Economy | News-Opinion
TOP NEWS: Economy: October 8th, 2012
Top Five News and Analysis Links (Excerpts Below)
- Stocks Tune Out Earnings Alarms
- Krugman: Truth About Jobs
- Biting the Bank That Saved You
- Business Hiring Calms Concerns About Fiscal Cliff
- House Panel: block U.S.-China telecom mergers
Excerpts and More Top News and Analysis:
MARKETS: Stocks Tune Out Earnings Alarms - WSJ
Investors and analysts right now agree on one thing: Earnings season is likely to be bad. The debate is how much stock investors should worry about the parade of gloomy news.
MARKETS: To Regulate Rapid Traders, S.E.C. Turns to One - NYT
The Securities and Exchange Commission is paying a trading firm for software that will give the agency its first real-time window on an increasingly sophisticated stock market.
MARKETS: Earnings season poses test for rally - FT
Third-quarter revenue numbers move central banks out of the spotlight
MARKETS: Politicized Proxy Advisers vs. Individual Investors - WSJ, James Copland
Institutional Shareholder Services’ ballot advice often clashes with the desires of the average diversified investor.
MARKETS: Third Quarter – NYT, OP-ED
The ups and downs that have unnerved investors for at least two years produced another course correction for the stock market in the third quarter.
JOBS: Truth About Jobs – NYT, PAUL KRUGMAN
The data show an improving economy, and that’s what the right wing can’t handle.
JOBS NUMBERS: What Are they Really Telling Us? – TIME, RANA FOROOHAR
Has anything really changed in the labor market? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself since last Friday’s jobs figures, the most positive in three and a half years, came out.
JOBS DATA: Taming Volatile Data for Jobs Reports – NYT, CATHERINE RAMPELL
The reasons for sharp swings in employment data are statistical, not political.
JOBS: Poorer but Wiser After a Year of Unemployment – NYT, MICHAEL WINERIP
Three baby boomers made it back into the work force, but it wasn’t easy and came at quite a price.
BANKING: Biting the Bank That Saved You – WSJ, OPINION
The feds sue J.P. Morgan for doing the favor of rescuing Bear Stearns.
BANKING: JPMorgan Feigns Injury From Lawsuit Pinprick - BLOOMBERG, William D. Cohan
New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s fraud lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co. for the misdeeds that occurred at Bear Stearns Cos. has sent exactly the wrong message to Wall Street: Don’t worry, you can get away with seemingly criminal behavior.
BANKING: Greenberg speaks out on US regulators - FT
Ex-Marsh& McLennan chief expresses ‘great sympathy’ for StanChart
BANKING/MARKETS: Bank Profit Leads S&P 500 as Income Growth Falters – BLOOMBERG
As third-quarter earnings season begins, the companies analysts are most bullish about are the ones whose stock prices are farthest below their highs — banks.
BANKING/GM: Banks Put GM’s Woes in Rear-View Mirror – WSJ
GM is back in the driver’s seat on Wall Street. More than three years after the auto maker filed for bankruptcy protection, investment banks are jockeying for GM’s business.
FISCAL CLIFF/HIRING: Business Hiring Calms Concerns About Fiscal Cliff - BLOOMBERG
Business hiring is holding up, allaying concerns about a U.S. economic downdraft in the face of a looming fiscal cliff.
REGULATION: House panel calls for block of U.S.-China telecom mergers – WP
A committee recommends a block of telecom mergers with Chinese companies suspected of ties to the Beijing government to lower the risk that the firms could serve as conduits for espionage.
CURRENCY: The weak shall inherit the earth - ECONOMIST
New government priorities and an enthusiasm for unconventional monetary policy are changing the way the currency markets work
CURRENCY: Don’t bet on the dollar collapsing – FT
Only increasing asset purchases will weaken the US currency long term
ECONOMY/ FED: Will QE3 Cause Serious Inflation? – SLATE, Joseph E. Stiglitz
And other reasons to be pessimistic about the recovery.
ECONOMY/BERNANKE: Bernanke on Baseball: A Beacon for D.C. - WSJ
The Fed chairman says Washington should learn from the Nationals’ twin focus on statistics and intangibles.
ECONOMY: The Great Reversal? – WP, Robert Samuelson
The danger in losing economic progress.
ECONOMIC POLICY: Obama’s nonexistent agenda – WP, Jennifer Rubin
Where’s the growth and jobs agenda?
ECONOMIC POLICY: Romney Unwise to Believe in Wisdom of Markets - BLOOMBERG, Mark Buchanan
Judging from the preponderance of his utterances, presidential candidate Mitt Romney has a classic Republican approach to financial regulation: Get government out of the way, because markets are inherently wise. If only it were right.
ECONOMIC POLICY: ’47%’ Solution for Romney - WSJ, Arthur Brooks
When he is attacked for his comments about Americans who don’t pay taxes, the candidate can counter that the president’s policies are stifling opportunity.
ECONOMIC POLICY: Small Business: They’re Talking About Us! – NYT
Obama and Romney focus on small business. Unemployment falls. And how to generate word of mouth. Did the debate alter your thinking?
M&A: How M&A became a buyer’s market - FT, Jonathan Rowley
The auction process has lost its claim as the best way to sell a business
PATENTS/INNOVATION: The Patent, Used as a Sword - NYT
Alongside the impressive technology advances of the last two decades, many see a destructive use of software patents corrupting the marketplace for ideas.
ENERGY: Should Washington Block the Keystone Pipeline? – WSJ
Supporters of the pipeline say we need the oil. Opponents say the costs would be many and the benefits few.
ENERGY: Should There Be a Price on Carbon? - WSJ, OP-ED
That question divides even those who agree the government needs to pursue clean-energy policies. Three experts debate the issue.
ENERGY SUBSIDIES: Do We Need Subsidies for Solar, Wind Power? - WSJ
Yes, subsidies are needed for a few more years to allow renewable technologies to develop, supporters say. No, the subsidies are too costly, according to opponents, and the benefits of wind and solar are overstated.
ENERGY/FRACKING: Matt Damon Film Lights Up Energy Lobby - WSJ
The premiere of a Matt Damon film featuring hydraulic fracturing is months away, but the energy industry already is considering sending scientific studies to film reviewers and mounting a “truth-squad” effort on Twitter and Facebook.
AEROSPACE: Group Sends First Rocket Under Deal With NASA - NYT
KENNETH CHANG: The launching may inaugurate a new era for NASA in which private companies ferry people and supplies to the International Space Station.
ONLINE PRIVACY: Study Finds Broad Wariness Over Online Tracking - NYT
Nearly 90 percent of Americans said they were not aware of a “do not track” proposal that would let them opt out of having personal data collected for use in tailored ads.
ONLINE FREEDOM: ‘Trickle-Down Government’ and Internet Freedom - WSJ, Gordon Crovitz
While tyrants make a run at global Internet censorship, the Obama administration stands by passively.
ADVERTISING: A Parting Glance at Ad Week 2012 – NYT
STUART ELLIOTT, TANZINA VEGA” Star sightings, expansion in Europe, Flo, the Progressive salesclerk, and Maxwell, the Geico pig, are among the topics at the annual event.
BUSINESS NEWS & ANALYSIS
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