ThinkstockThe very modest hope that government actions in Italy might stabilize its economy probably has come to an end. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has announced his resignation, which leaves the national political situation…
ThinkstockAdditional evidence indicates that global economic growth has slowed to near zero in the past month or so. China reported trade numbers. Exports were up only 2.9% in November. It may be a sign…
By Tkgd2007 at en.wikipedia , from Wikimedia CommonsFedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) claims today will be its busiest day of the year. The rise of e-commerce has fueled that. As in-store sales fall at bricks-and-mortar…
courtesy of MicrosoftA rare piece of good news for Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows came out of a new IDC report on tablet PC sales. Over the period from 2012 to 2016, the market…
ThinkstockUsing its black-box methodology, which makes its conclusions impossible to understand or critique, Millward Brown released BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Chinese Brands 2013. The top five part of the list had no surprises:…
courtesy of Monster.comEmployment services company Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) released its data on jobs, and it was better than many other reports on U.S. employment. According to its November report: Monster Employment Index…
ThinkstockGasoline prices have moved back almost to where they were a year ago. That means the drag of fuel prices on the economy becomes increasingly less likely. Only a few months ago, the nationwide…
ThinkstockThe Financial Times reports that former staff members from Deutsche Bank A.G. (NYSE: DB) say the company hid $12 billion in financial losses during the credit crisis to avoid a bailout. The idea that…
Wikimedia CommonsFamous Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) market analysts Abby Joseph Cohen has forecast that stocks could rise 10% to 15% in 2013. Given the market’s performance over the past three years, that…
According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), economic growth in the Asian nation could improve to 8.2% next year, compared to the estimated 7.7% for 2012. Reuters reports: The country’s top think…
Europe remains in deep economic trouble, judging by the Markit Eurozone PMI reading. Other data on unemployment and GDP is only confirms this information: The Markit Eurozone PMI Composite Output Index rose to 46.5 in November, up from…
Spain’s number of unemployed reached a the staggering level of 4,907,817 last month, according to the government’s labor arm. That almost certainly means that the 25% unemployment figure the nation announced recently will go…
More reasons for Delta Air Line Inc.’s (NYSE: DAL) interest in an investment in Virgin Atlantic emerged today. The huge U.S. carrier finds itself without good market share in routes across the Atlantic. Virgin’s passenger…
The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) continues to shrink, and eventually it may have a news staff that simply is not large enough to cover all of the subjects that the paper does now.…
For those who believe that the White House and Congress can find a solution to the fiscal cliff problem, hope has begun to drain away. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said that Republicans will have…
Greece’s leadership said the nation would try to buy back 10 billion euros worth of its bonds in the public markets as a way to lower its borrowing costs. The number is relatively small…
After reporting a strong PMI figure for China, Markit posted slightly positive numbers for the United Kingdom, a sign that its austerity, unemployment and lack of demand for goods and services from Europe have…
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi told media outlet Europe 1: “We have not yet emerged from the crisis. The recovery for most of the euro zone will certainly begin in the second half…
The new Brookings Institution Global MetroMonitor shows that only three of 300 U.S. metropolitan areas have recovered to prerecession levels. The research also showed the rise of emerging economies and the struggles of the…
Eurostat reports that unemployment in the euro area has risen again: The euro area (EA17) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 11.7% in October 2012, up from 11.6% in September. The EU271 unemployment rate was 10.7%…