Nation’s Mayors Support Gay Marriage But Complain About Unemployment

DC, Washington, United States (AHN) – The U.S. Conference of Mayors wrapped up its winter meeting Friday in Washington, D.C., with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stepping into controversies on same sex marriage and education.

Emanuel joined about 80 other mayors from across the nation in endorsing laws to give legal recognition to same sex marriage, along with the tax breaks and other benefits spouses can share.

The mayors signed on to a statement that said, “Our cities derive great strength from their diversity and gay and lesbian families are a crucial part. Studies have shown what we know through our hands-on experience that cities that celebrate and cultivate diversity are the places where creativity and ideas thrive.”

Emanuel supported the Illinois Legislature’s effort last year to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples.

He said New York did “a good thing” last June when state lawmakers legalized gay marriage.

In separate comments Friday, Emanuel discussed his plan to turn Chicago’s community colleges into training institutions for the city’s employers.

Currently, Chicago’s City Colleges have a graduation rate of about 7 percent and job prospects for graduates that are “not as high,” Emanuel said.

His plan calls for each of the city’s seven community colleges to operate with specialties, such as health care, transportation, hospitality and manufacturing.

In addition, employers would be brought in to develop curricula that would train the students to become their employees.

“I want it to have economic value” to attend college, Emanuel said at the downtown Washington hotel where about 250 mayors were meeting.

Turning colleges into job training institutions is controversial among some academics, who say a well-rounded education requires liberal arts courses that include literature, history and the arts.

Nevertheless, job creation and recovery from the economic disaster of the Great Recession were dominant themes throughout the meeting this week.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a report that said the nation’s metropolitan areas will struggle for five more years to regain jobs lost during the recession that started in September 2008.

“The recovery is very uneven across U.S. regions, with the southeastern and southwestern metro [areas that] were the most affected by the housing bubble looking ahead to years of recovery,” the report says.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls will grow about 1.3 percent this year, which is unlikely to reduce the unemployment rate below 8 percent, according to a report by IHS Global Insight.

The report predicts the nation will regain nearly half the jobs lost during the Great Recession by the end of 2012.

The mayors used the economic report to try to prod Congress to approve legislation that would create more jobs.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, president of the Conference of Mayors, said “Congress has jumped ship” in its obligation to stimulate the economy and employment.

However, Villaraigosa acknowledged cities will have a hard time squeezing money out of Congress at a time the federal government is trying to reduce its deficit by cutting spending.

View full post on All Stories

States Turn To Foundations To Help Pay Costs of Health Overhaul

Sacramento, CA, United States (KaiserHealth) – Short on cash and time, officials in California and at least a dozen other states have turned to philanthropies to help pay for the extra work required under the federal health law.

Nowhere do the ties between private health foundations and state government run deeper than in California, where Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration is grappling with a projected $10.8 billion deficit in 2012, leaving little money for implementing the law. Three major foundations – the California HealthCare Foundation, the Blue Shield of California Foundation and the California Endowment – have stepped into the breach with money for actuaries, economists and other consultants.

“Given our fiscal crisis, we’re not able to get the funds to begin implementing [the health law], and while it’s a clear policy goal, we have to focus on eliminating services” instead, said Toby Douglas, director of the California Department of Health Care Services. Private philanthropy can continue “planting seeds and really driving that change” when it comes to the law.

The California HealthCare Foundation is funding two consultants to work on the state’s application for federal funding for a health insurance exchange, a cornerstone of the law that will allow individuals and small businesses to shop for coverage in a new online marketplace. It must be in place by 2014, and though the state was the first to pass a law authorizing the exchange, last September, it has committed few resources to actually building it.

“It is a sign of the times,” said Marian Mulkey, the California HealthCare Foundation’s health reform director.

Two years ago, as the state’s budget problems deepened, the foundation took its first plunge into paying for state obligations, underwriting California’s share of a federal health IT project. “Five years ago, I can’t imagine our board saying we’d be prepared to put up the state match,” she said, but it had become clear that California couldn’t afford the expense.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in New Jersey, is spending up to $10 million over a year to assist 10 other states.

“States are just obviously struggling now because of the economy, so there’s a great need to go beyond the academic papers and help operationalize” reform plans, said Heather Howard, a Princeton lecturer and former New Jersey health commissioner who is working on a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to provide “technical assistance” to states, such as actuaries, who estimate medical risk, and consultants who can project the costs of proposals.

