rise on spending cuts and new tax
• Option Queen: Low interest rates do not limit effects of payroll tax
• Fox: Congress to hear FRB Chairman testimony this week
• BI: Yahoo  tradition of telecommuting frowned upon by new CEO
• ZH: High gas prices are putting downward pressure on stocks
• BBC: U.K. credit rating downgraded to Aa1 by Moody's
• Reuters: Tens of thousands of Spaniards protest austerity again
• AP: Italian election could backtrack economic progress
• CNN: Eurozone GDP to contract .3% in '13 after -.6% in '12

Financial news: 02/22/2013

• Bloomberg: CFPB warns banks over discrimination via rates
• FRB: NY Fed is authorized to trade international currencies
• NYT: Identity theft for unauthorized new accounts increased
• CNBC: As many as 75% of consumers to spend less per NRF
• MW: Pope's pension is $10 less than max. U.S. Social Security
• AP: Investors sold uncertain monetary policy after market high
• CNN: U.I. to shrink 9.4% & meat costs to rise with sequester
• Fox: Coca-Cola BoD has approved a 10% dividend increase
• Reuters: U.S. & E.U. economies still weak per economic data
• BI: Financial Advisers lose $51 million lawsuit to crime writer
• BBC: The ECB owns $188.64 bln in Italian & Spanish bonds

Financial news: 02/21/2013

• AP: DoD to furlough up to 800,000 civilian employees
• CNBC: Harvad & Penn billionaires are worth $317 bln
• Fox: Fiscal reform puts mutual fund tax benefits at risk
• BI: Wise home buyers obtain more than one loan GFE
• DOL: Jobless claims 2/16 362K ↑20 K; avrg 360.75K ↑8K
• NAHB: New home construction fell 8.5% in January
• ZH: College tuition costs rise via subsidy driven demand
• CNN: U.K. Pound expected to drop via monetary policy
• Bloomberg: EU officials favor higher bank liquidity ratio
• Reuters: Bulgaria's government has fallen after austerity
• BBC: Japanese yr over yr trade deficit up 10% in Jan.

Financial news: 02/20/2013

• MN: Nobel economist says U.S. is not the land of opportunity
• BI: Discount retailers are worried about  less consumer spending 
• BBC: Pending federal cuts are unfair & ill conceived per President
• MW: New tax to affect couples with income above $400K 
• CNBC: Deficit committee chairs label fiscal policy dysfunctional
• NAHB: Majority of home builders less confident per index
• CNN: Top 1% of income earners are still below 2007 averages
• Fox: Health insurance stocks fell on possibility of lower rates
• Reuters: European regulation puts Google at risk of losing $1 bln
• Bloomberg: A European heist has stolen $50 million in diamonds
• Zero Hedge: Global asset growth is no longer growing

Financial news: 02/19/2013

• CG: Record high February gas prices due to regional refinery maintenance
• CNBC: U.S. economy to contract Q1-Q2 '13, unemployment to exceed 8%
• CNN: Furloughs await federal workforce if sequester goes unaverted
• Option Queen: Consumer spending cutbacks are driving M&A activity
• NYT: Employers biased against long-term unemployment per consultants
• Business Insider: Wall St. bonuses fell 36% in 2012 per eFinancial careers
• Bloomberg: Recollateralization of covered bonds a risk per investment firms
• AP: BBC journalists strike before 30% of jobs are eliminated
• Reuters: High valued Euro has ECB concerned about economic growth
• MN: Use of European crisis funding  by German banks fell by 33% in Jan.
• BBC: Loose Japanese monetary policy weakens Yen & spurs stock prices
• ZH: Japanese Yen is 80% stronger than 1971 and high despite devaluation

Presidents Day: Financial news

US-PDGov

• Reuters: Tax refunds being stolen nationwide via identity theft 
• CNBC: Future FRB tightening adding to gold price reversal
• CNN: Soros Fund Mngmnt. has sold $130 mln of gold ETF
• Bloomberg: Medicare Pard D deductible to lower 4.6% in '14
• Fox: Hackers target food industry as other corps raise security
• NYT: Lure of low taxes fails to trigger mass tax migration
• MN: Fiscal cuts to "markedly" effect economy per Greenspan
• BI: Put writing places volatility trader in options supply seat
• Zero Hedge: G20 is in denial about currency manipulation
• AP: Demonstrators across Spain protest repossession law
• BBC: G20 economies are targeting corporate tax strategy

Financial news: 02/15/2013

• BI: Weak intraday technicals indicate fund induced group selling
• ZH: Economics, central banks & logistics make  trading impossible
• Bloomberg: Charity tax deductions at risk from possible legislation
• NYT: Auto makers face worst European sales market in 20 yrs
• CNN: Air mile benefits at risk from U.S. Air/American merger
• AP: Buffet/Heinz deal is the largest ever in the food industry
• CNBC: California foreclosures ↓ via punitive banking law
• Fox: Banks & funds dislike Europe's financial transaction tax
• BBC: The Eurozone's economy contracted .6% in Q4, 2012
• Reuters: Euro ↓,  econ. data points to possible monetary easing

