Pawnshop Owner Ezcorp Jumps on Strong Forecast
from BusinessWeek
Shares of Ezcorp Inc. surged last week after the pawnshop owner and payday lender issued an upbeat forecast for its 2009 earnings. The stock shot up $1.66, or 13.3 percent, to end at $14.15 after the Austin, Texas-based company said it expects 2009 earnings per share of $1.52. That estimate is 4 cents ahead of Wall Street's target of $1.48, according to a recent poll. More

Lives in Pieces at a Russian Pawnshop
from The Los Angeles Times
In the fluorescent-lighted dens of despair called pawnshops, bad luck is a commodity as casual as an aging cell phone or a grandmother's ring, held up for inspection, the sellers holding their breath to see what it's all worth. You won't find Russia's petro-rich here, but you will find plenty of people who wouldn't have been caught peddling heirlooms to a pawnshop a year ago -- people too prideful to say they've been ejected, at least temporarily, from the middle class. More

Majority of Economists Anticipate a Slow Recovery
from USA Today
The U.S. economy will climb out of recession in the second half of the year, but firms will continue to cut jobs through 2009 and growth will likely be more of a crawl than a sprint, according to a survey of economists. The unemployment rate is expected to peak at 8.8 percent early next year. That is up from the 7.2 percent jobless rate seen in December and would be the highest since 1983. More

Georgia May Regulate Lax Title Pawn Loans
from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With the realities of the economy in mind, the Georgia General Assembly will soon debate whether the state should rein in Georgia’s title pawnbrokers, who currently operate under one of the most permissive title lending laws in the nation. Those in the business say car title lending is a service to consumers with poor credit who simply can’t get loans elsewhere. But only 18 states allow similar high-cost loans to borrowers who surrender their car titles. More

Pawnshops Turning Away Items in Tough Economy
from KING5-TV
Pawnshops these days are busier than ever, handing out loans to those in need of cash. But the flow of loans is slowing down because owners say not enough people are buying. "We're seeing the new poor," said Brian Lurie, owner of Yuppie Pawnshop in Kirkland, Wash. The new poor as he calls it – once considered the middle class – is now Lurie’s largest customer base. More

Pawnbrokers See Up Year in Down Economy
from NJBIZ
The global finance crunch whipped big-name players like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, and drove 32 banks in the United States to fail last year. But the squeeze seems to have skipped over one kind of financial institution — pawnshops. Some small-business owners are starting to sell their assets to meet payroll, other demands. More

Hard Luck Tales Aplenty as Pawnbroker Helps Pay Bills
from Kenilworth Today
Job losses and personal debt mean many are turning to Paul Cockell at Regency Pawnbrokers in Leamington, England, to help tide them over to the end of the month. Since the credit crunch, money has been less easy to borrow, and Cockell has seen a change in trade as the banks have become unwilling to lend. More

Pawnshops Feeling the Sting
from The Lawton Constitution via Times Record News
When the economy took a nose dive over the second half of 2008, the bills did not stop coming. Trying to get as much money as they could to pay mounting bills, many people turned to pawnshops. They took their valuable electronics, jewels and other merchandise to their nearest shop to get some amount of money. Now many pawnbrokers are pulling their belts tight to weather the recession just like everyone else. More

Gun Purchases on the Raise Across the Nation
from WNCT-TV
Business is booming around the country in this tough economy for stores that sell guns. The FBI says background checks for gun buyers last November shot up 42 percent from the year before. In December, they climbed by 24 percent. More