A Stern Glance

Low interest rates will prevail through most of 2010 as the U.S. economy expands modestly and the unemployment rate remains stuck in double digits
We see real Gross Domestic Product settling into a 2 percent path for much of 2010 and be closer to 3 percent in 2011. With such sluggish growth, the unemployment rate will [...]

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased in November, rose again in December. The Index now stands at 52.9 (1985=100), up from 50.6 in November. The Expectations Index increased to 75.6 from 70.3 last month. The Present Situation Index, however, declined to 18.8 from 21.2 in November.
“Consumer Confidence posted yet another moderate gain [...]

Las Vegas remains the one market that has not seen a glimmer of hope so far this year. Prices have declined for 38 consecutive months, with a peak-to-trough reading of -55.4%. It is now barely 5% above its January 2000 level. This compares to its peak in August 2006, when the average home price was [...]

Company to File Voluntary Chapter 11 – All Operations to Continue and Vendors to Be Paid in Full on Normal Terms
Black Gaming, LLC today announced that it has entered into a lockup agreement with the holders of approximately 70% of the Company’s $125,000,000 Senior Secured Notes to restructure Black Gaming’s indebtedness, provide for an investment [...]

Orders to U.S. factories  for big-ticket durable goods posted a smaller-than-expected increase in November as declines in demand for aircraft and autos offset strength in a number of other areas, the Commerce Department reported today.
The gains outside of transportation were an encouraging sign that manufacturing is beginning to revive and will contribute to pulling the [...]

In November, employers took 1,797 mass layoff actions involving 165,346 workers. Mass layoff events and associated initial claims both decreased over the month to their lowest levels since July 2008. The number of manufacturing events, at 481, decreased by 138 over the month, and associated initial claims, at 56,243, decreased by 14,329.

Sales of newly built U.S. single-family homes unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in seven months in November, according to the Commerce Department and dealt another blow to the housing market’s recovery.
The Commerce Department said sales dropped 11.3 percent, the biggest decline since January, to a 355,000 unit annual rate, from a downwardly revised 400,000 [...]

Consumer spending rose for a second straight month in November as incomes recorded their biggest gain in six months, according to a report issued by the Commerce Department today.
The Commerce Department said spending increased 0.5 percent after rising by a slightly downwardly revised 0.6 percent in October. Consumer spending in October was previously reported to [...]

The economy, as measured by the Gross Domestic Product, grew at a 2.2 percent pace in the third quarter, as the recovery got off to a weaker start than previously estimated.
The Commerce Department’s new reading for the July-to-September quarter was slower than the 2.8 percent growth rate estimated a month ago. Economists were predicting that figure [...]

(No News Release Disseminated at this point)
Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
(b) On December 15, 2009, as described below, Gary N. Jacobs resigned, effective the same day, as a director of MGM MIRAGE (the “Company”), and as an officer and employee. [...]