On Friday, March 12, 2010, The Park Avenue Bank, New York, NY was closed by the New York State Banking Department, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named Receiver. No advance notice is given to the public when a financial institution is closed. The FDIC has assembled useful information regarding your relationship with this institution. Besides a checking account, you may have Certificates of Deposit, a car loan, a business checking account, a commercial loan, a Social Security direct deposit, and other relationships with the institution. The FDIC has compiled the following information, which should answer many of your questions.
The FDIC has assembled useful information regarding your relationship with this institution. Besides a checking account, you may have Certificates of Deposit, a car loan, a business checking account, a commercial loan, a Social Security direct deposit, and other relationships with the institution. The FDIC has compiled the following information, which should answer many of your questions.
MEXICO CITY, Mar 13, 2010 (IPS) - Mexican consumers are currently facing a combination of price rises, economic recession and lack of legal protection in the face of abuses committed by providers of goods and services.These problems will be the main points on the agenda of the first national convention of consumer rights groups in Mexico, to be held in the capital Saturday. "We want to build a national agenda for the consumer rights movement, to fight monopolistic practices or services that do not live up to what they promise," Dolores Rojas, campaigns coordinator in the Mexican office of the international development agency Oxfam, one of the organisers of the convention, told IPS. Although a federal consumer protection agency (PROFECO) was created in 1976 under the Economy Ministry, it lacks legal teeth. "There is a significant transfer of resources from consumers to the large food industry groups, which control entire markets," Alfonso Ramírez, founder and head of El Barzón, the powerful Mexican debtors' movement that arose after the 1995 crisis which decimated savings in bank accounts, told IPS.
Several changes of ownership after German reunification haven't improved the outlook for the once-proud Baltic Sea shipyards of Rostock and Wismar. But now there could be a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Before the eastern German shipyards in Rostock-Warnemuende and Wismar had to file for insolvency in June 2009, they were among the strongest yards in the country. But then, the global financial crisis took its toll. "Financial institutions have behaved a bit differently since the crisis," said shipbuilder Gunnar Flemming. "The banks do have money; after all they received it from the government. But they won't spend it properly, they won't give us the necessary credits." Flemming was one of several thousand workers who demonstrated earlier this week in front of the regional parliament in Schwerin in an effort to protect their jobs. Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Shipbuilders vented their anger over job cuts in Schwerin Since their founding in 1946, the shipyards in Rostock and Wismar were always among the biggest employers in what is now the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. After Germany's reunification, the shipyards saw a number of new owners coming and going, among them investors from western Germany, Norway and more recently Russia. All of them had promised a bright future for the shipbuilding sector on the Baltic coast, but failed to live up to expectations.
Before the eastern German shipyards in Rostock-Warnemuende and Wismar had to file for insolvency in June 2009, they were among the strongest yards in the country. But then, the global financial crisis took its toll.
"Financial institutions have behaved a bit differently since the crisis," said shipbuilder Gunnar Flemming. "The banks do have money; after all they received it from the government. But they won't spend it properly, they won't give us the necessary credits."
Flemming was one of several thousand workers who demonstrated earlier this week in front of the regional parliament in Schwerin in an effort to protect their jobs.
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Shipbuilders vented their anger over job cuts in Schwerin
Since their founding in 1946, the shipyards in Rostock and Wismar were always among the biggest employers in what is now the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
After Germany's reunification, the shipyards saw a number of new owners coming and going, among them investors from western Germany, Norway and more recently Russia. All of them had promised a bright future for the shipbuilding sector on the Baltic coast, but failed to live up to expectations.
Battered by the economic crisis and drowning in deficits, several EU states have opted to cut public sector pay rather than devalue their currency. The choice is unpopular but not unprecedented, reports Il Sole 24 Ore. State salaries are no longer sacrosanct. Greece's recent decision to cut civil service pay by about seven percent is but one in a long line of similar measures adopted a little over a year ago both inside and outside the eurozone. The story starts not on the shores of the Mediterranean, however, but on the east coast of the Baltic. According to a recent study by Swedbank in Stockholm, in October 2009 public salaries in Latvia - the little Baltic country that led the pack in the downward wage spiral - dropped back to 2006 levels. The cutbacks, which were up to 20 percent for teachers and some other branches of the public sector, were fiercely contested last winter and spring but accepted in the end. All the forecasts of imminent devaluation were proved wrong. The country weathered last year's drop in GDP of over 17 percent. Now its balance of payments is back in the black. And its sovereign debt is no longer rated high-risk by the agencies.
Battered by the economic crisis and drowning in deficits, several EU states have opted to cut public sector pay rather than devalue their currency. The choice is unpopular but not unprecedented, reports Il Sole 24 Ore.
State salaries are no longer sacrosanct. Greece's recent decision to cut civil service pay by about seven percent is but one in a long line of similar measures adopted a little over a year ago both inside and outside the eurozone.
