Archives
Can Xmas Be Saved?
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Monday, December 1, 2008 - 4:24am
Predictions of a weak Christmas appear to be overblown as shoppers this weekend hit the stores in force, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week report this morning. Ah, but there's a catch. The reason for the better-than-expected start to the holiday shopping season can be pinned on "massive discounts like 'buy one get one free' sweaters at Gap Inc.
Retail's Bleak Friday
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Friday, November 28, 2008 - 4:10am
The offers seem too good to be true: big, flat-screen TVs for less than $400, diamond earrings from Macy's for 65 percent off. Black Friday bargains? Think again. Retailers have been furiously discounting their goods well before the "Super Bowl" of shopping days, the New York Times reports this morning, as panic sets in that this could be the worst Christmas in memory.
Fed's License To Print Money
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Wednesday, November 26, 2008 - 4:29am
Will the latest round of bailout bucks—$800 billion promised Tuesday by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve—finally do the trick to resuscitate credit markets and slow the shrinking of the economy? Or is Washington, D.C., just needlessly throwing money at a problem too big to fix with taxpayer cash?
Bailout Monday Is Back
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Monday, November 24, 2008 - 5:10am
Following 'round-the-clock weekend negotiations, the federal government late on Sunday agreed to bail out yet another bank, this time giving the troubled Citigroup a $20 billion lifeline in the form of a direct investment and guaranteeing $306 billion worth of its shaky assets, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, and others lead off their business coverage today.
Markets Deflate
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Friday, November 21, 2008 - 3:31am
It's like the $700 billion bailout never happened.
Deflation Fears Suck Air out of Markets
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Thursday, November 20, 2008 - 5:26am
Sound the alarms! Consumer prices are in a freefall, stoking fears the economy is on the precipice of deflation. The Labor Department on Wednesday reported the prices of consumer goods fell by 1 percent in October, the biggest one-month drop in 61 years. As the New York Times points out, no, falling prices are not a good thing for an already shrinking global economy.
Big Three Break Down in D.C.
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - 4:03am
Just $25 billion more (OK, maybe a bit more) in cheap government loans—that's all the Big Three automakers need to retool and avoid collapse, the CEOs of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler pitched to Congress on Tuesday. "From the response they got, it will be a tough sell," BusinessWeek reckons.
Yahoo Yanks Yang
By Matthew Yeomans
Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 5:22am
Yahoo co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang will step down as soon as the company finds a replacement, the Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, Business Week, and the New York Times all report this morning. The central narrative of Yang's "rocky reign" in his second stint as CEO was "his refusal to sell the Internet company to Microsoft Corp. for $47.5 billion—more than triple Yahoo's current market value," observes CNN Money.
Economists Get Dismal
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Monday, November 17, 2008 - 4:31am
More bad news to start the week: the U.S. economy will shrink further over the next two quarters, with the unemployment rate expected to peak at 7.5 percent, Reuters reports, citing a new poll. The survey, taken by the National Association of Business Economists, says real GDP will fall by 2.6 percent in the current quarter and by 1.3 percent in the first quarter of next year.
Bush Declares Capitalism Accomplished!
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Friday, November 14, 2008 - 4:51am
From defender of the free world to defender of the free markets, President Bush on Thursday delivered what the New York Times described as an "impassioned defense" of capitalism, declaring "the American system is still 'the engine of social mobility.' " This was not merely a presidential road trip to revive slumping markets
GM: Better Bust Than a Bailout?
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 5:07am
Would Bush prefer to see GM go bust than be bailed out? Even as House Democrats mobilize a rescue package for the Big Three, the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress are both reluctant to "pour taxpayer money into auto companies that face the prospect of long-term insolvency" and also skittish about involving the government further in the national economy, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Bum-Rushing Bailout Bucks
By Matthew Yeomans
Posted Tuesday, November 11, 2008 - 4:14am
This may not come as a great surprise, but it appears that the U.S. government's $700 billion bailout may not be enough. "The rescue plans are coming under pressure as a growing array of distressed companies signal the need for assistance," writes the Wall Street Journal. So who are these poor, hat-in-hand wretches in need of help? American Express, for one.
AIG: Please, Sir, Can I Have Some More?
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Monday, November 10, 2008 - 4:31am
A new bailout for AIG? That's the word this morning from the Wall Street Journal, which reports that the Treasury Department will rip up the original $123 billion bailout supposed to save the troubled insurer in favor of a $150 billion lifeline.
Attention Shoppers: Christmas in Jeopardy
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Friday, November 7, 2008 - 4:37am
Investors' plea for change is just not materializing. Since the polls closed on Election Day, the markets have been in a free fall, with the Dow down nearly 10 points following a 443-point drop on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reports. The markets are factoring in a nasty recession that could likely get worse before it starts to recover. The focus today will be on jobs data, which the newspaper says will likely be "bleak." How bad?
Wall Street Bursts Obama Bubble
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Thursday, November 6, 2008 - 4:26am
Well that didn't last long. Wall Street's initial election euphoria quickly fizzled "amid more evidence that the economy is stumbling badly," writes the Wall Street Journal. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 486.01 points, or 5.1 percent, on news that 157,000 private-sector jobs went last month, with deep declines in goods-producing industries.
Obama's Global Stock Surge
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Wednesday, November 5, 2008 - 5:25am
Obama fever spread to Asia this morning as stocks soared on the back of the Democratic presidential candidate's election victory, Bloomberg reports.
Stock Surge Sweeps Asia
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Monday, November 3, 2008 - 5:05am
Asian markets opened with a strong surge and never looked back on Monday after South Korea unveiled an $11 billion stimulus plan designed to keep the country "from sliding into recession," the Associated Press reports. In response, stock markets in Seoul, Hong Kong, Australia, and Shanghai were all trading up.
