Washington: US President Barack Obama said on Thursday the United States faces a "national crisis" and pressed Congress to urgently pass a jobs package of tax cuts and government spending he is proposing to revive the stalled economy.
The cost of Obama's plan would be $447 billion, a Senate Democratic aide told.
With his poll numbers at new lows amid voter frustration with 9.1 per cent unemployment, Obama was poised to use a high-stakes address to Congress to pitch a sweeping economic plan that is critical to his re-election chances but he faces an uphill fight with Republicans.
"It will provide a jolt to an economy that has stalled and give companies confidence that if they invest and hire there will be customers for their products and services. You should pass this jobs plan right away," Obama said in excerpts of a televised speech he will deliver at 7 pm EDT (2300 GMT)....
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08:19 AM, Sep 09, 2011
Singapore: Asian stocks turned positive on Monday, recovering a small portion of last week's steep losses, while gold shot to new highs as investors worried about the sluggish US economic outlook and Europe's debt crisis. Spot gold prices hit a record high of $1,878.39 per ounce as the shaky global outlook prompted investors to move more money into the safe haven, while oil prices tumbled on hopes Libya may resume...
09:23 AM, Aug 22, 2011
New York: In early summer, before layoffs began sweeping across Wall Street, billboard-sized photos of employees were plastered on the walls, pillars and elevator banks of Credit Suisse Group AG's offices in the United States and abroad. The museum-quality prints, depicting workers from administrative assistants to senior executives, were emblazoned with motivational words like "Proactive" and "Partner." By mid-July, however, the photos disappeared and the Swiss banking giant began laying...
12:14 AM, Aug 22, 2011
Vineyard Haven: US President Barack Obama said on Sunday he expects to be judged in the 2012 election over his governance of the American economy, which he said was still not growing fast enough. "For me to argue, look, we've actually made the right decisions, things would have been much worse has we not made those decisions that's not that satisfying if you don't have a job right now," Obama...
10:37 PM, Aug 21, 2011
New Delhi: The Indian stock markets have been affected by the US market sentiments in the short term, even though the country's economy is robust and its growth story is intact, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement released after market hours on Friday. Indian shares fell nearly 2 per cent on Friday to log their fourth straight weekly loss, their longest weekly losing streak since the Lehman collapse,...
09:58 PM, Aug 19, 2011
London/Bangalore: The United States and euro zone are "dangerously close to recession," Morgan Stanley said on Thursday, criticising policymakers and predicting the European Central Bank will have to reverse its rates policy. The Morgan Stanley research note, which cut global growth forecasts, was cited by stocks traders as adding to market nervousness over the US and euro zone debt crises and the economic drag of austerity measures in debt-burdened countries....
11:15 PM, Aug 18, 2011
In an interview US President Barack Obama said that from Syria to the US he is accountable for the present financial crisis - but doesn't want the people to forget that he's trying to tackle a decade-old 'mess'. ...
07:33 AM, Aug 17, 2011
New York: Fitch on Tuesday confirmed its coveted 'AAA' sovereign rating on the US and maintained a stable outlook on the country's long-term prospects, less than two weeks after rival S&P downgraded the world's largest economy. Underlining that America's "exceptional creditworthiness" remains intact, global rating agency Fitch affirmed its 'AAA' sovereign rating. The latest move comes about 10 days after Standard and Poor's (S&P) stripped the US of its 'AAA'...
08:42 PM, Aug 16, 2011
New York: Stocks rose for a third straight day on Monday after Google and other companies announced acquisitions totaling more than $19 billion. The return of "Merger Monday" on Wall Street made investors more optimistic about the future. So did a report that showed Japan's economy shrank less than feared following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. That helped temporarily ease worries about the US economy. The Dow Jones industrial...
08:24 PM, Aug 15, 2011
Washington: A spree of bad news, market gyrations, fears of a double-dip recession, stubborn unemployment and fallout from a debt deal has shaken confidence in US President Barack Obama's leadership and could cloud his chances for winning re-election. Obama is seeking a second term in office in an election that is still far off November 2012. But a persistently weak economy coupled with rising perception of political dysfunction in Washington...
