Holding steady: The U.S. economy is strengthening on the fuel of more job growth, rising home prices and solid retail sales. Just don’t expect the Federal Reserve to let up in its drive to keep stimulating the economy with record-low interest rates. Not yet, anyway. That’s the view of economists as Fed policymakers hold a two-day meeting that starts today. The Associated Press has a preview of the meeting and what’s expected to come of it here.
A first for everything: Spending on prescription drugs nationwide has been slowing for years because of the increasingly widespread use of low-cost generics. But in 2012 something unheard-of happened: Money spent on prescription drugs actually dropped. The New York Times reports the dip was small—1%, to $325.7 billion—but it was the first time the research firm IMS Health had recorded a decrease in U.S. drug sales since the company began tracking such numbers in 1957. The full story is here.
In the deep: Federal regulators this month issued a batch of safety violation notices to offshore drilling contractors, exercising an aggressive new interpretation of the Interior Department’s powers for the first time since the 2010 Gulf oil spill. The “incidents of noncompliance” sent to Ensco Drilling, Nabors Offshore Corp., and three other contractors in recent weeks can lead to civil penalties of $40,000 per incident per day. The companies did not respond to requests for comment from The Houston Chronicle, which has the full story here.
Correction: A story that appeared Monday in Daily Report PM incorrectly attributed a comment about F. King Alexander to an LSU Board of Supervisors member. It should have been attributed to Bill Cooper, a presidential search committee member. Daily Report regrets the error.
