Financial StReeT

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By Allison Linn

Given the state of the economy, it comes as no surprise that many Americans are worried about how they’ll be able to pay for all their holiday expenses.

The trouble is, most of us don’t seem to be doing much to plan for it.

A new survey from the National Endowment for Financial Education finds that just 31 percent of consumers plan to set a budget this holiday season. That’s only slightly more than last year, when 27 percent said they were making a budget.

The vast majority said they weren’t going to set a holiday spending budget. Still, only 10 percent said they often spend more than they want to. That’s about the same as last year.

The wealthier the household, the less likely they were to set a budget.

Half of the people NEFE surveyed said they were more worried about being able to afford holiday expenses than they were five years ago. Nearly 4 in 10 are just as concerned about holiday spending as they were five years ago.

Harris Interactive conducted the surve...

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CANBERRA, Australia — President Barack Obama insisted Wednesday that the notion that the United States fears China or wants to exclude the growing power from American economic alliances in the Asia-Pacific region is mistaken.

But he said the United States will keep sending a clear message that China needs to accept the responsibilities that come with being a world power.

"It's important for them to play by the rules of the road," Obama said during a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Obama and Gillard announced a joint security pact that would increase U.S. military presence in Australia, a move widely viewed as an attempt to address China's growing aggressiveness in the region.

 

About 250 U.S. Marines with begin a rotation in northern Australia starting next year, with a full force of 2,500 military personnel staffing up over the next several years.

"This rotational deployment is significant because what it allows...

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By msnbc.com news services

Consumers paid less for gas and cars in October, according to a new government report issued Wednesday.

The Labor Department said October’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed prices declined by 0.1 percent in the month, roughly matching analysts’ expectations. It was the first decline in the CPI in four months, although prices outside of food and energy posted a slight increase.

Another report Wednesday showed U.S. industrial output rose more than expected in October as factory and mining production expanded strongly, suggesting the economy was gaining steam. Positive reports could be further evidence that the U.S. economy is not in danger of slipping back into another recession.

“The data is relatively upbeat in the U.S., which contrasts with the situation in Europe,” said Omer Esiner, senior market strategist at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington, D.C. “Obviously the debt ceiling is front and center, but the data here [ar...

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By Allison Linn

Given what we know about the poverty rate and the current state of the economy, it should come as no surprise that more people are relying on food stamps these days.

But you may be surprised to find who receives food stamps, and where they live.

A new report from the Carsey Institute, which researches vulnerable children, youth and families, finds that 14.6 percent of rural households were relying on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 2010.

That’s nearly the same as the percentage of households in inner urban areas who use the food and nutrition program for low-income households, also known as SNAP.

Both urban and rural households have seen SNAP use increase sharply between 2007, when the recession began, and 2010, as the nation struggled with a weak economic recovery.

Suburban households are less likely to receive SNAP benefits, but usage is on the rise. About 9 percent of suburban households received SNAP in 2010, up from 5.4 percent in 2007.

Jessica Bean, a ...

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By msnbc.com news services

The stock market mostly recovered from investors’ fears about Europe’s debt crisis Monday. After trading lower for most of the day, the major indexes ended slightly higher.

The Dow rose 85.15 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 12,068.39. The Dow closed near its highest point of the day and had down as many as 102 points shortly after midday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.89, or 0.6 percent, to 1,261.12. Last week the S&P had its first down week since September. The Nasdaq rose 9.10, or 0.3 percent, to 2,695.25.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, under pressure from markets and rebels in his party, fought to hang on to power and denied reports he would resign. Party rebels threatened to bring down his government in a backlash over its failure to adopt reforms to defuse a debt crisis.

Italy's borrowing rates spiked Monday to the highest level since the country adopted the euro. Unlike Greece, Portugal or Ireland — all of which received fi...

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NEW YORK — Stocks slid ahead of a confidence vote for Greece's embattled prime minister Friday. Investors are worried that the country might not go through with an austerity program needed to prevent a messy default on its debt. The Dow Jones industrial average was down about 60 points at the closing bell.

Groupon Inc. jumped 38 percent to $27.45 on its first day of trading. The initial public offering of the company, which pioneered online group discounts, priced at $20 a share late Thursday. Social networking site LinkedIn Inc. dropped 6.5 percent to $81.77 after posting its first quarterly loss since going public.

A report on the U.S. job market was mixed. The government said 80,000 jobs were created last month. That was a drop from the 158,000 added in September. On the positive side, the unemployment rate fell to 9 percent from 9.1 percent, the first decline since July.

The release of the Labor Department's monthly employment report is usually a key foc...

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By msnbc.com staff

It was rare — rare for the last week or so anyway — good news out of Europe that sent stocks rallying Thursday, including a final push in the last hour of trading that had stocks ending near their highs for the day.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou backed off his plan to put austerity measures to a national referendum. If the country had voted them down, investors feared a carefully constructed bailout package for the troubled nation would fall apart.

The Dow lost 573 points the first two days of this week on fears that the measure would be defeated and push Europe closer to a financial crisis. The prime minister was in an emergency meeting Thursday after members of his government called for him to step down.

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