7/1/2008By CHRIS MCMAHON
Call it a slowdown, call it recession, but don’t call it a depression. Not yet, anyway. In the first quarter of 2008, real U.S. gross domestic product increased by 0.9%, beating initial estimates of 0.6%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. And while that is far from stellar performance, it could help to undermine the persistent pessimism that has dogged the United States and hammered the greenback.
7/1/2008By CHRISTINE BIRKNER
With $135 per barrel oil, and perhaps more importantly $4 gas at the pump, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had no time to celebrate its reauthorization as Acting Chairman Walt Lukken was brought before an alphabet soup of Congressional committees to address the role of speculators in rising commodity prices.
Former members of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) will have to find something new to feud over. In early June, they reached an agreement in principle over CBOT member claims to an equity stake in CBOE. The CBOE board agreed to exchange an 18% equity stake and $300 million to end all claims on CBOE membership resulting from CBOT member exercise right privileges ( ERPs ), ending a dispute that dates back nearly to the founding of CBOE and which has involved multiple legal actions. The agreement, which was reached just days before the matter was to go before a Delaware court, could allow the CBOE to demutualize and eventually hold an initial public offering or entertain a merger.
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