Week in review
TUESDAY
New home sales plunged in 2007 by the largest amount on record while home prices tumbled sharply in December. Analysts forecast more trouble in 2008 as housing tries to emerge from its worst slump in more than two decades.
“A Boston-area venture firm has taken a stake in Spokane-based biotech firm Signature Genomic Laboratories LLC, the two companies said recently. Ampersand Ventures, based in Wellesley, Mass., joins Sacred Heart Medical Center and Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories as investors in the company.
WEDNESDAY
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit against Spokane-based International Broadcasting Corp., its former president and a former agent, alleging fraud.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it is investigating 14 companies for possible fraud or insider trading violations in connection with loans made to risky borrowers and investments spun off of those loans. Agency officials did not identify the companies under investigation but said the wide-ranging probe, which began in spring 2007, involves companies across the loan industry, from mortgage lenders to financial firms that bundle home loans into securities sold to investors.
THURSDAY
The Federal Reserve delivered powerful relief to people and businesses squeezed by the ailing economy, cutting interest rates ever deeper in an effort to avert or at least soften the blow of a recession. Hours before the Fed’s action, the government reported the economy nearly stalled in the fourth quarter, with a growth rate of 0.6 percent, capping its worst year since 2002.
“Get ready for another surge in gasoline prices. Experts predict pump prices, which jumped by almost a dollar a gallon in each of the last two springs in many parts of the United States, will spike again this year as refiners and gas stations switch from winter- to summer-blended fuels. The increases, starting as early as February in Southern California, could push the average national price to a record $3.50 a gallon or more by June.
“Dozens of members of Congress are demanding that Mattel Inc., the world’s largest toy maker, stop selling toys that contain any amount of lead, claiming the company is not going far enough to address safety concerns.
FRIDAY
A hacker broke into a D.A. Davidson database and obtained account information and Social Security numbers of thousands of clients, a spokeswoman for the financial services company said. The computer hacker accessed information on 226,000 current and former clients earlier this month but didn’t get access to the accounts, spokeswoman Jacquie Burchard said.