Economics Current Events Article Project, Research Paper Example

Week Ending: August 9, 2009

Microsoft to hire 400 employees from Yahoo: Microsoft has announced plans to hire at least 400 Yahoo employees as part of the new joint consortium, to share revenue on internet search advertising.

Financial Times: August 4, 2009

Half of mortgage borrowers will be in trouble: A Deutsche Bank analysis of the mortgage and housing sector, has reported that nearly half the mortgage borrowers of the nation will eventually owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. An estimated 25 million borrowers, about 48 percent of all Americans with mortgage loans will be in trouble before the stabilization of homes prices in 2011.

Financial Times: August 5, 2009

Dramatic slip in Nigerian oil production rate:  There has been a continuous surge of uncertainty in the Nigerian oil sector, which is the largest producer of crude oil in Africa. The latest reason of worry is the announcement by Lamido Sanusi, the new governor of the central bank. He said that production had fallen to about 1m barrels of oil a day.

Financial Times: August 6, 2009

RBS Warns On Defections At Investment Bank: The Royal Bank of Scotland, of which 70 percent belongs to the U.K government, has shown concern about ‘competitive’ by rivals. They said that such a practice would deter future growth and has made a negative impact on the current situation.

Wall Street Journal, August 7, 2009

Week Ending: August 16, 2009

GM dealers in California to sell cars on eBay : GM introduced the strategy to sell cars online as a new policy initiative of the company. It is a trail program, in which the auto dealers and the customers can negotiate online through bids.

CNNMoney.com: August 10, 2009

Stocks sustain gains after Fed: Stocks sustained gains today, after the Federal Reserve made the interest rates historically low as a signal that finally the economy has started to stabilize.

CNNMoney.com: August 12, 2009

Retailers Post Weak Earnings: Retail sales are in down turn and are still far below than that of a year ago. Major clothing chains like Macy’s,Nordstrom, Liz Claiborne and Kohl’s posted earnings declines this week. Even Wal-Mart Stores, reported lowers sales today. New York Times: August 13, 2009

Stocks skyrocketed:  The Dow Jones industrial average has reclaimed 10,000 for the first time in a year. The Dow crossed five figures in afternoon trading Wednesday, seven months after it hit a 12-year low of 6,547.05 on March 9, 2009.

Yahoo News: August 14, 2009

Week Ending: August 23, 2009

Black Monday: Today is the twenty second anniversary of the historical Black Monday. In October 1987, on such an eventful day the markets crashed drastically and the world. It spurred the fears of economic turmoil and depression. Gerard Lyons, chief economist at Standard Chartered says it was just a watered down version of the current crisis.

Financial Times: October 19, 2009

Budget Gaps Widen in U.K., Germany: The German and U.K governments have expressed concern over the growing fiscal strains in the country. The economic downturn has raised social outlays, plunged tax receipts and has broadened budget gaps.

Wall Street Journal: October 20, 2009

Fresh Jobless Claims Rise : The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for being unemployed has increased, and jobless benefits climbed further last week. The Labor Department said “Initial claims for jobless benefits rose 15,000 to 576,000 last week, the highest level in three weeks”.

Wall Street Journal: October 21, 2009

Impact of Vat rise on Home Retail Group: The Home Retail Group has revealed an interim pre-tax profit of 116.8 million pounds during the past six months. Terry Duddy, chief executive of the group, said, “he has noticed an increase in consumer confidence and noted that the rise in VAT on January 1, 2010 could result in a surge in the purchases of large items in the weeks leading up to the increase.”

Financial Times: October 22, 2009

Week Ending: August 30, 2009

No Increase For Social Security Recipients

The stake of 50 million Americans dependent on Social Security has fallen short of expectations. They will not see any rise in payments for the next two consecutive years in face of rising prices.

Financial Times, Dated: August 24, 2009

Good News for if you are looking for a home

Looking for a home? This is perhaps the best time to buy due to rising foreclosures. It is a buyers’ market and there is a variety of options to choose from at an affordable price. The latest data shows that about 4.7 million previously owned homes are available for sale, and to add to that is a 7 percent decline in home prices from last year.

Nightly Business Review (PBS): August 25, 2009

Situation in Banks decline

The credit crisis has been worse for the U.S banks and they are in the verge of failure. This credit crunch has burdened the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Soon the FDIC will have to change its policy regarding the way it charges banks for insurance.

Nightly Business Review (PBS): August 26, 2009

Americans consider small cars unsafe

Carmakers have hired experts like Eric Noble, President of CarLab, a consulting firm in Califf, to determine the extent to which small cars will be successful in America. He found out that Americans are uncomfortable in small cars and also consider it unsafe for travel. The success of Mini Cooper was an exception.

Wall Street Journal: August 27, 2009

Week Ending: September 6, 2009

Stock Market apprehensive about September

Investors and traders are worried about the month of September. According to a Credit Suisse study, September is considered to be the worst month for stocks, mainly because of mutual fund tax-loss selling.

Barrons: September 1, 2009

Banks should raise more capital

G20 leaders have projected that the banks need to be more careful, and have to raise more capital to deal with future disasters. However economist Simon Johnson thinks, the increase in capital will be ‘dinky’ and also points out that Lehman Brothers had enough capital that is required according to bank statures and yet it failed.

