Some mortgage industry experts estimate that as much as one-half trillion dollars’ worth of adjustable rate mortgage loans (ARMs) are scheduled to reset this year, the Washington Post reports. Many will be the nontraditional Option ARMs which allow borrowers to choose to make minimum payments, less than the actual interest on the mortgage, for up to 60 months. The portion of the interest not paid in the Option ARM is added to the principal of the mortgage, and the borrower’s total debt just gets bigger each month, a negative amortization.

The National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) annual Labor Day report, released on Monday, shows that while manufacturing production increased at its fastest pace in six years and jobs on the factory floors have posted their strongest gains since 1998, soaring energy costs are hurting workers at the pump and in their paychecks.Advertisement

Stricter regulations and slower economic growth continue to impact America’s accounting industry, causing many firms, especially mid-sized firms, to see mergers and acquisitions in the future, according to a new survey from IBISWorld, leading publishers of business research and analysis.

Mellon Bank has agreed to reimburse the federal government $30,000 as a result of an April 2001 incident at the Pittsburgh Internal Revenue Service (IRS) processing unit at the bank’s Client Service Center when the unit’s employees destroyed federal tax returns, according to MarketWatch.

On Monday, IP Commerce, Inc., in partnership with BankServ, introduced the first online, remote check deposit service designed exclusively for small businesses.

Salaries among the ranks of college-educated, white-collar American workers are eroding for the first time since the 1970s, as globalization adds a new twist to the U.S.

Accountants, architects, engineers and other professional services firms in the Upper Midwest did well over the past year and expect to continue to grow over the next twelve months, according to a recent survey of nearly 400 professional services firms conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.Results reveal growth in sales prices, revenue and productivity.

Recovering from a 1.7 percent increase in the gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2003, the economy has registered a 4.8 increase in the GDP. The GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced within the US.

With gas prices at the pumps averaging $3 a gallon around the country, lawmakers in state capitols and Washington, are questioning high profits in the oil industry and are considering imposing windfall profits taxes on oil companies.