Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Walmart Suffers First U.S. Sales Decline
February 19th, 2010Via: Financial Times: Walmart has suffered its first fall in quarterly sales at its US discount stores, underlining the challenges facing future growth in its home market as the economy recovers. In the important holiday quarter ending on January 31, net sales at Walmart’s 3,400-plus US stores fell 0.5 per cent year-on-year to $71bn (€52bn). […]
Cyber ShockWave
February 19th, 2010I’m quietly looking into the Joe Stack situation, and in the process, I came across the story below, which I had somehow missed. Via: AFP: Former top US officials staged a digital doomsday simulation on Tuesday in which a huge cyberattack crashes cellphone networks, slows Web traffic to a crawl and plunges major cities into […]
Dollar Up and Out of Previous Daily Range on Fed Rate Hike, But Resistance is Just Overhead
February 19th, 2010WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. The USDX is moving higher on the Fed rate news, but be aware that a technical pullback is likely over the next week or two. There are two resistance levels just overhead. The first is a pivot high from June 2009. […]
Coming Home: Appliance Maker Drops China to Produce in Texas
February 18th, 2010Maybe it’ll be the hip new gimmick. Made in USA. Via: Wall Street Journal: Farouk Shami, a Palestinian-born hairdresser who built a $1 billion manufacturing company around a popular line of hair irons, is moving all of his production of hand-held appliances from China to a sprawling new factory here. The move flies in the […]
Invest in Absurd Construction Project, Get Green Card?
February 18th, 2010Via: Seattle Times: Overseas investors are being pitched a chance to buy into a 45-story condo project in Federal Way, with the added lure of getting a green card for U.S. residency. A 45-story condo tower — in Federal Way? That’s the plan longtime Seattle developer Steve Smith and two Korean-American partners unveiled Wednesday. The […]
Drowning in Debt: What the Nation’s Budget Woes Mean for You
February 18th, 2010Three pages of ABC neWz about the snowballing debt crisis and not one word about the WarBama regime’s absurd military spending increases and adventures. Pentagon Black Budget Sees Year Over Year Record Funding; Tops $56 Billion Obama Budget Seeks More Money for Nuclear Weapons Cost of Keeping One U.S. Soldier in Afghanistan Per Year: One […]
South Carolina Lawmaker Seeks to Ban Federal Currency
February 18th, 2010One for your Don’t-Hold-Your-Breath-File folder. Via: CBS News: South Carolina Rep. Mike Pitts has introduced legislation that would mandate that gold and silver coins replace federal currency as legal tender in his state. As the Palmetto Scoop first reported, Pitts, a Republican, introduced legislation this month banning “the unconstitutional substitution of Federal Reserve Notes for […]
Possibility of EU Greek Intervention a Step Closer
February 18th, 2010Via: Irish Times: THE PROSPECT of an EU intervention in the Greek economy drew a step closer when European finance ministers endorsed a 28-day deadline imposed on its government to show that its budget plan is yielding dividends. With European Central Bank president Jean Claude-Trichet pushing hard for Athens to adopt new budget measures, finance […]
Illinois Senate Meets in Secret Today
February 17th, 2010This is pretty weird. Via: Chicago Tribune: The Illinois Senate plans to meet behind closed doors this morning to hear a presentation by experts about state budgets and the national economy, a move that open government advocates called baffling. The unusual secret gathering is being billed as a “joint caucus” of the majority Democrats and […]
Foreign Demand for U.S. Treasury Securities Falls by Record Amount as China Reduces Holdings
February 16th, 2010Ben Bernanke, please pick up the nearest white courtesy phone. Via: AP: The government said Tuesday that foreign demand for U.S. Treasury securities fell by the largest amount on record in December with China reducing its holdings by $34.2 billion. The reductions in holdings, if they continue, could force the government to make higher interest […]
