Archives for February 2009
Security Savings Bank, Henderson, Nevada was closed today by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Bank of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, to assume all of the deposits of Security Savings Bank.
The two [...]
Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 6.2% in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to today’s preliminary estimate. This follows a decrease of 0.5% in the third quarter of 2008. For the full year 2008, real GDP rose 1.1%, compared to 2.0% in 2007.
Eligible borrowers are only those whose loan is conforming–that is, a first mortgage backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the two secondary mortgage market companies that are now under the direction of the federal government. Those loans are limited in size–$417,000 for most of the country, although they go up to $729,750 in high-cost [...]
Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reported a net loss of $26.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, a decline of $27.8 billion from the $575 million that the industry earned in the fourth quarter of 2007 and the first quarterly loss since 1990. Rising loan-loss provisions, [...]
Public relations affects almost all who have contact with other human beings. All of us, in one way or another, practice public relations daily. For an organization, every phone call, every letter, every face-to-face encounter is a public relations event. How is it handled, effected, concluded is Strategic Communications, which Stern And Company practices as [...]
Boyd Gaming Corp. posted a fourth-quarter loss of $220.8 million today due to impairment charges related to some prior acquisitions and a consumer spending pullback. Boyd’s fourth-quarter revenue declined 12 percent to $422.6 million from $478.6 million.
Like many casino operators, Boyd has been squeezed as consumers tighten their discretionary spending due to mounting economic and [...]
New home sales in January 2009 fell 10.2% from the prior month and declined 48.2% from the prior year, to 309,000, the Commerce Department reported today. This is 10.2 percent below the revised December rate of 344,000 and is 48.2 percent below the January 2008 estimate of 597,000.
The median sales price of new houses sold [...]
New U.S. orders for long-lasting manufactured goods fell for a sixth consecutive month to a six-year low in January, the Commerce Department reported today.
Durable goods orders dropped 5.2 percent to $163.8 billion in January, the lowest level since December 2002. Orders for the prior month were revised down to a drop of 4.6 percent, previously [...]
Existing-home sales declined in January with some buyers waiting to see how details of the economic stimulus package would affect them, according to the National Association of Realtors, while inventories fell to a two-year low.
Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – fell 5.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 4.49 [...]
In January, there were 2,227 mass layoff actions involving 237,902 workers. Mass layoff events decreased by 48 over the month, while initial claims increased by 11,785. Over the year, mass layoff events increased by 751, and initial claims increased by 88,834. Forty-eight states registered over-the-year increases in average weekly initial claims.