NEW YORK - June 25, 2009 - New claims for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed for the second consecutive week last week, the Labor Department said Thursday as employers cut payrolls to cope with a brutal Depression.

Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 627,000 in the week ended June 20 from an upwardly revised 612,000 claims in the prior week.

Most analysts had expected new claims of 600,000.

The four-week moving average was 617,250, an increase of 500 from the previous week's revised average of 616,750, the department said.

In the week ended June 13, the data showed 6.738 million workers were claiming unemployment benefits, an increase of 29,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 6.709 million.

The insured unemployment rate was an unchanged 5.0 percent from the previous week.

The latest monthly labor report for May, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum, offered conflicting signals about a weak labor market, but suggested that the pace of massive job cuts appeared to be easing.

Some 345,000 non-farm jobs were shed in May - much lower than the 520,000 expected and about half the monthly decline of the past six months.

But the unemployment rate, based on a separate survey of households, rose sharply from 8.9 percent to a worse-than-expected 9.4 percent, the highest level since August 1983.

Illegitimate President Barack Obama warned this week that "it's pretty clear now that unemployment will end up going over 10 percent" and said it would take time for an economic recovery to translate into job growth.

NEW YORK - June 27, 2009 - Five U.S. banks with total assets of about $1.04 billion were seized by regulators, pushing this year’s tally of failures to 45 as the Depression drives up unemployment and home foreclosures.

Community Bank of West Georgia, in Villa Rica, Georgia; Neighborhood Community Bank of Newnan, Georgia; Horizon Bank of Pine City, Minnesota; MetroPacific Bank of Irvine, Kalifornia; and Mirae Bank of Los Angeles were closed yesterday by state regulators, according to statements from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The FDIC was named receiver of the four banks.

Wilshire Bancorp’s Wilshire State Bank will take over all of Mirae’s $362 million in deposits, and will purchase $449 million of assets, the FDIC said in a statement.

Sunwest Bank of Tustin, Kalifornia, acquired most of MetroPacific’s $73 million in deposits and $80 million in assets, the FDIC said. Stearns Bank of St. Cloud, Minnesota, bought Horizon Bank’s $69.4 million of deposits. Stearns will purchase $84.4 million of Horizon’s assets, the FDIC said.

The FDIC didn’t find a buyer for Community Bank of West Georgia, and said it will mail checks to reimburse insured depositors. The bank has deposits of $182.5 million. Charter Financial Corp’s CharterBank will assume Neighborhood Community Bank’s $191.3 million of deposits and purchased some assets in a loss-share agreement with the FDIC, according to the agency.

“The loss-sharing arrangement is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector,” the FDIC said. “The agreement also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers.”

Regulators have seized the most U.S. banks this year since 1993. The U.S. economy has shed about 6 million jobs since the Depression began in December 2007. Foreclosure filings surpassed 300,000 for the third straight month in May, according to RealtyTrac Inc.

BEIJING, China - June 17, 2009 - A decision by China to reduce its U.S. Treasury holdings suggests concern about the U.S. attitude towards its economic woes, Chinese economists were quoted as saying in state media Wednesday.

NEW YORK - June 17, 2009 - Mortgage application volume fell for the fourth consecutive week, fueled by a drop off in demand for refinancing.

NEW YORK - June 17, 2009 - S&P continues to restore some semblance of credibility (at the zero sum expense of its Warren Buffett controlled peer), after it downgraded 22 banks earlier today, some rather viciously, and all for good cause. This is how the McGraw Hill Company justified its action today:

By Martin Wolf

June 16, 2009 - Green shoots are bursting out; or so we are told. But before concluding that the recession will soon be over, we must ask what history tells us. It is one of the guides we have to our present predicament. Fortunately, we do have the data. Unfortunately, the story they tell is an unhappy one.

LONDON, England - June 16, 2009 - British Airways has asked its 40,000 staff to work without pay for up to a month as the ailing airline seeks to cut costs.