Stocks managed to climb well off the lows to close slightly in the red. The Dow opened down triple-digits following a 7.3% plunge on Japan's Nikkei 225 (^N225). The Tokyo exchange suffered its biggest loss since the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster more than two years ago. The drop there was precipitated by disappointing economic news out of China and remarks yesterday from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. On the economic front, weekly jobless claims have dropped again. The Labor Department says there were 340,000 new claims filed last week, down from a revised figure of 363,000 in the prior week. Meanwhile, new home sales rose 2.3% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 454,000. That's the second fastest pace in nearly five years.

Shares of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) rose more than 17% on the heels of its quarterly report released after yesterday's closing bell. The company posted earnings of 87-cents excluding items. That's down from a year ago, but it beat estimates by

By Justin Maiman

America has a long tradition of embracing thrift. It’s been drilled into generation after generation as a sign of high moral standing. But could excessive and ongoing government-backed thriftiness (here and around the world) be pushing the economy into a sinkhole?

Glenn Hubbard doesn’t think so. The former chairman of George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers thinks entitlements like Social Security and Medicare are to blame and are the root of the biggest problems facing America today.

Related: Social Security Is the Best-Funded Government Program: David Cay Johnston

Hubbard, who is also the Dean of Columbia Business School, says debt elbows out everything else that government does—except entitlements—and in the process strangles growth. So what can be done about it? He lays out a plan during an interview with Aaron Task on The Daily Ticker as he makes the rounds promoting a new book, co-authored with Tim Kane, called “Balance: The Economics of Great Powers from