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The Obama administration is getting ready to conduct "stress tests" on the nation's biggest banks to judge whether they can hold up if the recession were to worsen. Banking regulators plan to scrutinize the financial conditions of Citigroup, Bank of America and more than a dozen other financial institutions that have received billions from the Treasury Department's $700 billion bailout bill.

The National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales dropped 5.3%, to a seasonally adjuste… Continue

President Obama is ready to offer a detailed sketch of the first year of his presidency, casting the nation's bleeding economy as a tangle of tough, neglected problems. In a prime-time speech from the House of Representatives, Obama will make his case this evening that much more has to be done to turn around the economy — a message he knows he must explain. The speech comes two days before he delivers a budget blueprint to Congress.

Fed Chairman Bernanke said that restoring financial stability… Continue

President Obama is bringing together dozens of advisers and adversaries to discuss how to curb a burgeoning federal deficit laden with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid obligations. Obama's summit at the White House is the first meeting toward a strategy to address the long-term fiscal health of the nation. The gathering also comes as Obama prepares ambitious plans to cut the federal deficit by half within four years.

Federal regulators are pledging to do all they can to support the strugg… Continue

The Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose by 0.3 percent last month, the biggest monthly increase since a 0.7 percent rise in July. Core inflation, which excludes energy and food, showed a modest increase of 0.2 percent, slightly higher than the 0.1 percent gain economists expected. Over the past 12 months, core inflation rose 1.7 percent, the lowest reading since a similar increase for the 12 months ending in August 2004.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) Chief Executive Ken Lewis has… Continue

The Labor Department reported that the number of people receiving regular unemployment benefits rose 170,000 to 4.99 million for the week ending Feb. 7th, marking the fourth straight week those receiving benefits have been at a record level on data going back to 1967.

The Labor Department reported that wholesale prices increased by 0.8 percent last month, the biggest gain since last July and well above the 0.2 percent increase that economists had expected. The increase was led by a 3.7 percent… Continue