Economy Watch: February 14, 2010 - February 20, 2010
January consumer prices tick downward just enough to be negative for first time since 1982
UPDATED at 2 p.m. See updates below: Consumer prices rose only 0.2 percent in January, the government said moments ago, slightly less than forecasters expected and significantly less than the spike in January wholesale prices reported Thursday. Removing the volatile...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 19, 2010; 11:33 AM ET |
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| Tags: consumer price index, inflation, producer price index, wholesale inflation
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Stocks slightly down at opening following tepid inflation data
Stocks are down slightly at opening, following this morning's news that January inflation was essentially flat. In the first 15 minutes of trading, the Dow is down one-tenths of 1 percent. The broader S&P 500 is down a little more...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 19, 2010; 9:23 AM ET |
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Wall Street
| Tags: Dow Jones, inflation, nasdaq, s&p 500
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Akio Toyoda agrees to testify before Congress
Toyota President Akio Toyoda, only one day after saying he would not testify before Congress, changed his mind and said moments ago that he will accept the "invitation" to testify Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “I...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 18, 2010; 6:08 PM ET |
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| Tags: Akio Toyoda, Toyota problems, Toyota recall update, toyota, toyota recall model and years
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Is inflation finally here?
Two things happened today that pricked up the ears of inflation hawks: A. This morning, the government released the January Producer Price Index, which shows what businesses are paying to buy things. It went up more than people expected. Even...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 18, 2010; 5:24 PM ET |
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Data
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| Tags: CPI, PPI, Peter Boockvar, inflation
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Congress subpoenas documents from former Toyota lawyer
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee issued a subpoena today demanding “all documents relating to Toyota motor vehicle safety and Toyota’s handling of alleged motor vehicle defects and related litigation” that are held by former Toyota North America top...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 18, 2010; 4:34 PM ET |
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| Tags: Darrell Issa, Dimitrios Biller, Ed Towns, Toyota Corolla, Toyota recall update, toyota, toyota recall model and years
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Stocks end day after nice, sensible, reasonable rally
UPDATED at 4:29 p.m. Now, that's more like it. Stocks closed up today -- not outrageously up, not irrationally up, just healthily up -- across all three major indexes. The Dow closed up eight-tenths of 1 percent at 10,392.90. The...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 18, 2010; 4:29 PM ET |
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| Tags: Dow Jones, nasdaq, s&p 500
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Obama's new debt commission: Will it have any teeth?
With an executive order this morning, President Obama created the "National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, a bipartisan commission designed to confront the nation's growing debt in the face of congressional inaction," my Post colleague Mike Shear writes. It's...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 18, 2010; 12:28 PM ET |
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Deficit/debt
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| Tags: David Walker, Obama, deficit, national debt
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Measure of leading economic indicators rises for third straight month
The Conference Board's Leading Economic Index rose for the third straight month in January, the group reported today. The Conference Board is a research firm that provides data to businesses about management and the markets. Each month it compiles an...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 18, 2010; 12:25 PM ET |
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| Tags: Conference Board, leading economic indicators
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Formal U.S. probe of Toyota Corolla steering problems to begin Thursday
I learned moments ago that, on Thursday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to launch a formal investigation into complaints about steering in the 2009-10 Toyota Corolla. The agency has received more than 150 complaints about the steering on...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 17, 2010; 5:30 PM ET |
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Corporations
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| Tags: Corolla recall, Toyota problems, toyota, toyota recall model and years
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First-anniversary stimulus report card
Today marks the anniversary of the signing of President Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan, which was designed to give a boost to a struggling economy and save or create jobs, as he said at the time. How is it doing,...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 17, 2010; 3:36 PM ET |
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Deficit/debt
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| Tags: Obama, debt, deficit, stimulus
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Toyota's eye-popping Corolla recall news
We all knew Toyota President Akio Toyoda was going to meet the press this morning in Japan, ostensibly to give a Prius update. We even expected that Toyoda might decline Congress's "invitation" to come testify about his troubled company, despite...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 17, 2010; 2:56 PM ET |
