Markets Take Another Bruising ; Dow Falls 119

There's No Business Like FOX Business

Worries about the strength of the economic recovery continued to rattle the markets on Wednesday as the S&P 500 suffered its fourth-straight selloff amid a surprise drop in new home sales, crumbling commodities and several disappointing earnings reports.

Today's Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 119.48 points, or 1.21%, to 9762.69, the S&P 500 fell 20.78 points, or 1.95%, to 1042.63 and the Nasdaq Composite sank 56.48 points, or 2.67%, to 2059.61.The consumer-friendly FOX 50 sank lost 10.33 points, or 1.32%, to 770.21.

Wednesday's slide, which was led by heavy losses for the Nasdaq Composite, makes this pullback one of the deepest since stocks began their six-month surge off the March lows. Up until this point, the markets faced little resistance as the bears were cast aside by signs the economy had emerged from the recession, forcing traders to boost stock valuations.

“We’ve been talking about some sort of pullback for three months. I think its’ probably overdue and a healthy thing. We’ll just find out if this pullback causes buyers to come into the market or causes more sellers,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co.

In addition to reports that showed durable goods orders grew by less than anticipated and new home sales fell for the first time in six months, the markets were hit by the dollar, which rallied for the fourth day in a row and helped send crude oil to two-week lows and basic material stocks sharply lower.

“I think the market basically is going to go through a broader correction period here. I’m not sure I’d say that the high is in for the year but the next few weeks are going to be under a lot of pressure,” said Nick Kalivas, vice president of financial research at MF Global. “We probably have to get some sort of a renewed idea that the economy is accelerating to bring people back in at this level.”

After not having consecutive triple-digit selloffs for four months, the Dow has now closed down more than 100 points three of the last four days. It was led down on Wednesday by economically-sensitive stocks Alcoa (AA), General Electric (GE) and Caterpillar (CAT).

The Nasdaq Composite, which is now down 2.96% in October, saw twice as much selling as the Dow on a series of negative developments. Global business software leader SAP (SAP) sank almost 10% after slashing its full-year revenue outlook and reporting disappointing results, GPS device maker Garmin (GRMN) plunged 16% on new competition from Google (GOOG) and education company Apollo Group (APOL) disclosed that it is the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry.

“I think our markets are very confused at this point. We’re getting conflicting data and conflicting sentiment from investors,” Jonathan Corpina, senior managing partner at Meridian Equity Partners, told FOX Business.

Weak Dollar, Data Hit Stocks

As has been the case during this entire pullback, the markets were hurt by the dollar, which continued to strengthen against the euro, closing higher for the fourth day in a row after weeks of steep declines. While a stronger dollar is likely a long-term plus for the economy, in the short term it puts pressure on commodities and equities by making U.S. goods more expensive overseas.

Reflecting the currency action, the energy sector was the biggest percentage decliner on Wall Street as stocks like Schlumberger (SLB) and XTO Energy (XTO) closed lower as crude oil fell below $78 a barrel. Oil was also hit by an unexpected 1.6 million barrel increase in gasoline stockpiles. Suffering its worst day in a month, crude fell $2.09 a barrel, or 2.63%, to $77.46. Gold fell for the fifth-consecutive day, losing $4.80 an ounce, or 0.46%, to settle at $1029.90 -- a new three-week low.

The basic materials sector slumped nearly 3.1% as steel stocks U.S. Steel (X) and AK Steel (AKS) were dragged lower by the dollar and ArcelorMittal (MT), which missed estimates with a profit of $1.59 billion

Wall Street's economic worries were bolstered after the Commerce Department said new home sales fell 3.6% to a rate of 402,000 last month, widely missing forecasts for a rise of 2.6% and breaking a five-month streak of increases. Shares of home builders like Lennar (LEN) and Toll Brothers (TOL) fell sharply on the disappointing data.

Goldman Sachs added to the economic gloom as the investment bank's economists downgraded its third-quarter gross domestic product forecast to 2.7% from 3%. Most economists expect the government to say on Thursday GDP rose 3.3%.

Also, the Commerce Department said durable goods orders rose 1% in September, missing analysts’ projections for a rise of 1.5%. However, excluding transportation, durable goods orders rose 0.9% last month, topping consensus forecasts.

Underscoring the skepticism on Wall Street, a number of companies saw their shares fall even after reporting better-than-expected quarterly reports, including health-care giant WellPoint (WLP), oil and gas company Hess (HES), ConocoPhillips (COP) and Goodyear (GT).

Corporate Movers

GMAC Financial Services (GMA) is in advanced talks with the U.S. to receive its third capital injection to help fill a large hole in the balance sheet of the General Motors’ finance arm, The Wall Street Journal reported. The U.S. is expected to provide between $2.8 billion and $5.6 billion in fresh capital to GMAC, most likely through the form of preferred stock, the Journal reported.

CIT Group’s (CIT) shares spiked 10.4% after the struggling commercial lender said it has secured a $4.5 billion credit facility from a group of lenders that includes some bondholders. The funds add to a $3 billion loan secured in June and come as it attempts to convince bondholders to accept a debt exchange.

WellPoint’s (WLP) net income sank 11% last quarter but the largest U.S. health provider’s non-GAAP EPS of $1.78 exceeded estimates. The Blue Cross/Blue Shield health-care provider’s revenue fell 0.7% to $15.21 billion, beating estimates.

Garmin (GRMN) plunged more than 15% as the GPS device maker was slammed by cautious comments from rival TomTom and a new Google (GOOG) powered phone that will feature a turn-by-turn voice guided GPS program.

ConocoPhillips (COP) disclosed a 71% dive in third-quarter net income but topped estimates with EPS of $1 per share. Analysts had forecasted EPS of just 94 cents. Conoco also announced a 6% increase in its quarterly dividend to 50 cents per share.

Hess (HESS) beat the Street with third-quarter non-GAAP earnings per share of 74 cents. However, the oil and gas giant’s revenue slumped by a worse-than-expected 36% to$7.27 billion, missing consensus forecasts for $7.52 billion.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber (GT) doubled its third-quarter net income from a year ago and posted better-than-expected adjusted-earnings of 45 cents per share. The tiremaker’s revenue sank by 15% from a year ago to $4.4 billion but topped estimates. Goodyear's shares plunged on a cautious outlook and disappointing results for its North American unit.

Qwest Communication (Q) beat the Street with EPS of 8 cents per share and lifted its full-year earnings guidance. However, the telephone operator’s revenue sank 9.6% to $3.05 billion, narrowly missing estimates.

Lazard (LAZ) swung to a better-than-expected third-quarter profit of 41 cents per share. The investment bank’s revenue climbed 1.5% to $411.7 million, narrowly beating expectations.

International Paper (IP) more than doubled its net income during the third quarter on a one-time tax gain and reported better-than-expected non-GAAP earnings. The paper and packaging company’s revenue fell 13% to a mostly in-line $5.9 billion.

Owens Corning (OC) swung to a third-quarter profit and easily beat the Street with non-GAAP EPS of 61 cents. The maker of insulation and other building products said its revenue fell 17% to a better-than-expected $1.4 billion.

General Dynamics (GD) saw its net income sink 9.8% last quarter but the defense contractor’s EPS of $1.48 beat the Street. General Dynamics also liftedits 2009 earnings forecast.

Global Markets

Asian markets closed mixed overnight as Tokyo's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.35% overnight to 10,075.05 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.84% to 21,761.58 but China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.33% to 3031.33.

First Horizon loss narrowsEarly-Market Movers: Harvest Energy, Equinix

Hurt by Data, Stocks End in Stalemate

There's No Business Like FOX Business

Another turbulent trading session ended with a mixed picture on Tuesday as new data revealing consumer confidence unexpectedly tumbled to six-month lows pushed the Nasdaq Composite down more than 1% but rallying energy stocks ended the Dow’s two-day plunge.

Today's Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 14.21 points, or 0.14%, to 9882.17, the S&P 500 fell 3.54 points, or 0.33%, to 1063.41 and the Nasdaq Composite sank 25.76 points, or 1.20%, to 2116.09.The consumer-friendly FOX 50 gained 0.44 points, or 0.06%, to 780.54.

Even though stocks ended in a stalemate, Wall Street remains mired in a slump as the S&P 500 has slid for three straight days in the face of another round of better-than-expected earnings reports and a fourth consecutive month of home price increases.It's clear the recent selling has taken a toll on market psychology.

“These one-day reversals, which have been pretty much to the downside, have taken a lot of enthusiasm out of the market. A lot of people are getting a little nervous here,” NYSE trader Ted Weisberg of Seaport Securities told FOX Business.

The bears' long-standing argument that stocks have gotten too far ahead of the economy may finally be gaining steam, with the Dow struggling to stay above the 10000 level. Much to analysts' surprise, the benchmark index hasn't suffered a 5% correction during its entire 3,600-point surge off the March lows but is now off more than 225 points from its 2009 highs.

Half of the blue-chip index's 30 components closed in the green despite the confidence report, led by American Express (AXP) and energy titans Chevron (CVX) and ExxonMobil (XOM). On the other hand, Walt Disney (DIS) and Alcoa (AA) were the Dow biggest percentage decliners.

The Nasdaq Composite lost about 1% as tech giants like Amazon.com (AMZN) and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIMM) slid. Tech stocks came under heavier pressure than the broader markets as Chinese search engine Baidu.com (BIDU) plunged more than 11% after reporting weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue and issuing cautious guidance for the current quarter.

Tuesday's session took a negative tone after the Conference Board released its consumer confidence report, which showed confidence sank from an upwardly revised 53.4 in September to 47.7 this month -- the lowest level since April.Economists had been forecasting a smaller decline to 53.1. On the upside, October marked the first time since August 2007 that confidence was up on a year-over-year basis.

