Economy

January 15, 2009

Vital Signs: More Bad Earnings News to Come?

The fourth-quarter earnings season kicks into gear this week, as 56 S&P 500 companies plan to report their results. As usual, Alcoa (AA) started things off, this time ...

January 15, 2009

Stocks Lower Amid Economic, Bank News

U.S. stocks were lower Thursday morning as financial-sector and economic worries hold sway over the market. The financial sector was extending its recent sharp losses....

January 15, 2009

The Economy: Retail Sales Weak, Beige Book Bleak

Beige may be the color that describes the Federal Reserve's periodic update of U.S. economic conditions—the Beige Book, of course—but blue is the hue that ...

January 14, 2009

Stocks Sink on Gloomy Data, Fed Outlook

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower Wednesday, as investors digested a weak Beige Book report on economic conditions from the Federal Reserve, which followed news of a ...

January 13, 2009

Stocks End Mixed amid Earnings Worries

U.S. stocks ended mixed Tuesday, struggling for a clear direction as investor concerns about corporate earnings undermined strength in energy prices. A rebound in ...

January 9, 2009

Stocks Fall as Jobs News Points Up Weak Economy

U.S. stocks finished broadly lower Friday on light trading volume following a report December nonfarm payrolls fell 524,000 after plunging a revised 584,000 in ...

January 8, 2009

Vital Signs: Economy's Worst Quarter Since 1981-82 Recession?

A raft of economic data and reports for December in the coming week will just about close the door on what will likely be the worst quarter for economic growth since ...

January 7, 2009

Jobs: Big December Loss Coming

The U.S. labor market should suffer another indignity in December to close out a miserable year. After a massive nonfarm payrolls decline of 533,000 in ...

December 30, 2008

Vital Signs: Jobs, Housing, Spending Still Look Gloomy in 2009

The economy begins the new year firmly in the grip of recession, as the economic reports in the upcoming week will plainly show. The data over the next couple of weeks...

December 23, 2008

The Economy: A Sour Holiday for Housing

By BusinessWeek, Standard & Poor's, and Action Economics staff U.S. economic reports released Dec. 23 were a mix of the unsurprising and dispiriting. While a revised ...

December 22, 2008

Stocks Fall on Earnings Gloom

U.S. stocks closed lower in light trading Monday afternoon at the start of a holiday-shortened week. Investors were greeted with some disappointing corporate earnings ...

December 19, 2008

Protecting Your Portfolio from Deflation

The knots in economists' and investors' stomachs tightened on Dec. 17 with the release of consumer price data for November, which showed prices falling for the second ...

December 19, 2008

Stocks End Mixed after Auto Loan News

U.S. stocks finished mixed Friday following news of a $17.4 billion rescue plan from the federal government for beleaguered U.S. automakers General Motors (GM) and ...

December 19, 2008

More Tough Times Ahead

Continued turbulence in the credit markets and the ongoing recession, which began in December 2007, means that 2009 will likely be a more difficult year than 2008, ...

December 18, 2008

Vital Signs: Housing, Consumer and Business Spending

After the fireworks from the Federal Reserve last week, the upcoming week would pale in comparison, even if it were not a holiday-shortened week with only a smattering...

December 18, 2008

Stocks Slump on Energy Weakness, GE News

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower Thursday as energy issues sank along with oil futures and Dow industrials component General Electric's (GE) outlook was revised to ...

December 17, 2008

Stocks Finish with Losses

U.S. stocks closed lower Wednesday as profit taking halted a rally that began Tuesday with the Federal Reserve's record interest rate cut. Traders were positioning ...

December 16, 2008

Stocks Surge after Historic Fed Rate Cut

U.S. stocks jumped Tuesday after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to almost zero and pledged to do even more to mend credit markets and revive the economy. The ...

December 15, 2008

Stocks Finish Lower

U.S. stocks fell Monday afternoon as worries about the softening economy and its impact on corporate earnings led to profit taking on recent market gains. Traders ...

December 12, 2008

Stocks Finish with Gains

What looked like another nasty day for U.S. stocks ended with modest gains for major indexes. Stocks closed higher Friday, erasing steep earlier losses, after the ...

December 11, 2008

Vital Signs: Economists Expect Another Rate Cut

All eyes will be on the Federal Reserve this week, as its policy committee sits down to discuss the Fed’s increasingly unconventional strategy for shoring up the ...

December 11, 2008

Stocks Move Lower

U.S. stocks fell Thursday as the market consolidated recent gains amid some disappointing economic data. Some traders continued to look for confirmation that the stock...

December 10, 2008

Stocks Gain on Strength in Commodities

U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday, led by gains in commodities-related issues as crude oil and gold futures rallied. Market observers cited by S&P MarketScope said a...

December 9, 2008

Five Sparks for a Stock Market Comeback

Even in the midst of the biggest drop in nonfarm payrolls in 34 years, (BusinessWeek.com, 12/5/08), major U.S. stock indexes rallied on Dec. 5 and extended their gains...

December 9, 2008

Job Losses, Stock Gains?

On Fri., Dec. 5, the U.S. Labor Dept. reported the loss of more than a half million jobs during November (BusinessWeek.com, 12/05/08), the largest decline since the ...