Robert Wood Johnson is assisting Alabama, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Virginia. Political leaders in some of those states oppose the law, but requested the technical help, Howard said.

Budget problems – states’ 2012-13 deficits are expected to total $150 billion – aren’t the only reason states are seeking foundation support. Lengthy procurement procedures mean it can take many months for states to hire experts, making it tough to meet health law deadlines, Howard said.

In May, the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund and other Kansas charities set up a $450,000 fund to finance the state’s implementation. In Ohio, the George Gund Foundation brought together charities and state officials last fall to discuss potential financing arrangements. Gund representatives did not return calls seeking comment.

The foundations, which are nonpartisan, all list expanding health care access as a key part of their organizational mission in tax filings. One of the organizations, the California Endowment, paid for a television ad with TV celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz, urging people to take full advantage of the law. The ad ran immediately after last year’s elections.

An Internal Revenue Service primer on nonprofits says “lessening the burdens of government” is a tax-exempt “charitable” activity. In May 2009, a report commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush explored potential partnerships between government and charities.

Although the law was supported by Democrats and vehemently opposed by Republicans, the foundations’ contributions haven’t sparked controversy.

Peter Long, president of the Blue Shield of California Foundation, said his organization distances itself from potential conflicts. When the foundation receives requests for help from the state, it contracts with experts who can handle the work, and then steps back, leaving the tough policy choices to public officials. “We’re inspector # 12,” he said, referring to the calling cards anonymous quality checkers might leave in the pocket of a new garment.

Long’s foundation is funding three projects. It has helped the state build a timeline to guide its overhaul work; hired actuaries to advise policy makers on the state’s Medicaid enrollment process; and hired Bill Obernesser, an independent consultant, to advise the board governing the exchange.

Long said his organization and other charities had supported the government in the past, but “the pace and scale” of that support has increased in response to the heightened demand.

The California Endowment has agreed to give the state $500,000 to pay for planning a Medicaid “health home” project that would allow the state to draw down more federal dollars for activities like coordinating patients’ services. The federal government will match the Endowment’s money.

“We’re making the dollars available to them to undertake this process,” said Richard Figueroa, the Endowment’s health and human services director. California has “a very strange fiscal situation, so it’s unclear whether they would have moved on this on their own.”

The California HealthCare Foundation hired Wakely Consulting Group to advise lawmakers and state officials on shaping legislation to create the exchange last year. Wakely sent Jon Kingsdale, who helped design the exchange Massachusetts uses in its own health system, to help out in Sacramento.

California officials said they also are seeking outside support to evaluate sweeping changes to their Medicaid program. Mulkey, of the California HealthCare Foundation, said it would be willing to do this. She said even though the federal government requires the evaluation, “California has said they don’t have the resources to do this, so they probably would not do it absent external foundation support.cweaver@kff.org

– Provided by Kaiser Health News.

View full post on All Stories

Grubb & Ellis strategic process continues

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Grubb & Ellis Co. said Tuesday its efforts to sell or merge the company continue. The Santa Ana, Calif., real estate company said it expects to complete a transaction with its Daymark unit, but it did not provide any additional details. On March 30, Grubb & Ellis signed a loan agreement with Colony Capital LLC. As of May 29, Colony’s exclusivity period ended, allowing Grubb & Ellis to engage in discussions with additional parties, while continuing talks with Colony, the company said.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

View full post on All Stories

Einhorn Deal Could Allow Controlling Interest in Mets

David Einhorn’s $200 million agreement with the New York Mets to buy a minority stake in the team is essentially a loan that, after three years, could allow the hedge-fund titan to acquire a controlling interest in the team.

View full post on All Stories

Bill Clinton Rips Ryan Plan At Fiscal Summit

United States (KaiserHealth) – Former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday that a controversial GOP plan to dramatically overhaul Medicare clearly was a factor in the Democrats’ victory Tuesday in a House special election in a heavily Republican Western New York district. But he cautioned both parties not to use the outcome as an excuse to put off seeking ways to contain rapidly mounting government health care costs as part of a long-term debt reduction plan.

Democratic Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul scored an upset against Republican State Assemblywoman Jane Corwin in a three-way race that many political experts viewed as a referendum on a Republican plan designed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to convert Medicare to a subsidized voucher program. That proposal, formally approved by the full House as part of a long term budget, has generated political problems for Republicans in many districts throughout the country. Polls have shown the public is skeptical or outright opposed to gradually ending Medicare as it is currently constituted.

