Pending home sales ‘fell off a cliff’

The experts expected home sales to drop once the homebuyer tax credit lapsed at the end of April, but the depth of the decrease was shocking.
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), pending home sales fell a whopping 30% in May. Their index, which measures signed sales contracts but not closed sales, plunged […]

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Troubled KV fires 42% of workers

KV Pharmaceutical Co. continued its purge of employees Wednesday, handing out pink slips to 289 workers — about 42 percent of its work force, company officials confirmed.
Many of the laid-off employees had worked for the Bridgeton-based drug maker for more than 10 years. Some had been with the company for decades, current and […]

WordPress.com crashes, downs major blogs

WordPress.com, the fast growing hosting service for millions of blogs, including TechCrunch and GigaOm, crashed briefly Thursday afternoon.
"WordPress.com will be back in a minute!" is the message that appeared shortly before 3 p.m. on some portion of the websites using the San Francisco blogging platform, which serves millions of blogs with a combined 72.2 million […]

Great Florida Bank loses $16M

The losses continued for Great Florida Bank in the fourth quarter, but it succeeded in paring down its problem loans.
The Miami Lakes-based bank (NASDAQ: GFLB) suffered a net loss of $15.9 million in the fourth quarter, following a $13.3 million loss in the third quarter, according to its filing with the Federal Financial Institutions Examination […]

Stocks churn as results start to pour in

Stocks seesawed Monday as investors eyed a weak dollar, higher commodity prices and a selloff in technology shares ahead of the start of the quarterly reporting period, which began after the closing bell with Alcoa.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) gained 46 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 index (SPX) added 2 points, or […]

Manufacturing grows again, but recovery fragile

The U.S. manufacturing sector grew for the fourth straight month in November, though at a slower pace, and questions remain about the staying power of the incipient economic recovery.
Signs the housing market was bouncing back in October were also tempered by a flat reading for construction spending for that month in other data reported […]

Cadbury awaits Kraft bid deadline

Cadbury’s shares edged up in early trade on Monday as the clock ticked toward a 1700 GMT (12 noon EST) deadline for Kraft Foods to either make a formal takeover bid for the British confectionery group or walk away.
Cadbury is the world’s second largest confectionery group while Kraft is number five with brands such […]

European Exports Decline 5.8%, Most in Seven Months

European exports declined the most in seven months in August as the region struggled to emerge from the deepest recession since World War II and the euro’s appreciation threatened to undermine the recovery.
Exports from the 16-nation euro region fell a seasonally adjusted 5.8 percent from July, when they rose 4.7 percent, the European […]

Back-to-school sales flunk

Back-to-school sales for major national retailers fell from last year, but the results were stronger than analysts expected, thanks in part to discounters.
August same-store sales, sales at stores open a year or more, fell 2.9% overall from last year, Thomson Reuters reported. Analysts had expected a 3.8% decline as consumers continue to feel the […]

Lithuania’s ‘Attractive’ Bonds May Help Avoid Bailout

Lithuania may avoid seeking an international bailout as bond investors in search of yields close to 10 percent return to the Baltic state’s debt market.
The country’s government debt is “very attractive” and “a compelling investment story” compared with its peers in eastern Europe such as Hungary or Romania, said Lutz Roehmeyer, a Berlin-based […]