Financial news: 02/14/2013

• CNN: Adult women are the largest group earning minimum wage 
• Bloomberg: President rallies for min. wage hike, GOP objects
• CNBC: G-7 govnmnts. indirectly manipulate currency value
• BI: GOP balanced budget amendment is a recession risk
• NYT: Dr. incomes steady via regulation, education and demand
• DOL: Jobless claims 2/9 341K ↓27K; average 352.5K ↑1.5K
• BBC: Thompson-Reuters to cut 2,500 or 4% of it's jobs
• MN: U.S. Commerce Dept. wants to raise gas tax to fix roads
• Commerce Dept.: Jan. retail sales rose .1% after payroll tax hike
• Reuters: Trans-Atlantic free trade to be negotiated by June
• AP: Worldwide cell-phone sales lowered 1.7% in 2012

Financial news: 02/13/2013

• NYT: Medicare & Medicaid to cost $200 bln in 2020 per CBO
• Bloomberg: Up to 708 hedge funds face fee income drops
• Reuters: Sequester puts hundreds of thousands near unpaid leave 
• NFIB: Small-business optimism index is near negative 30%
• CNBC: U.S. could be 100% energy independent in 5 yrs per Citi
• Business Insider: Apple's iPad faces novel but strong competition
• CNN: Healthcare & jobs are a public budget priority per TDA
• Money News: McGraw Hill says government can bring it on
• BBC: Barclays bank to cut 3,700 jobs on lower profits
• AP: G7 supports market currency pricing despite monetary policy

Financial news: 02/12/2013

• WS 24/7: Thousands of retail stores are forecasted to close in '13
• NYT: Wealth seekers are duped into risky financial instruments
• CNBC: Housing market will be unexciting next 5-yrs per Shiller
• Reuters: CFPB is enforcing legal rights for mortgage transfers 
• AP: Research shows 20% of consumers have faulty credit records
• Bloomberg: Medicare re-admissions are pressured by high costs
• CNN: Fed official says high unemployment will persist for years
• Business Insider: Tom Cruise sold his house for $3 million
• BBC: The Euro's valuation has risen 6% over 6 months
• ZH: Foreign bank reserves are being overfilled by monetary policy

Financial news: 02/11/2013

• Bloomberg: Sequester cuts are a "pittance" per Senator Rand Paul 
• CNN Money: Winter storms cost more than summer storms per BLS
• CNBC: Money managers think stocks are the only place for money
• Option Queen: "Work-fare" is a solution to costly immigration issues
• Business Insider: U.S. oil imports are at mid-1990s levels
• MN: Loose Fed. monetary policy has contributed to gas prices rising 
• NYT: Many college jobs don't pay enough to cover educations costs
• Fox: Leveraged buyouts are bad for corporate bonds & business debt
• Reuters: Eurozone nations are at odds over ideal value of the Euro
• BBC: The E.U. has lowered it's multi-annual budget by 3%

Financial news: 02/08/2013

• CNN: IRS took initiative to investigate 389 identity thieves
• AP: January retail sales at 20 stores rose 5.1% per ICS
• CNBC: Billionaire bets on ↓ demand for U.S. Treasuries
• Reuters: President is "willing to cut spending & reform tax"
• FRB: Dec. consumer spending ↑ $14.6 bln  or 50 basis pnts
• Bloomberg: N.E. business delays possible after 2 ft of snow
• NYT: Retail sales are in a noted decline after payroll tax ↑
• ZH: Market prices depict a global boom despite weak data
• BBC: ECB to hold .75% rate; Euro appreciation a concern
• MN: Japanese inflation could trigger bond market plunge

Financial news: 02/07/2013

• Reuters: Legal theory needs to work to deter beer monopoly
• BBC: The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank has been hacked into
• Bloomberg: Smaller federal work force sought by GOP
• AP: The Monopoly board game "iron" to be replaced by a "cat"
• NYT: USPS stopping Saturday mail delivery due to cost
• DOL: Jobless claims 02/02 366K, ↓5 K; avrg. 350.5K ↓ 2.25K
• CNN: Unemployment among blacks 5.9% higher than whites
• CNBC: Consumer gas cost to ↑$10 bln at price of $3.60+/gln
• MN: Corporate earnings justify market rise per BoFa exec.
• Fox: Visa to buy $1.75 bln of its stock; shares near all time high
• Business Insider: Karachi, Pakistan is very affordable to live in

