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News In Brief

MID-DAY UPDATE: American families make 18% less after the financial crisis, radiation levels continue to rise in Japan

Katharine Crnko Mar 25, 2011
News In Brief

MID-DAY UPDATE: American families make 18% less after the financial crisis, radiation levels continue to rise in Japan

Katharine Crnko Mar 25, 2011

Here are some of today’s top headlines from the Marketplace Morning Report and around the web.

  • The economy, in the last quarter of 2010, grew at an annual rate of just above 3 percent. The Commerce Department said today the nation’s revised Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was about what analysts had expected.
  • American families, on the other hand, are making about 18 percent less money than they were before the financial crisis. That’s according to a new survey from the Federal Reserve.
  • The price of gas is also doing a number on how people feel about the economy. We got word from Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan that consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level in more than a year.
  • Because of higher radiation levels coming from the Fukushima plant in Japan, the government there is asking even more residents who live close to the plant to leave. You can see more of Marketplace’s coverage of nuclear safety and the state of the Fukushima plant here.
  • Toyota, Honda, and Nissan are just some of the companies that have had to suspend production because of the disaster in Japan. And the industry research firm IHS Automotive now says auto companies here in the U.S. will really start feeling parts shortages next month. Check out Marketplace’s coverage here.
  • Stocks are up across the globe. But not shares of Research in Motion. The company is losing ground to Apple in its smartphone business and is cutting sales expectations — just a month before the launch of its tablet computer.
  • Forbes magazine says some colder weather climates have started popping up on the list of top places for seniors.
  • In New York City now, where a man is auctioning off his 212 area code phone number. He tells the New York Daily News whoever buys it will be able to avoid the humiliation of a 347 or 646 area code — which he warns might make them look like they just moved to New York. The asking price is… a million dollars.

You can read the rest of today’s headlines from the Marketplace Morning Report here.

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