There are certain indications that are showing that US economy is probable to take turn toward worse situation such as near 10-year low in US home sales, lowering consumer spending, and dropping property values.

According to poll in July total of 5.435 million new and existing homes were purchased while in June this rate was 5.39 million which was most feeble since at least 1999. In July the spending rose almost 0.3 percent that is approximately half of its last month gain.

There is a negative impact of high borrowing cost and strict lending rules on demand that showed that real-estate downturn will continue into next year. Fall in home prices resulted in fading equity and Americans are losing their interest in spending as wages are not increasing in match to inflation rate.

According to the middle estimation of economists surveyed ahead of a Commerce Department new houses purchases dropped 0.9 percent to an annual rate of 525,000 while March’s 513,000 speed was lowest since 1999.

Despite the strengthening dollar, oil prices are soaring. Crude oil touched $117.85 a barrel in electronic trading.

James Williams of WTRG Economics described the situation, “The strengthening dollar and more bad news for economic growth worldwide are putting downward pressure on prices, but it’s hurricane season and Gustav has reached hurricane status,”

Hurricane Gustav is becoming more powerful by the hour, and soon me become a category 2 hurricane. It was declared a hurricane last night as its winds gained speed South of Haiti.

Williams also said “While it is far too early for definitive forecasts of its path, there is a possibility for it to pass over the western side of Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico oil producing region next week, Gustav will be the major driver of prices this week.”

The hurricane threatens the large scale Oil infrastructure in Gulf of Mexico.

Dennis Feltgen, meteorologist with the National Weather Service said “A lot could change between now and then, but it could be a just in time for the Labor Day weekend,”

Federal regulators in the US have issued new rules under which pharmaceutical companies are required to print clear and concise drug warning labels. However some lawyers believe that the new guidelines could be used to protect drug companies from potential lawsuits.

On Thursday, US Food and Drug Administration issued a new set of rules specifying the conditions when drug companies are obliged to put out warning labels on their products. In recent times, drug companies had been criticized for being too hasty in printing warning labels on medicines. The drug manufacturers did this to protect themselves from charges of not acting quickly to inform patients of potential hazards. As a result the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America have welcomed the new rules saying that they offer much-needed clarity.

However trial lawyers who represent consumers fear that the new guidelines may be misused by drug companies to withhold information on the potential risks that their products might carry. The American Association of Justice has argued that the excessively high standard of scientific evidence required by the new guidelines for a warning update will lead many drug companies to claim that they were not obliged to alert consumers of the risks.

It may come as a surprise to many bank account holders in the US but long gaps in transaction can land an account holder in trouble.

Under most state laws, if an account holder does not initiate a transaction for a particular length of time, the account is considered dormant. If it continues to lie in the dormant state for more than three years, the assets of the account can be taken over by the state.

According to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administration, in the fiscal year 2006 alone $4.7 billion in abandoned assets were turned over to the states. This increased the total of such assets in state hands to $33 billion. The Association also revealed that this amount has been seized from around 117 million bank customers in the country which works out to an average of $282 per individual.

Laws governing inactive accounts were enacted to protect customers so that banks do not consume the abandoned assets in the form of annual account fees. In theory the state is simply holding the dormant account in safekeeping until the rightful owners can claim them. However, process for retrieving the money is torturous and in many cases the state uses the money to fill its own budget needs.

So the best way of avoiding the seizure of one’s bank assets is to make regular transactions, whether of deposit or withdrawal and no matter how small. Moreover if one has a safe deposit box, one should visit it at least once a year.

Precision Drilling Trust, the largest oilfield services provider of Canada is set to acquire Grey Wolf Inc for $1.98 billion. The agreement revealed by inside sources, is yet to be formally announced by the companies.

The deal would enable Calgary-based Precision Drilling Trust to expand its operations in the US drilling market. It will gain 121 rigs in the US which would be mostly used for drilling natural gas. According to the terms of the agreement, stockholders of the Houston-based Grey Wolf would get $5 and 0.188 trust unit per share.

Record prices of crude oil this year has led to a rise in demand for rigs and support equipment. This in turn has resulted in a series of acquisitions of drillers and oilfield service providers. Weekly data released by Baker Hughes Inc revealed that while the number of rigs in the US has increased by 13 percent to a record total of 1998, it has fallen in Canada by a similar percentage from the peak count of 457 which were in operation in February this year.

Precision had already made three previous offers to Grey Wolf whose management had rejected them all of them in order to acquire Basic Energy, a Texas-based oilfield services company. However in July, Grey Wolf stockholders shot down the proposal and cleared the way for Precision to renew its offer.

Tropic Thunder continued to reign at North American box office charts for the second weekend in a row, bringing in ticket sales of more than $16.1 million.

Despite the launch of new releases like The House Bunny and The Death Race, Ben Stiller-starrer Tropic Thunder held on to its position as the top grosser across North American movie theaters. Released twelve days back, the movie has till date raked in a total of $65.7 million, according to Studio estimates released on Sunday.

Tropic Thunder has been released by Paramount-DreamWorks and stars Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr as well as Jack Black. The film is an action comedy based on the predicament of a bunch of actors who are caught up in an actual battle while filming a war movie.

Among the new releases only the campus comedy, The House Bunny seemed likely to offer some competition to Tropic Thunder. The Ann Farris-starrer from Sony Entertainment made its debut at the box office on second place with a weekend sales of $15.1 million.

The other releases of the weekend which attracted only a lukewarm response were Ice Cube’s sports drama The Longshots and a musical comedy starring Rainn Wilson titled The Rocker.

IOC president Jacques Rogge dismissed concerns that the huge bill run up by China in preparation of the Olympic Games has created economically unviable assets.

As the curtains came down on the Beijing Olympic Games, Rogge spoke to reporters and denied that the stadiums or buildings would become “white elephants” for the local economy. He expressed confidence that both the people of China and its national capital would benefit from the infrastructural development undertaken for the Games. Pointing out to the spanking new facilities like the national airport and the revamped subway, Rogge said that the legacy of the Olympics would be a positive one for the people of China.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics turned out to be the most expensive epic Games with the Chinese government reportedly shelling out a staggering $42 billion in order to put up the most extravagant sporting show on earth. This led to criticism from some quarters that most of the sporting arenas and buildings constructed for the Olympics at such a huge cost will turn out to be economically unviable after the Games are over.

On the other hand there were some concerns expressed by the international sports community that Beijing’s extravagance had raised the bar for all international sporting events of the future and would be especially hard to live up to by smaller host nations.