What lies ahead for the U.S. economy? Offer your forecast!

A year ago, economists Ken Matheny and Gary Thayer were both optimistic about 2011. Going into 2012, they’re decidedly less so.
“You have a lot of things coming along in early 2012 that really slow the economy down,” says Matheny, of Macroeconomic Advisers in Clayton.
The biggest problems are the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and a […]

Justice, AT&T agree to put off anti-trust trial

AT&T Inc. and the Justice Department have agreed to put off their upcoming antitrust trial over the phone company’s proposed acquisition of smaller rival T-Mobile USA while the wireless carriers determine the fate of the deal.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle quickly approved their motion Monday to cancel their February trial and set a Jan. […]

Gallagher: Expert advice on 401(k) can pay off

Back in the winter of 2009, when the stock market crash was near its bottom, an editor at the Post-Dispatch gave up in defeat.
“I couldn’t take it any more. I sold everything,” he told me. He had sold all the stock investments in his 401(k).
That put me in a quandary. Should I tell the fellow […]

Consumers borrow more in Oct. as economy improves.

Americans stepped up their borrowing in October to buy cars and attend college, and they also charged a little more to their credit cards. The second straight monthly gain in overall borrowing suggests consumers are growing more confident in the economy ahead of the crucial holiday buying season.
Total consumer borrowing rose by $7.3 billion, the […]

India in bind, may delay coming of foreign retail

India’s ruling party faced a potentially damaging setback Sunday after an important coalition ally said the government had reversed its decision to throw open the country’s huge retail sector to foreign investors.
The government has not officially announced a change in its policy on foreign direct investment, but a reversal would be an embarrassment for the […]

Egypt new PM claims more powers than predecessor

Egypt’s military rulers picked a prime minister from ousted leader Hosni Mubarak’s era to head the next government in a move quickly rejected by tens of thousands of protesters, while the United States ratcheted up pressure on the generals to quickly transfer power to a civilian leadership.
More than 100,000 people packed into Cairo’s central Tahrir […]

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Ex-Madoff trader pleads guilty in plea deal in NYC

Jailed financier Bernard Madoff’s multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme stretched back at least to the early 1970s, when his employees used historical information about stocks to create false trades that could be placed on customer statements, a former trader revealed as he pleaded guilty Monday to criminal charges.
David Kugel pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan […]

Boomers flock to bonds, but they may not understand risks

Baby boomers fully embraced the stock market by riding its ups and downs throughout their peak income years.
But now that the oldest boomers are turning 65, their focus has turned toward ensuring a steady income from their investments. And they’re likely to find that the answer is to put money in bonds rather than stocks, […]

Ex-UBS banker gets 5 years’ probation in tax case

A former banker at Switzerland’s UBS AG has been sentenced to five years’ probation and no jail time for tax fraud because of his assistance in uncovering other tax evasion cases.
A federal judge in Miami agreed Friday that 45-year-old Renzo Gadola deserved leniency. He pleaded guilty in 2010 to tax fraud conspiracy and has been […]