Speaking at a Peter G. Peterson Foundation Fiscal Summit in Washington, Clinton blasted the Ryan proposal, saying it was wrong “in principle” and would saddle future seniors with inadequate health care coverage that would discourage them from seeking medical treatment, even in life-threatening situations. “Medical costs will continue to go up, and older people will use less health care and die” or spend more of their saving, he said.

“I don’t think the Democrats or Republicans ought to conclude from the New York results that no change can bemade in Medicare.”

But Clinton, who presided over adoption of four balanced budgets during his two terms as president during the’90s, insisted that lawmakers could still find plenty of opportunities to reduce spending on Medicare for seniors and Medicaid for the poor as part of a comprehensive budget plan. “I don’t think the Democrats or Republicans ought to conclude from the New York results that no change can be made in Medicare” and other entitlement programs.

He added that “There is a real hunger among Americans” for us to do things,” but that the biggest cuts in health care and other domestic programs should be delayed for at least a year – as the president’s fiscal commission recommended – until the economy has improved more. “Most of this stuff should bite next year because the economy is too weak,” he said.

…”The existing Medicare system is a fiscal fantasy that can no longer be sustained and will eventually crash the system.”

Ryan, the Republicans most prominent spokesman on the budget and economy, followed Clinton on stage and defended his Medicare plan -stressing that it wouldn’t affect people 55 and older and that it represents a sensible way to move away from a financially unsustainable fee-for-service program that is driving up the national debt. He complained about TV ads by Democrats and seniors’ advocates that he claims distorted his proposal for providing premium support for vouchers to purchase health care in the private market. Ryan compared the existing Medicare system to a “fiscal fantasy” that no can longer be sustained and will eventually “crash the system.”

“So the question is, what are the kinds of reforms we’re putting in place to get at the root cause of health inflation … [and] to inject competition into the system so we can stretch our dollar farther, and then subsidize people more who need it more and not those who need it less.”

“So what we’re saying is protect those with low-income by supplementing and covering their out of pocket costs,” he added. “And we’re also saying as people get sicker, increase their payments, stabilize their premiums. And as people get wealthier, don’t subsidize them as much.”

The second annual Peterson Foundation Fiscal Summit opened as a bipartisan House and Senate group headed by Vice President Joseph Biden reported substantial progress in negotiating a deal to cut spending and raise the debt ceiling to avert the threat of the Treasury defaulting on debt for the first time in U.S. history. Biden and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have both said the group of six Democratic and Republican lawmakers appear on track to reach agreement on more than $1 trillion in spending cuts in the short term, with an eye to a total of $4 trillion in deficit reduction in the coming decade or so. A spending deal is essential to persuading Republicans to join with Democrats to raise the debt ceiling, which is currently at an historic $14.3 trillion level.

“A year ago, Americans were still arguing whether there was a debt crisis; today more and more Americans are openingtheir eyes, their ears and their minds to the fiscal threat.”

“We meet at a very pivotal and hopeful moment,” Pete Peterson, a former Wall Street financier and Commerce Secretary, said in opening the day-long conference. Peterson noted that a year ago, many Americans were still arguing whether there was a debt crisis, while today “more and more Americans are opening their eyes and their ears and their minds” to the fiscal threat.

Clinton, the keynote speaker, is the only former president who presided over consecutive budget surpluses in the post World War II era. Here are several major points he made during a conversation with Gwen Ifill of PBS’s Washington Week.

On bipartisan support for a budget deal”I think we can have bipartisan cooperation. The Democrats are going to have to be willing to give up maybe some short term political gain by whipping up fears on some of these things if it’s a reasonable Social Security proposal, a reasonable Medicare proposal. We’ve got to deal with these things. You can’t have health care devour the economy. “

On the debt”This debt problem is already constraining our options as a country. It constrains our ability o develop a more diversified economic strategy by undermining our ability to get investment capital as opposed to consumption capital and by undermining our ability to enforce our trade laws which, discourages us from doing new trade agreements. . . . If we defaulted on the debt once for a few days, it might not be calamitous.” The global markets, he said, would likely still have faith that the United States would be able to pay its bills. The calamity would come only “if people thought we weren’t going to pay our bills anymore and … they would stop buying our debt.”

