Weekly Wrap Up
The optimism surrounding a US debt ceiling deal put in place early in the weak turned out to be nonexistent, as markets collapsed throughout the week, including their largest single day dip on Wednesday since the 2008 recession. Investors enacted massive sell offs as worries over the US credit rating continued to persist, as well as European debt concerns in Italy. The Federal Reserve is rumored to be considering QE3 to help jump start the worsening economy.In corporate news, Proctor and Gamble (PG: Charts, News, Offers) recorded an earnings increase – one positive sign amidst the domestic turmoil. More Market News
Economic News
Wall Street suffers worst selloff in two years
Investors fled Wall Street in the worst stock-market selloff since the middle of the financial crisis in early 2009 in what has turned into a full-fledged correction.The Dow and the S&P tumbled more than 4 percent on Thursday and the Nasdaq lost 5 percent on fear the United States is staring at another recession and that Europe’s sovereign debt crisis is swallowing two of its largest economies. (Source: Yahoo Finance) Click here to read the full article
Investors fled Wall Street in the worst stock-market selloff since the middle of the financial crisis in early 2009 in what has turned into a full-fledged correction.The Dow and the S&P tumbled more than 4 percent on Thursday and the Nasdaq lost 5 percent on fear the United States is staring at another recession and that Europe’s sovereign debt crisis is swallowing two of its largest economies. (Source: Yahoo Finance) Click here to read the full article
Unemployment rose in nearly all US cities
Unemployment rates rose in more than 90 percent of U.S. cities in June, mirroring a national slowdown in hiring.The Labor Department said Wednesday that unemployment rates rose in 345 large metro areas. They dropped in 20 cities and were unchanged in seven. That’s worse than May, when rates rose in only 210 cities. And it is a sharp reversal from April, when unemployment rates fell in nearly all metro areas. (Source: Sacbee.com) Click here to read the full article
Unemployment rates rose in more than 90 percent of U.S. cities in June, mirroring a national slowdown in hiring.The Labor Department said Wednesday that unemployment rates rose in 345 large metro areas. They dropped in 20 cities and were unchanged in seven. That’s worse than May, when rates rose in only 210 cities. And it is a sharp reversal from April, when unemployment rates fell in nearly all metro areas. (Source: Sacbee.com) Click here to read the full article
Business News
Time Warner 2Q upbeat but economic worries drag
Time Warner Inc.’s (TWX: Charts, News, Offers) second-quarter net income increased 14 percent as the media giant recorded its fastest revenue growth in nearly four years. But its stock fell because of concerns about the economy and a conservative profit outlook despite the blowout success of the final “Harry Potter” movie.The results beat analysts’ forecasts and were bolstered by improved advertising sales. Still, ad revenue growth wasn’t a blowout. Despite adding NCAA college basketball playoff games to its Turner networks in a new deal with CBS Corp., ad revenue overall rose just 8 percent. That’s roughly in line with what CBS reported Tuesday when stripping out one-time factors. (Source: Yahoo News) Click here to read the full article
Time Warner Inc.’s (TWX: Charts, News, Offers) second-quarter net income increased 14 percent as the media giant recorded its fastest revenue growth in nearly four years. But its stock fell because of concerns about the economy and a conservative profit outlook despite the blowout success of the final “Harry Potter” movie.The results beat analysts’ forecasts and were bolstered by improved advertising sales. Still, ad revenue growth wasn’t a blowout. Despite adding NCAA college basketball playoff games to its Turner networks in a new deal with CBS Corp., ad revenue overall rose just 8 percent. That’s roughly in line with what CBS reported Tuesday when stripping out one-time factors. (Source: Yahoo News) Click here to read the full article
Procter & Gamble: A Safe Haven Amid Market Mayhem
A sea of red washed over Wall Street this week as a wholesale market slaughter sent investors scurrying for higher ground. However, on Friday, shares of Procter & Gamble (PG: Charts, News, Offers)were a notable bright spot, suggesting that the company still deserves its reputation as a bastion of stability when markets get volatile.P&G posted a 15% rise in fiscal fourth-quarter earnings along with sales and volume growth, but the consumer-goods giant had a cautious outlook amid rising input costs. (Source: Barron’s Online) Click here to read the full article
A sea of red washed over Wall Street this week as a wholesale market slaughter sent investors scurrying for higher ground. However, on Friday, shares of Procter & Gamble (PG: Charts, News, Offers)were a notable bright spot, suggesting that the company still deserves its reputation as a bastion of stability when markets get volatile.P&G posted a 15% rise in fiscal fourth-quarter earnings along with sales and volume growth, but the consumer-goods giant had a cautious outlook amid rising input costs. (Source: Barron’s Online) Click here to read the full article
Technology Focus
Google buys local deals site Dealmap
Google has struck a deal that could help more people find better deals on the Web.The Internet search giant bought Dealmap, a start-up that collects local bargains and discounts across the country.