08:21 PM, Aug 13, 2011
Washington: Global financial upheaval was on the agenda on Friday when President Barack Obama met with top executives from the US business community, the White House said. Chief executives from Johnson & Johnson, Wells Fargo & Co, US Bank, Xerox Corp, BlackRock Inc, Silver Lake Partners, American Express and US Steel all met with Obama to discuss the economy and the president's plans to create jobs. Obama held his latest...
07:15 AM, Aug 13, 2011
New York: US stocks rose 4 per cent on Thursday as the market bounced back from its recent pummeling and investors cheered results from Cisco and US jobless claims data. Financials shares bounced back sharply after leading losses on Wednesday, with the S&P financial sector up 7 per cent. Labor Department data showed new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a four-month low last week, a dose of good news...
02:01 AM, Aug 12, 2011
Mumbai: ICICI Bank, India's second-largest lender, said on Thursday it would raise its benchmark lending rate, or base rate, by 50 basis points to 10 per cent with effect from Saturday. State Bank of India , the country's top lender, also announced an increase of 50 basis points in base rate earlier on Thursday. The Reserve Bank of India had in July raised its policy rates by a larger-than-expected 50...
01:29 AM, Aug 12, 2011
Paris/London: A new crisis of confidence gripped Europe's banking industry on Thursday as its borrowing costs soared, lenders sought emergency funding, and some institutions reviewed exposure to French banks in particular. Shares in Societe Generale, whose shares dropped 15 per cent on Wednesday, yo-yoed for most of the day in heavy trading, carrying other big French names in their wake this time. Attempts to reassure the market by the bank's...
01:09 AM, Aug 12, 2011
New York: The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose more than 4 per cent in afternoon trading on Thursday while the Dow added to gains, with energy and financial services companies among the strongest sectors. Solid results from Cisco and mildly encouraging US jobs data helped stocks recover from recent steep losses. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 393.02 points, or 3.67 per cent, at 11,112.96. The Standard & Poor's...
12:04 AM, Aug 12, 2011
New York: Stocks are falling at the close of trading as investors' attention returns to the weak economy and Europe's debt problems. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 519, or 4.6 per cent, to 10,720. It's the third time in the last five trading days that the Dow lost more than 500 points. The S&P 500 is down 51 points, or 4.4 per cent, to 1,121. The Nasdaq is...
02:04 AM, Aug 11, 2011
New York: US stocks fell sharply on Wednesday, wiping out most of the previous session's gains, on fears of tumult in the French banking sector, which has significant exposure to shaky European debt. US financial stocks led the decline on worries that any French bank problems could spread to them. The KBW bank index slid 6 per cent. Large financial institutions' shares sank, including Bank of America Corp, down 7.2...
07:50 PM, Aug 10, 2011
New Delhi: Amid worsening of the global financial problems, the Planning Commission on Wednesday said it may settle for a modest growth target of 8.5 to 8.7 per cent during the 12th Plan period as against 9 per cent contemplated earlier. "We had projected 9.5 per cent (growth) for the 12th Plan and then we scaled in down to 9 per cent... But today I don't feel it will be...
04:40 PM, Aug 10, 2011
Washington: US President Barack Obama will go on a bus-tour across three states in Midwest, which his aid say is part of his effort to spread the message of economy, while political analysts termed it his pre-election campaign to connect directly with the people. "The President will discuss ways to grow the economy, strengthen the middle class and accelerate hiring in communities and towns across the nation and hear directly...
07:53 AM, Aug 10, 2011
Washington: Standard & Poor's, whose unprecedented downgrade of US debt triggered a worldwide stocks sell-off, is pushing back against a US government proposal that would require credit raters to disclose "significant errors" in how they calculate their ratings. S&P, which was accused by the Obama administration of making an error in its calculations leading to Friday's downgrade, raised concern about the proposed new corrections policy and other issues in an...
07:16 AM, Aug 10, 2011