(A Clinton spokesman later sought to clarify the former president’s comments on default, saying he “inadvertently misspoke” in suggesting a short-term default by the U.S. might not be so harmful. Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna said Clinton “did not in any way mean to suggest that a default would not be highly damaging for the economy even for a very short period of time.”)

On corporate taxes(Clinton believes the corporate tax rate and the mortgage interest deduction should be lowered. He suggests imposing a VAT tax or a tax on pollution. Individual tax rates should return to levels when he was president. He said people like him should pay higher taxes. )

“One of the really impressive accomplishments of the Bowles-Simpson commission was pointing out just how much money there was out there in the so-called tax expenditures. I would favor returning individual rates to where they were when I was president and maybe even across the board, certainly for high income people. Then I think you ought to do something on tax expenditures.”

“On corporate taxes I have a little different take. I raised corporate tax rates and I think it was important because the percentage of the federal pie covered by corporate taxation went way down in the 12 years before I was president. It is very important to be internationally competitive so our rates are fairly high compared to all of our competitors, but our loopholes are fairly high. If you can actually lower rates and still raise the same amount of money and that would make us a little more competitive and be more competitive and then everyone would have to pay something.”

In addition to his foundation, Peter G. Peterson funds The Fiscal Times, an independent news and opinion organization.

– Provided by Kaiser Health News.

View full post on All Stories

Obama, NJDC welcome win of Hochul from NY for Congress

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – President Barack Obama congratulated Kathy Hochul on her win in New York’s 26th Congressional District on Tuesday while the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) also welcomed the results.

The White House in a communique cited the President as stating, “”Kathy and I both believe that we need to create jobs, grow our economy, and reduce the deficit in order to outcompete other nations and win the future.”

“Kathy has shown, through her victory and throughout her career, that she will fight for the families and businesses in western New York, and I look forward to working with her when she gets to Washington,” Obama added.

Moreover, the NJDC in a statement noted, “Throughout the campaign, Representative- Elect Hochul showed Jewish families in Western New York that she was the only candidate in the race committed to protecting Medicare and Medicaid; two programs that have been under attack by Republicans in Congress and are relied upon by many elderly Jews for their medical care.”

Chairman of the NJDC, Marc R. Stanley, and President and CEO of the NJDC David A. Harris said in a joint statement, “Rep.-Elect Hochul will be a strong defender of social programs that Jewish voters in Western New York rely on for their medical care. She has shown without a shadow of a doubt, that she will stand up to Speaker Boehner and stand for the people of Western New York. We are delighted to have such a wonderful advocate representing Western New York Jewish families in Congress.”

Hochul defeated Republican Jane Corwin and Green Party Candidate Ian Murphy and independent Tea Party-backed candidate Jack Davis with 48 percent of the vote, according to the NJDC statement.

View full post on All Stories

Supreme Court considers if illegal immigrants qualify for in-state tuition rates

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce as soon as next week whether it will hear an appeal involving California’s controversial law that grants illegal immigrants in-state tuition at public universities.

The immigrants say they could not afford college if they paid the higher out-of-state tuition rates.

Opponents of the law say taxpayers should not have to subsidize lawbreakers like illegal immigrants.

The controversy extends beyond California to 10 other states that grant reduced tuition to illegal immigrants. Out-of-state tuition can be triple in-state rates.

Courts took up the case of Martinez vs. Regents of the University of California in 2005 when students who paid out-of-state tuition sued the Board of Regents.

They accused the university of violating a 1996 federal law that prohibits public institutions from giving benefits to illegal immigrants.

The University of California’s attorneys argued the state law, AB540, was narrowly written to avoid conflicts with the federal law.

Illegal immigrants can get in-state tuition only if they attend a California high school for three years and graduate.

The same benefit is granted to any graduates of the state’s high schools, thereby eliminating legal U.S. residency as the issue in getting in-state college tuition, attorneys for the University of California argued.

The trial court agreed with the university and dismissed the lawsuit.

However, the California Court of Appeal for the Third District reversed the trial court, saying the state law is preempted by federal law. In other words, illegal immigrants cannot receive in-state tuition.

On appeal in November, the California Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal.

Now, it’s the U.S. Supreme Court’s turn to decide the dispute, this time with a likelihood of influencing debate in Congress over how to reform immigration laws.

The Supreme Court justices this week discussed whether to grant the case a hearing or let the California Supreme Court decision stand.

Just before the California Supreme Court accepted the case, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff wrote a letter to the state’s highest court saying the dispute reaches “into the heart of the national debate about illegal immigration.”