The markets closely watch confidence data as they can be a good indicator of consumer spending, which makes up 70% of U.S. GDP. While housing and manufacturing reports have improved significantly in recent months, consumer confidence and the labor markets have lagged behind, threatening to slow the economic recovery. Underscoring the concern on Wall Street, the consumer discretionary sector was the biggest drag on stocks, sinking 1.7%. Individual stocks such as Expedia.com (EXPE) and Apple (AAPL) saw even heavier selling.

Also on the economic front, the markets received just a fleeting boost from the S&P Case-Shiller home price index, which showed that housing prices in the nation's 20 largest cities increased in August by 1.2% from July, better than the 0.6% increase that economists were looking for. It was the fourth consecutive monthly increase in home prices. Home prices were off 11.3% from a year ago, topping analysts' forecast for a decline of 11.9%.

Another potential concern for the bulls is the fact that the dollar posted solid gains for the second consecutive day, gaining back some of its recent selloff against the euro. The weaker dollar had provided a tailwind to the markets in recent weeks as it makes U.S. exports cheaper and increases demand for commodities.

Despite the stronger dollar, crude oil climbed back above $79 a barrel, boosting the energy sector by almost 1%. After suffering its worst selloff since Sept. 24., crude rose 87 cents a barrel, or 1.11%, to $79.55. Gold fell $7.40 an ounce, or 0.71%, to $1034.70.

A number of companies reporting better-than-expected profit and revenue figures on Tuesday saw their stocks tumble nevertheless, includingTD Ameritrade (AMTD), Wynn Resorts (WYNN), U.S. Steel (X) and AK Steel (AKS).

Corporate Movers

Valero (VLO) disclosed a deeper-than-expected non-GAAP quarterly profit of 39 cents per share amid lower oil prices. However, the largest U.S. refiner said its revenue fell 46% to $19.5 billion, which is well ahead of the Street’s view of $18.8 billion.

U.S. Steel (X) disclosed its third-straight quarterly loss but the largest North American steelmaker’s loss of $2.11 per share easily beat the Street’s view for a loss of $2.87. U.S. Steel’s revenue plunged 61% to $2.82 billion but that too topped estimates. Even though it said it believes the global economies are in “the early stages of a global recovery," U.S. Steel forecasted a fourth-quarter loss.

AK Steel (AKS) suffered a 97% plunge in third-quarter earnings but the results managed to exceed Wall Street’s expectations. The Ohio-based steelmaker said it earned 6 cents a share last quarter, compared to a profit of 1 cent per share analysts had projected. AK Steel’s revenue slid 52% to $1.04 billion, topping estimates.

Wynn Resorts (WYNN) blew away analysts’ forecasts with non-GAAP EPS of 33 cents, compared to the Street’s view of 15 cents. The casino operator’s revenue rose to a better-than-expected $773.1 million but its stock closed sharply lower amid concerns about its Macau operations.

TD Ameritrade’s (AMTD) quarterly profits fell 8.9% but the No. 2 U.S. online broker’s EPS of 26 cents exceeded Wall Street’s projections. The company’s revenue climbed 1.3% to $657.9 million, narrowly topping expectations. Looking ahead, TD sees fiscal 2010 EPS of $1.10 to $1.40, compared to the Street’s view of $1.29.

Honda Motor (HMC) reported a 57% drop in quarterly profit as the Japanese auto maker was hurt by weak global demand for cars and trucks and a stronger Japanese Yen. The second-largest Japanese auto manufacturer reported a better-than-expected net profit of $587 million even as its sales tumbled 27%. Honda also nearly tripled its full-year profit forecast.

Daimler (DAI) reported a 27.5% skid in quarterly profit as the German auto maker’s sales slumped more than 20%. The maker of Mercedes Benz cars and trucks said it earned before interest and tax 470 million euro ($698 million) in its third quarter, down from 648 million euro from a year ago.

Textron (TXT) beat the Street with EPS of 1 cent and revenue of $2.55 billion. Analysts had been expecting the defense contractor and builder of Cessna aircraft would post a loss of 3 cents a share. Cessna sales plunged nearly 90% in the quarter on extremely weak demand for private aircraft.

Global Markets

European markets ended mixed. London's FTSE 100 gained 0.18% to 5200.97 but Paris' CAC 40 fell 0.01% to 3743.95 and Frankfurt, Germany's DAX sank 0.13% to 5635.02.

Asian markets tumbled overnight on the heels of the slide on Wall Street. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 slipped 1.45% to 10,212.46, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.86% to 22,169.59 and China's Shanghai Composite plunged 2.83% to 3021.46.

Early-Market Movers: Harvest Energy, EquinixFirst Horizon loss narrows

Cavuto: Raising Taxes Doesn't Raise Revenues

Missed Tuesday's Cavuto ? Catch "The Deal" right here on FOXBusiness.com

It's a bitch being rich.

And now an even bigger bitch for those taxing 'em.

Pardon my blunt language, but here's my blunt deal.

You can tax 'em, but that doesn't mean you'll be getting any more money from 'em.

Because if New York state is any example, sticking it to the rich doesn't mean the rich can't come back and stick it to you.

The New York Post reporting more than 1.5 million state residents became "former" state residents.

It's been going on since 2000. But it really picked up steam in just the last couple of years.

Plain and simple.

Taxes going up. The folks getting hit heading out.

And these are folks most states wouldn't want to lose.

In New York City, the average taxpayer who left earned more than 93-grand a year.

The average statewide mover-outer? More than 72,000 bucks.

Those are pretty big incomes.

And for the state, it amounted to a pretty big hit.

During 2006-2007, try a $4.3 billion hit.

That's how much revenue this migration flow cost the Empire State.

Which proved a boon for other states, namely low or no tax states like Florida, which scooped up a lot of these fiscal wanderers.

So the moral of this story?

Raising taxes doesn't raise revenues.

It loses revenue-makers.

I'm not talking about the Rush Limbaughs, who get fed up and leave their penthouses in the Big Apple.

But those who aren't nearly so wealthy but are taxed to death as if they are.

And as Washington looks at surtaxes on the rich to pay for healthcare, on top of higher taxes on the rich to pay for stimulus, and the IRS audits the rich perhaps to drum up more dough for a lot more spending.

Maybe time to see this age-old tax-the-rich argument for what it is...Spent.

We tax 'em to hell, and the deficits only get more hellish.

Will they ever learn?

Because I have a feeling what happens in New York isn't staying in New York.

It's gone viral.

And the rich are leaving town as if America itself has become...A virus.

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Market Winners & Losers: RadioShack, Genworth Financial

The major indexes started the week on a down note on the back of a strengthening dollar. The Dow closed down 1%, the S&P fell 1% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.6%.

Here are Monday’s winners and losers:

Winners

RadioShack Corp. (RSH)
Quarterly sales results pushed shares of the electronics retailer up 15.9%. RadioShack shares last traded at $18.15, a gain of $2.49 on the day.

SanDisk Corp. (SNDK)
The flash memory device manufacturer rose 8.5% after the company reported quarterly results. SanDisk shares closed at $24.01, up $1.89 on the day.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD)
The oil exploration company hit a yearly high despite a dip in crude prices Monday. PXD shares ended the session $45.32, a gain of $2.58 on the day.

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)
The e-retailer continued to watch shares climb Monday, adding another 5.2% to start the week. Amazon shares finished the day at $124.64, up $6.15.

Teradata Corp. (TDC)
The data warehousing company added 2.4% after Barron’s raved about the stock this past weekend. Teradata shares last traded at $29.02, a gain of 69 cents on the day.

Losers

Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW)
The financial services company fell 8.1%, leading the sector down. GNW shares closed at $9.56, a loss of 84 cents on the day.

Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB)
The regional bank sank 7.9% after a number of analyst downgrades. Fifth Third shares ended the session at $9.52, down 82 cents on the day.

Regions Financial Corp. (RF)
Another regional bank feeling the heat to start the week, Regions saw its shares dive 7.8% on Monday. Regions shares finished the day at $5.10, a loss of 43 cents on the day.

Tellabs Inc. (TLAB)
The communications equipment company saw its shares plunge 7.5% Monday after reporting dismal quarterly revenue numbers and a weak view. Tellabs shares last traded at $6.16, down 50 cents on the day.

MBIA Inc. (MBI)
The insurer continued its losing streak, dropping another 7.4% on Monday. MBIA shares closed at $4.58, a loss of 37 cents on the day.

Market Winners & Losers: Amazon, MEMC Electronic MaterialsFirst Horizon loss narrows

Al Lewis: It's Not Easy Running With The Big Dogs

Celebrity hound that I am, I just had to look up Boomer while driving across North Dakota last week.

Boomer, a gigantic Landseer Newfoundland, had been making headlines around the globe as the world's tallest dog.

I'd seen a photo on the Internet showing how he's tall enough to drink from the kitchen sink. And, there I was, about 20 miles west of Fargo, driving right past the farm where Boomer's story got started.

Boomer's dedicated owner, Caryn Weber, 44, had been trying to get him into Guinness World Records.

So Weber, a single mom who lives with her two boys in a 100-year-old farmhouse, held a news conference, and the global Boomer boom was on.

Dogged reporters from New York to Australia requested interviews. Boomer went live on Fox News. And the phone wouldn't stop ringing.

Weber has worked as a travel agent, bank teller and graphic artist for the local newspaper. But she admits she was unprepared for the media onslaught and the kinds of questions she'd be asked.

"The majority of people asked what I use to scoop his doody," she said. "And if it's a skid steer loader."

Boomer, who weighs more than I do, took a liking to me and began nuzzling my chest with his massive snout. Weber blushed and quickly ripped paper towels from her kitchen counter.

"He's trying to be nice, and he's trying to be friendly, but he's sliming you up to your chin," she explained.