The story starts not on the shores of the Mediterranean, however, but on the east coast of the Baltic. According to a recent study by Swedbank in Stockholm, in October 2009 public salaries in Latvia - the little Baltic country that led the pack in the downward wage spiral - dropped back to 2006 levels. The cutbacks, which were up to 20 percent for teachers and some other branches of the public sector, were fiercely contested last winter and spring but accepted in the end.
All the forecasts of imminent devaluation were proved wrong. The country weathered last year's drop in GDP of over 17 percent. Now its balance of payments is back in the black. And its sovereign debt is no longer rated high-risk by the agencies.
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- A 2,200-page bankruptcy report a year in the making may point the way for plaintiffs looking to sue former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. officials, lawyers said, rather than grand juries probing possible crimes. The report, filed by bankruptcy examiner Anton Valukas in Manhattan federal court on March 11, describes off-balance-sheet transactions Lehman used to hide debt in late 2007 and 2008, deceiving shareholders about its ability to withstand losses. The firm, which collapsed in September 2008, filed the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history and helped trigger the financial crisis and resulting $700 billion government bailout. Within a month of its demise, three federal criminal probes began and at least 12 subpoenas were issued by prosecutors in New York and New Jersey, lead Lehman bankruptcy lawyer Harvey Miller said at the time. Since then, no major criminal cases have been brought over the bank's failure. The new report is unlikely to change that, said attorney Jacob Frenkel. "There is language here that would validate there being no federal criminal case brought," said Frenkel, a former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer, of the Lehman report. "There would have been language of `intent' or deliberately ignoring information." Attorney Thomas Gorman, chairman of Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur LLP's securities litigation practice and co-chair of the American Bar Association's White Collar Crime Securities Section, said that the report may nevertheless serve as a road map for prosecutors.
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- A 2,200-page bankruptcy report a year in the making may point the way for plaintiffs looking to sue former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. officials, lawyers said, rather than grand juries probing possible crimes.
The report, filed by bankruptcy examiner Anton Valukas in Manhattan federal court on March 11, describes off-balance-sheet transactions Lehman used to hide debt in late 2007 and 2008, deceiving shareholders about its ability to withstand losses. The firm, which collapsed in September 2008, filed the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history and helped trigger the financial crisis and resulting $700 billion government bailout.
Within a month of its demise, three federal criminal probes began and at least 12 subpoenas were issued by prosecutors in New York and New Jersey, lead Lehman bankruptcy lawyer Harvey Miller said at the time. Since then, no major criminal cases have been brought over the bank's failure. The new report is unlikely to change that, said attorney Jacob Frenkel.
"There is language here that would validate there being no federal criminal case brought," said Frenkel, a former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer, of the Lehman report. "There would have been language of `intent' or deliberately ignoring information."
Attorney Thomas Gorman, chairman of Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur LLP's securities litigation practice and co-chair of the American Bar Association's White Collar Crime Securities Section, said that the report may nevertheless serve as a road map for prosecutors.
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- The longest-ever gain in futures linked to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index shows growing investor confidence in the U.S. economy. "It's a bullish indication," said Stephen Lieber, chief investment officer of Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC, which manages more than $7 billion in Purchase, New York. "There's greater confidence in the equity market. Earnings have been relatively positive."
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- The longest-ever gain in futures linked to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index shows growing investor confidence in the U.S. economy.
"It's a bullish indication," said Stephen Lieber, chief investment officer of Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC, which manages more than $7 billion in Purchase, New York. "There's greater confidence in the equity market. Earnings have been relatively positive."
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rose, pushing the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to a 17-month high, as Citigroup Inc. led a rally among banks and data boosted confidence that the economic recovery is sustainable. Citigroup rallied 13 percent on speculation the U.S. government may sell its stake and after Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said the bank will be consistently profitable. American International Group Inc., the bailed-out insurer, surged 22 percent after selling a division to MetLife Inc. for $15.5 billion. Home Depot Inc. and McDonald's Corp. each rose at least 2.8 percent after U.S. retail sales unexpectedly increased in February.
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rose, pushing the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to a 17-month high, as Citigroup Inc. led a rally among banks and data boosted confidence that the economic recovery is sustainable.
Citigroup rallied 13 percent on speculation the U.S. government may sell its stake and after Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said the bank will be consistently profitable. American International Group Inc., the bailed-out insurer, surged 22 percent after selling a division to MetLife Inc. for $15.5 billion. Home Depot Inc. and McDonald's Corp. each rose at least 2.8 percent after U.S. retail sales unexpectedly increased in February.
