Today’s report on inflation is sure to cause some long faces among economy worrywarts. It should instead draw smiles. The Federal Reserve’s favorite measure of inflation showed that prices rose faster in May than they have in three years. Overall, the consumer price index indicated that U.S. households are spending 3.6% more to buy the [...]
They say heartbreak is optimism’s best cure. Not so in this economy. After a slew of painful economic data out over the past few weeks, it’s hard to find an economist who isn’t annoyingly upbeat. Take the latest Wall Street Journal economic forecasting survey: Economists put the chances of a double-dip recession in the next year [...]
Where’s the beef? It’s not at Wendy’s/Arby’s Group any more. Private equity firm Roark Capital Group is going to buy Arby’s, the poorer performing part of Wendy’s, for $130 million plus debt and other considerations, an aggregate valuation of $430 million. I know what you’re thinking: has the buyer ever actually eaten at Arby’s? Not [...]
Americans bought less stuff in May, but more than most people thought. That’s left markets perky, but we’re not in the clear yet. The Commerce Department reported U.S. retail sales fell last month by 0.2%, their first drop in almost a year after ticking up 0.3% in April. The good news is the drop wasn’t [...]
In the latest news out of Athens, Greek prime minister George Papandreou is offering to give up his post for the cause of Greek salvation. The outlook couldn’t get much worse. We can all remember the sudden collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the official launch of the last financial crisis. Panicked investors dumped [...]
Chinese software company Longtop Financial Technologies did everything it could to make U.S. stock buyers believe it was a safe investment. Perhaps it was doing too much. The company regularly reported income that was slightly higher than what executives had predicted the company would earn months earlier. On its balance sheet, Longtop said it had [...]
Here we go again. The Obama administration is itching to woo back its highest rolling donors for its 2012 re-election bid, according to a piece out by the New York Times. Indeed, campaign season is inspiring a much softer tone with Wall Street, after Obama’s many months of harping on the private sector for making [...]
How do we jump start a jobless economic recovery? According to the President’s Jobs and Competitiveness Council, it’s a combination of the familiar, the difficult and yesbut. In an op-ed piece in today’s Wall Street Journal, General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt and American Express CEO Ken Chenault present a 5-part jobs program. The familiar includes [...]
You’d think that OPEC would be laughing it up right now – all the way to the bank. With oil prices at a lofty $100 a barrel, OPEC’s oil exporters are sucking in petrodollars on a grand scale. But all is not happy in the world’s most infamous cartel. A meeting of the 12 OPEC [...]
Earlier this week, talking to a group of bankers, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said essentially there was good news and bad news about the economy. The bad news was that the economic recovery had been slower than he and others expected. The good news: that’s about end. Bernanke predicted economic growth will pick up. The [...]