I looked down and there was dog goo hanging in strings from my jacket.

I suddenly realized I should have stayed in Colorado, where I could have been chasing balloon boy with the rest of the national media.

Turns out Boomer is not going to cut it as the world's tallest dog.

Weber figured he had a shot when the holder of that title, a Harlequin Great Dane named Gibson, died in August. Gibson, of Grass Valley, Calif., stood more than 42 inches. Boomer, while more than seven feet long and 180 pounds, stands only 36 inches.

"We are in the process of reviewing several claims for the tallest dog living category, some of which are over 40 inches tall," Guinness replied to Weber's claim. "On these grounds, we have no choice but to reject your claim."

Then came news of George, a Great Dane in Tucson, Ariz., who reportedly stands 42 inches and weights 245 pounds. "George wolfs down 100 pounds of food every three weeks, and his droppings can weigh 4 pounds or more," the Arizona Daily Star recently reported. (FYI: This does not require a skid steer loader, just a shovel.)

George, it turns out, has his own press agent, Paul O'Rourke, a friend of his owner, who now wants to get the dog on Jay Leno or Conan O'Brien. Before news of Boomer broke, George's owner was trying to keep the story quiet, O'Rourke told the Star.

"Our hand has kind of been forced," O'Rourke said.

It seems no matter how big a dog you are, there's always a bigger dog.

Guinness has yet to grant tallest living dog status following Gibson's death.

Weber said she's disappointed, since Boomer's height had been verified according to Guinness' guidelines before George was submitted for consideration.

That makes Boomer the tallest living dog verified to date. And it was the publicity surrounding Boomer that brought George to the limelight. So, in her view, Boomer should get the record, and Guinness should then let other contenders try to break it. "Isn't that what records are all about?"

Hey, it's a dog-eat-dog world.

"The purpose of this attempt was to make a memory for the boys," she said. "I wanted them to tell their kids and grandkids that they once had a dog that made it into the record books."

Boomer, at least, has put on quite a dog-and-pony show. I guess every dog has its day.

Cavuto: Dead People, Illegals Got Homebuyer Tax CreditsAlexander warns Obama shows Nixon tendencies

Early-Market Movers: SuperGen, PrivateBancorp

Stock futures were green but mostly flat ahead of resumption of corporate earnings reporting.

Here are some of the early-market movers for Monday.

Internet Gold - Golden Lines Ltd. (IGLD)

Shares of the Israeli communications company gained 32.7% in pre-market trading after announcing its 75.3% owned subsidiary, 012 Smile.Communications Ltd agreed to acquire a 30.6% controlling interest in Israel's largest telecommunications provider Bezeq The Israel Telecommunication Corp.

ION Geophysical Corp. (IO)

Shares jumped 24.6% in pre-market trading Monday after announcing late last week that agreed to create a venture to BGP Inc. to provide land seismic products worldwide. BGP will pay $175 million in cash for a 51% ownership of the joint venture and a 17% interest in ION.

SuperGen, Inc. (SUPG)

Pharmaceutical company SuperGen announced it has entered into a collaboration agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) develop gene based Epigenetic cancer therapeutics. SuperGen shares were up 21.4% in pre-market trading.

Elron Electronic Industries Ltd. (ELRN)

The company announced today it has received a non-binding indication of interest from a third party for the potential acquisition of subsidiary Medingo Ltd. The indication is in the range of $150 million and $170 million. Elron shares were up 19.2% in pre-market trading.

PrivateBancorp, Inc. (PVTB)

The bank released third-quarter results posting a 68 cent loss per share. The company also announced it would commence a $175 million common share offering. Shares were down 14.2% in pre-market trading.

Matrixx Initiatives Inc (TXX)

Shares were down 12.3% in pre-market trading after the FDA indicated it would not reverse its position stated in a warning letter concerning the potential loss off smell associated with the company's nasal versions of Zicam.

Early-Market Movers: Harvest Energy, EquinixFirst Horizon loss narrows

FOXBusiness.com's Week in Review: Oct. 19-23

Monday

Carl Icahn, the billionaire activist investor, offered to underwrite a $6 billion loan to struggling lender CIT Group (CIT), which may be close to filing for bankruptcy. Icahn, the company’s largest bondholder, heavily criticized its board of directors’ behavior and said they should no longer be controlling the company.

CIT recently offered a bond exchange plan as a way to prevent bankruptcy.

Apple (AAPL) posted much larger-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter, sending its stock to more than $200 per share.This comes after CEO Steve Jobs has returned to work after taking a leave for health reasons. Sales of Mac computers rose 17% and iPhone sales rose 7%.

Citi to Lose Mexican Subsidiary?
Hedge Funds Nabbed by Wiretaps
Putin’s Cold War Flashback

Intel CEO on Earnings, Windows 7
Nationwide Average
$2.64 a gallonTuesday

The Obama Administration will make it easier for small banks to access money in the TARP program. The White House will also take action to increase caps on existing Small Business Administration loans to small businesses. The Administration has been criticized for helping out the nation’s largest banks but neglecting the smaller ones.

Oracle of Omaha Dept.: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) CEO Warren Buffett said the economy has hit its low point and that the country has made “enormous progress” over the last year. However, he noted that the nation hasn’t completely recovered in terms of spending and consumer confidence. On the job-growth front, Buffett said companies need to first be convinced that demand is recovering before they’ll be willing to add to the workforce.

Fed Told BofA Shares Would Rise

The Race for N.J. Governor

The Other Side of the Door

Who Wants to Be Governor of California?
Wednesday

Leaders at the seven firms receiving the largest government aid through the TARP program will face pay cuts as high as 50%. This is according to the compensation decisions made by the Obama Administration’s so-called “pay czar,” Kenneth Feinberg. He will cut the salaries of the 25 highest-paid executives at these firms by up to 90%. And for more than 90% of affected employees at these firms, salaries will be less than $500,000 a year.

TARP Watchdog Dept.: Special Inspector General of the TARP program gave the program a mixed review Wednesday. He said much of the public has turned against the plan because of factors such as the Treasury not forcing banks to report how their bailout money was spent and the Department’s less-than-truthful statements on the first TARP investments. He also said the massive infusion of government money into the rescued firms and the program to modify mortgages for consumers who borrowed more than they could handle are creating a moral hazard, demonstrating little consequence to risky, irresponsible behavior.

Ross: Banks Not Lending to Small Businesses

Breaking Down Bank Earnings
Big Bailout Recipients Forced to Cut Pay

The Truth About Cancer ScreeningsThursday

Thursday was a big day for Microsoft (MSFT), officially releasing its latest OS version, Windows 7. The new operating system replaces its three-year-old predecessor, Windows Vista, which was criticized by many as being too clunky and lacking compatibility with existing software. Amazon.com said Windows 7 was its top-selling software title for the week and was among its top 100 selling products.

Meanwhile, Moody’s warned that the U.S. could lose its AAA credit rating if it does not cut its deficit to manageable levels in the next 3 to 4 years. The country posted a $1.417 trillion deficit for the year ended Sept. 30, amid huge spending to ward off a fiscal catastrophe. At the same time the nation is considering passing a health-care reform bill that is estimated to cost just under $1 trillion. Steven Hess, lead analyst at Moody’s, told Reuters, “if they don't get the deficit down in the next 3-4 years to a sustainable level, then the rating will be in jeopardy."

Microsoft CEO on Windows 7

Drug Czar Against Legal Med. Marijuana
MGM CEO on CityCenter

Pay Czar: Wall Street Needed Reform
Friday

A day after launching Windows 7, Microsoft reported a better-than-expected profit for its fiscal first quarter. However, it was an 18% decline from the same quarter last year. The results were not due to increased revenue, but instead the company's ability to control costs, cutting $624 million from its operating expenses.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said more horizontal bank reviews are coming. Bernanke said regulators are considering a surcharge on large banks in order to reduce the risks they pose to the entire financial system. He also said that a greater share of bank capital could be required to be kept as common equity and that the Fed would be more comprehensive in reviewing banks.

Microsoft CFO on Earnings

Top Talent Leaving TARP Banks

Bremmer on Foreign Policy, Global Markets
Blockbuster CEO on Consumers

  

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Cavuto: Dead People, Illegals Got Homebuyer Tax CreditsPay cuts run risk of talent exodus

Market Winners &amp; Losers: Amazon, MEMC Electronic Materials

The major indexes closed the week in the red amid declines in transportation and energy stocks. The Dow closed down 1.1%, the S&P lost 1.2% and the Nasdaq fell 0.5%.

Here are Friday’s winners and losers:

Winners

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)
A massive earnings beat pushed the e-retailer’s stock up 26.8% on Friday. Amazon shares last traded at $118.49, a gain of $25.04 on the day.

Compuware Corp. (CPWR)
The software company’s stock added 12% after quarterly earnings topped analysts’ estimates. Compuware shares closed at $7.95, up 85 cents on the day.

T. Rowe Price Group Inc. (TROW)
The financial-services company made a move into positive territory, with shares jumping 10.5% following the company’s earnings release. TROW shares finished the session at $54.27, a gain of $5.16 on the day.

Leggett & Platt Inc. (LEG)
The diversified manufacturer’s quarterly earnings report helped shares gain 7.3% on Friday. LEG shares ended the day at $20.82, up $1.41.

Capital One Financial Corp. (COF)
Capital One shares rose 6.8% after the company posted its first quarterly profit in a year. The stock last traded at $40.95, a gain of $2.62 on the day.

Losers

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (WFR)
An earnings miss dropped the silicon wafer manufacturer’s stock by 10.1%. WFR shares closed at $13.87, down $1.56 on the day.

CA Inc. (CA)
The software developer saw its shares sink by 9.6% Friday as the company lowered its full-year revenue expectations. CA shares finished the session at $21.61, a loss of $2.30 on the day.

