New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks opened higher Monday after Greece’s parliament approved strict financial reforms needed to obtain its latest international package and prevent a messy default.

Just after 10 a.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 38 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 5 points and the NASDAQ was better by 16 points.

European stocks were mixed to modestly higher.

In commodities, oil continued its rise, gaining $1.34 to $100.43 a barrel, and gold lost $4.50 to $1,720.90 a troy ounce.

As earnings season winds down this week, investors still have a great deal to digest on the economic calendar.

On Monday, President Obama releases his budget proposal for fiscal 2013 to Congress that attempts to chart a fiscal path for the next 10 years.

On Tuesday, reports on January import prices, January retail sales, and December Inventories are expected. On Wednesday reports will be released on January industrial production and January capacity utilization. Thursday brings reports on January housing starts, January PPI, initial jobless claims and February’s Fed survey. And on Friday, market participants will get reports on January’s CPI and leading indicators.

View full post on All Stories

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks opened higher Monday after Greece’s parliament approved strict financial reforms needed to obtain its latest international package and prevent a messy default.

Just after 10 a.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 38 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 5 points and the NASDAQ was better by 16 points.

European stocks were mixed to modestly higher.

In commodities, oil continued its rise, gaining $1.34 to $100.43 a barrel, and gold lost $4.50 to $1,720.90 a troy ounce.

As earnings season winds down this week, investors still have a great deal to digest on the economic calendar.

On Monday, President Obama releases his budget proposal for fiscal 2013 to Congress that attempts to chart a fiscal path for the next 10 years.

On Tuesday, reports on January import prices, January retail sales, and December Inventories are expected. On Wednesday reports will be released on January industrial production and January capacity utilization. Thursday brings reports on January housing starts, January PPI, initial jobless claims and February’s Fed survey. And on Friday, market participants will get reports on January’s CPI and leading indicators.

View full post on All Stories

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – There is nothing average about the new average student loan debt.

The average debt of college seniors who graduated in 2010 with student loans increased 5 percent from a year earlier to $25,250. The amount is the highest level ever.

The figure does not include data from for-profit colleges where graduates typically carry levels of debt that are substantially larger.

The findings come from the annual report of the Project on Student Debt, a nonprofit research effort partially funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The data is based on information obtained from Peterson’s Undergraduate Financial Aid and Undergraduate Databases, a publisher of college guides.

The state with the highest debt level is New Hampshire, where grads carry an average of $31,048 in student loan debt.

View full post on All Stories

Jackson Hole, WY, United States (AHN) – International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde warned over the weekend of a new danger facing the global economy. She identified the dangerous new phase as the growing sense that policymakers lack conviction or are not willing to make decisions that are needed.

Lagarde challenged American and European leaders to be more aggressive and initiate immediate action to address these issues at the close of a conference of top central bank heads and economists.

She admitted governments have lesser tools to address these problems unlike during the first hit of the global crisis in 2008, but insisted there are long-term solutions.

The IMF chief said the U.S. must stop the decline of housing prices, while European banks must increase their capital to prevent the zone’s debt crisis from spreading to other nations. She also recommended long-term budget disciple for the U.S. and European Union by addressing fiscal risks such as rising pension costs and health care spending to free cash for short-term stimulus.

Lagarde pointed out that risks have been worsened by a dip in confidence, which caused values of global equities to decline by $5.7 trillion over concerns on global growth as government fail to tackle sovereign debt burdens.

The bank recapitalization should be substantial, which would be the most efficient solution to the threat of the debt contagion spreading. Lagarde’s call was echoed by European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet who recommended that European banks strengthen their balance sheets.

View full post on All Stories

Madrid, Spain (AHN) – Moody’s Investors Service placed Spain on a credit ranking review Thursday for a possible downgrade. The ratings agency said it needs to go over Madrid’s Aa rating because of challenges to the Spanish government to consolidate the country’s fiscal balance.

On the same day, Moody’s renewed the AAA credit rating of Canada. Moody’s said it renewed Ottawa’s rating because of factors that helped Canada emerge from the global financial crisis relatively strong.

The agency cited Canada’s economic resilience, very high government financial strength and low susceptibility to event risk. In its annual report, Moody’s forecast that Ottawa’s debt load will improve in the next few years because the federal government is on track to fiscal consolidation.

The agency added that Canada’s provinces also enjoy high credit ratings despite their relative large budget deficits.

Among the risks to Canada’s outlook identified by Moody’s were the country’s housing market and Quebec’s continued insistence to be sovereign from the rest of Canada. However, the agency stressed that the chance of both risks affecting Ottawa’s credit rating is low.

The review of Spain’s debt rating comes on the heels of cuts in rating made by major ratings agencies to Greece, Ireland and Portugal, which have been hit badly by the eurozone debt contagion.

The two actions by Moody’s, however, were overshadowed by speculation that the U.S. would be downgraded from its AAA rating because of the deadlock among American political leaders on how to raise the country’s $14.3-trillion debt limit.

A scheduled House vote on a two-step bill proposed by Speaker John Boehner that would increase the cap by $900 billion was postponed Thursday evening as Republican leaders sought more support for the measure from party members.

View full post on All Stories

United States (KaiserHealth) – President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner on Monday night offered competing views on the state of debt talks and proposals. While neither touched heavily on overhauling entitlement spending, especially Medicare, the president mentioned it several times. Medicare has been one of the most contentious roadblocks to striking a deal to raise the debt ceiling while also making spending cuts.

Here are a pair of word clouds that show what each man said and how often. The bigger the word, the more often it was said. Obama’s speech is in blue, Boehner’s is in red. We also have excerpts for when each mentioned Medicare or health care.

