Finance Globe

As Americans start the new year feeling better about the job situation, consumer confidence increased in January to its highest level in eight months. The Consumer Confidence Index reading of 60.6 is up from 53.3 in December, the Conference Board reported today. The Present Situation Index - which gauges how consumers feel about the current state of the economy - improved to 31.0 from 24.9 in December. The Expectations Index - which shows how consumers feel...

It’s the new year, and for many, it’s the time to start thinking about preparing our income tax returns.And while it’s business as usual for the majority of taxpayers, the Internal Revenue Service announced that certain taxpayers will need to delay filing their returns until mid to late-February if they are affected by any of the three recent changes in the tax law.The changes are deductions that were reinstated by Congress in the Tax Relief, Unemployment...

Retail sales in November were better than analysts had expected, as American consumers loosen up the purse strings in preparation for the holiday season.November sales increased by .8% from the previous month, and increased by 7.7% since last year in November 2009, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington.November’s increase follows a revised increase of 1.7% in October. October’s big jump in retail sales was partly due to a large increase in auto sales, which slacked...

Organizations that prey on consumers who have been hurt by the economic downturn are the target of an ongoing crackdown by the Federal Trade Commission.The FTC announced today that it halted the operations of Florida-based robocallers that allegedly promised to lower consumers’ credit card interest rate, but did nothing to fulfill their claims.According to the FTC’s complaint, JPM Accelerated Services allegedly made thousands of illegal pre-recorded robocalls to credit card holders, identifying themselves only as “card...

A new program aims to increase financial literacy for low to moderate-income students and help to encourage savings.In a joint statement by the Department of Education, the Federal Deposits Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the three agencies on Tuesday announced a new agreement to help educate millions of students on financial matters.The agencies will work together to facilitate partnerships among schools, financial institutions, federal grantees and other stakeholders to provide effective...

In an effort to educate homeowners on the energy-efficiency of their residences, Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu have launched the Home Energy Score pilot program.“The Home Energy Score will help make energy efficiency easy and accessible to America's families by providing them with straightforward and reliable information about their homes' energy performance and specific, cost-effective energy efficiency improvements that will save them money on their monthly energy bills," said Secretary Chu.Here’s how...

Home prices over the past year have remained relatively unchanged over the past year, even though the pace of sales has sharply declined since the ending of the home buyer’s tax credit, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported on Thursday.The national median existing single-family home price of $177,900 in the third quarter was just 0.2% lower than the median price of $178,200 in the same quarter of 2009.But while the national median home price has...

New claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly dropped by 21,000 last week to 434,000 - its lowest level since July, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday.But the news may be even better than a three-month low. In July there were special factors contributing to the lower number of new jobless claims; fewer than usual auto plants closed for the model-year retooling.If we disregard July for those skewed numbers, the last time new jobless claims were as...

Existing home sales jumped 10% in September, signalling the beginning of a housing recovery, the National Association of Realtors reported on Monday. The rate of sales, which includes single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and co-ops, was at an annual pace of 4.53 million homes in September after a downwardly revised rate of 4.12 million homes in August.Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said, “A housing recovery is taking place but will be choppy at times depending on the...

One of the nation’s largest debt collection companies has agreed to pay $1.75 million to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission that the company used unethical practices to collect debts, the agency reported on Thursday.The settlement, which is not an indication that the company broke the law or has been found guilty of wrongdoing, is the second largest civil penalty obtained by the FTC in a debt collection case.The FTC alleged that Allied Interstate, Inc.,...