The week ahead

Jobs data are difficult to decipher

It is obvious that once a month the latest jobs report is the most important check-up on the economy, as it will be in the coming week. What is more complex is deciphering the data to discern meaning. There will be several contradictory clues on employment hidden beneath the headline numbers when the government releases the March jobs report Friday morning.

EMPLOYMENT

Jobs growing in South Florida

Thinned-out government payrolls are the main drag on employment recovery in South Florida. And while there are more jobs, there are also more people unemployed in Dade.

WALL STREET

S&P 500 closes at record high

The broad market index, Standard & Poor’s 500, gained 6.34 points to finally surpass its pre-recession high.

U.S. CENTURY BANK | MIAMI

Investing in U.S. Century Bank in Miami more like a family affair

A group of hand-picked investors, including Jorge Perez, Jimmy Tate and Sergio Rok, who are proposing to recapitalize U.S. Century Bank are all in the top echelon of Miami’s business community.

ECONOMY

Unemployment lowest since 08 in Miami-Dade

The private sector continues its slow recovery, while government hiring continues to hold back job growth.

JOBS

Weak jobs report made worse by leaner government payrolls

With fewer than 100,000 new jobs, August dampened hopes for a rebounding jobs market. One big culprit: governments are not hiring like they used to.

Economists say Obama plan would create jobs, but ...

Could it work? That's the question being asked about President Barack Obama's big new jobs plan. Independent experts answered Friday with a qualified yes.

S&P cuts U.S. debt rating, cites 'weakening' of policy making

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the AAA credit rating the United States has enjoyed for 70 years late Friday night in a move that had been expected, but still left the Obama administration angry and combative. S&P said the debt-ceiling deal didn't do enough to trim the deficit and showed that U.S. political institutions were not effective in dealing with the economy and the deficit.

Cut federal debt, Americans say, even if that slows economy

Despite lingering anxiety over the Great Recession, Americans by a large margin want their federal government to focus more on cutting debt than on increasing spending even temporarily to boost the economy, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll.

ECONOMY

Jobless claims rise to highest level in 9 months

Employers appear to be laying off workers again as the economic recovery weakens. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits reached the half-million mark last week for the first time since November.

SPRING BREAK

Signs of a spring break rebound: busy body piercers

It's an economy gone wild when Spring Break arrives, as breakfast traffic plunges but nightclub lines lengthen. Signs of a rebound? Check for pierced tongues.

Calculate the recovery period for your underwater home mortgage

Is your home loan currently more than the market value of your house? Plug in your numbers here and see approximately how many years of mortgage payments it could take you to break even.

Bill to tighten rules on ratings agencies has big loopholes

A key House of Representatives committee is set to vote soon on legislation that would overhaul financial regulation and produce greater transparency for investors, but as it's now written it fails to address many of the credit-rating agency missteps that helped fuel the global financial crisis.

Banks fight to kill proposed consumer protection agency

If you doubt that U.S. banks long to return to the days of impotent regulation, you need only look at one of the financial sector's top legislative priorities: killing a proposed new agency that would be dedicated solely to protecting consumers' financial interests.

Family health costs outpace inflation and wage growth

The average cost of job-based family health insurance climbed 5 percent to $13,375 in 2009, making this the 10th straight year that health care premiums have increased faster than workers' wages and overall inflation have.

BofA, Wells Fargo get low marks on mortgage modifications

The Obama administration's first monthly report on mortgage modifications showed that Bank of America had adjusted the terms of just 13 percent of mortgages eligible for modification, while Wells Fargo had made changes to just 12 percent of its eligible loans. Both banks received billions in government bailouts last year.

As federal debt soars, where's all the money to come from?

As the Obama administration wrestles with how to pay for a costly revamp of the health care system and whether to spend more to spark a nearly lifeless economy, it faces shrinking fiscal room to maneuver. With each passing day, the outlook for the government's finances grows dimmer.

Group urges Congress to pass catastrophe insurance bill

A group is urging Congress to enact a federal homeowners' insurance program for natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires before the next one strikes, saying such events pose a serious threat to the economy.

What happened to those bad bank assets? So far, nothing

The so-called toxic assets that are at the core of the finacial crisis are still sitting on bank balance sheets — worth less now than they were last autumn. Until something is done about them, the economy will continue to struggle. Yet Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's Public-Private Investment Program to purchase those assets still isn't operating.