Broadcom Corp. (BRCM)
The chip manufacturer’s stock posted a 7.3% loss after reporting a drop in quarterly profit and a flat forecast. Broadcom shares ended Friday at $28.50, down $2.23 on the day.

Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB)
The biotech company saw its stock fall 7.2% following sector trends. BIIB shares last traded at $43.81, a loss of $3.42 on the day.

Office Depot Inc. (ODP)
The office-supplies retailer ended the week’s last session with a 6.9% loss. Office Depot closed at $7.00, down 52 cents on the day.

Market Winners & Losers: New York Times, Janus CapitalFirst Horizon loss narrows

Week Ahead: Earnings Continue, 3Q GDP Expected

Next week’s trading agenda will be dominated by economic data, including the market’s first read of third quarter gross domestic product on Wednesday.

Wall Street will also remain up to their knees in earnings reports next week, with nearly a quarter of the S&P 500 will reporting results.

Monday –

Dow member Verizon Communications (VZ) will be the biggest name to report on Monday among the dozens of companies who will report this day. Analysts are looking for Verizon, the nation’s second-largest communications company, to report a profit of 60 cents a share.

Other names to report on Monday include electronics retailer RadioShack (RSH), publishing house McGraw-Hill (MHP) and glass maker Corning (GLW).

There is no major economic data schedule for Monday’s session

Tuesday –

Dozens of S&P 500 members from a whole host of industries will report earnings on Tuesday, giving Wall Street a broad view of last quarter’s business environment. Some names to report on Tuesday include credit card processor Visa (V), steel company U.S. Steel (X), auto parts manufacturer Johnson Controls (JCI) and restaurant chain holding company DineEquity (DIN), among many others.

For economic data on Tuesday, Wall Street will get September durable goods orders from the Commerce Department, the S&P Case/Shiller Home Price Index for August and finally October consumer confidence figures from the Conference Board. All three economic data points have the potential to move the market.

Wednesday –

In a similar manner to Tuesday’s trading session, no one company will dominate Wall Street’s agenda on Wednesday. Some names to report include bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), oil giant ConocoPhillips (COP), drug maker GlaxoSmithKine (GSK) and German technology company S.A.P. (SAP).

Traders will get September new home sales data from the Commerce Department on Wednesday along with weekly oil inventory figures from the Energy Department.

Thursday –

This week on Wall Street will culminate with the release of the third quarter GDP report from the Commerce Department. The GDP report will be an important read on the U.S. economy because it could show that the nation’s economy actually expanded in the third quarter, an official sign that the recession that has lasted since December 2007 is finally over.

Economists expect that Wednesday’s U.S. gross domestic product report, which measures all goods and services produced by a country at a particular moment, expected at a 3.1% annual rate in the third quarter. It would be the first quarterly expansion of GDP since the second quarter of 2008.

The other major report out on Thursday is weekly initial jobless claims data from the Labor Department.

Several large industrial and service sector companies will report on Thursday that the potential to move sectors of the stock market. Exxon Mobil (XOM), the world’s largest publicly-traded oil company, will head to the earnings stage before the opening bell.

Consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble (PG) is expected to post slightly lower results from a year earlier on consumers' spending pullback.

Other names to report include health insurer Aetna (AET), breakfast foods company Kellogg (K)and home products company Colgate-Palmolive (CL). In the overseas markets, German bank Deutsche Bank (DB) will report before Thursday’s opening bell.

Friday –

Dow member and oil company Chevron (CVX) will be the largest name to report on Friday, following up Exxon’s numbers from the day prior.

Wall Street will get personal income and spending figures from the Commerce Department before the opening bell. The Institute for Supply Management will release its Chicago purchasing managers’ index will be released shortly after the opening bell, followed by consumer sentiment figures from the University of Michigan.

Other names to report on Friday include cosmetics company Estee Lauder (EL), Japanese electronics giants Sony (SNE) and Panasonic (PC), power company Duke Energy (DUK) and diesel engine builder Cummins (CMI).

Stocks appear headed to sharply higher openingEarly-Market Movers: Harvest Energy, Equinix

Cavuto: Dead People, Illegals Got Homebuyer Tax Credits

Missed Friday's Cavuto ? Catch "The Deal" right here on FOXBusiness.com

Turns out more than four-year olds were getting checks.

Here's the deal.

Seems like everyone was in on this deal.

Even Americans who shouldn't have been.

Even those who weren't…Americans.

No less than the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration saying that homebuyer tax credit program was the equivalent of a Pez dispenser.

Only each Pez was worth about 8,000 bucks.

And the government all but saying, you want the candy, you got the candy!!

Now, the not so sweet results.

J. Russell George telling me exclusively on Fox that the fraud was so rampant, so widespread, so un-checked, and so under-reported that he's only now "guesstimating" the abuse at half a billion bucks.

Half a billion bucks!!

And that could be conservative.

But the inspector general clear…this thing became a mess.

Bigger than stimulus bucks that went out to dead people.

Or thousands of checks that went out to prison inmates.

Or thousands of prescriptions that went out to corpses.

Some of them written by doctors who were also corpses.

Dead serious, this is a dead mess.

And this homebuyer tax credit program…perhaps the dead zone epicenter of the dead mess itself.

Fraud on such a massive scale, that if Mr. George is right, had IRS agents themselves, among the abusers.

And this is about a lending program that was supposed to help first-time buyers get a home.

A noble goal. And for the government, a noble effort.

But one abused by folks far from noble, and administered by a bureaucrats clearly far from even competent.

Cavuto: We’re Being Left Out of the LoopGun buyers, dealers blast NYC report

Early-Market Movers: Harvest Energy, Equinix

Stock futures were mixed but mostly unchanged as traders continue to digest earnings reports.

Here are some of the early-market movers for Thursday.

Switch & Data Facilities Co. Inc. (SDXC)

Shares of the network data center provider gained 25.3% in pre-market trading after announcing it would be acquired by Equinix Inc. for $689 million in cash and stock.

Harvest Energy Trust (HTE)

After Korea’s National Oil Corp.announced it would acquire Harvest Energy Trust in a $3.95 billion deal, analysts at UBS and RBS raised their ratings. Shares jumped 33.4% in pre-market trading.

F5 Networks Inc.'s (FFIV)

Shares of the networking products company were up 9.7% in Thursday’s pre-market trading after posting fourth-quarter results that beat analyst estimates. The company reported earnings excluding certain items of 50 cents per share on revenue of$175.1 million. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 41 cents per share on revenue of $164 million.

Logitech International SA (LOGI)

Despite a 71% drop in net profit from last year, Logitech posted second-quarter results, which beat analyst expectations coming in with earnings per share of 11 cents on revenue of $498.1 million. Analysts had been expecting revenue of $483.1 million and the company gave an optimistic outlook for the third quarter. Shares were up 8.3% in pre-market trading.

TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. (TQNT)

Shares were down 18.2% in Thursday’s pre-market trading after releasing third-quarter results after the bell Wednesday and lowering guidance for the fourth quarter. The company reported earnings excluding items of 10 cents per share inline with analyst estimates. Revenue came in at $173 million coming in below estimates of $173 million.

Equinix Inc. (EQIX)

Shares of the IT infrastructure provider were down 4.6% in pre-market trading after analysts at Citigroup downgraded the stock to “hold” from “buy” following the company’s announcement it would acquire Switch & Data Facilities Inc. for $689 million in cash and stock.

First Horizon loss narrowsMarket Winners & Losers: New York Times, Janus Capital

Market Winners &amp; Losers: New York Times, Janus Capital

The major indexes rocked Thursday’s session with gains across the board. The Dow closed up 1.3%, the S&P added 1.1% and the Nasdaq moved higher by 0.7%.

Here are Thursday’s winners and losers:

Winners

New York Times Co. (NYT)
The publisher gained 22.5% after quarterly earnings beat the Street’s estimates. NYT shares last traded at $10.72, a gain of $1.97 on the day.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC)
PNC shares closed at $50.65, up $5.69 on the day.

ProLogis (PLD)
The financial services company rose 12.7% after earnings topped analysts’ estimates. PLD shares ended the session at $12.79, a gain of $1.07 on the day.

MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS)
The wireless communications provider added 8% Thursday. PCS shares finished Thursday at $7.12, up 53 cents on the day.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP)
The financial planning firm closed up 7.8% after an earnings beat. AMP shares last traded at $38.24, a gain of $2.75 on the day.

Losers

Janus Capital Group Inc. (JNS)
The investment firm fell 6.3% on after earnings came in well below estimates. JNS shares closed at $14.76, a loss of 99 cents on the day.

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS)
The IT investment services company dropped 4.8% Thursday. FIS shares ended the session at $23.64, down $1.19 on the day.

Amgen Inc. (AMGN)
An FDA drug delay pushed shares of the pharmaceutical company down 4.3%. Amgen shares finished Thursday at $56.85, a loss of $2.55 on the day.

eBay Inc. (EBAY)
The online retailer continued its fall as shares dropped 4.2% Thursday. EBAY shares closed at $23.97, down $1.06 on the day.

Consul Energy Inc. (CNX)
An earnings miss cost the energy company 4.1% Thursday. CNX last traded at $49.00, a loss of $2.08 on the day.

Cavuto: We’re Being Left Out of the LoopStocks appear headed to sharply higher opening

Al Lewis: It's Not All That Cold in Bismarck, N.D.

William Phillips boarded a Greyhound bus in Utica, N.Y., with a one-way ticket and his last $600.

He'd been studying at State University of New York Institute of Technology until his financial-aid package collapsed in the credit crunch.

At 21, without family support, he began looking for a job -- any job -- but could not find work in Utica, even at McDonald's. So in January, he got on a bus bound for Bismarck, N.D.

