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The House has overwhelmingly approved the $146 billion package to aid economic growth. Now going to the Senate, the legislation will face an uphill battle there as many Senators want to amend the plan. The bill currently calls for one-time tax rebates, tax breaks for businesses, and measures to help homeowners get or refinance mortgages. Taking the lead in the Senate is Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. He has proposed a $160 billion package that the committee will debate and possibly vote on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 170 points today, but managed to actually close with its first weeky gain in 2008. The sharp declines began on Tuesday following overseas’ markets’ downfalls, recovered a bit midweek, then ended with a downturn this afternoon. Concerns about the job market may be a part, as media reports said “…Goldman Sachs is laying off the bottom performing 5 percent of its work force followed an announcement Thursday by Ford Motor Co. that it is offering buyouts and early retirement to 54,000 hourly workers and laying off some salaried workers, too.”

Late-night meetings are prevalent as talks for a $150billion stimulus package continue. Part of the stimulus package could includea tax rebate check of $800 for individuals, $1600 for families. There should also be business tax breaks, and extensions in unemployment benefits. The current strategy is to have Pelosi work with fellow House members to iron out the details by next week, pass it in the House in early February, so the Senate can vote on it by the end of that month.

With seemingly everyone freaking out about the looming recession, even people across the globe, analysts gauge how bad the recession will be. It seems as though everyone is weighing in on the effects the recession will have; everybody from huge corporate brokerages to amateur online investors. Most economists don’t see it being too intense, lucky for us.

Most economists who believe a recession is already here or at least near are looking for a relatively short and mild downturn, perhaps lasting only two or three quarters.

But many of those same economists say they also can envision a worse-case scenario where spending by consumers and businesses falls off sharply, unemployment heads higher than normal during a typical recession and housing and credit market problems worsen.

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Warren Buffett does not normally identify his investment strategies, but that doesn’t stop everyone from asking, as happened when he showed up in support for Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign in December. But his recent actions can be commented on. He recently jumped on BNSF Railway, when their stock hit a 52-week low. Buffett said last month in a CNBC interview that “It is the nature of capitalism to periodically have recessions…It isn’t the end of the world. As a matter of fact, for an investor it turns out to be the times when you make your best buys. The American economy is going to do fine over time.” Buffett also recently purchased 60% of the Marmon Group, who much essential albeit mundane industrial products, and is still a private company. The financial sector, however, he has not touched for awhile.

Recently, a comprehensive poll by Fortune Magazine found that, “More than three in four Americans believe the U.S. economy is already in a recession, or will be sometime in 2008.” As a result, almost half of those surveyed said they’ve cut back on their spending since last year, which can worsen an already sharp downturn in the economy. More than 55% surveyed cited the high price of gasoline as the culprit, while almost 50% said sending work overseas has made a huge negative impact. 

While US markets are closed on Martin Luther King Day, worldwide stocks are plunging. Demands for safety in bonds has risen dramatically, following the biggest weekly fall for the S&P index since July 2002. As CNN reports, “Many indexes are now more than 20 percent below their recent cycle peaks, a traditional sign that what is going on is not just a correction but the start of a bear market.” President Bush’s recent stimulus package has not alleviated concerns that the US economy is falling into a recession.

The stock market experienced a short rebound early Friday morning when all types of investors, from big brokers to individuals on online stock services bought into some stocks. That rebound was quickly stunted after President Bush announced his economic stimulus plan.

Stocks turned lower Friday, as a rebound sparked profit reports from IBM, General Electric, and others fizzled after news that the Bush stimulus plan will come in at 1% of GDP, which caused some initial disappointment, reports Action Economics

There was good news on consumer sentiment Friday morning, but that just wasn’t enough to stop the pervading selling mood by investors. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment index posted a surprising gain to 80.5 from 75.5 in December. Meanwhile, the Conference Board’s Index of December Leading Economic Indicators fell 0.2%

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Merrill Lynch & Co. reported their quarterly losses today of more than $10billion. The nation’s largest brokerage has received help from Kuwait Investment Authority, Mizuho Corporate Bank (Japan), an T. Rowe Price Associates, in the amount of almost $7billion, following recent help of $6billion.

Japan’s wealthiest banks have $10billion in cashpiles, and eager to give it away.  The top three banks have said they are open to negotiation with Wall Street institutions that may approach them; it has been rumored that Citibank, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Sterns are among some firms already in talks with these Japanese institutions. A Mitsubishi UFJ insider said his firm was planning to compete directly with the  Asian firms for the troubled American banks.

