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• Corporate Profits Aren't What They Seem
  Is the great profit engine of corporate America running out of steam?While other parts of the economy struggled the past two years, large companies managed to rack up higher profits quarter after quarter. Now reality is catching up with big business.As companies close their...
• Economist John Hussman: Stocks to Plunge 25%, US Recession Likely
  U.S. stocks will fall 25 percent and the country stands a good chance of slipping into a recession in 2012, says economist and fund manager John Hussman. While manufacturing numbers are improving in the U.S. and stock prices are on the rise, too many analysts are focusing...
• UK to Fall Into Recession This Year, Academic Organization Warns
  The United Kingdom will slide into a recession this year, with the economy contracting by 0.1 percent, according to National Institute for Economic and Social Research, an academic organization. The United Kingdom stands a one-in-four chance of avoiding a recession as...
• Mark Mobius: I Am Bullish on Europe
  Europe will pull through its current debt crisis and thrive afterwards, says Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group. Central and Eastern Europe are especially great places to invest right now, such as in Austria or Romania, as the region is...
• Robert Reich: Fix Jobs Market First, Then Worry About Deficit
  Economist and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich says jobs should be Washington s first focus, not the deficit. In fact, he says we can t possibly achieve the growth needed to reduce the budget deficit as a proportion of the total economy unless far more people are...
• Jeremy Grantham: It’s Time to Tax the Rich
  Jeremy Grantham, chief investment strategist at GMO, says it's time to tax the rich. For the time being, in the U.S. our corporate and governmental system backed surprisingly by the Supreme Court has become a plutocracy, designed to prolong, protect and intensify the...
• Charles Schwab: Fed's Policy Harming Economy
  CEO Charles Schwab says the Federal Reserve's prolonged, emergency near-zero interest policy is hurting, not helping the economy. The Fed policy has resulted in a huge infusion of capital into the system, creating a massive rise in liquidity but negligible movement of...
• Greek Bailout Hangs on 'Razor’s Edge' as Reforms, Cuts Sought
  Greece s efforts to win a second bailout from international creditors teetered in the balance as negotiations in Athens failed to clinch an agreement. The distance between success and failure, which could come from misfortune or misunderstanding, is very small, Greek...
• Global Investors Fret About US Imposing Unilateral Market Rules
  The United States is coming to be seen as a global threat, acting unilaterally with aggressive new market rules that critics say will hurt U.S. firms, foreign banks, and international markets in one swoop. The new buzzword in the financial world is extraterritoriality ,...
• Labor Market Said to Contract by 1.2 Million People
  The labor market contracted by 1.2 million people in a month, according to research from Zero Hedge, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The government reports that the unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent in January from 8.5 percent in December as the economy has...
• Geithner: US May Close Down Freddie, Fannie
  The Obama administration is studying ways to overhaul government-backed mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae even considering closing them down and bring private capital back into the mortgage markets, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says. Since the housing...
• Some Economists Predict Recession Despite Lower Jobless Rate
  Despite the declining unemployment, the United States will fall into a recession in the second half of 2012 due to fiscal tightening, one economist predicts. Jim Walker, founder and manager of Asianomics, believes reductions in government spending will slash GDP between 1...
• Risks Remain Despite Rosy Jobs Numbers, Researchers Warn
  Unemployment rates in January may have dropped well below expectations, but the country shouldn't cry victory over a weak economy yet but should remain cautious, experts and researchers say. The Labor Department reports that the economy added a net 243,000 nonfarm payrolls...
• More Parents Delay Retirement to Help Adult Children
  Retirement has become more elusive for many these days, and even those who have amassed savings for their golden years are finding themselves cashing in nest eggs to help their cash-strapped kids. Blame high unemployment rates for the trend. The average unemployment rate...
• FX Concepts’ Taylor: Fed Strategy a 'Tremendous Hit' to Dollar
  John Taylor, founder of currency-hedge fund FX Concepts LLC, said he s betting against the dollar after Federal Reserve policy makers extended their pledge to keep interest rates close to zero and indicated they re prepared to make additional asset purchases. I am shorter...
• Pimco's Gross: Fed to Consider More Easing Despite Jobs Data
  Pacific Investment Management Co. s Bill Gross said the Federal Reserve will maintain accommodative monetary policy and consider more asset purchases even with the U.S. employment market expanding.Gross domestic product in the first half of the year will probably be 2...
• Wharton’s Siegel: Stocks Are Cheap, Euro to Plunge
  Stocks are cheap and the savvy investor should buy now, while the euro will weaken from around 1.3 per dollar and trade one-to-one with the greenback, known as parity, in about a year's time, says Jeremy Siegel, economics professor at the University of Pennsylvania's...
• Robert Reich: Lower Corporate Tax Rates Won't Create Jobs
  Calls for corporate tax breaks won't create jobs because businesses are likely to hire more overseas and not at home, says economist and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. Lower corporate taxes and fewer regulations won't bring good jobs to America. They might...
• Goldman's O'Neill: Current Slowdown Pales Compared to 2008
  Despite global uncertainty and a few weaker-than-expected earnings, today's market is in much better shape than in 2008, says Jim O'Neill, Chairman at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The key to this market movement over January is that people were worried about everything...
• Parts of US Actually Prospered During Recession
  The Great Recession left parts of the United States largely untouched, as portions of the country dependent on energy and agriculture thrived during the downturn, a Sentier Research study shows. Texas and Iowa saw median household incomes rise from 2005-2010, which...
• Northeast Costliest Place to Retire, Study Finds
  Thinking about retiring in the Northeast? If the weather doesn't get you, then the cost of living will. And the Midwest isn't much better, either. Connecticut is the costliest U.S. state in which to retire followed by Illinois, Rhode Island, Vermont and Massachusetts,...
• Market Bulls Will Pull for Giants in Super Bowl
  If the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl on Sunday, expect stocks to finish the year in positive territory, according to a time-tested metric. The Super Bowl indicator, which has been right 78 percent of the time, shows that when the team from...
• Joseph Grano: Nation Looking for Leadership and Can't Find It
  President Barack Obama has failed when it comes to leading the country to better days by resorting to divisive politics, while Republicans also haven't provided the leadership the country needs now more than ever, says Joseph Grano, author and chairman of Centurion...
• Fed's Fisher Calls Target Rate Forecasts ‘Guesswork’
  Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher described policy makers forecasts for the central bank s main interest rate as little more than speculation. These are not binding commitments, Fisher said Thursday in a speech in Austin, Texas. Fed officials ...
• Senate Passes Insider Trading Ban
  Sagging approval ratings brought Democrats and Republicans together Thursday, as the Senate passed a bill to explicitly prevent members of Congress, their top aides and administration officials from using non-public information for insider trading. New disclosure...

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