After three days, the bus dumped Phillips into a North Dakota night with a record low temperature of 44 degrees below zero.

"I arrived in jeans, a leather jacket and a hoody," he said. "I couldn't stand outside for more than 10 minutes. .. I was thinking, "Oh my God. What did I just do?'"

Extreme cold was not the only low. Phillips had come here, sight unseen, because of Bismarck's unemployment rate. At last measure, for August, it was the lowest of any city in the nation at 3.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Bismarck, the state capitol, is home to more than 100,000 people, nestled along the Missouri river, surrounded by imponderable horizons of rolling farmland, and tucked beneath some kind of magic protective sheath.

There's no rash of foreclosures, no bank failures, and no Ponzi schemes making headlines here.

Just about every crop is a bumper this year. Trucks busily haul monstrous wind turbine parts along Interstate 94. But there are still decades worth of coal to be mined and oil to be drilled.

To the north are the Bakken oil shale fields, which the U.S. Geological Survey recently estimated to hold 3.65 billion barrels, possibly putting North Dakota in a league with Saudi Arabia.

Oh, and get this California: the state government here is running a surplus.

"North Dakota is really immune to what's happening to the rest of the world," said Holly Kohler, 33, a homemaker who lives outside neighboring Mandan, N.D. "We feel like we are in our own little bubble."

News about the nation's economic woes often seemed like reports of distant wars -- at least until September when Bobcat Co. announced it was closing its Bismarck plant. It had employed as many as 1,100 people two years ago, including Holly's husband, Al Kohler.

"We didn't feel like we were in this recession until that day Bobcat said it was closing the plant," she said.

Al Kohler, 34, had worked at the plant for 12 years, including night shifts as a welder and lathe operator. It was only a matter of time before the global downturn in the home-building industry meant a downturn in orders for construction equipment as well.

"I went into the garage, kind of drinking my sorrows away," said Al of the day he got the news.

He has two daughters, a mortgage and wife with a medical condition that prevents her from working and requires reliable insurance to pay the bills.

She soon joined him in the garage. "I looked at her and said, 'I'm jobless and don't know what I'm going to do.' And she said, 'You know what, this is a good thing.'"

Holly had begun searching jobs listings online. Within two weeks, she helped Al land a position in Kenmare, where he'll work on oil field equipment as a welder and fabricator. The job is about 150 miles away, almost in Canada, but the insurance benefits are more generous than what he had before, and he'll no longer work the night shift.

Russ Staiger, CEO of the Bismarck-Mandan Development Association, told me he has a prospect in another manufacturer that may announce plans to open up in Bismarck as early as next month. Meanwhile, Bobcat isn't a total loss for the state. It is consolidating its North American machinery production in Gwinner, N.D., adding hundreds of jobs about 200 miles to the southeast.

Staiger is a North Dakota native who has been with the economic development group for 30 years. "I've been thrown off by a horse and I've been stomped on by a bull," he said. "We don't spend a lot of time licking our wounds."

It took Phillips less than two weeks to find a job as an information technology specialist at Fireside Office Solutions, a local provider of everything from office furniture to data management systems.

"He's worked out very well for us," said Fireside co-owner Dan Vondrachek, who swears he does not ordinarily hire people from the Greyhound station.

The Bismarck economy is so strong, he keeps selling office equipment and business services. And he is still looking to hire a couple folks who can sell furniture and copiers.

"I'm hoping I can attract someone from Minneapolis, where some businesses like ours have laid off half their staff," he said.

Phillips, who arrived with almost nothing, now has a car and an apartment. He's swiftly adapted to town that he says is not that much different than Utica.

"There's a Wal-Mart to do my shopping. There's a Starbucks to get my coffee," he said.

He posts photos online to highlight some of the regional differences for his friends: Local barbecue competitions, freshly dried deer jerky from a big hunt, and snow in October.

Many of his friends, he says, have graduated college only to find a job market as bleak as North Dakota's cold, winter skies.

"I told them, you can always get a job here," he said. "But they didn't want to leave New York for North Dakota."

At least not yet.

A Taste of Madison restaurant winners announced

FTC Capital's Ex-Chairman Charged With Fraud

NEW YORK--A fugitive Venezuelan businessman charged in the United States with defrauding a subsidiary of state oil company PDVSA out of $22 million was indicted by a U.S. grand jury on Tuesday, according to court documents.

The indictment said Guillermo Clamens, former chairman of registered broker-dealer FTC Capital Markets in New York, solicited $1.5 billion from two institutional investors into accounts he managed from April to November 2008.

His co-defendant, Nazly Cucunuba Lopez, 33, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court on Oct. 16 to conspiracy and securities fraud charges for her role in the purported scheme run by Clamens.

Both were charged on May 19 in criminal complaints, an alternative charging document to an indictment. Clamens was indicted for securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy, charges that carry a possible prison term of up to 20 years.

U.S. prosecutors and the SEC accused them of defrauding Citgo Petroleum Corp, a subsidiary of PDV Holding Inc owned by Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.

At the time of the charges in May, Clamens was in Venezuela and remains there, according to authorities.

The pair were accused of investing money in high-risk securities without the knowledge of those investors, instead of in low-risk securities, the complaint said.

A separate lawsuit by the companies in March accused the pair of creating a "slush fund" that they used "to finance self-interested, unauthorized and speculative trading in unregistered, risky, illiquid investments in which they had financial interests, the full extent of which remain unknown."

The case is USA v Guillermo A. Clamens and Nazly Cucunuba Lopez in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York No. 09-mag-1223.

Inquiry may alter HCA’s IPO planMadoff Investors Sue JPMorgan, KPMG

Cavuto: We're Being Left Out of the Loop

Missed Tuesday's Cavuto ? Catch "The Deal" right here on FOXBusiness.com

FOX on top of a door still very much closed.

Welcome, everybody, I’m Neil Cavuto, and here's The Deal.

The empty podium with nothing going on is out.

The big old door also showing nothing going on...Is in.

We're live on the door.

Even though like the empty podium, we haven't the foggiest what's going behind that door.

A nice door.

Looks like a cherry wood door.

The only thing separating us...From them.

And Senate health-care details known...From those mostly unknown.

I think Rod Serling would like this door.

It, too, leads to another dimension.

A dimension where you can propose anything...

And leave it to folks not invited behind that closed door to pay for everything.

That's what's going on behind this door.

Senators desperately trying to reconcile two senate healthcare reform plans whose final tab could approach a trillion bucks.

Here's the thing with that door to this dimension though...

Like I said.

It's closed.

So no way of knowing what's going on behind that door.

Only that we paid for the door.

But aren't about to be told how we pay for what they're discussing behind that door.

All we do know is they're discussing something big.

Very big.

And expensive.

Very expensive.

We just don't know the details.

Because they couldn't be bothered telling us.

Maybe it's because we're loud.

And some of us are angry.

I don't know.

This much I do know.

We're on a need-to-know basis.

And we don't need to know.

So never mind we're talking about the single biggest and costliest government initiative in the history of this country.

It's their initiative.

We're just the saps paying for it.

Their zone.

Our Twilight Zone.

Nashville airport I-40 east exit to close Tuesday night; detour required

Madoff Investors Sue JPMorgan, KPMG

Some investors defrauded by epic swindler Bernard Madoff on Tuesday added accounting firm KPMG, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Bank of New York Mellon (BK) to a civil lawsuit in a New York court, lawyer Joseph Cotchett said.

The lawyer, who also named Oppenheimer Acquisition Corp, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance (MMLIC.UL), Tremont funds founder Sandra Manzke and former Tremont Chief Executive Robert Schulman in the amended lawsuit, said the complaint was based on his law firm's prison interview with Madoff in July and an investigation.

Cotchett said in a statement that "KPMG never blew the whistle on fraudulent conduct" at Madoff's British firm, Madoff Securities International Ltd, which the accounting firm audited.

He said the complaint was filed in New York State Supreme Court as an amendment to an earlier lawsuit.

"JPMorgan Chase, the complaint alleges, helped Madoff launder money between the United States and London -- almost $6 billion of investors' money," the Burlingame, California-based Cotchett of law firm Cotchett, Pitre and McCarthy said.

Madoff, arrested last December for orchestrating the biggest investment fraud in Wall Street history of up to $65 billion, is serving a life sentence in prison after pleading guilty to the decades-long fraud.

"The complaint alleges Bernard Madoff's fraud was not accomplished in isolation," the law firm's statement said. "The sheer size and scope of the fraud make it impossible for Madoff to have acted alone. The complaint alleges JP Morgan and the Bank of New York as well as powerhouse accounting firm KPMG LLP and their international counterparts, KPMG UK and KPMG International were primary players necessary to accomplish the fraud."

Inquiry may alter HCA’s IPO plan

Market Winners &amp; Losers: Gannett, MBIA

Weak consumer data pushed the major indexes lower to end the session. The Dow closed down 0.5%, the S%P fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.3%.

Here are Tuesday’s winners and losers:

Winners

Gannett Co. Inc. (GCI)
The publishing company soared 17.6% after the company projected a quarterly forecast above analysts’ estimates. GCI shares last traded at $11.74, up $1.76 on the day.

Moody’s Corp. (MCO)
The credit-ratings company rose 10.9% after Piper Jaffray’s issued a favorable report on the company’s stock. MCO shares ended the session at $20.81, up $2.04 on the day.

Walgreen Co. (WAG)
The nation’s second largest pharmacy chain gained 9.2% after earnings beat the Street’s estimates. WAG shares finished Tuesday at $37.35, a gain of $3.16 on the day.

Harman International Industries Inc. (HAR)
The audio-equipment maker continued its BMW deal win streak, gaining 7.4% HAR shares closed at $33.98, up $2.34 on the day.

