President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is reportedly putting the finishing touches on an economic recovery plan that could run from $675 billion to $1 trillion, though many experts believe the program will most like range between $700 billion and $800 billion.

Briefings for top congressional Democrats were to start either over the weekend or today (Monday), a senior transition-team official told The Associated Press late last week. President-elect Obama is slated to meet today with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in a Democratic strategy session that is likely to focus on the economic recovery package.

It’s time to look forward, not back. The 111th Congress meets tomorrow (Tuesday), and a comprehensive economic stimulus package is at the top of its agenda.  Hopefully, the lawmakers can put partisan bickering aside (fat chance) and have a bill in place for President-elect Barack

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This week is shaping up to be another active one on the bailout-and-financing front. First and foremost, Congress returns to work this week to consider a once-unthinkable proposal: Put up billions in taxpayer-backed loans so that Detroit’s “Big Three” can be saved. Expect a fight, however, as the bailout debate finally moves past banks to focus on General Motors Corp. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F), and Chrysler Corp.

The situation is dire. GM is burning through cash at a pace that could mean bankruptcy, and all three players are struggling with high costs, weak vehicle sales, frozen credit lines and dwindling cash reserves calling into question whether they can survive much longer without government help. The answer, of course, is that they probably can’t.

But it’s here that the debate turns political, the Detroit Free Press reports. Congressional Democrats are pushing for some form

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Analysts are trumpeting the recent drop in oil prices as a step toward normalcy. But is this celebration premature? Or perhaps even misplaced? After all, we all know that over the long haul, energy prices are headed in only one direction - higher. Crude oil plunged 8% to close at $106.23 a barrel last week - reaching its lowest level in five months - as the U.S. dollar strengthened to its highest point against the European euro so far this year. Crude oil prices actually declined for six straight days - the longest stretch since they did so from April 30, 2007 to May 7, 2007. U.S. fuel demand dropped 3.5% during the past four weeks. And unemployment spiked much more than economists had predicted. Even so, oil prices are still 41% higher than they were a year ago. "Demand destruction and the strength of ...

Luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. (TIF) yesterday (Thursday) followed in the footsteps of other high-end brands when it announced strong fiscal second quarter results. Tiffany’s net income increased to $80.8 million, or 63 cents per share, in the second quarter, up from $40.5 million, or 29 cents, for the same period a year prior. It was enough to beat mean analyst expectations of 55 cents per share and sent Tiffany shares up 10%. “Tiffany did a lot better than investors feared,” Schick, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co. (SF), told Bloomberg News in a telephone interview. “Luxury isn’t getting a ton better, but it is hanging in there. People are going to remain concerned about what happens next, given the state of the global economy and the global equity markets.” And there’s the rub. Luxury brands such as ...

By William Patalon III Executive Editor Money Morning/The Money Map Report Although consumers and businesses have gotten a bit of a reprieve at the gas pump as of late, the escalation in oil prices we’ve seen over the past year has led to some major changes in overall consumer behavior. Many car-owners have dumped their gas-guzzling pickup trucks and SUVs at the nearest used-car lot and used the proceeds to buy some gas-sipping rides. Companies with large distribution networks have redesigned their shipping schedules, crafting more efficient routes that accommodated larger truckloads. The upshot: Gasoline sales tumbled during the first half of the year as domestic demand fell to its lowest level in five years.  In fact, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported that Americans drove almost 5% less in June than a year ago, and also said that the buses, subways ...