Economy

July 2, 2009

Vital Signs: Trade Gap Is Expected to Widen Again

Foreign trade takes top billing in an otherwise slow week for economic news. The U.S. trade deficit had narrowed sharply in the second half of 2008 and in early 2009. ...

July 1, 2009

FDA Regulation Will Broadly Affect Big Tobacco

On June 22, President Barack Obama signed into law a tobacco regulatory bill giving the U.S. Food & Drug Administration oversight of the industry, including the ...

June 30, 2009

Jobs: A Warming Trend in June

We expect the Labor Dept.'s U.S. employment report for June, scheduled for release July 2, to show a decline of 340,000 in nonfarm payrolls on the month—nearly ...

June 25, 2009

Vital Signs: Encouraging News for the Weak Labor Markets

The standout among the coming week's crop of economic reports will be the Labor Dept.'s June employment report, which comes out on Thursday instead of Friday, since ...

June 24, 2009

The Fed Fine-Tunes Its Juggling Act

America's money chief Ben Bernanke tried to make everybody happy on June 24, telling the inflation doves that he's not planning to pick up short-term interest rates ...

June 23, 2009

The Fed: It's Not Easy Being Ben

By BusinessWeek Staff Imagine having your boss talk publicly about your job standing at the same time you're having one of your most important staff meetings of the ...

June 22, 2009

The Retirement Dilemma: Keep Working?

As the first cohort of the baby boom generation this year hits 63—which is the average age of retirement in the U.S.—the big question is: Are they ...

June 22, 2009

Inflation: Far into the Future

Inflation has passed swine flu as the most over-hyped problem in America. Inflation always lags behind the economic cycle, and while inflation is always a monetary ...

June 22, 2009

Fed Watch: Bernanke's Balancing Act

By BusinessWeek Staff Federal Reserve policy meetings no longer hold much suspense on the interest rate front—experts continue to believe that Ben Bernanke & Co....

June 18, 2009

Vital Signs: Will the Fed Offer an Exit Strategy?

The main event for the markets in the coming week will be the Federal Reserve's policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, after which it will attempt to communicate its...

June 17, 2009

FedEx: Still Waiting for an Economic Recovery

Many investors and economists are betting that an end to the recession is on its way. But the latest results from FedEx (FDX) pose a grim question: What if economic ...

June 16, 2009

Experts Talk Housing, Inflation, Stocks, Dollar

By BW staff A mostly merry May? Investors received updates on the performance of the U.S. economy on June 16, with reports on May housing starts and wholesale ...

June 15, 2009

S&P Ratings: Why the U.S. Government Is Still Rated AAA

The public finances of many highly rated sovereign governments have suffered recently. In Standard & Poor's Ratings Services' view, this deterioration could be ...

June 15, 2009

Clouds Gather Over Stocks

By BusinessWeek staff Without a fresh batch of "green shoots" to chew on, U.S. stocks got a case of indigestion on June 15. With the equity rally in its third month, ...

June 11, 2009

Home Depot's Higher but Fragile Hopes

Home Depot (HD) offered some encouragement to bullish investors on June 10 when the retailer raised its earnings estimates for the year. The home improvement giant ...

June 11, 2009

Vital Signs: Don't Fear the Rise in Treasury Yields

The recent surge in the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note has set off alarm bells for investors. On June 11, yields touched 4% briefly, up from 2.5% on Mar....

June 11, 2009

Economic Indicators: What the Pros Are Saying

By BusinessWeek staff Ever on the alert for more "green shoots" pointing to a strengthening economy, Wall Street drew encouragement from better-than-expected reports ...

June 10, 2009

Figuring the Fed's Exit Strategy

Many observers have described the recent surge in Treasury yields and the falling dollar as an "unwinding" of the risk aversion trade, in which investors sought the ...

June 9, 2009

The Fed's Mortgage Muddle

Here's a feedback loop that nobody expected: It looks like investors' expectations for an economic recovery could end up delaying that very scenario. Fear of inflation...

June 9, 2009

Market Experts Discuss Geithner, Recovery, Rally

By BusinessWeek staff Another week, another Congressional appearance by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. On June 9, the Treasury chief appeared before the ...

June 8, 2009

Can the Government Afford Retirement?

Federal entitlement programs are critical to retirement security, but these programs are rapidly moving into the red. New projections by the trustees of the Social ...

June 4, 2009

ECB and BoE Leave Rates Unchanged

There were no rate changes or surprises from European central banks on June 4. The Bank of England refrained from extending the funds for its asset purchase program, ...

June 4, 2009

Vital Signs: A Crucial Time for Economic Recovery

At some point, investors are bound to become frustrated with economic trends that are "less bad." Eventually, they will demand to see "better," if only to justify the ...

June 4, 2009

Experts Discuss Retail, Dollar, ECB Moves

By BW Staff With the 800-pound gorilla silent, what did the other denizens of the U.S. retail jungle have to say about May sales? The International Council of Shopping...

June 3, 2009

Jobs Picture: Improving, but Still Ugly

The hefty labor market collapse of the 2008 fourth quarter and 2009 first quarter makes the emerging second-quarter declines look comforting in comparison. We expect ...