Citigroup has cited an almost $9.9billion loss in the fourth quarter; once again, the losses are from mortgage-related investments and bad loans. The company is getting $12.5billion in cash from its former chairman, and from the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. The upcoming cost-cutting will result in as much as 4000 layoffs now, with more in the future. The new chief executive of Citigroup, Mr. Pandit, is taking what he calls an “…objective, dispassionate” review of the business, and will tour to meet employees worldwide next month.

Last month’s signing of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt  Relief Act of 2007 by the President has some hidden details. It makes up to $2 million in debt tax-free; people affording homes in the $2 million range aren’t exactly in the majority of the bell curve. This does nothing to temper real-estate speculation, and by making the premiums deductable, the government is increasing the risk with our money.

Earnings for IBM in the fourth quarter were up $.20 more than anticipated, jumping 6.4% in morning trading. This helped to jumpstart the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq this morning after a plummet last Friday. The first eight trading days of the year have been the hardest start since 1991, losing 4.96% in that initial timeframe. IBM’s announcement has been a positive boost, and has postively affected other tech stocks as well such as Cisco, Apple, and HP.

Not long after acquiring FleetBoston and MBNA, Bank of America has now added Countrywide Mortgage to their fold, making them the nation’s largest bank with $1.5 trillion in assets. BOA’s CEO, Ken Lewis, stated, “Countrywide presents a rare opportunity for Bank of America to add what we believe is the best domestic mortgage platform at an attractive price and to affirm our position as the nation’s premier lender to consumers,…”. Lewis has also helped out the industry as a whole by rescuing the nation’s previous largest mortgage lender.

The government will be getting tougher on the growing numbers of unregistered investment clubs, echoed on Tuesday morning by Senator Don Wehby at a press briefing. “… in the USA an investment club members are limited to a hundred and every member of the club must participate in the investment making decisions and I think that is critical and is something we need to look at,” said Senator Wehby.

Quaris Corp, a software company, announced that it raised $7.1 million in its first round of venture capital funding.  BerkeleyVC and its chairman, Arthur Trueger, specialize in later stage VC funding.

Software company Quaris Corp. raised $7.1 million in its first round of venture funding and named a new CEO who replaced its founder.

Thomas Perry, Quaris’ founder and CEO, was replaced by Brian Kelly, according to a Quaris press release dated Jan. 9, 2008, which said, “Brian Kelly will replace Mr. Perry as CEO,” although Kelly actually took the top job in March 2007.

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Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC announced the appointment of their new managing partner, Stacy M. Dutton. Ms. Dutton brings a strong and diverse background to her new role, overseeing day to day operations and serving on their Executive Committee.  Brandywine has over $47 billion in assets, offering equity, fixed income, and balanced portfolios focused on value investing.

Aeon Co. Ltd. posted its first annual profit decline in a decade, hurt not only by local sluggish retail sales and a new venture into a banking service, but also drastically affected by Talbots’ business losses as its largest shareholder. Talbots announced last week that it will close over 75 store locations, which encompass their mens and kids divisions which have not contributed profitability to the company overall.  “Talbots is indergoing drastic reform that includes altering its business model”, said Masaski Toyoshima, Aeon executive vice president. “Talbots is in a much tougher position than we originally thought.”    

The first employment report of the year has surfaced, and investors’ fears about the fate of the US economy are growing. ING Bank’s Rob Carnell wrote, “Continuing employemployment growth is about all that is preventing us from thinking that the US slowdown will be a recession,”. The US private sector added 40,000 jobs in December, and planned 2007 job cuts were 805% lower than in 2006, which is hopeful.

Ameritrade recently released results of a survey they conducted to Americans about their New Year’s resolutions. Almost 70% said they intended to save more money in 2008, 57% want to pay down debt, and almost 50% want to cut back on spending.  What’s the problem? Roughly half of all resolutions are abandoned by month-end, with over 75% breaking them by year-end. The biggest problem that stands in the way of these solid goals also came out in this survey: fear.  Most people think investing is scary, and that is caused mostly by the lack of financial education available to most.

Vinsi SA purchased 3.3 percent holding of Aeroports de Paris, sending shares up for Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports the most since listing 18 months ago.  ADP said “…through this financial investment, Vinci is reaffirming its long-term interest in airport infrastructure.” German competitor, Hochtief AG, has been investing in airports for the past 11 years.