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The hard punch, such as it was, came at the end. In testimony this morning before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Budget, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke concluded by endorsing, to the understated extent that a Fed chairman can, the idea that Congress should pass an economic stimulus package. Bernanke (pictured) began by summarizing recent financial developments, describing the ongoing crisis as “the aftermath of a credit boom characterized by underpricing of risk, excessive leverage and an increasing reliance on complex and opaque financial instruments that have proved to be fragile under stress.” The Fed chairman…

The market felt like an up Monday, and so it was: a solid 4.67 percent for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Nasdaq also finished the day strongly up (3.43 percent), as did the Standard & Poor’s 500 (4.77 percent). Energy stocks seem to have led the way.Does this count as a dead-cat bounce of some kind? The Conference Board is reporting that leading economic indicators rose 0.3 percent in September, after dropping 0.9 percent in August. The leading index is a reflection of 10 separate indicators, six of which rose, such as real money supply, consumer expectations and interest…

As CPN reported exclusively in our Daily News REport Morning Edition(subscribe here), first comes the good news: the global bailout appears to be loosening banks’ purse-strings, to each other at least. The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, is at a four-year low of 1.67 percent, says the British Bankers’ Association.That’s all for the good, at least so far. Housing? The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence fell to a record low of 14, down three from September, reports Bloomberg News. Ahead of today’s Commerce Department report on starts, a Bloomberg survey of economists put the…

As odd as it may sound, if you want to survive the economic downturn, increase your marketing expenditures. If you’re the short-sighted CEO who cuts back on marketing, branding, and advertising budgets in an attempt to reduce costs, shame on you. Top CEOs recognize that economic slow-downs are not all doom-and-gloom. In fact, the smartest executives understand that swimming upstream against the conventional wisdom of the risk adverse can actually create significant opportunities for growth. By making heavy operating investments into marketing, advertising, business development, and sales initiatives, the aggressive enterprise can create significant competitive separation during a time when many are…

Speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce building near the White House this morning, President Bush tried to reassure investors and the public that although the ongoing financial/credit crisis won’t be over soon, the federal government’s programs now under way are “big enough and bold enough to work.” Bush noted that under ordinary circumstances, he would have opposed moves such as the recent commitment to inject $250 billion directly into nine major banks in return for equity stakes, “but these are not ordinary circumstances.” It’s sort of a private bailout, but it’s also a call for the nation to bail…

Just weeks after The Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America and Kennedy Wilson teamed up for the first time to buy a California apartment community, Guardian said today it had purchased a 10 percent stake in the real estate services and investment firm for $30 million. The deal calls for Guardian to buy $30 million of convertible subordinated debt in Kennedy Wilson, headquartered in Beverly Hills, Calif. The transaction gives Guardian a 10 percent interest in the firm, while Kennedy Wilson management retains the controlling ownership with 54.1 percent. This is the second time this year that Kennedy Wilson has…

The mounting troubles plaguing the nation’s economy will likely continue through at least the early part of next year, according to a conference call with economists and legal professionals. In fact, Lewis Feldman, chair of public/private development for Goodwin Procter L.L.P.’s New York office, views the current economic meltdown as even tougher than the fiscal calamity that took place early in the decade. “The financial crisis that we face in government is far worse than the 2001 recession because of the declines in income and also retail spending, which impacts sales tax collections,” the panelist said. “With property taxes declining…

F. Barton Harvey III, (pictured) former chairman & CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., and former chairman of the board of Enterprise Community Inc., was honored today at a luncheon in New York with this year’s Urban Land Institute (ULI) J.D. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. Harvey shared the prize with Columbia, Md-based Enterprise, a major developer of affordable rental and owner-occupied housing. He retired from Enterprise last March. Enterprise now has operations in 17 regions across the U.S., working with local community development organizations, other nonprofit organizations, developers, investors and elected officials to build affordable housing that…

Jeffrey Schwartz is taking home this year’s biggest honors among CPN’s 2008 Executive of the Year awards. The chairman & CEO of ProLogis, a repeat winner recognized by the 12-year-old awards program, has been elected the Executive of the Year, the program’s topmost honor, by his peers across the commercial real estate industry. Schwartz has also been awarded the Industrial Property Executive of the Year award as well as the newly introduced Sustainability Executive of the Year award, along with honors recognition under the Developer of the Year and Innovator of the Year awards. This year, CPN expanded the awards…

Despite this year’s nationwide economic downturn, the credit crunch and the recent banking industry implosion, the building frenzy in New York City continues. As per a new report by the New York Building Congress, 2008 will be a banner year, and 2009 won’t be too shabby, either. However, even a town with one of the strongest commercial and multi-family real estate markets in the country will not completely escape the nation’s economic ills. According to the forecast by the Building Congress, construction spending among government, business and institutional entities in New York City’s five boroughs will grow to a record…