McGraw-Hill Cos. (MHP)
The publisher added 7.3% after its S&P ratings unit received positive news from Piper Jaffray. MHP shares ended the session at $26.11, a gain of $1.78.

Losers

MBIA Inc. (MBI)
A ratings cut by S&P dropped the insurer by 4.7%. MBI shares last traded at $7.83, down 39 cents on the day.

JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU)
The communications-equipment manufacturer fell 4.7%. JDSU shares ended Tuesday at $6.89, a loss of 34 cents on the day.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG)
Another insurer posting losses Tuesday, Hartford Financial Services shares fell 4.1%. HIG shares closed at $27.44, down $1.18 on the day.

Capital One Financial Corp. (COF)
The diversified-banking company responded accordingly to the consumer confidence numbers, with shares losing 3.8%. COF shares ended the session at $35.29, down $1.41 on the day.

Vornado Realty Trust (VNO)
The REIT followed sector trends, posting a 3.8% loss to end the session. VNO shares closed at $64.77, down $2.53 on the day.

Market Winners & Losers: Harris Corp, E*TradeFedEx sees more global demand

Ugly Manufacturing Data Spook Stocks

There's No Business Like FOX Business

Wall Street recovered from an early selloff Wednesday afternoon as the Nasdaq Composite turned positive and the Dow shed a triple-digit loss despite a disappointing manufacturing report.

Today’s Markets

As of 12:58 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10.42 points, or 0.10%, to 9732.68, the S&P 500 slid 0.82 points, or 0.08%, to 1059.79 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 6.46 points, or 0.30%, to 2130.48.The consumer-friendly FOX 50 sank 0.81 points, or 0.10%, to 772.07.

The back-and-forth action comes after the Dow slid 47 points on Tuesday, its fourth down day of the past five.

Even though the Dow shed most of its losses, most of the index's 30 components were in the red, led by JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Walt Disney (DIS). The biggest percentage gainers on the index were American Express (AXP) and Cisco (CSCO).

The Nasdaq Composite turned positive in recent trading, led by tech stocks like Nvidia (NVDA) and Broadcom (BRCM).

The markets received a boost from crude oil, which soared more than 4% after the government said gasoline stockpiles tumbled 1.67 million barrels, surprising a market that had been expecting a sizable build. At the same time, the report showed crude oil inventories soared by nearly 3 million barrels last week. Crude was recently up $2.93, or 4.38%, to $69.63. Gold climbed $15.20 an ounce, or 1.54%, to $1009.60

Wall Street's recovery hopes were dealt a blow Wednesday morning by the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index. The regional manufacturing report fell to a reading of 46.1 in September, down from a August reading 50.0 and well below the 52 reading economists had forecasted. Within the report, the closely-watched Chicago new orders index plunged from a reading of 52.5 to a reading of 46.3. A reading of below 50 indicates contraction.

The dismal manufacturing survey quickly sent stocks and economically-sensitive commodities into a free-fall, reversing an earlier rally. Raw materials and other stocks such as Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), Caterpillar (CAT) and Alcoa (AA) turned red on the news.

The PMI report overshadowed two other economic reports out earlier Wednesday: the final reading on second quarter gross domestic product and the September ADP Macroeconomic Advisers' private sector jobs report.

The Commerce Department said GDP contracted by 0.7% in the second quarter, up from an earlier estimate of a 1% contraction and better than the 1.2% contraction that economists had expected.

At the same time, ADP said the nation's private sector employers cut 254,000 jobs in September, slightly more than the 240,000 job losses expected by economists, according to Thomson Reuters.

Corporate Movers

CIT Group (CIT) plunged 35% after The Wall Street Journal reported the commercial lender is working on a plan to effectively hand over control to its bondholders. The possible deal comes with a massive exchange offer the bank is putting together that would effectively eliminate 30% to 40% of its $30 billion in outstanding debt, the newspaper reported. The company has until Thursday to submit a restructuring plan to its lenders or possibly face filing for bankruptcy protection.

Chevron (CVX) said CEO David O'Reilly will retire at the end of this year, clearing way for 52-year-old John Watson to succeed him.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is considering fusing its PC and printer divisions in a massive organization plan, the Journal reported. The merger of the two units would place control of both businesses under PC executive Todd Bradley.

Ameriprise Financial (AMP) jumped 11% after the company said it will acquire Bank of America's (BAC) Columbia Management portfolio management business for $1 billion. Ameriprise said Columbia will add $165 billion in assets to its portfolio business and it plans to fund the purchase with cash.

Global Markets

In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to 5165.11, France's CAC 40 was up 0.38% to 3828.45 and Germany's DAX rose 0.15% to 5722.16.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 0.33% to 10133.23, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.28% to 20955.25 and China's Shanghai Composite jumped 0.9% to 2779.43.

Red-Hot Stocks Cool OffStocks tumble amid investors’ worries

Targeted Financial Reform More Likely Than Large-Scale Effort

Nothing generates 20/20 hindsight like a good global crisis. And just as predictably, that hindsight quickly segues into calls for reform.

A year removed from the collapse of venerable investment bank Lehman Brothers, an event that shook the world’s economy unlike any in decades, calls for reform of our financial markets remain strong.

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama, in an address delivered in the heart of the U.S. financial district in Lower Manhattan, said, “We are proposing the most ambitious overhaul of the financial regulatory system since the Great Depression.”

Not prone toward gradual shifts, the President is calling for the creation of, among other things, a whole new regulatory body, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

Such an agency would protect consumers from unscrupulous lenders who take advantage of borrowers’ ignorance and naivete to gouge them with hidden fees and penalties, usually buried in the complex fine print attached to most loans.

Congressional hearings are scheduled this week to discuss the new agency.

The Obama Administration also wants to give existing regulators, primarily the Federal Reserve, more power to clamp down on what he has described as the “reckless behavior and unchecked excess at the heart of this crisis.”

The President believes big banks, in particular -- the JPMorgans (JPM), Bank of Americas (BAC) and Citigroups (C) -- need more oversight to prevent them from taking on more risk than they can safely handle, and from becoming so big that their failure poses a threat to the nation’s economy.

President Obama has acknowledged that he will need international cooperation for meaningful reform at that level because of the global interconnectedness of the world’s banks.

Meanwhile, Bernard Madoff’s epic decades-long Ponzi scheme, which bilked investors of tens of billions of dollars, has brought heightened scrutiny on the Securities and Exchange Commission.

New SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro has already made changes aimed at preventing the SEC from ever again missing the kinds of warnings that for years poured into the agency alleging that Madoff was running a fraud.

Even before the Madoff affair, as the scope of the financial crisis became clear, there were calls for the SEC to be merged with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission as part of a large-scale reform aimed at consolidating regulatory responsibilities.

Naturally, there are those who are skeptical of broad reform efforts, doubtful that it can be pulled off efficiently, or that it’s even necessary.

Randall Filer, professor of economics at Hunter College in New York and a member of the doctoral faculty at City University of New York’s Graduate Center, believes the reform momentum now in place will likely target smaller efforts, such as providing the SEC with more resources.

With more resources -- specifically, more competitively-paid, well-qualified staff -- the agency will be better able to enforce regulations already on the books.

And Filer believes the existing regulations “are clear and adamant” and “perfectly adequate for insider trading and Ponzi schemes.”

“The problem is to find things like insider trading you’re looking for needles in a haystack, sifting through billions of pieces of information trying to find suspicious patterns. That’s very labor intensive. More resources mean you can sift though more data and you’re likely to see more things,” he said.

But more staff means more money. As it stands, the SEC must compete for employees -- notably the computer programmers who attempt to track criminal patterns -- against the likes of videogame makers, for example, a job that is not only more fun but likely pays more money.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) earlier this month proposed legislation that would allow the SEC to keep all of the fees it collects and use the money to recruit and retain better-trained personnel.

Schumer has said his proposal would, on average, boost the SEC’s budget by hundreds of millions of dollars each year, enabling the agency to attract professionals with the expertise required to uncover complex financial fraud.

In a statement announcing the proposal, the senator said while financial markets have been rapidly growing in both size and complexity, the SEC’s budget has remained essentially flat.

Schumer’s funding plan would treat the SEC the same as the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., both of which are funded through fees collected from institutions overseen by those agencies.

“The SEC’s failure to catch Bernie Madoff shows a level of incompetence unseen since FEMA’s handling of Hurricane Katrina. It is clear the SEC needs a bigger, more reliable funding stream so it can retain and recruit the top talent that has fled the agency of late,” Schumer said in a statement. “Under the current system, the agency’s rank-and-file personnel are struggling to keep up with the more sophisticated actors in the market. We cannot keep starving the SEC’s budget or the agency will remain a shadow of its former self.”

Schumer’s proposal was a direct response to an embarrassing report issued by the SEC’s Inspector General. According to the report, the SEC had enough evidence against Madoff to merit an investigation into the dealings of his investment firm, but the agency repeatedly failed to act effectively.

The report repeatedly cited the lack of experience and expertise of SEC personnel assigned to investigate Madoff, finding that they “failed to appreciate the significance of the analysis” in the complaints about Madoff and “failed to follow up on inconsistencies.”

Filer said Madoff might have been stopped sooner if the SEC had had more qualified people.

“The pattern might have jumped out at somebody earlier,” he said.

Filer said he’s skeptical that big-picture reform -- such as preventing banks from getting too big or from taking on ‘too much risk’ -- is possible without international cooperation, if it’s possible at all.

“The broad failures that led to the financial crisis will be more difficult to tackle. I’m not sure anyone knows how to do that. If it were easy we’d have done it in the first place. Crises are always easy to explain in hindsight,” he said.

Bernanke’s stock rises as reappointment time nearsSEC Can Expect Congressional Heat for Missing Madoff

Madoff's Relatives May Face Civil Charges: Report

The trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff’s ill-gotten assets apparently plans to file civil charges against some of Madoff’s relatives.

