The news today is that the value of your most valuable asset is in trouble again. A report from website Zillow, which lets you look up what your house is worth, says that home prices in the US fell 3% in the first quarter. Worse, Zillow says housing prices could fall as much as 9% more by the end of 2011. And this was the year that …
Where were you the day the market dropped nearly 700 points in 20 minutes? Don’t remember. You’re not alone.
May 6th was the one-year anniversary of the so-called Flash Crash. It came and went without much fanfare. But on the day of the event a year ago and for a few months after, it seemed like a really big deal – clear sign the US …
Is it time to stop worrying about the recovery? In April, the economy added 244,000 jobs. That was more than double the 93,000 workers companies boosted their payrolls by just six months ago, and it was far more than expected. After a string of weak economic data, and drop in the price of oil yesterday, many thought the jobs report …
Wall Street may soon have to finally pay for its folly. Earlier this week, the US Attorneys office of the Department of Justice sued Deutsche Bank for allegedly tricking a government insurance program into backing mortgage loans that were much riskier than they were portrayed. Many of those loans have defaulted causing nearly $400 …
For the past year, the economic signs have been decidedly mixed. One week consumer confidence would go up, but manufacturing production would drop. The stock market would go up, but retail purchases would go do. Recently, the job market has been showing signs of life, but the economy in the first quarter, as measured by gross domestic …
Depending on what you want to count, Osama bin Laden in the past decade since 9/11 has cost the United States anywhere from $280 billion to well over $5 trillion. Why so big a range?
You can pretty much blame all of our nation’s economic woes on Osama bin Laden. Don’t believe me? Try this one on for size: Bin Laden caused the financial …
If Osama bin Laden wasn’t a terrorist, criminal and, you know, all around worst dude on earth, he might have made a pretty good executive. Terror analysts and economists say al-Qaeda is well financed and profitable. Perhaps the worse news to emanate from the death of bin Laden: The end of the man is unlikely to be the end of terrorist …
There is a saying on Wall Street that even a dead cat will bounce. How high, then, should the market bounce on the death of Osama bin Laden?
As of mid-day on Monday, the stock market was up a bit. The price of a barrel of oil had dropped on Sunday night, but I wasn’t sure why. Osama bin Laden, at least since he was kicked out of Saudi …
Don’t worry you won’t pay at the pump for oil company tax increases (Mike Blake/Reuters)
Gas prices are up. Oil company profits are up. Should the taxes Exxon Mobil, Shell and others be going up as well?
An increasing number of politicians seem to be saying yes. President Obama has proposed eliminating $4 billion in tax subsidies oil …
Is the recovery over? This morning’s report of GDP makes it seem that way.
The government’s gross domestic product report for the first quarter of 2011, which was released Thursday morning, showed that nearly every sector of the economy slowed in the first three months of the year. The report was weaker than most economists expected. …
There is a lot of analysis out today on the Federal Reserve’s controversial plan to buy $600 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds to spur the economy. The program, the second round of quantitative easing (ergo QE2) since the start of the financial crisis, is scheduled to end in June. The Fed is likely to announce later this week that they plan …
It is interesting what registers as good news these days in the housing market.
People are making a big deal out of today’s new homes sales number as perhaps finally the sign that the housing sector is rebounding. On Monday, the Census reported that new housing sales rose 11% in March. This was greeted as generally good news. …
