flickr/Harald GrovenChina has decided that what its economy needs is an extraordinary stimulus package. As its growth in gross domestic product drops toward what is likely to be 7% and its PMI data shows contraction…
Wikipedia/Public DomainDelta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) will move further into the oil refinery business as a means to keep its fuel costs low. While other airlines have not followed into the business, the play…
Greece’s official government data firm Elstat reported that the nation’s economy contracted at a rate of 6.3% per annum based on second-quarter figures. The numbers were a revision of previous preliminary forecasts, and they reinforce the notion that…
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) said today that strong demand for the Ford Focus helped drive sales in China in August higher. Ford and its joint ventures in China sold 48,631 vehicles in the…
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reports that the recession in Europe has begun to become an irresistible drag on the economy throughout much of the balance of the developed world. And the problem could…
The total number of people who play video games in the United States fell from 2011 to 2012. This represents another challenge to major console manufacturers, particularly Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Sony Corp. (NYSE:…
Bloomberg points out the shipping prices show that the Christmas season should be good for retailers in the United States but bad for those in Europe. The shipping lanes of the Pacific and Indian…
Dollar General (NYSE: DG) this morning reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $0.64 per share on $3.95 billion in revenue. The results compare to $0.42 per share and $3.58 billion in the same period a…
Research firm Markit put out its final PMI data for August. Among the eurozone nations, the figures were worse than flash data given earlier. Both the preliminary and final data show a picture of a region in which…
The United States has slipped down the rankings of the World Economic Forum’s “The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013” from fifth place last year to seventh. Political deadlock and problems with the deficit were among the…
The Guardian reports that the next bailout of Greece may require residents to work six days a week. That is unlikely to go down well with Greeks and likely will cause more unrest and…
The crisis in the eurozone, the sluggish economy in the United States and the slowing expansion in China have taken a toll on the confidence of CEOs in the Asia-Pacific region. Results of survey…
Organization for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentData released today by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed that the annual rate of inflation across developed economies fell for the fifth straight month in…
The guessing about the August jobs numbers will be amplified as Friday’s announcement approaches. Some analysts believe that the figures will prove that the U.S. rate of GDP growth has moved to near zero. Others argue…
There is still plenty of negative news out of Europe. Recent data about the PMI of most nations showed their economies continue to slow or even contract. And unemployment in the eurozone has reached an all-time high…
ECB President Mario Draghi has not backed away from his assertion that the bank can buy the short-term paper of Europe’s weakest nations. Some of his allies were worried that the resignation of Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann would…
The Commerce Department reported today that orders businesses placed to U.S. factories rose 2.8% in July after falling in the previous month. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a 2% rise. June’s decrease of…
The Chicago Institute for Supply Management’s Purchasing Managers Index for August cooled off to a seasonally adjusted reading of 53.0 in August, compared to the 53.7 reading in July. The August number fell short…
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) says its Focus is on track to become the best-selling car in the world this year, knocking Toyota Motor Corp.’s (NYSE: TM) Corolla from the top spot. Ford sold…
Rumor has it that Sharp has fallen behind schedule on production of screens for Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) latest iPhone, just weeks before a planned launch. In fact, Sharp has not started mass producing…