http://finadviserweblog.com News: Finance and Economic Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:15:18 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en U.S. builders probably broke ground in July on the fewest houses in 17 years, signaling the residential-construction slump will continue to hurt growth, economists said before a government report today. Housing starts plunged 9.9 percent to an annual rate of 960,000 after a 1.066 million pace the ... http://finadviserweblog.com/housing-starts-in-us-probably-dropped-to-17-year-low-in-july/ U.S. regulators' emergency rule to restrict "naked" short selling in 19 major financial stocks had little impact and may have even backfired, two studies of the rule's effects showed on Wednesday. While overall short selling declined in nearly every firm affected by the rule, many of the ... http://finadviserweblog.com/sec-short-selling-rule-made-little-impact-studies/ Waste Management, the nation's largest trash hauler, is boosting its buyout offer for rival Republic Services by 9% to $37 per share.Houston-based Waste Management (WMI, Fortune 500) says it is willing to pay about $6.99 billion, for the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based Republic Services Inc (RSG)., which rejected a ... http://finadviserweblog.com/waste-management-boosts-republic-buyout-offer/ Mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac on Wednesday reported a much bigger-than-expected loss, slashed its dividend and warned of more problems ahead for the battered housing and credit markets.Company executives, in a sobering forecast about the nation's housing woes, said nationwide home prices are likely to drop another 7% ... http://finadviserweblog.com/big-loss-grim-outlook-at-freddie-mac/ The Federal Reserve's proposed rules for credit card lenders could lead the banking industry to lose at least $10.6 billion in interest annually, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a letter to regulators, citing a study.In May, the Federal Reserve and other regulators proposed steps to end what ... http://finadviserweblog.com/jpmorgan-feds-new-rules-will-hurt/ In the Mexican town of Tarimbaro, construction has stopped on new homes, so sales at a hardware store are half last year's total. A butcher who slaughtered a head of cattle a day now slays two a week. And Rocio Rangel feeds her son and daughter bread and ... http://finadviserweblog.com/mexicos-poor-forgo-medicine-food-as-income-from-us-drops/ The economy, boosted by $90 billion in stimulus checks, grew at a faster pace in the spring but not as strongly as expected, the government reported Thursday.The Commerce Department also lowered its readings on growth in the two previous quarters, resulting in the first contraction in the economy ... http://finadviserweblog.com/economy-grows-but-warnings-sound/ Money sent home by Mexican migrants declined by 2.2% in the first six months of 2008, the first sustained drop in more than a decade, Mexico's Central Bank reported Wednesday.The downturn in U.S. housing construction and stepped-up U.S. immigration raids have made it tougher for migrants to find ... http://finadviserweblog.com/mexican-migrant-money-declines-22/ The Senate on Saturday overwhelmingly passed a landmark housing bill that will offer up to $300 billion in loans for troubled homeowners and establish a government rescue plan for mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.The House passed the bill on Wednesday just hours after President Bush ... http://finadviserweblog.com/senate-passes-landmark-housing-bill/ South Korea's economy expanded at the same pace in the second quarter as the first as export gains made up for cooling consumer spending. The economy grew 0.8 percent from the previous quarter, the central bank said in Seoul today. From a year earlier, gross domestic product ... http://finadviserweblog.com/south-korea-maintains-economic-growth-pace-on-exports/