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Corporations
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| Tags: Corolla recall, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Prius, Toyota problems, toyota, toyota recall model and years
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Questions from Congress that Akio Toyoda won't answer. Or maybe he will.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda held a news conference in Japan this morning during which he first said he will not come to Capitol Hill to answer questions about his troubled brands, even as pressure increases for him to do so,...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 17, 2010; 12:26 PM ET |
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Corporations
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The Ticker
| Tags: Akio Toyoda, Darrell Issa, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Prius, Toyota recall update, toyota, toyota recall model and years
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Stocks higher at opening following housing news
Stocks are higher this morning, following a surprise boost in housing starts in January. In the first 20 minutes of trading, the Dow is up three-tenths of 1 percent. The broader S&P 500 is up three-tenths of 1 percent and...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 17, 2010; 9:51 AM ET |
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| Tags: Dow Jones, nasdaq, s&p 500
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The most recent breakdown of all Toyota recalls thus far
Today, I asked Toyota for a detailed breakdown of all the company's recalls -- the floor mat recall last fall, the sticking-gas-pedal recall in January, the brakes recall this month and other, smaller recalls -- and Toyota got back to...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 16, 2010; 10:23 PM ET |
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Corporations
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| Tags: Toyota problems, toyota, toyota recall model and years
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Buffett dumped shares of J&J, P&G, ConocoPhillips, Exxon-Mobil
In documents filed at the SEC today covering the last three months of 2009, super-investor and world's second-richest man Warren Buffett declared that he has sold millions of shares of blue-chip U.S. companies out of his $58 billion stock portfolio....
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Frank Ahrens
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February 16, 2010; 5:53 PM ET |
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Personalities
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Wall Street
| Tags: ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Warren Buffett
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Rep. Issa supports subpoena of Toyota president -- but can he do that?
First, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) "invited" embattled Toyota President Akio Toyoda to testify before Issa's House committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Now, Issa is willing to turn the invitation into a command performance. The ranking Republican on the committee...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 16, 2010; 3:36 PM ET |
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Congress
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Corporations
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| Tags: Akio Toyoda, Darrell Issa, Toyota Prius, Toyota recall update, toyota, toyota recall model and years
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U.S. to demand Toyota records to ascertain timeliness of recalls
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is about to announce that it is using its "statutory authority" to obtain documents from troubled Japanese auto giant Toyota to make sure it conducted its three big recalls in a timely manner. "Safety...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 16, 2010; 1:14 PM ET |
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Corporations
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| Tags: Akio Toyoda, Toyota Prius, Toyota problems, toyota, toyota recall model and years
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Obama begins to make good on nuclear power pledge
This morning, President Obama began to follow through an a pledge in his State of the Union address to go nuke, offering $8.3 billion loan guarantees to build the first nuclear plant in the U.S. in nearly 30 years. You'll...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 16, 2010; 12:45 PM ET |
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Obama
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| Tags: Obama, nuclear power
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Foreign nations dump record amount of U.S. treasuries in December
This is something that smart people have been worrying about for more than a year: In December, foreign demand for U.S. treasuries fell by the largest amount in history. According to the Treasury Department, foreign holdings of treasuries dropped by...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 16, 2010; 11:21 AM ET |
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Deficit/debt
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The Ticker
| Tags: 10-year-yield, China, Treasury Department, bonds, debt, deficit, treasuries
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Stocks rise at opening following long weekend
Stocks rose at opening this morning following news that the European Union is pushing Greece to contain its debt problems and positive earnings from Kraft, Waste Management and Abercrombie & Fitch. In the first 20 minutes of trading, the Dow...
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Frank Ahrens
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February 16, 2010; 9:52 AM ET |
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| Tags: Dow Jones, nasdaq, s&p 500
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