http://cashatoll.com Online financial news Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:36:19 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly shot up to 6.1 percent in August, the highest in nearly five years, as employers cut payrolls for an eighth straight month and a decline in labor markets accelerated. The Labor Department said on Friday 84,000 jobs were lost in August, significantly more ... http://cashatoll.com/jobless-rate-at-5-year-high/ Watching Alan Greenspan in his new incarnation is a strange experience. Greenspan 1.0 served as Federal Reserve Board chairman for an entire generation, being oracular, talking in what we (and now he) called Fedspeak, rarely saying anything on the record outside of carefully choreographed public appearances. But now ... http://cashatoll.com/chatty-alan/ Summer job cuts have risen to their highest level in six years. From May through August, employers nationwide announced they would cut 377,325 jobs, according to employment consultant Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. That's nearly 30 percent more people than during the first four months of 2008. The last time ... http://cashatoll.com/summer-job-cuts-in-the-us-rise-to-highest-level-since-2002/ Oil was around $109 a barrel on Tuesday after sliding to five-months lows when initial reports showed Hurricane Gustav had spared major U.S. Gulf oil facilities. U.S. crude was $109.53 a barrel by 10:44 a.m. EDT, down $5.93 from Friday's close. It touched a session low of $105.46, ... http://cashatoll.com/oil-near-109-as-gustav-fades/ The three big credit rating agencies were shaken by a host of new regulations designed to correct shortcomings and curb their influence on investors. But after the dust settles they most likely will continue to dominate Wall Street. The biggest threat comes from reforms put forward by the ... http://cashatoll.com/rating-agencies-seen-weathering-regulatory-storm/ As investors exchange their beach wear for business suits at the end of summer every year, they usually prepare for a rally in technology stocks in the run-up to the December gadget spending spree. But this year, with high energy and food prices, the housing slump and credit ... http://cashatoll.com/money-managers-expect-muted-year-end-tech-rally/ The catastrophe looming in the documentary "I.O.U.S.A." isn't romantic like the doomed young love in "Titanic," but billionaires Warren Buffett and Pete Peterson warn it could break many more hearts.The disaster they warn of could be bigger than any we've ever seen - bigger than an iceberg, bigger ... http://cashatoll.com/buffett-spotlights-nations-debt-crisis/ The FDIC, six weeks after taking over mortgage lender IndyMac Bank, said Wednesday that it will start systematically modifying some of the bank's most troubled loans to keep borrowers in their homes.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it has started to send out the first of what will ... http://cashatoll.com/indymac-borrowers-to-get-relief/ Chip maker Vishay Intertechnology says it offered to buy power management chip maker International Rectifier Corp. for $1.6 billion in cash.Malvern, Pa.-based Vishay Intertechnology Inc (VSH). says the offer would be for $21.22 per share, which is about a 13% premium over International Rectifier's (IRF) Thursday closing price ... http://cashatoll.com/international-rectifier-gets-16b-buyout-offer/ Morgan Stanley (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) became the latest Wall Street investment bank to offer to reimburse buyers of auction-rate securities, as New York's attorney general sought settlement talks with it and two other banks. Morgan Stanley said it would offer to buy back at face ... http://cashatoll.com/morgan-stanley-eyes-deal-ny-widens-auction-rate-probe/