Obama:

(Click for larger version)

Obama on Medicare:

“… Interest rates could climb for everyone who borrows money [if the debt ceiling is not raised] – the homeowner with a mortgage, the student with a college loan, the corner store that wants to expand. And we won’t have enough money to make job-creating investments in things like education and infrastructure, or pay for vital programs like Medicare and Medicaid. … “… The first [Democrats'] approach says, let’s live within our means by making serious, historic cuts in government spending. Let’s cut domestic spending to the lowest level it’s been since Dwight Eisenhower was President. Let’s cut defense spending at the Pentagon by hundreds of billions of dollars. Let’s cut out waste and fraud in health care programs like Medicare – and at the same time, let’s make modest adjustments so that Medicare is still there for future generations. … “… Democrats and Republicans agree on the amount of deficit reduction we need. The debate is about how it should be done. Most Americans, regardless of political party, don’t understand how we can ask a senior citizen to pay more for her Medicare before we ask a corporate jet owner or the oil companies to give up tax breaks that other companies don’t get. … “… The House of Representatives will once again refuse to prevent default unless the rest of us accept their cuts-only approach. Again, they will refuse to ask the wealthiest Americans to give up their tax cuts or deductions. Again, they will demand harsh cuts to programs like Medicare. …”

Boehner:

(Click for larger version)

Boehner on health care:

“President Obama came to Congress in January and requested business as usual – yet another routine increase in the national debt limit – we in the House said ‘not so fast.’ Here was the president, asking for the largest debt increase in American history, on the heels of the largest spending binge in American history. “Here’s what we got for that spending binge: a massive health care bill that most Americans never asked for.”

– Provided by Kaiser Health News.

View full post on All Stories

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday that the central bank is open to another stimulus program if it were necessary to help the ailing American economy.

However, Bernanke said that for the moment the move was not yet imminent. The hint of more active measures to jump start the economy is in contrast to the chairman’s statement a few weeks ago that the Fed would stand back amid the slow recovery.

Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee that the Fed is keeping all options open because of a lack of clear indication where the economy is headed. The options include maintaining existing aid programs for a longer period, new asset purchases to lower interest rates, or encouraging banks to withdraw money kept on reserve at the central bank and loan it.

Washington ended two weeks ago its second stimulus program, leading to speculations that there will be a third one.

The chairman also warned legislators of a major crisis on the global financial system if the U.S. defaults on its debt as the country’s Aug. 2 deadline to raise Washington’s $14.3-trillion debt limit is just more than two weeks away and political leaders are still deadlocked on raising the limit.

View full post on All Stories

Debt stricken people turn to debt consolidation loans to roll all of their debt into one monthly payment. With consolidation you can merge your existing loans and pay them through a single payment gateway at a lower inters rate. As your monthly payment become convenient and affordable with consolidation it lower the out-of-pocket expense and free up a lot of money which can be further devoted to curb the principal amount.

However, with a less than perfect credit it is quite difficult to qualify for a new loan at viable terms. But where there is a will there is always a way, there are lenders that specialize in personal bad credit loans and secured loans that can help you to consolidate even with a poor credit. Read on to know more extensively in this regard.

Things to consider before applying for a bad credit consolidation loan

• Once you apply for a bad credit loan, the first thing the lenders take into account is the amount of money you make, your length of employment and your credit rating. It is best for you to estimate h exactly how much money you require to consolidate your outstanding balance.
• You can certainly use the personal bad credit loan to pay off your outstanding debt. If you can’t borrow the full amount, use the money to pay off the smaller bills first, so you have the least amount of monthly payments in future.

• Don’t be shocked at all if you have to give the lender something for collateral. Bank often agree to lend you the amount only if you allow them to put a lien on your home or car until the loan is paid off. If you have a decent employment history and can prove that you are quite punctual at making payment qualifying for a consolidation loan shouldn’t be an issue with the right lender.

Secured consolidation loans

Secured consolidation loans are relatively easier to avail. As the creditors know that they can seize the collateral and recover their money even if you default on your payments they consider it a risk free investment and tend to offer a low rate of interest. Generally you can obtain a secured loan with no credit check. Secured loan lenders usually offer a longer repayment period. This is particularly convenient for the debtors with low credit because it lowers their monthly installments and leaves them with more cash to get rid of the principal amount and eventually boost the credit score.

However, you must keep in mind if you borrow a secured loan and default on your payment, you can anytime lose your assets.  So be careful while using a bad credit loan to consolidate your debts and ensure your financial freedom sooner or later.

Athens, Greece (AHN) – The Greek government is preparing tougher belt-tightening measures as it attempts to meet the terms of the country’s $110 billion (EUR 78 billion) bailout.

Prime Minister George Papandreou rejected debt restructuring ahead of a Monday cabinet meeting to tackle austerity measures, which includes tax hikes and sale of government assets.

Papandreou’s policy is in line with the European Central Bank stand that did not favor a debt restructuring for Greece. However, the drastic wage cut proposal may lead to more civil unrest among public employees. A study published on Sunday found that 80 percent of Greeks are not willing to make any more sacrifices for the country to enjoy further European Union and International Monetary Fund support for the bailout.

Experts opined that Greece is so mired in a debt spiral that more austerity measures would cause further recession and drastic drops in tax revenues. They warned that these economic consequences are self-reinforcing and very difficult to recover from.

While the prime minister is ready to fast track a $70.4 billion (EUR 50 billion) privatization program to raise more money to pay off the country’s mountain of debt, Papandreou said the government will keep its holdings in water and electricity utilities.

View full post on Labor Stories

View full post on All Stories