NewsOK.com RSS - business >> us

Economists predict increase in consumer spending

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:03:13 -0500

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer spending is likely to pick up this year while government spending declines at a faster rate, according to a survey of business economists.

The economists predict that the U.S. economy will grow 2.4 percent this year and 3 percent next year.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Consumer group flags high SPF ratings on sunscreen

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:45:46 -0500

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sunbathers headed to the beach this summer will find new sunscreen labels on store shelves that are designed to make the products more effective and easier to use.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Jamie Dimon under pressure ahead of investor vote

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:44:07 -0500

NEW YORK (AP) — Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of the country's biggest bank, faces a key test this week: His shareholders are voting on whether to let him keep both jobs.

It's been just more than a year since his bank, JPMorgan Chase, revealed a surprise trading loss that tarnished its usually stellar reputation in Washington and on Wall Street, and what a difference it has made.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Buybacks are a big factor behind stock market boom

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:37:53 -0500

NEW YORK (AP) — It's the narcissist rally.

Sure, there are plenty of forces pushing stocks higher — record corporate earnings, small investors finally buying again, signs the U.S. economy may be strengthening, central banks flooding the financial system with money.

But you may want to spare a thought, and a healthy dose of worry, for what is one of the biggest, and least appreciated, reasons for the rally: buybacks.

Flush with cash and a world of opportunity at their doorstep, companies have decided there's nothing more attractive than themselves.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Coast Guard to take testimony on Shell grounding

Sun, 19 May 2013 12:17:27 -0500

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Coast Guard will kick off hearings Monday on how a Royal Dutch Shell PLC drill barge used for Arctic Ocean exploratory drilling ended up aground off a remote Alaska island.

The Kulluk was under tow and bound from the Aleutian Islands' Dutch Harbor to a Seattle shipyard when it ran into rough Gulf of Alaska water.

Read more on NewsOK.com

White House insists Obama was not involved in IRS

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:25:07 -0500

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top White House adviser insisted Sunday that President Barack Obama learned the Internal Revenue Service had targeted tea party groups only "when it came out in the news" while Republicans continued to press the administration for more answers.

Trying to move past a challenging week that put the White House on the defensive, senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer was scheduled to appear on five Sunday news shows to repeat the administration's position that no senior officials were involved in the decision to give tea party groups extra scrutiny.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Obama urged to make economy a bigger, bolder topic

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:08:17 -0500

WASHINGTON (AP) — Five months into President Barack Obama's second term, allies and former top aides worry that his overarching goal of economic opportunity has been diminished, partly drowned out by controversies seized upon by Republicans in an effort to weaken him.

The former White House insiders, including longtime Obama adviser David Axelrod, say Obama needs to make his case anew for government's role in expanding education and innovation and to give, as Obama put it in one of his early seminal speeches, "every American a fighting chance in the 21st century.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Hits and misses in Facebook's history

Sun, 19 May 2013 08:25:02 -0500

Facebook made its debut on the stock market a year ago on May 18 in one of the largest IPOs in history and the biggest for any Internet company.

The social network's market value was more than $100 billion.

Now, Facebook's stock is trading roughly 30 percent lower and has not hit its IPO price of $38 per share.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Money tangle: The IRS and its tea party tempest

Sun, 19 May 2013 07:57:42 -0500

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service is feeling the sort of heat that targeted taxpayers feel from the tax agency.

Read more on NewsOK.com

A look at why the Benghazi issue keeps coming back

Sun, 19 May 2013 07:24:34 -0500

WASHINGTON (AP) — The night of smoke, chaos, gunfire and grenades that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, is well-documented.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Shuttered Hastings ethanol plant closing permanent

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:25:57 -0500

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — A Hastings ethanol plant that announced in February that it would temporarily shut down will not reopen.

The Ag Processing Inc.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Ill. lawmakers face tough votes before adjourning

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:12:26 -0500

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois General Assembly has just two weeks left in Springfield before it adjourns for the summer, leaving lawmakers with a tight deadline for action on issues including tackling the state's pension crisis, gay marriage and how guns will be allowed to be carried in public.

