News and Finance

China should eliminate energy price controls “as soon as possible'' to prevent shortages, central bank adviser Fan Gang said.
“Under-priced energy is distorting market demand and supply and causing shortages,'' Fan said at a forum in Beijing today. “The government should resolve such price distortions as soon as possible.''
China raised retail fuel prices […]

Following is a summary of Chicago area business activity from the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago.
===============================================================================
June May April March Feb. Jan. Dec. Nov. Oct. 6-mo.
2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2007 2007 2007 Avg. =============================================================================== Business barometer 49.6 49.1 48.3 48.2 44.5 51.5 56.4 53.6 50.9 48.5 ——————————————————————————- Prices paid 85.5 […]

The manufacturing sector in the Philadelphia area - a bellwether for the rest of the nation - showed continued weakness in June as businesses struggle with rising prices for raw materials, according to a report released Thursday.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s June Business Outlook Survey index weakened to minus 17.1 from minus 15.6 […]

The chief executive of Toll Brothers Inc., the nation’s largest luxury-home builder, said Wednesday the housing industry is in a "depression" and any recovery could be two or three years away.
In candid remarks at the JPMorgan Basics & Industrials Conference a day after reporting a second-quarter loss, Robert Toll said he’s not ready to […]

The nation’s economy continued its sluggish growth in the first quarter, according to a government report Wednesday that showed a slightly better-than-expected gain in economic activity.
Gross domestic product, a broad measure of the economy, rose at an annual rate of 0.6% in the first three months of the year, when adjusted for inflation. That […]

Shares of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. fell almost 3% in after-hours trading Monday, after the investment bank said it would offer up to 3.45 million shares of convertible preferred stock to boost cash flow and reduce debt.
Lehman (LEH, Fortune 500), the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, will initially offer 3 million shares, and if there […]

Japan's wages rose at the fastest pace in 19 months in January, a boost to consumers at a time when the economy's export-led expansion is set to slow.
Monthly wages, including overtime and bonuses, climbed 1 percent from a year earlier, the most since June 2006, the Labor Ministry said in Tokyo today. […]

The number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, but the larger-than-expected drop was seen as only a temporary improvement.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of jobless claims dropped by 9,000 last week to a total of 349,000.
While that was bigger than the decline that had […]

December Wholesale inventories increased 1.1% and sales fell 0.7% from November, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Friday.
Economists polled by Thomson financial had expected inventories to grow by only 0.3% and sales to increase by 0.5%.
According to the Census Bureau, inventories were worth about $411.6 billion. Inventories of motor vehicles and auto parts were up […]