Dollar Plummets to 15-year Low

Columbus, Indiana, and Casper, Wyoming top employment list

(NEWSER) - Recession—that's a big-city thing, right? Several mid-size cities around the US are making an argument for their economic superiority, boasting job growth higher than the 1.5% national average in 2011. You may not know these cities well, but the Christian Science Monitor recommends them:

1. Columbus, Indiana: No, not Ohio's Columbus: Indiana's version had 10% growth from 2009 to 2010, making it the best economic rebounder during the Great Recession. Jobs are up 6.4%.

Leaders also discuss North Korea

(NEWSER) - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing today, and emerged with a number of deals—including one that will marginalize the US dollar in Asia. The countries agreed to promote direct yuan-yen trades, the Wall Street Journal reports; until now, the money has usually been converted to dollars first. Japan will also hold yuan in its typically dollar-dominated foreign-exchange reserves. More»

Italian bond sale drives price south

(NEWSER) - The euro has dropped below the $1.30 mark for the first time since January, after a less-than-ideal Italian bond offering stoked fears over the Europe's ongoing debt woes. The currency at times sagged as low as $1.2994 in European trading, after swinging between $1.2989 and $1.3038 last night in New York, the Wall Street Journal reports. And a research note from Commerzbank predicts it'll keep on dropping today. More»

Economists, builders, mortgage analysts fear 'lost decade'

(NEWSER) - Even more bad economic news from a report released today: Housing prices will remain depressed for years, dropping by an expected 2.5% this year and rising only 1.1% each year through 2015, according to the survey of more than 100 economists. Since the 2005 peak, housing prices have dropped 31.6%, so if this forecast plays out, prices will recover little of what has been lost—leading to what the Wall Street Journal calls a “lost decade.” In order to get the housing market back on its feet, the economy needs to add jobs, but that’s a difficult prospect when the economy, in turn, needs a job boost housing would typically provide. More»

And Fed can't do much to stop it, say experts

(NEWSER) - Economists are citing a one-in-three chance of a new recession—the highest likelihood given in the Wall Street Journal ’s regular survey since the recovery began. The figure is 4 percentage points higher than last month’s as joblessness, a troubled stock market, and fears for Europe continue. “It feels like a recessionary environment. What they call it later on I can't tell you,” one expert tells the Journal. His organization sees a 45% chance of a new recession. More»