Astepahead

  One month after reporting that its home price gauge had officially double dipped, Standard & Poor’ssays prices have inched up, in line with the expected seasonal boost that accompanies the spring buying season.  Data through April 2011, released June 29, 2011 by S&P Indices for its S&P/CaseShil...

This week the Federal Reserve Board announced its approval of the proposal by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc., Tokyo, Japan, to acquire up to 24.9 percent of the voting shares of Morgan Stanley, New York, New York, and thereby indirectly acquire an interest in Morgan Stanley's subsidiary ba...

The federal banking regulatory agencies have jointly issued the attached proposed guidance on stress testing for banking organizations with more than $10 billion in total consolidated assets. The proposed guidance highlights the importance of stress testing as an ongoing risk management practice ...

  Sheila C. Bair, Chairman Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Financial Regulatory Reform The International Context before the Committee on Financial Services of the U.S. House of Representatives     During todays speech by Sheila C. Bair, Chairman FDIC argued that repairing the capital str...

The CEOs of America’s largest companies anticipate higher sales and plan to increase capital expenditures and hire more workers over the next six months, according to the results of Business Roundtable’s second quarter 2011 CEO Economic Outlook Survey.   “Fully 87% of our CEOs anticipate higher ...

For the third consecutive month, NFIB’s Small Business Optimism Index dropped. It was slight drop of .3 points, with the index settling at 90.9 in May—the index makes clear that optimism is moving in the wrong direction: a recession-level reading for an economy fighting its way through a recover...

New short-sale contracts issued by two of the largest banks in the country are causing concern in the local real estate community.The object of the contracts is to protect banks against what has become known as "flopping", which is a form of mortgage fraud where a real estate professional gets a...

  The median price of existing single family home sales in the Greater Fort Myers area hovered at $100,000 an increase of 9.9% from May 2010. The median price does represent a decrease of 2.9% month over month.             Median Price by City 2009 2010 2011 Fort Myers $ 110,050 $ 115,000 $ 126,0...

U.S. Economy at a Glance: Perspective from the Bureau of Economic Analysis Accounts BEA produces some of the most closely watched economic statistics that influence decisions of government officials, business people, and individuals. These statistics provide a comprehensive, up-to-date picture o...

ECONOMIC RECOVERY WIDESPREAD ACROSS STATES IN 2010  Advance 2010 and Revised 2007–2009 GDP-by-State Statistics June 2011 Advance 2010 and Revised 2007–2009 GDP-by-State Statistics Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in 48 states and the District of Columbia in 2010, according to new stat...