All Blog Posts from Econwatch

This post by Jill Schlesinger originally appeared on CBS' MoneyWatch.com.

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I should have expected the massive stock market rally - after all, at the end of March, I had heard that the guy who I consider one of the great "contra-indicators" (let's call him "Mr. Wrong") was predicting a steep decline to Dow 5000. Before you brush aside that notion as nonsense, remember that at that time, we were still worried about the implosion of the financial system.

But when I heard that Mr. Wrong was predicting massive riots in the streets and falling equity prices, I forced myself to consider the bull case for stocks. I had made the mistake of betting against massive liquidity once before - in 2002-03, I remained underweight in risk assets for too long and paid the price. I'm pretty sure that Mr. Wrong is making the same mistake and here's why: there still remains deep pessimism over the recovery and the stock market.

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Attention Mets fans: Feeling down after watching a Yankees-Phillies World Series? Need a little boost to get through a long offseason? How does owning Bernard Madoff's tattered but shiny plush Mets jacket sound? With "Madoff" sewn on the back, it's sure to be a hit from Wall Street to Citi Field.

The jacket is one of more than 100 seized items once belonging to the famous Ponzi schemer and his wife Ruth Madoff set to be auctioned to the public Saturday in New York. Other items include Madoff's Rolex watch, Mrs. Madoff's jewelry and furs, and a decoy duck.

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This post by Jill Schlesinger originally appeared on CBS' MoneyWatch.com.

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"Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples."

Today is Veteran's Day and while the bond market is closed, the stock market is open. I know it's hard, but to honor our brave soldiers, I'm going to ask you to stop thinking about money, at least for a brief period of time.

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AIG's Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche threatened to quit at a board meeting last week, saying it was too difficult to do his job with so much government oversight.

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A year after a Wal-Mart worker was trampled to death by a massive crowd of bargain-hunting shoppers, the retail giant is implementing new crowd control measures to handle the crush that typically accompanies the day after Thanksgiving – Black Friday.

According to a New York Times report Wednesday, Wal-Mart is taking a page from experts who have managed crowds at the Super Bowl and Olympics. The revamped effort stems from the death of Jdimytai Damour, a temporary store worker crushed by throngs of customers in Valley Stream, N.Y.

Among the measures:

• Most Wal-Mart stores will stay open from Thanksgiving night into Black Friday. In the past, the store closed Thanksgiving and opened its doors in the early morning hours Friday, leading to a huge crowd buildup outside its doors. The store hopes the extra hours will ease the crowd flow.

• To avoid the mad dash toward popular items, the store will have customers line up at product displays and treat them on a first come, first serve basis.

• Since Wal-Mart stores only have one entrance, making crowd control more difficult, workers will be stationed at the front of the store directing customers to the appropriate places.

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A real estate group says home prices fell in eight out of every 10 U.S. cities in the third quarter of this year as heavily discounted distressed sales made up 30 percent of all deals.

But home sales continued their climb, with quarterly sales outpacing the second quarter and the previous year's figures, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday.

The median sales prices of existing homes declined in 123 out of 153 metropolitan areas compared with the same period a year ago. Prices rose in the other 30 cities.

The national median price clocked in at $177,900, or 11 percent below the third quarter last year.

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The will of Florida businessman Jeffry Picower, an associate of Bernard Madoff who was found dead in Palm Beach swimming pool last month, is expected to be filed today — and is bound to set off a tug of war over his assets, estimated to be far in excess of $1 billion.

As reported by Diana Henriques of The New York Times, Picower's estate (most of which is to go to charity) will be targeted by the trustee charged with reclaiming the estimated $21 billion in losses suffered by investors in Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme.

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This post by Jill Schlesinger originally appeared on CBS' MoneyWatch.com.

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I love this chart (see here) from this morning's Wall Street Journal article. It's a quick comparison between today and 1983, which was the last time the unemployment rate was 10.2% (and the last time I was considered a formidable power forward on the basketball court).

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With gold prices surging comes a new surge in gold mining in the far north. The Anchorage Daily News is reporting that gold production in Alaska has reached its highest levels since the rush of a century ago, shortly after gold was discovered in the Yukon.

ADN's Elizabeth Bluemink writes that, with gold setting record prices (it hit $1,095 an ounce on Friday), investors are putting more money in to get more money out.

Alaska currently accounts for about 10% of the U.S. gold production, but that could soon change: A new mine near Juneau, set to open next year, will be the state's third largest, and two smaller mines may reopen. And two proposed mega-projects in the state's southwest, if approved, could turn Alaska into one of the world's leading producers of gold.

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Just a year after receiving a record-setting amount of government aid to rescue their failing companies, three of Wall Street's giants will pay the government's generosity forward, in the form of nearly $30 billion worth of executive bonuses, according a report in Bloomberg.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, which have all exited the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, are set to dole out $29.7 billion in bonus money.

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