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%…
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 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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…