NEW YORK - August 5, 2010 - The week ended July 31 saw 479,000 initial jobless claims, obliterating the expectation of a minor improvement of 455,000 from the prior week's 460,000. Continuing claims continue rising, and are now at 4,537,000.

RALEIGH, North Carolina - August 5, 2010 - A North Carolina landlord fed up with tenants who didn't pay their rent painted her criticism on the garage for all to see.

WBTV reports that landlord Vanessa McCants spray painted the words "deadbeat tenants" on a Charlotte house she rents to Shanae Jackson.

NEW YORK - August 3, 2010 - The 137,698 consumer bankruptcies filed in July represented a 9% increase nationwide over the 126,434 filings recorded in July 2009, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), relying on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center (NBKRC).

NEW YORK - August 3, 2010 - Oil prices stretched towards 82 dollars per barrel on Tuesday, on the back of buoyant market sentiment, the weak dollar and hurricane concerns in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, analysts said.

WASHINGTON - August 3, 2010 - Factory orders fell in June for the second straight month due to lower demand for steel, construction machinery and aircraft.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that factory orders dropped by 1.2% to a seasonally adjusted $406.4 billion. Analysts expected a much smaller drop.

NEW YORK - August 2, 2010 - Analysts at the investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) added to the growing consensus of voices skeptical of a government-backed refinancing wave.

Recent record-low mortgage rates have sparked fears amongst investors that a government-driven refinancing wave would boost prepayment speeds back to 2003 levels. According to KBW, there is a cost to such a policy shift, contrary to what supporters of action have said.

NEW YORK - July 30, 2010 - FDIC actions this week led to many changes in the Unofficial Problem Bank List as they closed five institutions and finally released their enforcement actions for June 2010. The list total finally pushes through the much-anticipated 800 level and finishes the week at 808 with aggregate assets of $414.8 billion.