Near-Zero Interest Rates Here to Stay

The U.S. Federal Reserve will probably keep benchmark interest rates near zero for a while, Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said on Saturday, according to CNNmoney.com. "The economy is only now beginning to show signs that it might be stabilizing, and the upturn, when it begins, is likely to be gradual amid the balance sheet repair of financial intermediaries and households," he told a conference at Princeton University. Also discussing the conference, Bloomberg reports that Kohn said that the U.S. economy may get a $1 trillion boost in the future from the central bank's purchases of government and mortgage debt, in addition to $175 billion in extra tax revenue.

The Washington Post discusses the potential problem in the mile-per-gallon standards proposed by the White House this week. What if Americans still want to drive big cars? "White House officials and environmental activists can talk all they want about how Obama Rule cars and trucks would decrease the cost of driving," says the article. "But in the hard-knock world of daily retail sales, such talk is just talk. Consumers need a compelling reason to abandon the old and comfortably familiar in acceptance of something that, for many of them, is radically new."

The housing crash has created plenty of vacancies, including newly constructed residential golf courses according to the New York Times. Of the 48 homes available at Bella Collina, a course in Central Florida, only three are occupied. Residential golf courses were deemed a "sure-fire bet" in recent years, which led to aggressive building. Now, there's a glut, as people pull back on spending and cut out luxuries. According to the article, other golf courses around the country are struggling too, and many have already filed for bankruptcy.

There's a booming business in foreclosed homes in Phoenix, one of the U.S. cities hardest hit by the burst of the housing bubble. An "unrelenting stream" of foreclosed properties is meeting a "large supply" of foreclosed families looking for low-rent places, reports the New York Times. Many investors are purchasing multiple houses, and competition to get them first can be fierce. According to the story, "The low end of the real estate market here ... is becoming as wild as anything during the boom."

Gold prices reached a two-month high on Friday, reports the Financial Times, despite a 20-year low in consumption of jewellery. Between January and March this year, demand for jewellery fell by almost one-quarter. Gold continues to benefit from the falling dollar, says the Associated Press, as investors use it "as a hedge against inflation and a weak currency."

And finally, a man on a quest to visit every Starbucks (SBUX) has run into a logistical challenge: Starbucks is closing many stores before he can get there, reports the Wall Street Journal. The contracted economy has forced the coffee company to shutter hundreds of stores, including 300 early this year. The software programmer has been to more than 9,000 Starbucks in the United States and abroad. To his dismay, the chain doesn't disclose which stores are closing until shortly before their demise. "I am in a race against time," he says.

*Note: There will be no Today's Business Press tomorrow due to the Memorial Day holiday.