Utah, along with New York and Texas, is among the states that allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition.

Other states, such as Arizona, are strongly opposed to granting any benefits to illegal immigrants.

They have been joined by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest law group, which filed an amicus brief that supports cutting off in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

If the state law granting in-state tuition is upheld, “overburdened state taxpayers, who are suffering under California’s devastated economy, will be forced to continue subsidizing the college education of adult illegal immigrants,” the Pacific Legal Foundation said in a statement.

The foundation says in-state tuition gives the equivalent of a taxpayer-subsidized scholarship worth between $43,884 to $80,872 at a four year college.

However, LatinoJustice, a civil rights organization that filed an amicus brief in the case, said in a statement that the lawsuit against AB540 “threatens to erect an insurmountable barrier for high-achieving high school graduates from pursuing higher education in hopes of bettering themselves and benefiting their communities as a whole.”

View full post on All Stories

New York Retailers to Converge for iGoDigital New York eRetail Roundtable 2011

Indianapolis, IN, May 19, 2011 –(PR.com)– iGoDigital, the market and technology leader in personalized product recommendations and guided selling tools, announces its second annual New York eRetail Roundtable on May 19, 2011, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST. Taking place at Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel, this event brings together a number of [...]

This article ( New York Retailers to Converge for iGoDigital New York eRetail Roundtable 2011 ) was originally developed by and is property of American Banking News . Checkout American Banking News for up-to-date banking news and peer to peer lending news.

View full post on All Stories

South Nassau Communities Hospital to Co-Host LI’s First Annual Medical, Surgical Weight Loss Expo

Oceanside, NY, May 17, 2011 –(PR.com)– Long Island’s First Annual Medical and Surgical Weight Loss Expo to be held Saturday, May 21, from 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. at the Uniondale Marriott in Hempstead, NY. Presented by South Nassau Communities Hospital and Rajeev Vohra, MD, FACS – New York Bariatrics & Laparoscopy, PC, the expo will [...]

This article ( South Nassau Communities Hospital to Co-Host LI’s First Annual Medical, Surgical Weight Loss Expo ) was originally developed by and is property of American Banking News . Checkout American Banking News for up-to-date banking news and peer to peer lending news.

View full post on All Stories

Initial jobless claims drop to 434,000

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Initial claims for jobless benefits decreased slightly during the week ending May 7, with 434,000 newly unemployed workers filing claims compared to the 478,000 the prior week.

That amounted to a 44,000 decrease in first time claims for unemployment compensation insurance benefits.

Although that is a move in the right direction, analysts say that only getting the numbers below the 400,000 mark and keeping them down will signal the nation’s economy is turning around.

In addition, the less volatile 4-week moving average was 436,750, which represented an increase of 4,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 432,250, the U.S. Department of Labor said.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs has dipped down below the 8 million mark, standing at 7,983,672 for the week ending April 23, which is the most recent week such data is available. That was a decrease of 31,247 from the week ending April 16.

Here’s a look at the states with the largest increases in first time claims for the week ending April 30, the latest week for which that data is available:

• New York (+24,431)
• Michigan (+3,948)
• Wisconsin (+3,746)
• North Carolina (+2,749)
• Ohio (+2,319)

View full post on All Stories

Yankees struggling, but A-Rod insists ‘everything is going to be just fine’

Detroit, MI, United States (AHN Sports) – Alex Rodriguez was supposed to have the day off on Thursday but the New York Yankee superstar third-baseman didn’t really mind.

He also didn’t mind when his day off was interrupted in the fourth inning when Eric Chavez came up limping at third base following an RBI triple. Chavez, who was later diagnosed with a small fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his left foot, was helped off the field and Rodriguez took his place in the final game of a four-game series against the Tigers. The Yankees lost 6-3 on Thursday.

Through action Wednesday, A-Rod had reached base safely in 20 of his 24 games. He had been battling a mild slump. Through Wednesday, he had five hits in his last 40 at bats.

“When all is said and done, I think everything is going to be just fine,” he said. “We talking spring training two months ago about the numbers 145 and 150. Joe (Girardi) is going to be very smart on the games play. I had a day off earlier in the year where I was swinging the ball well. If the target is 145 or 150, regardless with how I’m swinging the ball, that day will come.

“The answer will always be the same, I want to be playing, particularly if I’m not swinging the bat well. I have the utmost confidence that when I play I’ll do very well.”

