Friday, November 04, 2005

Quick Overview

  • With just three months left before he leaves office, Alan Greenspan raised a warning to Congress: The country could face "serious economic disruptions" if bloated budget deficits are not curbed.

  • U.S. payrolls rose by 56,000 jobs in October and the nation’s unemployment rate fell to 5% from 5.1%, the Labor Department said Friday.

  • Rail freight traffic fell for the week ended Oct. 29 but intermodal volume levels continued to climb, reaching the sixth-highest weekly volume ever, the Association of American Railroads reported.

  • The Euro zone unemployment rate improved from 8.5% to 8.4% in September.

  • Factory orders in Germany were up 2.8% in September, better than expected.

  • Brazilian motor vehicle sales fell 4.6 percent and production fell 7.9 percent in October from September, reinforcing expectations that industrial output and the economy may shrink in Latin America's largest country in the third quarter.

  • Canada's unemployment rate improved from 6.7% to 6.6% in October, the lowest in three decades.

  • Berkshire Hathaway Inc. , the investment company run by billionaire Warren Buffett, on Friday said quarterly profit fell 48 percent to the lowest level in nearly four years, hurt by nearly $3 billion of losses from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

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