Archive for January 2012
The U.S. Stock Indexes recovered on Wednesday
By Richard Walker, Gebo Equity Management
Wednesday was a good day for the U.S. economy, as it witnessed market recovering. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 13 points, the S&P 500 gained less than 1 point while the Nasdaq lifted 8 points.
Shares of Bank of America, Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500), Citi group and JP Morgan Chase went up between 0.3% and 2%.
A report showing the German economy contracted 0.25% in the last three months of the year rattled up the investors. Rob Russell, president of Dayton, said, “Germany is the lighthouse of the European Union, and it spooks investors if that lighthouse is going dim, shares Richard Walker from Gebo equity management.”
The euro went down 0.8% to a 16-month low around $1.26. The ECB is widely expected to hold interest rates steady at 1%. But some analysts anticipate from ECB President Mario Draghi to signal a prolonged period of low interest rates to bring euro and European economy on track.
Investors are encouraged to invest their money after much good news about U.S. economy like positive job report and positive borrowing report. Excitement among investors could easily be seen during the business hours on Thursday, stats Richard Walker from Gebo equity management.
A senior official of Rehmann Financial Ethan Anderson said, “In this environment, the U.S. economy is not a bad spot to be.”
Despite a bit fall in the Dow Jones Industrial average, the day can be called good as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq did well and the good thing was that investors were seen fearless and excited to invest their money.
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White House to propose a 0.5% Pay Hike for Federal Workers in its 2013 budget
By - Todd Genger
The White House will bring a proposal to increase pay of federal workers by 0.5% in its 2013 budget proposal. Federal pay was frozen in December 2010 when Congress approved the Barack Obama administration’s proposal to freeze federal worker pay for two years to reduce the deficit.
It is anticipated that the Obama administration will release its new budget in February 2012 and during the course of deliberating on the budget, the salary hike proposal will be presented before the Congress, stats Todd Genger.
Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union which represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, was disappointed at the size of the proposed salary hike. He said, “The good news is that the pay freeze is ending, but I am disappointed at the size of the proposed 2013 increase, shares Todd Genger.”
Randy Esperanza, an IRS employee based in Los Angeles, said, “When you put it into perspective, it’s so small it’s almost a slap in the face.” Randy Esperanza further added, “It’s always good to get a bigger increase,” he said. “But it’s frustrating because there are a lot of other things that could be cut out and are wasteful.”
The move of the Obama administration to increase the salary of federal employees is a step in the right direction, however in the absence of meaningful cuts to reduce the budget, further gestures will be needed to placate disgruntled federal employees and their neighbors.