Draghi Sees European Recovery in Second-Half 2013
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…
All Work
Trey Thoelcke
Three U.S. Cities Have Recovered to Prerecession Levels
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…
Unemployment in the EU Is Still Rising
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%…
Dwindling Exports Push German Unemployment Higher
Germany’s unemployment rose again and now has been up for eight consecutive months. Once again, evidence points to Germany’s inability to isolate itself from the European recession. Germany has been unable to make up a…
Unemployment Benefits Cost $520 Billion in Five Years
Unemployment benefits have cost the federal and state governments $520 billion over the past five years, another indication that the cost to create jobs may be less than to sustain incomes for those who…
China Retains Sovereign Credit Ratings, Outlook Stable
At least one very large nation has managed to keep its credit rating at current levels. S&P released a report that affirmed the AA- long-term and A-1+ short-term sovereign credit ratings on the People’s…
Autonomy Founder Fights Back Against Book-Cooking Charges
courtesy of Hewlett-PackardAutonomy founder Mike Lynch has decided again to attack the Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) accusation that his big data company cooked its books before the U.S. public corporation bought it. At issue,…
China Is Not a Currency Manipulator?
ThinkstockOnce again, the Treasury Department has elected not to label China as a currency manipulator. Many economists and politicians believe that action is absurd because the People’s Republic clearly controls the value of the…
Costco Jumps on the Special Dividend Wagon
ThinkstockCostco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) became the most recent company to pay out a special dividend to help its investors keep more money if taxes go up at the start of next year. Many…
OECD’s Gloomy Economic Forecast
ThinkstockThe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) issued its new Economic Outlook, and most of its forecasts were based on rising pessimism. That cannot come as a surprise. The organization has watched the…
Windows 8 Sales Better Than Expected
courtesy of MicrosoftIn a bit of good news for Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), one of the world’s top authorities on software claims that Windows 8 sales have exceeded those of earlier OS Vista over…
Zynga’s Odd Rise in Share Price
courtesy of ZyngaThe stock prices of both Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) and the game company Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA), which has relied on Facebook traffic, have risen in lock-step over the past five days. Each…
Germany Opposes Writing Off Greek Debt
ThinkstockDiscussions of how to bail out of Greece have turned rapidly to what kind of write-off investors may have to take on Greek debt as the International Monetary Fund and European Union prepare to…
Amazon Leads in Record Online Black Friday Sales
Wikimedia CommonsResearch firm Comscore announced two pieces of data. The first is that Black Friday e-commerce sales rose about $1 billion for the first time ever — to $1.042 billion. The other was that…
The Cost of the 12 Days of Christmas Rises to Record Level
ThinkstockThe cost of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” rose to a record level, even though most economists say there is very little inflation in the economy. The combined price of the items rose to…
New Greek Bailout Inching Closer to Fruition
thinkstockThe latest rumors about Greece’s bailout suggest that a deal will be done soon. Only last week, battles among Germany, most European Union finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund made a compromise unlikely.…
Walmart Bribery Probe Spreads to India
courtesy of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.The Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) bribery probe has widened. It began last April when The New York Times reported that officials of Walmart Mexico had bribed government officials to…
Samsung Adds More Apple Products to Patent Suit
courtesy of AppleThe ongoing patent wars between Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Samsung have escalated yet again. Samsung now claims that Apple’s new iPad mini, its new iPod and the iPad 4 infringe on…
Nintendo Optimistic About Wii U Launch
courtesy NintendoNintendo has struck a positive tone about the launch of its new Wii U. There is not much initial data to support whether the Japanese consumer electronics giant can make much progress against…
Samsung to Remain the Top Smartphone Company
courtesy of SamsungSamsung will ship 61 million smartphones in the current quarter, according to the Yonhap News Agency. That is well above forecasts, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 — the notebook that competes…