LinkedIn’s public offering yesterday got a lot of buzz. Its shares surged over 90 percent on their first morning of trading and hit nearly $87 apiece after opening at $45. Today the shares are trading around $100. That’s good …
A study out yesterday from Rutgers University found that, not surprisingly, college grads are having a tough time finding a job. And those who do find one are being paid less to do work that isn’t up to snuff with their skill level. Yet, despite the meager payoffs of their college degrees, many graduates think the solution is more …
Amid the hubbub over Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s sex scandal, emerging market countries have made it clear they want his successor to come from one of their countries. This would end the outdated “gentleman’s agreement” between the U.S. and Europe that guaranteed a European would take the slot of managing director, and an American …
There’s a lot of talk about what Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest for sexually assaulting a maid means for the eurozone crisis. Less attention has gone to the fate of another project close to DSK’s heart: weaning the global financial system off of the U.S. dollar. DSK had been a vocal proponent of using the IMF’s de-facto currency, the …
The U.S. government reached its $14 trillion borrowing limit today. But the debt ceiling debacle has dragged on for months now, so when does this thing actually hit the fan?
After the debt ceiling is hit, the U.S. can’t legally borrow more money to pay off its debts. But the Treasury department has “emergency measures” it uses to keep …
Most Americans think U.S. manufacturing is a lost cause. And a lot of the blame for that is put on China. But Pin Li, President of the Wanxiang America Corporation, has other ideas. His Chicago-based subsidiary of the Chinese manufacturing firm is busy snapping up flailing American manufacturers to turn them into profitable ventures that …
The mass cheering over Osama Bin Laden’s death was, well, kind of weird. But even weirder (for Wall Street watchers that is) was that the stock market didn’t bounce on the news, especially since, as noted earlier on this blog, “Bin Laden has been a major contributor to the booming federal deficit, much more so than the federal bank …
The U.S. trade deficit climbed 6% in March, according to numbers out from the Commerce Department. But the widening trade gap, the highest since June 2010, may not be as worrisome as it seems. Much of the jump has to do with the recent uptick in oil prices, which makes the U.S. bill for oil imports more expensive. But if you take oil …
In the words of fashion designer Zac Posen: “The media is constantly redefining what luxury is. Luxury can be a dirty sock if dressed up in the right way.” Such is the secret behind Gilt Groupe, the discount luxury flash-sales site that hasn’t yet turned a profit but just convinced investors to throw another $138 million into its chic …
The rumors about Greece’s second bailout, worth €60 billion ($86 billion), won’t go down easy in Germany, where taxpayers are particularly outraged at the idea of shelling out more hard-earned cash for the sake of Greek salvation. So German officials are pushing for something a bit more politically palatable: getting Greece’s …
There’s more bad news out about housing today. The prices of homes fell in more than 75% of U.S. cities in the first quarter, according to the National Association of Realtors. The data is stoking a new wave of bearishness on when the housing market will bottom. But as Stephen Gandel points out in yesterday’s blog, odds of a …
Gas prices still haven’t reached the ominous $4 a gallon expected in the weekly gas price report out yesterday. In fact, the painful rise in gas prices seems to be slowing (from $3.963 last week to $3.965 today).
But if gas prices do start to drop, don’t get too comfortable. As noted in last week’s blog, at $4 a barrel consumers …
