Economic News Articles - Archive for Week of 01-01-2012

The new year started off mildly as people digested their New Year's Day meals along with the economic news. People are watching and waiting to see what the year 2012 will bring. For the U.S., signs of thaw appeared in the foreground, but on the European horizon hovers a foreboding storm -- a sort of dry electrical storm that, as of yet, brings no rain ... just rumblings each day throughout the darkening sky.

Economic indicators tracked in this week's headlines:

1. London stock market rises at beginning of year The London market started the new year on the front foot, with the FTSE 100 jumping 2% in early trade as it caught up with gains seen in other European markets on Monday.

1. Luxury carmaker Bentley sees sales rise 37% in 2011 Demand for Bentleys, which start at £133,000, has returned to pre-recession levels. The rich are doing fine.

1. Manufacturing activity, employment on the rise The survey also showed even stronger growth in its employment reading, as 23% of those surveyed reported increased staffing levels, while only 19% reported trimming their workforce.

1. Oil above $111 on Iran, China, U.S. data Crude oil rose above $111 a barrel on Tuesday as tension between Iran and the United States stirred fear of a possible disruption to oil supplies

1. Stocks leap on first trading day of new year In the absence of fresh bad news out of Europe, trading in 2012 got off to a solid start. Europe’s debt woes will likely remain the main catalyst for markets over the coming weeks. Surveys show that China and India may be picking up momentum.

1. U.S. Economy Gains Steam as 200,000 Jobs Are Added The United States added 200,000 new jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday, a robust number that came on the heels of a flurry of heartening economic news.

1. ECONOMIC VIEW: I Just Got Here, but I Know Trouble When I See It How to face the challenges ahead? NYT asked six economists to do a little blue-sky thinking on issues as varied as the Fed, Europe and housing. You won’t find stock tips. But if 2011 was any guide, the best advice for 2012 may be this: Hold tight.

Euro crisis updates in the economic news this week:

1. Euro, Introduced With Flourish, Gets Little Celebration at Its 10-Year Mark Instead of celebrating the 10-year anniversary, policy makers are staying as quiet as possible, as if hoping not to upset the brief calm brought by the holiday season after central bankers injected nearly $640 billion into the banking system in December.

1. Eurozone unemployment stays at record high Unemployment in the eurozone stayed at a record high of 10.3% in November as the impact of the sovereign debt crisis rumbled on, according to official figures.

1. Germany's unemployment rate at record low in December 6.8% marked a new record low since figures for unified Germany were first published. Leading economists expect Germany’s economic growth to slow in 2012, however, in line with other major eurozone economies

1. Greece warns on euro exit if bailout not signed â€œThe bailout agreement needs to be signed otherwise we will be out of the markets, out of the euro,” spokesman Pantelis Kapsis told Skai TV. Some expect Greece’s 2011 deficit may be wider than thought.

1. How Bad Ideas Worsen Europe’s Debt Meltdown Europe is as full of bad ideas as it is of bad debts. By artful application of bad ideas, Europe has taken a plain-vanilla sovereign restructuring and turned it into a banking crisis, a currency crisis, a fiscal crisis.

1. Soros says EU break-up would be catastrophic The euro zone crisis is “more serious and more threatening than the crash of 2008. Unfortunately, they haven’t yet solved the acute financial crisis and that is causing the situation to deteriorate…and (it) is not at all clear it will have a solution.”

Housing crisis articles:

1. Construction spending rose in November The increase was the third in four months and the largest since a 2.2 percent rise in August, yet barely half the $1.5 trillion that economists consider healthy. This year will likely end as the worst for new-home sales in history.

Solutions proposed for the Great Recession in the economic news:

1. Labour calls for 'responsible and better' capitalism Brits suggest free-market path to less income disparity. Labour was not against people being rewarded for risks and creating jobs. But there is a problem when pay appeared to “bear no relation to performance,” which “undermines trust in the whole system.”