Financial news: 02/06/2013

• BI: Managers use less brain than entrepreneurs per MIT study
• Bloomberg: The national debt will increase by $845 bln per CBO
• MW: Municipal bond interest exemption at risk in new fiscal policy
• CNN: Some financial advisers' clients are still stock weary 
• CNBC: Time to avert government spending cuts via budget is short
• ISM: Non-manufacturing activity slowed .5% in Jan. per index
• ZH: High-yield credit instruments a better investment than stocks
• AP: Dell Inc. is being bought out & going private for $24.5 billion
• MN: GDP to be near 1.5% due to fiscal de-leveraging per Roubini
• Reuters: CoreLogic home price index ↑ .4% in Dec., 10th month up
• NYT: Eurozone bond guarantees unaccounted in national debt ratios
• BBC: Egypt's fiscal solvency at risk with low tourism & instability

Financial news: 02/05/2013

• CNN Money: Americans lose 4% of their income to gas costs
• WP: Possibility of federal public WiFi disappoints telecom firms
• CNBC: Fed. policy is losing time as investor risk ↑ & ROA ↓
• MN: Bank earnings are crippled by monetary policy per analyst
• BBC: U.S. DoJ to sue S&P for faulty '07 MBS ratings
• AP: Monday DJIA selling reached .9%, it's worst day of '13
• Commerce Dept.: December factory orders ↑$8.6 bln. or 1.8% 
• Bloomberg: Judge rules Texas-school financing unconstitutional
• Zero Hedge: U.S. debt/GDP to reach 105% by 03/31 per Treasury
• BI: Fast food inheritance has created 30-yr old female billionaire
• Huff Post: Canadian penny goes the way of CDN $1& $2 bills
• NYT: U.K.'s exchequer advocates bank splitting regulation

Financial news: 02/04/2013

• CNN: Stock supporting trends are reversing per ING strategist
• Option Queen: Markets are "grossly overbought", yet higher still
• MN: Economic data "rigged", U.S. on cusp of double-dip recession
• Bloomberg: Investors poured $64.8 bln into funds in three weeks
• CNBC: FexEx CEO says U.S. corporate tax system needs reform
• Zero Hedge: Federal income tax had its 100th birthday on Sunday
• Reuters: Regulatory pressure to raise banking capital transparency
• BI: Another wave of technological improvement will fuel growth
• Fox Business: The private sector has had no job growth in 10 yrs
• AP: Italy's Berlusconi promises property tax break upon re-election

Financial news: 02/01/2013

• CNN: PIMCO's managing director advises against U.S. equity
• News Max: U.S. economy to continue shrinking per economist
• MW: High probability of market crash exists per Marc Faber
• CNBC: Late retirement a reality for 18.5% over 65 yrs
• BI: Regulators refuse to prosecute early trades despite leaks
• NYT: Poor prospects drop law school apps. to 30-yr low
• Bloomberg: California's S&P rating ↑ for first time since '06
• BEA: Dec. personal incomes rose ↑ 2.6%, spending ↑ .2%
• Morningstar via NASDAQ: Inflation reliably indicates recession 
• Fox: Presidential jobs advisory council to cease existing
• ZH: Short selling of Italian oil services firm temporarily banned
• Reuters: Deutsche Bank shares ↑ even with big Q4, '12 loss
• BBC: German retails sales fell .6% in 2012

Financial news: 01/31/2013

• MN: Harvard economist says monetary policy "won't be pretty"
• CNN Money: Businesses are being stifled by regulation
• NYT: Business owners don't know their business' worth
• DOL: Jobless claims 01/26 38↑ to 368K; average ↑25 to 352K
• CNBC: Average student loan debt ↑ 30% in 5 years
• BI: An ex-law student robbed a bank to pay student loans
• ADP: The private sector added 129K jobs in January
• BEA: U.S. GDP shrank .1% in Q4, 2012
• FRB: Federal Reserve to continue with debt monetization
• Fox: Eurozone likely to remain intact despite recession
• BBC: Spain's economy shrank .7% in Q4, 2012
• Daily FX: Japan's Dec. production was1.6% short of estimates

Financial news: 01/30/2013

• BI: Top 10%, 8.2% richer '09-'11, bottom 90%, 1.2% poorer
• MN: Republicans are less flexible after limiting tax on M.C.
• Fox: Majority of businesses support immigration for revenue
• AP: Spending cut alternatives proving difficult for Congress
• Conference Board: Consumer confidence index ↓ 8.1 points
• CNN: Divided constituencies make averting sequester hard
• CNBC: Regulatory issues weighing on economic forecasts
• Bloomberg: RBS traders freely changed LIBOR to boost margin
• BBC: France's labor minister says his state is bankrupt
• NYT: French auto industry sales declined 13.9% in 2012
• ZH: Zimbabwe's government account has $217 of cash left