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Housing a bright spot in economy – Christine Romans explains
CNN's Christine Romans looks at latest news on existing home sales and median home prices, showing momentum in housing market.
MYB: Christine Romans on a strike against Hostess and record low mortgage rates
Christine Romans is minding your business this morning. Hostess is dealing with a strike of 18,000 workers. With a deadline of 5PM yesterday for the bakers' union to get back to work not met, we are waiting on Hostess to put out a statement on whether they will liquidate all 33 plants or not.
But good news for consumers, the one thing you need to know about your money, is that mortgage rates have hit record lows. "Rates are falling because investors are worried about the economy, so they're throwing money into the bond market and out of the stock market," Romans says. "But those rates are so low...you might have to go and see if it's time to refinance again."
MYB: Dow drops, CEO's 'optimistic' after Obama meeting
Christine Romans is minding your business this morning with the latest in U.S. stock futures and world markets. E.U. markets are down. News comes this morning that the Eurozone economy, “the 17 countries that use the Euro, has slipped into a double dip recession.”
U.S. stock futures are up, but the Dow dropped 185 points yesterday. It's down nearly 700 points since Election Day because of the looming fiscal cliff and concerns about Europe. But CEO’s are "optimistic" after meeting with Obama yesterday about a fiscal cliff resolution.
President Obama to meet with US business leaders to talk jobs, debt – Ali Velshi explains
Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday delivered a "strong" and "determined" defense of his intent to allow Bush-era tax cuts for wealthier Americans to expire while preserving cuts for middle-income earners, according to conversations with several people who attended a meeting between the president and labor and progressive leaders.
The meeting at the White House - along with a second unannounced meeting with representatives from roughly a dozen groups focused on women's issues - was the start of a lengthy process of negotiating a resolution to the nation's impending budget crisis.
Obama is scheduled to meet with business leaders on Wednesday and congressional leaders from both parties on Friday. They include:
* Mark Bertolini, President, Chairman and CEO, Aetna
* Ursula Burns, Chairman and CEO, Xerox
* Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman and CEO, American Express
* David Cote, Chairman and CEO, Honeywell
* Mike Duke, President and CEO, Walmart
* Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO, General Electric
* Andrew Liveris, President, Chairman and CEO, Dow
* Robert McDonald, President and CEO, Proctor & Gamble
* Alan Mulally, President and CEO, Ford
* Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo.
* Ginni Rometty, President, Chairman and CEO, IBM
* John Watson, Chairman and CEO, Chevron
This morning on "Early Start," Ali Velshi explains how these business leaders could contribute to helping the U.S. economy.
READ MORE: Obama tells labor he's committed to 'protecting' middle class on taxes
Motor Trend picks Tesla S as 2012 car of the year – Christine Romans reports
Christine Romans looks at the features of the Tesla S, the first all-electric car picked as Motor Trend's car of the year.
READ MORE: Tesla Model S – Motor Trend Car of the Year
Three scenarios for fiscal cliff diving – Christine Romans explains
With just 53 days until the so-called 'fiscal cliff' goes into affect, Christine Romans is looking at three potential scenarios for how Congress could deal with it.
“We’re getting very close to it,” Romans says, “and policymakers are just starting again to lay out kind of the framework for how they’re gonna discuss it.”
The scenarios for resolving the issue include extending current policy for six months, falling off the fiscal cliff, and a grand bargain on deficit reduction. A new report from the Congressional Budget Office breaks down some of the bargain scenarios, including raising taxes on the rich.
“The CBO said just raising taxes on the rich…wouldn’t really hurt the economy all that much,” Romans reports. “That would seem to suggest that democrats are on the right track.” Plus, a new op-ed from Paul Krugman in "The New York Times" this morning argues that Obama should let the economy dive off the fiscal cliff.
“U.S. stock futures are down this morning,” in light of all this. “Early morning market watchers” are saying “they need to see more signs of progress on the fiscal cliff,” Romans says. “That’s why stocks are down.”
What does the fiscal cliff mean for your money? Christine Romans explains
This morning, CNN's Christine Romans looks at flat U.S. stock futures and the factors in Washington influencing them. The Dow dropped over 300 points yesterday, partly in reaction to President Obama winning the bid for a second term in office. But it’s also due to the looming fiscal cliff haunting Wall Street and the country. On "Early Start," Romans explains what Republicans in the House are saying to confront the fiscal cliff, and of course, what it could mean for your money.
“The stage has been set for some real progress on this,” Romans says. Republican House Speaker John Boehner has said House republicans are “willing to accept some additional revenues via tax revenue” in order to find “common ground,” but only if the president reduces spending to garner republican support. John Berman interprets this as “reason for optimism and hope for compromise, at least for today.”
The fiscal cliff means “huge tax increases and spending cuts” go in effect automatically in 54 days unless it’s fixed, Romans explains. “Nobody wants it to happen, it’s just how they’re gonna fix it, and who’s gonna give up more.”
Europe debt crisis, fiscal cliff lead to market sell-off – Christine Romans explains
Fresh after President Obama won a second term, U.S. stock futures fell flat. What was behind the big sell-off on Wednesday? Chrisine Romans explains the factors fueling skittish investors.
“They had the roughest day we’ve seen in more than a year,” Romans says. “Internal sectors were telling us that this was a reaction to the Obama victory.” Banks, insurers, coal and energy stocks, for-profit education and dividend-paying stocks were all down.
Romans explains that dividend payers were down because “the President has said he’d like to raise taxes on investment income.” “Many of those other industries...think we’re gonna have a more regulation and as the president and the democrats have promised, and that’s gonna cost more money,” Romans says, “so investors were at least making that bet yesterday.”
On the other hand, hospital stocks were up, “because the thinking on Wall Street is that Obamacare is finally, finally secure.” But the sell off over all was due to more than just the presidential election. Romans explains that the markets reacted to factors concerning Europe’s debt crisis, the fiscal cliff, and the debt ceiling.
VIDEO: How swing state jobless voters could shape election – Christine Romans explains
Christine Romans on what the Oct. jobs report could mean for the election and the U.S. economy.
Sandy's effect on your deductible – Christine Romans reports
Christine Romans shares tips on how people who were affected by Sandy could have an insurance deductible for damages.
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