- US companies racked up big profits during the first half of the year even as economic growth slowed to a crawl. Now they are facing their biggest test of the recovery in trying to maintain that momentum amid a dimming economic outlook.
- The world's central bankers are concluding that the global economy is still in a precarious position and that the policy apparatus is ill-equipped to help.
- To seasoned investors, last week's sharp market swings were a fresh reminder of a problem tormenting financial markets: moral hazard.
- Obama plans to nominate labor economist Alan Krueger of Princeton University to the post of chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
- Greek lenders EFG Eurobank Ergasias and Alpha Bank are expected to announce a tie-up to create the country's largest banking company.
- Widely-grown corn plants that Monsanto genetically modified to thwart a voracious bug are falling prey to that very pest in a few Iowa fields.
- Lone Star Funds, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan emerged as winning bidders in the auction of Anglo Irish Bank's portfolio of US commercial real-estate loans.
- Kleiner Perkins is scrambling to grab a leadership role in the latest Web boom after missing out on early-stage investments in some of the hottest new companies.
- Sino-Forest said its CEO has resigned and three employees have been temporarily suspended, after Canadian regulators said the company may have committed fraud.
- A drug being developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer significantly outperformed warfarin in a major stroke-prevention study.
World-Wide
- The CIA sought to hobble a weakened al Qaeda. The US intelligence agency is seeking to hit hard at the terrorist network, but some US officials say the drive is so politically damaging for Pakistani leaders that they will seek to curtail it. The US confirmed that a CIA drone strike killed al Qaeda's second-in-command on Aug. 22. Attiyah Adb al-Rahman had been in charge of attack planning for the group.
- Japan's ruling party will vote Monday for a new prime minister. Top contenders are trade minister Kajeda and ex-foreign minister Maehara.
- Evidence mounted in Tripoli about possible war crimes committed as Gadhafi loyalists lost control of his compound last week.
- Libya's rebel government won't deport the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270.
- Perry and Romney, who lead in Republican presidential polls, have locked horns in the past.
- German politicians tried to distance themselves from embattled foreign minister Westerwelle and his stance on NATO's Libyan campaign.
- A Gandhian activist ended a hunger strike after the Indian government said anti-corruption legislation would address Hazare's demands.
- Nigerian officials worry that an Islamic militant group linked to an attack on a UN building has a faction seeking ties to terror groups.
- An Iraq suicide bomber blew himself up in Baghdad's largest Sunni mosque, killing 29 people during prayers.
- The Singapore ruling party's preferred candidate won a razor-thin victory in a presidential vote.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to follow up with this. In the second story from the news survey, the one on Central Bankers from the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve, our old friend Ken Rogoff is featured saying, "today's painfully slow economic growth is the inevitable result of the massive head winds that follow a recession caused by a banking and financial crisis. Government policies, given already heavy burdens of debt on governmetns in the US, Europe and Japan, can't overcome the relentless efforts of households and banks to reduce their debt loads."
ReplyDeleteLater on, we will see just how difficult it is for both government and private consumers in an economy to pay off debts without substantially increasing exports (or in the US case, reducing our trade deficit).