1/15/10 – theGrio & CNBC Market Wrap Up

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TheGrio and CNBC team up to deliver a weekly wrap up of money matters and market updates for our community.

CNBC’s Shartia Brantley reports:

The earnings season started with mixed results as Alcoa, a component of Dow Chemical, posted fourth quarter earnings that came in below expectations, while Intel reported better than expected numbers. The Fed’s January 2010 Beige Book indicates some improvement in the economy, but loan demand is down and the labor market remains weak. Specific information on credit, consumer spending and manufacturing is available for each of the Fed’s twelve districts, including New York, Atlanta, and Chicago.

The White House proposed a bank fee to recoup up to $117 billion dollars in bailout funds. The fee – a fraction of a percent – would apply to TARP recipients with more than $50 billion dollars in assets.

According to RealtyTrac, a commercial real estate listing site, home foreclosures surged in 2009, with more than 2.8 million properties receiving foreclosure notices. This represents a 21 percent spike over 2008.

In small business news, the National Federation of Independent Business released its report on December 2009 economic trends and small business optimism. The survey shows that fewer businesses plan to increase inventory this month and many report tight access to credit. The NFIB-generated Index of Small Business Optimism for December 2009 was 88.0 (where 1986=100), the fifteenth consecutive reading below 90.

The US financial markets will be closed on Monday in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

Watch the video, exclusively on theGrio.com.