Consumer took some heart in December, as lower prices have provided a measure of relief to jittery Americans fretting about continued job losses and decreasing incomes.
Because current yields on Treasury obligations are at historic lows, certain estate planning techniques can be very attractive.
Rising unemployment and volatility in the stock market continued to pull down the troubled housing market as sales of existing homes tumbled 10.6% in November from the same period a year earlier.
Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services today lowered its counterparty credit and financial ratings on Nationwide Financial, the life insurance division of Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., to A+, from AA-.
Tremont Group Holdings, which is owned by OppenheimerFunds Inc., a subsidiary of Massachusetts Mutual, had $3.3 billion invested with Mr. Madoff — more than half of its total $5.8 billion under management.
Apartment real estate investment trusts, which have been outperforming many of their real estate peers in 2008, are expected to take a hit in 2009 as rising unemployment will likely cause both demand and rents to decline.
Because the value of most advisory practices is tied in varying degrees to cash flow, revenue and assets advised, most firms are probably worth less today than they were at their peak a year ago.
The wirehouses appear to have escaped major exposure to Bernard Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme.
New features include rates tables with flat rates and cross rates of most-traded currencies and currency pairs, a global economic calendar that lists major economic events that affect currencies and allows filtering by country.
The mutual fund industry today attempted to make a pre-emptive strike against congressional efforts to reduce tax breaks for 401(k) plans or to make major changes in the system.