A slew of poor economic data over the past two weeks suggests that the U.S. economy is headed for a U-shaped recovery--at best--in 2010. The macro news, including data on consumer confidence, home sales, construction and employment, actually suggests a significant downside risk even to the anemic levels of growth which RGE forecast for H1. The U.S. faces continued challenges in H2--particularly as historic levels of fiscal stimulus fade--and appears far too close to the tipping point of a double-dip recession. This is not the conventional wisdom. Heated debate continues to rage in the United States on whether the economic recovery will be V-shaped (with a rapid return to robust growth above potential), U-shaped (slow anemic, sub-par, below trend growth for at least the next two years) or W-shaped (a double-dip recession). The V camp includes distinguished research groups and individuals such as Ed Hyman's ISI, Larry Meyer's Macroeconomic Advisors, the research group of JP Morgan, Michael Mussa and others. The U camp includes--among others--Roubini Global Economics, Goldman Sachs' U.S. economic research group, PIMCO and Ken Rogoff. As early as August 2009, I worried in a Financial Times op-ed about the risk of a double-dip recession even if our RGE benchmark scenario characterizes the risk of a W as still a low probability event (20% probability) as opposed to a 60% probability for a U-shaped recovery. Others concerned about the double-dip risk include also David Rosenberg, Gary Shilling and John Makin. Ed Hyman and I debated whether the recovery would be U or V-shaped on a February 22 conference call attended by over 2,200 listeners. Since that call, a slew of new U.S. macro data have come out. They have been almost uniformly poor, if not outright awful. Consumer confidence, based on the Michigan survey, has tanked. On the real estate front, new home sales are collapsing again, existing home sales are also falling sharply, and construction activity (both residential and commercial) is sharply down. Durable goods orders are down, initial claims for unemployment benefits remain stubbornly high (way above the 400K mark). Real disposable income for Q4 has been revised downward while real disposable income (before transfers) for January was negative again. The manufacturing ISM index--while still expanding being above 50--has now fallen a couple of notches and its production and new orders index levels are falling, too; and global PMIs suggest a loss of momentum in the global economic recovery. Real inventories look unchanged in Q1 relative to Q4; auto sales were at best mediocre; core CPI was falling and core PCE was close to 0%, suggesting anemic demand and economic weakness. Q4 GDP growth was revised upward to 5.9% but most of it (3.9%) was due to inventories; final sales grew at a 1.9% rate while consumption grew at a dismal 1.7% (down from 2.8% in Q3). Q3 growth has been revised from an initial 3.5% to 2.8% to 2.2%, with final sales growing only 1.7%. So, at the time of maximum policy stimulus (H2 of 2009), final sales were growing only at a pathetic 1.8% average rate.
This is not the conventional wisdom. Heated debate continues to rage in the United States on whether the economic recovery will be V-shaped (with a rapid return to robust growth above potential), U-shaped (slow anemic, sub-par, below trend growth for at least the next two years) or W-shaped (a double-dip recession). The V camp includes distinguished research groups and individuals such as Ed Hyman's ISI, Larry Meyer's Macroeconomic Advisors, the research group of JP Morgan, Michael Mussa and others. The U camp includes--among others--Roubini Global Economics, Goldman Sachs' U.S. economic research group, PIMCO and Ken Rogoff. As early as August 2009, I worried in a Financial Times op-ed about the risk of a double-dip recession even if our RGE benchmark scenario characterizes the risk of a W as still a low probability event (20% probability) as opposed to a 60% probability for a U-shaped recovery. Others concerned about the double-dip risk include also David Rosenberg, Gary Shilling and John Makin.
Ed Hyman and I debated whether the recovery would be U or V-shaped on a February 22 conference call attended by over 2,200 listeners. Since that call, a slew of new U.S. macro data have come out. They have been almost uniformly poor, if not outright awful. Consumer confidence, based on the Michigan survey, has tanked. On the real estate front, new home sales are collapsing again, existing home sales are also falling sharply, and construction activity (both residential and commercial) is sharply down. Durable goods orders are down, initial claims for unemployment benefits remain stubbornly high (way above the 400K mark). Real disposable income for Q4 has been revised downward while real disposable income (before transfers) for January was negative again. The manufacturing ISM index--while still expanding being above 50--has now fallen a couple of notches and its production and new orders index levels are falling, too; and global PMIs suggest a loss of momentum in the global economic recovery. Real inventories look unchanged in Q1 relative to Q4; auto sales were at best mediocre; core CPI was falling and core PCE was close to 0%, suggesting anemic demand and economic weakness. Q4 GDP growth was revised upward to 5.9% but most of it (3.9%) was due to inventories; final sales grew at a 1.9% rate while consumption grew at a dismal 1.7% (down from 2.8% in Q3). Q3 growth has been revised from an initial 3.5% to 2.8% to 2.2%, with final sales growing only 1.7%. So, at the time of maximum policy stimulus (H2 of 2009), final sales were growing only at a pathetic 1.8% average rate.