In an interview on the CBS news program "60 Minutes," the trustee, Irving Picard, said Madoff’s brother, Peter, his two sons, Andrew and Mark, and niece, Shana, could face civil suits as early as this week.

All four relatives were employed in senior positions with Madoff’s stock trading business, located two floors above the offices where Madoff operated his massive Ponzi scheme.

In the interview aired Sunday night, Picard and his chief counsel David Sheehan said the evidence they’ve uncovered since Madoff was arrested in December has led them to believe Madoff’s family members had to have known that Madoff was not on the level.

The attorneys said the Madoff family members invested minimal amounts in Madoff’s investment business and later made sizable withdrawals. In addition, the family members all used the investment firm essentially as their private bank account, charging vacations, meals and shopping sprees on credit cards that drew on funds held by the phony investment firm.

The attorneys said the salaries earned by the family members, and the expensive lifestyles they lived were all attributable to Madoff’s fraud.

Consequently, all of the relatives could be liable for forfeiture of funds they are still holding onto.

A spokesman for Picard said the trustee would have no comment on the timing of possible lawsuits against Madoff relatives. Attorneys for the Madoff family members were not immediately available to comment.

Madoff’s Right Hand Man Pleads GuiltyFormer AIG chief, others settle suit for $115 million

Al Lewis: Charlie Ponzi Never Came Up With This Plan

It's not easy to convert a reasonably safe annuity into a reckless toss at two now-notorious Ponzi schemes.

But Neal Greenberg cleverly crafted a way to do this for his elderly clients, according to a lawsuit filed recently in Boulder, Colo.

Greenberg is an insurance broker who got a license to sell securities and then started an investment firm called The Agile Group, which was not.

His big idea was to put 85% of his clients' funds with Bernie Madoff and Tom Petters, a Minnesota mogul awaiting trial for an alleged $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme, the lawsuit alleges.

Along the way, Greenberg even sucked up the savings of former Congressman and GOP presidential candidate Tom Tancredo.

Greenberg blew up his firm last year, freezing all client accounts. But to hear Greenberg tell it, he's just another victim:

"Agile, like thousands of other investors, was a victim of the Madoff and Petters frauds," the company responded in a prepared statement. "We sympathize with the victims who have brought this lawsuit against Agile, but we believe victims should not be suing other victims. Instead, the victims should work together to try to obtain justice from the real wrongdoers."

Greenberg apparently sees no wrongdoing in allegedly taking about $448,000 from 77-year old Dorothy Jackson, and sticking it into what the lawsuit calls a "leveraged hedge fund of leverage hedge funds."

Other folks who Greenberg calls victims-suing-victims include Carol Curran, 70, who invested more than $700,000, and her husband, Wade, 68, who put in more than $350,000. Then there's Robert Gahan, 58, who was in for nearly $1.4 million.

The lawsuit -- which alleges fraud, conspiracy and even racketeering -- seeks class-action status for more than 80 victims. Many of them were at or near retirement, and had no business investing in leveraged hedge funds, particularly ones that turned out to be alleged Ponzi schemes.

The lawsuit also details the cockamamie scheme Greenberg allegedly concocted to generate fat fees and commissions for himself and others named in the lawsuit.

Greenberg searched far and wide for a company that would accept his novel ideas about rolling over annuities, the lawsuit states.

He found a partner in AGL Life Assurance Corp. of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., which is part of Phoenix Cos. Inc. (PNX) in Hartford, Conn. A spokeswoman for Phoenix declined comment.

The suit claims AGL accepted traditional annuities from Greenberg's clients.

These annuities had been invested in relatively safe mutual funds holding large-cap stocks. But AGL exchanged them for private placement variable annuities that invested all their assets with Greenberg. Greenberg, in turn, gave the money to Madoff and Petters.

"AGL agreed with Greenberg to create an annuity .. for the sole purpose of diverting .. pre-existing traditional annuity funds into Greenberg's new leveraged hedge fund of leveraged hedge funds," the lawsuit alleges.

"Greenberg and AGL knew that Greenberg's leveraged hedge fund of leveraged hedge funds was new, untested, and highly risky," the lawsuit said.

Investors did not receive proper disclosure of this incredible risk, the lawsuit alleges.

All the while, Greenberg presented himself to the public as some kind of financial wizard who could magically provide both safety and steady returns to high-net worth investors -- not little old ladies and retirees with nest eggs.

One way Greenberg did this was to hire a seasoned AM-radio pitchman, the lawsuit alleges.

He turned to Mike Rosen, a fiscally conservative talk-show host who often lectures listeners on economics and free-market capitalism on Denver's 850-KOA AM.

Rosen not only analyzes the news of the day and writes a column that appears in The Denver Post , but he's also a well-paid huckster who has hawked Agile for years. Tancredo, incidentally, told me it was Rosen who personally steered him to the firm.

Neither Tancredo nor Rosen are involved in the lawsuit, though. Rosen, despite his self-proclaimed business acumen, says he's been parted with much of his life savings, and is a victim just like Tancredo and everyone else.

Rosen's radio spots, however, provide telling insight into how Agile presented itself to anyone with an AM radio while its alleged plan was just to bag commissions as it blindly tossed people's life savings at Madoff and Petters.

"If your net worth is between $2 million and $50 million, listen carefully," Rosen would command.

"In the years I've been talking about Agile Group, they've grown into a private wealth management firm, attracting prominent families and institutions from around the world.

"If you're a serious, demanding investor .. their skills make them especially suited to your unique needs. ...

"You'll be impressed with their knowledge, originality and professionalism. Their sophisticated and flexible investment strategies have worked in all types of markets. Not just up markets, but during difficult times as well.

"Don't just go to any adviser .. And tell them Mike Rosen sent you."

(Al's Emporium, written by Dow Jones Newswires columnist Al Lewis, offers commentary and analysis on a wide range of business subjects through an unconventional perspective. The column is published each Tuesday and Thursday at 9 a.m. ET. Contact Al at al.lewis@dowjones.com or tellittoal.com)

Former AIG chief, others settle suit for $115 millionMadoff’s Right Hand Man Pleads Guilty

Tech, Consumer Sectors Draw Attention in 4Q

As the U.S. consumer begins to show signs of life and the nation continues to seek a resolution on health-care reform, analysts are betting the technology, consumer and medical sectors will be ones to watch in the fourth quarter.

The upcoming quarter is bound to look better on a year-over-year basis, as it was the fourth quarter last year when the financial meltdown really began to unfold, said Art Hogan, managing director at Jefferies & Co. Among the pool of stocks likely to outperform the market in the fourth quarter is the tech group, he said.

“The outlook for tech is as bright as it’s been in awhile. In a slow-growth economy, one thing that can increase productivity is new technology,” he said.

Hogan said the recent news about the planned acquisition of Perot Systems (PER) by Dell (DELL) is a preview of what’s to come during the fourth quarter, arguing that the tech sector is likely to see a “great deal” of consolidation during the period.

While many analysts agree technology’s big gains will continue through the fourth quarter, some are skeptical about the year to come. Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital Group, who believes software stocks will do particularly well during the fourth quarter as a direct play on the global upgrade in tech, said the sector is doomed to see darker days as the Federal Reserve begins raising interest rates.

“We’re going through a phase where the rubber is really going to have to start hitting the road here,” Kenny said, arguing that the Federal Reserve will soon be forced to choke off inflation -- a move likely to negatively impact consumers and hinder the economic recovery.

But Kenny said the tech sector is still in for a great fourth quarter.

“We’ve got another quarter of slack before we start engaging in that process of raising interest rates,” he said.

Paul Nolte, director of investments at Hinsdale Associates, said he is already seeing some signs of underperformance in the technology group and expects the “big winner” of 2009 to fall behind in coming months.

Also on analysts’ radar for the fourth quarter are the consumer and retail sectors.

Hogan of Jefferies & Co. sees promise in the specialty apparel market, citing an uptick in mall traffic and the summer sales performance of companies such as American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), Gap (GPS) and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF). Retail sales as a whole rose by a better-than-expected 2.7% in August -- the largest gain in three-and-a-half years, according to the Commerce Department. While the gain was due primarily to the government’s Cash for Clunkers auto incentive, apparel and accessory stores sales saw an adjusted gain of 2.4%.

Others are less optimistic about the holiday shopping season. Nolte of Hinsdale Associates estimates the Fall market decline may get postponed until November or December and fears it may make for a “tough” holiday season.

“Consumers are going to spend on Christmas, but nowhere near [the levels] where some of the expectations are,” he said.

Nolte said that if the markets do correct, the most defensive sectors and laggards of this year -- consumer stocks like those in the food and beverage space -- will outperform next year.

Perhaps one of the biggest issues hovering over the markets’ transition to the fourth quarter is the yet-unanswered question about the future of the health-care system. Aware of the impact a decision on health-care reform might have on HMOs and companies in the pharmaceutical sector, Nolte said he is focused on medical-device companies like Baxter (BAX), Zimmer Holdings (ZMH) and Medtronic (MDT).

Kenny of Knight Capital said increased pressure on big pharmaceutical companies will allow generic drug manufacturers to benefit, and also sees promise in the health-care information technology space.

Analysts said investors should be wary of the financial sector in the fourth quarter, because those stocks have bounced off their bankruptcy-fear lows but are still awaiting clarity on the Obama Administration’s plans for regulatory reform, analysts said.

Another area to be wary of is media, which is set to suffer in the short-term as print-based businesses struggle to find their digital footing, Kenny said.

“Media has an enormous transition to go through,” he said. “We’re going from paper to circuit boards, and I think there’s still a lot of pain in that process.”

