BANKING: Bank bailout turns a profit
The money the federal government gave banks in a bailout during the worst of the recession has been paid back – and then some. “The bank bailout – part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program – is now $6 billion in the black, a profit that might ultimately rise to $20 billion,” CNN Money reports. But it’s not all good news: “The roughly $80 billion auto bailout will end up costing taxpayers $14 billion.”
JAPAN: American Airlines suspends 2 of 6 daily Japan flights as demand falls
First it was cars. Now Japan’s earthquake and tsunami are hurting airlines. “American will drop a daily flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy International to Tokyo’s Haneda airport and one of two daily trips from Dallas-Fort Worth International to Narita starting April 6,” Bloomberg reports. The airline hopes to reinstate the routes at the end of April.
JOBS: U.S. CEOs looking to boost hiring
A new survey of chief executive officers reveals some good news, MSNBC reports: “The Business Roundtable’s quarterly CEO Economic Outlook survey found that 52 percent of CEOs plan to add staff in the United States over the next six months – the highest reading since the group began doing the survey in late 2002.”
CREDIT CARDS: Lawmakers try to stall law on cutting debit card ‘swipe’ fees
Both Democrats and Republicans are being lobbied hard by big banks to stall new banking rules. “Amid intense lobbying by the banking industry, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing to delay a law to dramatically reduce the fees banks collect from retailers every time a debit card is swiped,” USA Today reports.
TECH: How Amazon beat Google and Apple to the music cloud
Amazon has launched the “Amazon Cloud Drive,” which CNN Money describes as “an Internet service that lets customers store music and other digital files on the company’s servers and access them on computers, smartphones and other devices.” This means your music is available anywhere at any time – and not just on one device.
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