Business Low Spending Is Taking Toll on Economy By PETER S. GOODMAN - Published: May 1, 2008 Beleaguered American consumers appear to have succumbed to the pressures of falling home prices and shrinking paychecks.
Google profit grows 31% amid concern over search ad business By John Letzing - Last update: 4:11 p.m. EDT April 17, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Google Inc. said Thursday its fiscal first-quarter profit rose 31%, despite concerns about growth in the Internet company's core search advertising business. Mountain View, Calif.-based GOOG 449.54, -5.49, -1.2%) said net income for the period ended in March rose to $1.31 billion, or $4.12 a share, from $1 billion, or $3.18 a share in the same period a year earlier.
The Beige Book - Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District Commonly known as the Beige Book, this report is published eight times per year. Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The Beige Book summarizes this information by District and sector. An overall summary of the twelve district reports is prepared by a designated Federal Reserve Bank on a rotating basis. Download 2008 (Monthly) PDF reports
INTERVIEW-New book puts cost of saving planet at $190 bln 07 Mar 2008 10:19:00 GMT - Written by: Timothy Large What would it cost to wipe out world poverty, guarantee universal health care, stabilise population growth and roll back the ravages of global warming? About $190 billion a year, or the equivalent of a third of U.S. annual military expenditure, a prominent environmental economist says in a new book. "Once you accept that climate change, population growth, spreading water shortages, rising food prices etcetera are threats to our security, it changes your whole way of thinking about how you use public resources," Lester Brown told Reuters in an interview
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US Stock Market Crash: Implications on Economy US stocks slumped once again spreading ripples of uncertainty across the financial markets worldwide. This stumble as recorded on 29th February 2008 marked a resultant drop in business activity, which reached a record low since 2001. The credit market losses are estimated at over $600 billion as per UBS AG. American International Group Inc., the largest global insurance company, posted its highest quarterly deficit in 89 years. The following two weeks saw a landslide decline in its stocks. Sprint Nextel Corp. the third largest US wireless carrier also recorded a decline. The figure was very near to the six-year low attained by the company. All the ten industries listed in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index marched a retreat. The axe fell mainly on the banks and the phone companies.
Tech Trends to Ignore Some are just not necessary, others aren't fully developed. From social networking sites to virtualization, take a pass for now, by Gene Marks
Herb Greenberg's MarketBlog - "If mortgages and the housing industry were the tail wagging this economy, online or off, the rest is history. And the history of media companies is that as goes advertising spending, no matter the source, so goes their financial performance and stock. On that score, even Google is vulnerable."
Greenspan Says Fed Didn't Cause Housing Bubble Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told CNBC that he had little to do with the housing bubble or credit crisis despite criticism that the Fed kept interest rates too low under his watch. In an exclusive interview, Greenspan contended that low interest rates had nothing to do with the runnup in housing prices and subsequent collapse of the market. Housing prices, he contended, would have gone up anyway whether or not short-term interest rates were low. "What is fairly clearly the case from the data, is that if adjustable rate mortgages weren't available, the purchases (of homes) still would've occurred," he said. Under Greenspan the Fed cut rates from 6.5 percent in late 2000 to 1.0 percent in mid-2003. Greenspan said the cuts were aimed at increasing liquidity in the financial system and heading off deflation, not boosting the housing market. “The reason that we were lowering rates wasn’t to spur housing demand,” Greenspan said. “Indeed, it was already being spurred by the fact that long term rates – which is the driver of housing – were low.”
Dismal Scientist - Recession Watch The U.S. economy contracted late last year, and may spend the first half of 2008 in recession. Moody’s Economy.com tracks the data every day to determine how long and how deep the downturn will be—as well as its effect on the global economy.
National Bureau of Economic Research A research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works. The NBER is committed to undertaking and disseminating ... “A recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale – retail sales. A recession begins just after the economy reaches a peak of activity and ends as the economy reaches its trough. Between trough and peak, the economy is in an expansion. Expansion is the normal state of the economy; most recessions are brief and they have been rare in recent decades.”