Nightly Business Review (PBS): September 2, 2009

Anadarko Petroleum to Outperform in the market

Anadarko Petroleum (ticker: APC) prices to soar high due to a host of short and long term factors like the market would refocus on the industry potential of 60 billion barrels of oil.

Barrons: September 3, 2009

Decline in the pace of job loss

America has an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent which is discouraging to the people seeking jobs. However, there is a decline in the pace of job losses according to the Labor Department report for the month of August. It states that American businesses have cut 216,000 jobs which is fewer in comparison to the earlier month.

Nightly Business Review (PBS): September4, 2009

Week Ending: September 13, 2009

More Bonuses in Banks of U.K: The bankers based in U.K have estimated a higher amount of bonus in 2009 as compared to the earlier year. However, they are keeping their fingers crossed as the bonus structure is under strong speculation with regulators and politicians.

Wall Street Journal: September 8, 2009

Toyota to start hiring in Japan: Toyota Motor Corp. Japan, has announced that it will hire about 800 temporary workers in October, 2009. It was an initiative in response to the recovery of the stagnant auto sales, due to tax breaks and subsidies.

Wall Street Journal: September 9, 2009

Square Enix’s Batman saves the Videogame industry sales : The Videogame industry suffered losses in August and according to NPD, the market research firm, there is a decline of 16 percent in overall sales. However, the popularity of Square Enix’s Batman: Arkham Asylum game and price cuts by Sony and Microsoft on their PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles had made the losses comparatively less than the earlier months.

Wall Street Journal: September 10, 2009

Time Warner Director’s $1.6 Million Sale: There is an upswing in the advertisement market and according to individual reports from within the company of Time Warner (ticker: TWX), the media conglomerate’s stock is ripe for cashing in. Frank J. Caufield, a director at Time Warner, sold 56,700 shares for $1.6 million, or $27.89 each, on Sept. 9.

Barrons: September 10, 2009

Week Ending: September 20, 2009

Lehman Legacy Alters Global Markets: Short selling had been one of the major causes of the downfall of one of the world’s largest financial institution, the Lehman Brothers. There was an immediate ban on selling short stocks, but much in vain as the Lehman legacy did not prevent stocks from falling but had altered the global market situation.

Wall Street Journal, September 14, 2009

The Future of Natural Gas is promising: The Natural-gas future is said to be promising. It is due to the increased demand for gas during the winter season.

Wall Street Journal, September 15, 2009

European Car Sales rise by 2.8 percent : Europe’s car market is in the process of constant recovery since July, much due to scrapping incentives. European new car registrations recorded an increase in 2.8 percent increase in July as per preliminary data sourced from European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA.

Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2009

Day Traders Drive Online Volume: There is an unusually large jump in the online trade volume. It is quite strange as online traders are mostly smaller traders working with a limited amount. However, there seems to be some classic day players in the online segment for the sudden spruce in its amount.

Wall Street Journal, September 17, 2009

Week Ending: September 27, 2009

Inflation put Fed under test: Economic stagnation, under utilization of productive capacity and is a matter of grave concern to public and would be a hot topic of debate in Fed this week. There are no longer booming real estate markets or jobs in the face of inflation.

Wall Street Journal, September 21, 2009

Fed Statement after its September Meeting: The information received from the Federal Open Market Committee statement, following its August policy meeting suggests that there is a growth in the economic scenario of the country. Conditions in the financial sector have improved with stabilized household spending. They also reported that there is still some sectors like the job losses, lower housing wealth poses major challenge before the government.

Wall Street Journal, September 23, 2009

Crude Oil Falls 3.9% : Crude Oil prices settled down to 3.9 percent near $69 a barrel due to the weak demand in the U.S markets. The result was an impact of a report showing that U.S. inventories continue to rise against a backdrop of weak demand.

Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2009

Foreclosed homes are no longer in the acquisition list of Banks:Banks have become less eager to acquire foreclosed homes. The reason for such a decision is mainly due to the legal complications involved with the eviction of owners or tenants. It is difficult for them to be virtual landlords and handle the total process which is both time consuming and costly. Moreover the added expenditure burden of commissions to real estate agents, renovation, maintenance, taxes and insurance of the acquired homes consumes about 20 to 30 percent of the property value.

Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2009

Week Ending: October 4, 2009

Obama’s coalition was an alliance of the upscale and downscale: Obama is having difficulty in getting a health care plan pass in the congress when it constitutes his own party. The reason for such a difficulty is because of the coalition that had elected him consists of both the rich and the poor. The significance of health care is different for both and they have diverse views on it.

Wall Street Journal, September30, 2009

Slump Removes Hard Hats’ Ladder to Prosperity: Men without college degrees have now found a new ladder to success in the American middle class. Construction jobs are now paying these workers a handsome sum to like Steady work on highways and condominium projects for about $10 an hour, plus frequent overtime.

Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2009

October Marks Deadliest Month for U.S. in Afghanistan: Eight American soldiers have been killed in two roadside bombings in Afghanistan. US military said that it was one of the deadliest months in the chapter of American troops since 2001.

Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2009

Turning the carbon screws on businesses: The EPA has formally announced the “endangerment finding” on CO2, which will impose the command-and-control regulations of the Clean Air Act across the entire economy.

Wall Street Journal, October 4, 2009

Week Ending: October 11, 2009

Stocks Take a Super Slide downwards: There was a massive global sell-off today due to the loss of confidence among investors. The global economic crisis, credit crunch and the falling crude oil prices al combined and led to the decline of the Dow and other world market shares.

Nightly Business News (PBS): October 6, 2009

Investors indifferent to the Federal Reserve hints: There was a heavy selling in Wall Street in spite of the action of the Federal Reserve with regards to the corporate debt market and the hints of Fed Chairman of a possible interest rate cut. The insecurity among investors is overshadowing the attempts of the Fed.

Nightly Business News (PBS): October 7, 2009

Protection from Financial Products: The President today emphasised the need for a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The idea for such an authoritarian body is to look into the financial transactions and the scams that are hurting the general public at large.

Nightly Business News(PBS): October 8, 2009

The Dow Dives further down to 678 Points: The Dow went down further 678 points, closing below 9,000 for the first time since 2003. All the 30 Dow stocks were in the red with General Motors plunging the most: It lost a third of its value and is now trading at its lowest level since the 1950s.

Nightly Business News (PBS): October 9, 2009

Week Ending: October 18, 2009

The War between Health care plan and the Health Insurance Industry: The nations’ Health insurance companies in a combined protest today against President Obama’s health care reform plan. They claim that such a plan would drastically raise the premium prices of the consumers.

Nightly Business News (PBS): October 12, 2009

Intel to roll out its earnings: Tomorrow, one of the major key players of the tech group, Intel (INTC), will roll out its quarterly earnings. After all of the economic downturn it’s an earnings report Wall Street will put under a microscope. It has an annual revenue of $38 billion and is a major player of the digital economy.

Nightly Business News (PBS): October 13, 2009

All about Overdraft fees: The banking industry is making large profits vide overdraft fees. It is estimated that they make about $38 billion dollars on the fees this year alone. Banks say that consumers can easily avoid it by checking their accounts.

Nightly Business News (PBS): October 14, 2009

First tally on stimulus jobs: First reports show companies receiving stimulus contracts directly from the federal government created more than 30,000 jobs. They have been awarded $16 billion.

CNNMoney.com: October 15, 2009

Week Ending: October 25, 2009

Apple Record Profits: Apple stocks have plunged upwards tonight to more than $200 a share. It was an 8 percent rise attributed solely to the quarterly earnings that came in way above analyst estimates.

Nightly Business News (PBS): October 19, 2009

The Impact of Housing Starts & Oil Prices on the Economic Recovery: Data from the housing sector and oil prices show sluggish growth, while both are potential in the recovery of the economy. New home constructions were stagnant and oil prices slashed was a major concern.

Nightly Business News (PBS): October 20, 2009

Apple Stock Moves Like The Markets Up & Down: The disappointing quarterly results from corporate America and a bleak showcase led the Dow to drop 231 points and the NASDAQ lost 73. In the scenario Apple showed a much bigger than expected quarterly profit, which led to a mixed reaction of first 8 percent decrease and then increase.

Nightly Business News (PBS): October 21, 2009

Wall Street’s Free Fall at the Final Hour: Again today there was a landslide fall of the stocks at the final hour of Wall Street, pre-empting global recession and mixed quarterly earning reports. The Dow tumbled 514 points closing at the 8,500 level. The NASDAQ lost 81 points.

Nightly Business News (PBS): October 22, 2009

Week Ending November 1, 2009

Government at the brink of its Credit Limit: The U.S government is close to the utilization of its maximum credit limit. This week the U.S. Treasury Department will organise bill and bond sales, pushing the amount of debt the government owes precariously close to the federal debt ceiling of $12.1 trillion.

Nightly Business News (PBS): October 26, 2009

Disney, H-P Fall, as IBM, AmEx Gain: A robust treasury auction was organized to gauge the appetite for safety investments. But stocks still languished like Walt Disney and Hewlett-Packard among the decliners. Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to close slightly higher on gains in International Business Machines and its energy components.

Wall Street Journal: October 28, 2009

Economy shows growth pattern: The market showed signs of growth as Dow surged almost 200 points and the other major stock indexes was also raised. Such a growth was attributed to a government report showing that economy has started to grow for the first time in over a year, up 3.5 percent in the third quarter.

Nightly Business News (PBS): October 29, 2009

Shrinking Consumer spending scares Wall Street: Investors are worried about the economic recovery of the country. A government report showing that consumer spending fell half a percent in September which is the highest in the last 10 months.

Nightly Business News (PBS): October 30, 2009

Reference

CNNMoney.com, (2009), Last Retrieved on October 4, 2009

The Wall Street Journal (2009), Last Retrieved on October 4, 2009

The Barons, (2009), Last Retrieved on October 4, 2009

The Financial Times, (2009), Last Retrieved on October 4, 2009