Google has struck a deal that could help more people find better deals on the Web.The Internet search giant bought Dealmap, a start-up that collects local bargains and discounts across the country.
Google (GOOG: Charts, News, Offers)did not disclose the terms of the deal. But it’s part of an ambitious push to become a more major player in daily deals. (Source: LA Times) Click here to read the full article
Google Acquires 1,000 IBM Patents
Google has purchased more than 1,000 patents from IBM (IBM: Charts, News, Offers)in an effort to build up its intellectual property portfolio, possibly with an eye to fending off the increasing number of IP lawsuits the search giant faces from competitors such as Microsoft (MSFT: Charts, News, Offers).The 1,030 patents cover a wide range of technologies, including “the fabrication and architecture of memory and microprocessing chips,” according to the blog SEO By The Sea, which first spotted the filings. (Source: Information Week) Click here to read the full article
Google has purchased more than 1,000 patents from IBM (IBM: Charts, News, Offers)in an effort to build up its intellectual property portfolio, possibly with an eye to fending off the increasing number of IP lawsuits the search giant faces from competitors such as Microsoft (MSFT: Charts, News, Offers).The 1,030 patents cover a wide range of technologies, including “the fabrication and architecture of memory and microprocessing chips,” according to the blog SEO By The Sea, which first spotted the filings. (Source: Information Week) Click here to read the full article
Your Money
The Simple Way to Avoid Social Media Failures
With each new technology, there are always a great many mistakes made, at least until we get the hang of it. Richard Nixon, who had great radio appeal, lost the first televised Presidential debate (and subsequently the election) in 1960 to John F. Kennedy because he looked like a train wreck on the small screen. Many of us have fallen prey to the more mundane mistakes that come from accidental emails, texts, and tweets.The good news is that many of us learn from our mistakes, but only if and when we own up to them. One embarrassing email is usually all it takes for you to triple check your outgoing messages for years. On a larger scale, the death rate from automobiles was 90% higher in 1925 than it is today, because we’ve learned from our mistakes and have figured out myriad ways to make car travel safer. Even Nixon learned quickly and cleaned up for the remaining debates against Kennedy and eventually won a Presidency (of course another technology — the telephone recorder — ultimately brought him down again). (Source: Harvard Business Review) Click here to read the full article
With each new technology, there are always a great many mistakes made, at least until we get the hang of it. Richard Nixon, who had great radio appeal, lost the first televised Presidential debate (and subsequently the election) in 1960 to John F. Kennedy because he looked like a train wreck on the small screen. Many of us have fallen prey to the more mundane mistakes that come from accidental emails, texts, and tweets.The good news is that many of us learn from our mistakes, but only if and when we own up to them. One embarrassing email is usually all it takes for you to triple check your outgoing messages for years. On a larger scale, the death rate from automobiles was 90% higher in 1925 than it is today, because we’ve learned from our mistakes and have figured out myriad ways to make car travel safer. Even Nixon learned quickly and cleaned up for the remaining debates against Kennedy and eventually won a Presidency (of course another technology — the telephone recorder — ultimately brought him down again). (Source: Harvard Business Review) Click here to read the full article
Kings of the Wild Frontier
Figurative coonskin cap on head, I echo the sentiments of Davy Crockett – Indian fighter, Alamo defender and Tennessee Congressman – not necessarily in that chronological order. The debt ceiling may have been raised and the palpable sighs of relief heard across global financial markets, but the fun times are over. They’ll be no jokes from Bill Gross today, nor across this land for years to come I suspect. Even though the U.S. has managed to avert a debt crisis and perhaps a ratings downgrade, there remains a stain on our reputation, a scarlet “A” for budgetary “Abuse,” that will not disappear. The whole world was watching, and what they saw was a dysfunctional government taking its country to the financial precipice and backing off at the very last moment. “Shades of a Banana Republic,” as former Reagan budget director David Stockman opined somewhat harshly last week. We may not be Greece just yet, but Mr. Stockman is looking in the right direction. (Source: PIMCO) Click here to read the full article
Figurative coonskin cap on head, I echo the sentiments of Davy Crockett – Indian fighter, Alamo defender and Tennessee Congressman – not necessarily in that chronological order. The debt ceiling may have been raised and the palpable sighs of relief heard across global financial markets, but the fun times are over. They’ll be no jokes from Bill Gross today, nor across this land for years to come I suspect. Even though the U.S. has managed to avert a debt crisis and perhaps a ratings downgrade, there remains a stain on our reputation, a scarlet “A” for budgetary “Abuse,” that will not disappear. The whole world was watching, and what they saw was a dysfunctional government taking its country to the financial precipice and backing off at the very last moment. “Shades of a Banana Republic,” as former Reagan budget director David Stockman opined somewhat harshly last week. We may not be Greece just yet, but Mr. Stockman is looking in the right direction. (Source: PIMCO) Click here to read the full article
