Commerce Department: Consumer Incomes Rising, Week Starts Strong The numbers look good. The Commerce Department reported today (Feb. 28, 2011) consumer incomes rose. Consumer incomes rose by the largest amount in 2 years which is a signal that demand could improve later in the year. Worries about inflation may be offset by rising consumer incomes…
World: Gaddafi Sanctioned By U.N. The UN passes sanctions against Muammar Gaddafi. The United Nations voted unanimously to sanction Libya. The UN also agreed to an arms embargo, freeze assets and restricted travel of family members as well as friends of the Libyan leader. The situation in the region has intensified as the crisis continues…
Will The U.S. Government Shutdown In March 2011? Who Wins? The U.S. government may have to shutdown in March 2011. Democrats and Republicans cannot agree on a spending package and it appears that a government shutdown is imminent if concessions are not made in some fashion. But who benefits from a government shutdown? Economically speaking,…
Markets Make Late Week Rally: Oil Stabilizes. The market made a come back late this week as the conflict in the Middle East and North Africa is absorbed by market players and analysts. The market dropped precipitously earlier this week as the crisis in Libya heated up. As U.S. nationals and others leave the country,…
Markets Still Reacting to Libya, Middle East Oil Rises: Stocks fell again in late trading Wednesday as the Libyan crisis gained steam. Muammar Gaddafi is still running the oil rich nation as president and demonstrators have been harmed in clashes across the country. Anti-government demonstrators are reportedly holding some parts of the country according to…
Middle East, North Africa Crisis Heats Up, Oil Jumps, Markets React: Markets took a breather from a long rally today. The Middle East, North African crisis is heating up and reports have come in that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi looks to maintain power with forceful measures. Unlike the Egyptian crisis that was characterized by peaceful…
Europe’s Growth Accelerating: Economic Indicators Increase. Economic activity in Europe is picking up. Across the euro zone, growth has increased at a faster pace than in the last four years. The U.S. has been receiving higher levels of capital inflows but Europe is on the come back. German business confidence rose to a record and…
The Dow Jones industrial average has had a third week of gains despite issues in the Middle East due to improved manufacturing reports and a noisy initial jobless claims report which didn’t stop investors this week. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq are all reaching multi-year highs. The Russell 2k is also approaching all time-highs and…
G-20 Finance Ministers And Central Bankers Meeting in Paris 2011: G-20 finance ministers and central bankers met in Paris and worked together on new initiatives to deal with large trade imabalances. They reached a collective agreement on ways to correct trade and currency imbalances that exist between countries like the U.S. and China. They agreed…