He has so far appeared in 25 of the Yankees’ 29 games.

Rodriguez’s list of career accomplishments remains impressive. He’s ranked 12h currently on baseball’s all-time RBI list with 1,849 and is 15 away from passing Mel Ott for ninth place.

When he belted his 600th career home run last August, he became only the seventh player in MLB to accomplish that and is No. 6 at 618, trailing Ken Griffey Jr. by 12 homers for fifth.

“The more you’re struggling, the more you want to go out and play,” Rodriguez said.

Last season, Rodriguez batted .270 with 74 runs scored, 29 doubles, 30 homers and 125 RBI in 137 games. He was second in the Major League in RBI totals. He’s currently batting .273 with five home runs and 18 RBI.

The Yankees, 17-12, lost the last three games in a four-game series at Detroit and are hoping the bats will improve with change of scenery. This weekend, they are at Texas for a three-game weekend series with one of Rodriguez’s former teams.

“I like hitting in every park,” Rodriguez said. “Texas, I have a lot of history with that ball park. But I don’t worry about it too much. If you can hit you can hit.”

Rodriguez was asked why the Yankees ‘ lineup had success this week against Tiger all-Star pitcher Justin Verlander on Monday and then struggled against Brad Penney and Max Scherzer the next two outings.

“Good hitting is contagious as is poor hitting,” Rodriguez replied. “When you don’t score runs, you don’t look as good on offense. That’s what happened the last two days.”

Rodriguez said he’s been having better and more consistent swings.

“But the results haven’t been there,” he said. “(Hitting coach Kevin Long) seem to think the last few days I’ve been a little more consistent with my swings. It’s a long season.”

Temperatures were in the 40s and 50s for night games earlier in the week at Detroit but Rodriguez wasn’t complaining.

“I love it cold,” he said. “I don’t care about cold weather. I don’t mind it. I can’t say anything for any other player. Obviously perfect weather would be 80-degree weather.”

Rodriguez scored two runs Thursday against Detroit and now has 1,775 runs scored in his career, putting him 18th on the all-time Major League list.

View full post on All Stories

Energy ETFs: Take Your Pick

NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Hundreds of companies will report their earnings this quarter, allowing investors get a feel for the state of industries ranging from tech to healthcare.

Energy, in particular, will be placed under the microscope this week as Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips release their reports. Already, analysts are forecasting that rising oil prices will fuel strong earnings in this sector. As the Wall Street Journal, points out, two factors are lending to crude’s dramatic ascension: unrest in the Arab world and the global economic recovery.

ConocoPhillips will officially kick things off on Wednesday. In the meantime, investors can prepare themselves for this week of excitement by arming themselves with ETFs. … Click to view a price quote on XOM .

Click to research the Energy industry.

View full post on All Stories

Lower loan losses push profits for US banks

CHARLOTTE, N.C./NEW YORK – Improving credit losses helped US regional banks like BB&T Corp and PNC Financial Services Group Inc post stronger quarterly results, even as loan growth remained tepid four years after the housing market collapsed. Banks

View full post on All Stories

S&P issues warning on U.S. government credit rating

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service has rattled financial markets by changing its outlook for U.S. government debt from “stable” to “negative” over concerns that lawmakers might not reach an agreement on dealing with the budget deficit.

The news caused the U.S. dollar to drop in value against the euro and oil prices fell. In New York the S&P 500 stock index declined while in Europe the main French, German and United Kingdom stock indexes also fell.

S&P’s move increases the likelihood that it might downgrade the U.S.’s AAA rating within two years unless more is done to bring down government debt.

As one of the three major ratings agencies, if S&P lowers the U.S. credit rating it would make it harder and more expensive for the nation to borrow money.

In changing its outlook to negative, S&P officials said the agency views the U.S. economy as being diverse with a sound monetary policy, but that a downgrade of the AAA rating is possible if congressional lawmakers and the Obama administration are unable to agree on a viable plan to reduce the nation’s deficit.

U.S. Treasury officials did not agree with S&P’s move, saying they have a better ability to deal with the national debt than the ratings agency estimated.

View full post on All Stories

New York Community Reports 1Q Earnings Drop, Touts Apartment-Loan Demand

New York Community Bancorp in the first quarter partially offset a slowdown in home-mortgage production with more fees from New York apartment-building owners who repaid loans early.

View full post on All Stories