Making good on what's become something of a tradition, Illinois legislators have saved the most controversial measures for last.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Gas prices on pace for all-time highs in ND, SD

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:06:57 -0500

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Gas prices in the Dakotas are poised to reach all-time highs.

AAA North Dakota officials say the statewide average record of $4.08 a gallon is likely to be broken in the next couple of days.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Obama agenda marches on despite controversies

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:47:31 -0500

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama's agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office.

"Absolutely not," Steven Miller, the recently resigned acting head of the Internal Revenue Service, responded Friday when asked if he had any contact with the White House about targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status for special treatment.

"The president's re-election campaign?

Read more on NewsOK.com

Time waning for Okla. lawmakers to tackle credits

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:07:19 -0500

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Despite calls by several Oklahoma legislators to address hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax credits and exemptions for businesses and industries, little has been done as another session approaches its end.

And at the same time, other legislators are trying to write even more tax giveaways into state law for things like tickets and hospitality suites to sporting events and the sale of helicopters.

"Once again a bunch of very questionable tax credits are emerging from the cracks in the walls of our crumbling state Capitol," said Rep.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Social Security Q&A: Disability payment types differ

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:39:14 -0500

Q: What is the difference between Social Security disability and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability?

A: Social Security administers two major programs that pay disability benefits.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Taking Stock: Shorting Treasury bonds

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:21:10 -0500

Dear Mr. Berko: Do you think interest rates are going to rise?

Read more on NewsOK.com

Oklahoma's jobless rate declines in April

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:54:11 -0500

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Oklahoma's jobless rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.9 percent in April, officials said Friday.

The national unemployment rate also fell one-tenth of a point to 7.5 percent, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission said.

Solid hiring helped lower unemployment rates in 40 U.S. states last month, the most since November.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Oklahoma Rep. James Lankford clashes with federal official over energy policy

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:45:11 -0500

BY CHRIS CASTEEL ccasteel@opubco.com

WASHINGTON — Rep. James Lankford challenged a key Obama administration official on Thursday over the contention that domestic oil and gas production had benefited from the president's energy policies.

Lankford sounded almost incredulous when Tommy Beaudreau, an acting assistant secretary at the Interior Department, said the administration's policies were responsible for the boom in oil and gas production.

“It almost sounds like you said ‘yes' on that,” Lankford said, referring to Beaudreau's response to a Democratic lawmaker.

“Which policies in particular from the administration have increased the production of oil and gas in the United States?”

Beaudreau replied, “Our broad strategy and broad policies to promote responsible energy development I think are the right ones.”

Beaudreau said he rejected the notion that the Obama administration had worked to impede energy production.

Lankford said that was a different question than whether the administration's policies had actually led to increased production.

Read more on NewsOK.com

Administration proposes new rule for hydraulic fracturing on federal land

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:22:12 -0500

BY CHRIS CASTEEL ccasteel@opubco.com

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration proposed a new rule Thursday to govern hydraulic fracturing on federal and tribal land and gave the public 30 days to comment.

The proposed rule, a revision of its initial draft from last year, would require disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing and establish safeguards for the integrity of wells and the disposal of “flowback” water used in the process.

“As the president has made clear, this administration's priority is to continue to expand safe and responsible domestic energy production,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Thursday.

“In line with that goal, we are proposing some commonsense updates that increase safety while also providing flexibility and facilitating coordination with states and tribes.”

The rule — which was modified after the department received more than 177,000 public comments on its initial proposal — could be finalized after the 30-day comment period.

Hydraulic fracturing, the process of using fluids to free oil and gas from shale rock, and directional drilling have been credited with creating a renaissance in U.S. energy production with huge economic and geopolitical effects.

Industry groups and the chairman of the House committee that oversees public lands ripped the proposed rule as burdensome and duplicative of state regulations.

Read more on NewsOK.com