Stocks End Mixed; Microsoft PlungesExperts point out where good buys might be

Market Winners &amp; Losers: Finish Line, Research In Motion

The major indices closed out the week in the red after the release of a number of disappointing economic reports. The Dow dropped 0.4%, the S&P 500 was down 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.8%.

Here are some of Friday’s winners and losers:

Winners

Finish Line Inc. (FINL)

Athletic-footwear retailer Finish Line released second-quarter results after the bell on Thursday swinging to a loss based on costs from exiting the Man Alive chain. The company showed improvement in margin costs and indicated positive comparable-store trends for the second half, pushing shares up $1.13 or 12.2% to close at $10.43.

Sara Lee Corp. (SLE)

Sara Lee announced that it has entered into a binding agreement to have to have its global body care and European detergents businesses acquired by Unilever in a $1.88 billion deal.Sara Lee’s Chief Executive Brenda Barnes said that the deal would allow the company to focus on its core food and beverage businesses.Sara Lee shares were up 67 cents, or 6.7%, to close at $11.21.

LSI Corp. (LSI)

LSI shares gained 5.3% after analysts at Deutsche Securities raised their rating to “Buy” from “Hold.” Shares gained 28 cents and closed at $5.58.

Sunoco Inc. (SUN)

Much of the refining sector was up Friday after Goldman Sachs raised its view on the sector.One of the gainers was Sunoco which was upgraded by analysts at Goldman Sachs to “Neutral” from “Buy” sending shares up 4%, gaining $1.06, to close at $27.75.

Starbucks Corp. (SBUX)

Shares of Starbucks were up 3.4% after analysts at Bernstein initiated coverage of the company with an “Outperform” rating.Shares gained 66 cents and closed at $19.83.

Losers

Research In Motion Limited (RIMM)

Shares of the RIMM dropped 17% Friday after coming in with earnings below analyst estimates and lowering its outlook after the bell Thursday. Subsequently, analysts at Goldman Sachs and Raymond James have cut their rating on the stock. Shares closed down $14.15 at $68.91.

KB Home (KBH)

KB Home released third-quarter results reporting a loss of 87 cents per share on $458.5 million in revenue.Analysts had been expecting a loss of 58 cents per share on revenue of $458 million.Shares slid 8.6%, losing $1.59, to close at $16.96.

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG)

The Department of Environmental Protection has ordered Cabot to cease all natural gas well hydrofracking operations in Susquehanna County Pennsylvania until the company completes a number of engineering and safety tasks.Cabot shares were down $2.36, or 6.5%, to close at $33.70.

Jabil Circuit Inc. (JBL)

Shares of Jabil Circuit were down 5.3% Friday in what may be investor profit taking after a 70% increase in value since July and ahead of the company’s fourth-quarter earning due out next week. Shares closed trading down 66 cents at $11.87.

Massey Energy Corp. (MEE)

Analysts at JPMorgan cut their rating on Massey Energy to “Neutral” from “Overweight” citing slowing demand for coal in China. The stock closed down $1.13, or 3.9%, at $28.05.

Pre-Market Movers: Nordson, Foot LockerFedEx sees more global demand

Homebuilder Hovnanian Founder Dead at 86

Homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV) said Friday Kevork S. Hovnanian, the company’s founder and chairman of the board, died Thursday in New York. He was 86 years old.

Hovnanian founded the company in 1959, according to a statement. He served as president until 1988 and as chief executive officer until 1997, when his son, Ara, succeeded him.

“Mr. Hovnanian was the heart and soul of our company and all of our associates mourn this tragic loss. Our deepest condolences and prayers are with Mr. Hovnanian’s wife, Sirwart, and his entire family,” said J. Larry Sorsby, Hovnanian’s executive vice president and chief financial officer in a statement.

“Mr. Hovnanian was a visionary who brought tremendous leadership, energy and passion to his job. He made an indelible mark on this company and on the community, where he felt a responsibility and a deep commitment to share his good fortunes. He was a great man and will be dearly missed by all who knew him,” Sorsby said.

People in Business‘Father of Test Prep’ Kaplan Dead at 90

Cavuto: What Does the U.S. Know About Fiscal Soundness?

Missed Thursday's Cavuto ? Catch "The Deal" right here on FOXBusiness.com

He's the host.

But not exactly with the most.

Here's the deal.

As Barack Obama gets ready to host the G-20, a likely gee-whiz from his guests.

The President and First Lady greeting them right now in Pittsburgh...

But leaders of the richest countries on earth not quite sure the very richest country on earth is all that back in shape.

Barack Obama says we're coming out of the worst of it.

But nagging indications that all is not well in Washington.

On this, the nearly one-year anniversary of that Troubled Asset Relief Program, with indications today it's brought more trouble than relief.

On the very same day we found out that home sales fell nearly 3% last month, breaking what had been a four-month winning streak.

And all this... The President's health-care reform efforts look like they need a lot more effort -- not because Republicans or Democrats are saying they don't add up, but because the Congressional Budget Office says they don't.

And for today's embarrassing finishing touch...

Paul Volcker -- who says as for this great safety nets to banks... Cool it.

And Paul’s on their side.

So what are these other countries to make of all this?

Just this:

We're hardly the ones to lecture on fiscal soundness.

And they're hardly the ones to listen.

Not when governments the world over still want to spend more, risking probably inflation, and probably a lot more.

Bottom line?

The President has reason to boast we're no longer spent.

He's hardly the guy to say that means more spending.

Cisco Execs Walk Away With Less as Fiscal ‘09 EndsSome of the wealthiest Tennesseans are losing millions of dollars

FOXBusiness.com's Week in Review: Sept. 21-25, 2009

Monday

Monday started off with a report that the Internal Revenue Service is extending a tax amnesty program for taxpayers with offshore accounts that have not reported income on them. The program started last March after Swiss bank UBS gave the names of several account holders to U.S. authorities as part of a settlement. So far, over 3,000 people have utilized the program.

M&A Dept.: Dell (DELL) said it will buy Perot Systems (PER), a technology services company, for $3.9 billion. This would give Dell a share of the information-services industry, a growing sector. The deal values Perot at $30 a share.

Dell to Purchase Perot for $3.9B
Brian Moynihan to Succeed Ken Lewis?
Britain’s New Tax Strategy

Pataki: Obama Actions ‘Horribly Wrong’
Nationwide Average
$2.53 a gallonTuesday

FOX Business learned Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is getting ready to reveal changes to some of the more controversial parts of the Obama Administration’s proposed Consumer Financial Product Agency Tuesday. He said he’ll exclude many non-financial businesses from this regulation and take out a provision requiring companies to offer stripped-down financial products and assessing whether consumers understand the products they’re being offered.

Rather, he said, this agency will improve how disclosures are made in terms of clarity and simplicity. Opponents of the agency proposal say it gives this regulator too much power.

Meanwhile, Intel (INTC) CEO Paul Otellini was on FOX Business Network speaking about the company’s dealings with the European Union’s antitrust actions against it. He said, flat out, Intel did not offer rebates to companies that agreed not to buy competitor chips.

And markets hit new 2009 highs Tuesday afternoon, rallying around crude oil prices and rising financial stocks. The Dow rose 51 points, closing at 9830.

Dupont Chairman on Climate Change

DuPont Chair on Stepping Down as CEO

BofA Board Member Declines to Back Lewis

From Congress With Love
Wednesday

Amid heavy criticism on Capitol Hill over banks for charging overdraft fees on checking accounts, Bank of America (BAC) and JPMorgan Chase (JMP) announced changes to their policies on these fees. Both banks will no longer automatically enroll customers in overdraft protection, which has resulted in some customers paying large amounts in fees when they didn’t carefully watch their account balances.

Bank of America said it would stop charging an overdraft fee for consumers overdrawing their accounts by less than $10 and for more than four overdrafts per day. And JPMorgan announced it will eliminate fees for overdrawing less than $5.

Federal Funds Rate Dept.: The FOMC voted to keep interest rates at their historical lows, Wednesday. The target rate will remain at a range of 0% to 0.25%, as Wall Street expected. This was the first FOMC meeting since Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said he believed the recession is over.

Yahoo CEO Announces Branding Campaign

Regulator to Oversee Financial System?
Humana Warns of Medicare Benefit Cuts

Ron and Rand Paul on Big Gov'tThursday

The Securities and Exchange Commission is bringing charges against an employee at Perot Systems who it accuses of illegal insider trading related to the company’s deal with Dell. Reze Saleh bought over 9,300 Perot call options between Sept. 4 and Sept. 18, according to the SEC. Once the Dell-Perot deal was announced, he sold the options and made $8.6 million.

Meanwhile, Citigroup (C) is reportedly closing branches across the U.S. in order to focus on its six major metropolitan areas: New York, Washington, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. This will reportedly help the bank focus more on its consumer credit card business and jumbo mortgages.

TARP Dept.: The TARP program’s inspector general, Neil Barofsky, said the program has played a large role in preventing a financial meltdown. However, he said, the chances of taxpayers getting a profit back on these loans are slim, as is the likelihood of more transparency.

Health Care: Privilege or Right?

Ferris Bueller House for Sale
GOP Stalling Health Care?

America's Superiority Tested at G-20
Friday

Leaders of the Group of 20 rich and developing nations are turning into the main body to set up global economic policy, said officials. Leaders working on ways to prevent future financial crises also agreed to give under-represented countries more voting power at the International Monetary Fund.

Meanwhile, consumer sentiment in the U.S. hit its highest level since January of 2008. The index for September hit 73.5, up from 65.7 in August. This was higher than the 70.3 reading economists expected. Rising consumer sentiment could be a sign of economic rebound.

Improving Cities' Infrastructures

KB Founder's Toys to Be Auctioned

From Hero to Criminal?
When Will the Fed Raise Rates?

  

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FOXBusiness.com’s Week in Review: Sept. 14-18, 2009Banks relent on overdraft fees