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...dollar finally used up the last of its nine lives? There are worrying signs that the world is losing its appetite for dollars. The International Monetary Fund announced on Nov. 2 it was selling 200 metric tons of gold to India's central bank for $6.7 billion. News of the purchase sent gold prices to an all-time high. The move was widely seen as part of an effort by central banks around the world to diversify their extensive U.S. dollar holdings. Steven Englander, chief U.S. currency strategist at Barclays Capital in New York City, figures that in the second...
Uncle Sam is out some $2.3 billion in bailout funding following the bankruptcy of CIT, a major lender to small and medium-size businesses. The Nov. 1 filing by the century-old firm marks the government's first loss stemming from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), designed to stabilize major businesses during the height of the economic meltdown. CIT says it hopes to emerge from bankruptcy by year's end. More government losses could follow as bailout recipients such as Chrysler and AIG continue to struggle. Still, analysts say it could have been worse: CIT sought more bailout funding...
...Toyota all reported a rise in sales in October compared with the same month last year, despite a sharp slump following the end of the Obama Administration's Cash for Clunkers incentive program in August. Ford--the only Detroit automaker to avoid bankruptcy and federal bailouts--reported $1 billion in third-quarter profits, helped in large part by an increase in market share as Chrysler's sales continued to lag. GM, the nation's largest car manufacturer, posted its first year-over-year monthly sales gain in 21 months, selling 177,603 vehicles last month, up 5.3% from October...
...What They're Building in China: After two decades of on-again, off-again talks, China has agreed to let Walt Disney pursue plans to construct a 1,000-acre (40 hectare) theme park in Shanghai, at an estimated cost of nearly $4 billion--one of the largest foreign investments in the country's history. Disney already operates a theme park in Hong Kong, which has struggled because of travel restrictions and visa requirements that limit access for many of China's 1.3 billion residents...
Clinton's value to the Administration was clear in Pakistan. She wowed a public so skeptical that it had been questioning the $7.5 billion in purely economic and humanitarian aid the Administration had promised. "How much damage control have you been able to do on this trip?" asked Meher Bokhari, a television-news-show host, at the end of Clinton's meeting with Pakistani women. The Secretary seemed nonplussed by the bluntness of the question. "I don't know," she said. "I hope some...