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Pension tension on the rise

November 30, 2009 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

NEW YORK (Fortune) — Retirement plans are on the mend, but the healing process is going to be long and painful.
In addition to taking a big chunk out of individuals’ 401(k)s, last fall’s market meltdown left 92% of corporate pension plans underfunded at year’s end, according to a study by investment consultant Wilshire Associates.
As bad as that sounds, it pales in comparison to the shortfalls in public pension plans. At the end of 2006, public pension plans were already underfunded by $361 billion, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. That was before the stock market collapse, soaring unemployment rates and tumbling tax revenues dealt municipal finances another blow.

Read More: -By Colin Barr, senior writer

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Croporate Pension Plans Underfunded', Pension Tension on the Rise, Public Pension Plans Underfunded

Fed moves to drain some money out of economy

November 30, 2009 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is taking steps to fine-tune a strategy to reel in some of the unprecedented amount of money that’s been pumped into the U.S. economy during the financial crisis.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Monday that investors and others shouldn’t read anything about the timing of when the central bank will need to reverse course and start boosting interest rates and removing other supports to fend off inflation.
The upcoming operations will involve so-called reverse repurchase agreements. That’s when the Fed sells securities from its portfolio with an agreement to buy them back later.

Sticker Shock at Pump: Gas Prices Poised to Soar

November 30, 2009 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

The gap between what drivers are paying for gasoline compared with a year ago is widening and figures to get worse between now and the end of the year.
Prices at the pump were $2.629 a gallon on Monday, 80.4 cents more a gallon than a year ago, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Services. That is about $40 more a month for a typical motorist.
The government releases its survey on retail prices late Monday.
Gasoline prices bottomed near $1.61 during the last few days of 2008 as the recession took hold, demand for fuel crumbled and the stock markets tumbled.

Hotel Investment Funds Drowning in Debt

November 30, 2009 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

Like many home owners, hotels are starting to drown in debt.
They have been enticing travelers all year with sweet deals: credits for in-house spas and restaurants, up to 50 percent off five-star rooms, even free nights.
But all that discounting hasn’t stopped occupancy from dropping an average of 10 percent. The result? Hotel loans have begun falling into delinquency faster than any other kind of commercial real estate debt.

Toyota to replace gas pedals on 3.8M recalled vehicles

November 25, 2009 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. will replace gas pedals on 3.8 million recalled vehicles in the United States to address problems with sudden acceleration or the pedal becoming stuck in the floor mat, The Associated Press has learned.
As a temporary step, Toyota will have dealers shorten the length of the gas pedals beginning in January while the company develops replacement pedals for their vehicles, the Transportation Department said in a statement provided to the AP. New pedals will be available beginning in April, and some vehicles will have brake override systems installed as a precaution.
Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, was expected to provide more details Wednesday on the fix. The Japanese automaker announced the massive recall in late September and told owners to remove the driver’s side floor mats to prevent the gas pedal from potentially becoming jammed.

Dollar Slumps to 15-Month Euro Low

November 25, 2009 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

The dollar slid to a 15-month low against the euro Wednesday as investors fled the safe haven currency on upbeat U.S. economic reports, while markets absorbed the U.S. Federal Reserve’s indication that interest rates will remain at super-low levels for a while yet and that it was not overly concerned by the U.S. currency’s decline.
The 16-nation euro climbed to $1.5077 in early New York trading from $1.4975 late Tuesday, having earlier risen to $1.5096, its highest level since August 2008. The dollar fell to 87.56 Japanese yen from 88.56 yen, after earlier falling to 87.36 yen, its weakest level since January and close to 14-year lows.
The renewed slump in the dollar was driven largely by the publication Tuesday of the minutes to the Fed’s last rate-setting meeting on Nov. 3-4.

Read More: -By Pan Pylas and Erin Conroy

Filed Under: News Tagged With: 15 month low, Dollar, Euro, Federal Reserve

Hussman: Investor Risk Rising Fast

November 25, 2009 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

For investors, the past decade has been like watching tanks rolling over the hilltop to attack the villagers celebrating below, says economist and mutual fund manager John Hussman.
“Repeatedly, one could observe these huge objects rolling over the horizon, with an ominous knowledge that things would not work out well,” Hussman writes in his weekly market comment.
“But repeatedly, nobody cared as long as it looked like there might be a little punch left in the bowl.”

Rosenberg: Depression, Not Recession

November 25, 2009 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

Economist David Rosenberg isn’t worried about when the recession will end: He’s worried about when the depression will end.
That’s right, the “d” word, which nearly all economists have declined to attached to the current global malaise.
“We’re in a form of depression,” Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc., a Toronto-based wealth management firm, told CNBC.

Forecasters See Dollar Decline Next Year

November 24, 2009 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

The top performing forecasters in Bloomberg’s survey of 46 firms predict the dollar will continue falling next year.
The sluggish economic recovery and exploding government debt burden will weigh on the currency, they say.
Already the dollar has hit 14-month lows this year.

Record crib recall: U.S. says 2.1M Stork Craft beds pose risk

November 24, 2009 by F. Peter Brown Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 2.1 million drop-side cribs made by the Canadian-based Stork Craft Manufacturing are being recalled, the biggest crib recall in U.S. history, after reports that four infants suffocated in them.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said late Monday the recall involves 1.2 million cribs in the United States and almost 1 million in Canada, where Stork Craft is based. Sales of the cribs being recalled go back to 1993.
Nearly 150,000 of the cribs carry the Fisher-Price logo.

Pension tension on the rise

Fed moves to drain some money out of economy

Sticker Shock at Pump: Gas Prices Poised to Soar

Hotel Investment Funds Drowning in Debt

Toyota to replace gas pedals on 3.8M recalled vehicles

Dollar Slumps to 15-Month Euro Low

Hussman: Investor Risk Rising Fast

Rosenberg: Depression, Not Recession

Forecasters See Dollar Decline Next Year

Record crib recall: U.S. says 2.1M Stork Craft beds pose risk

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