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• Investors View Market Rally with Cautious Optimism - 27 November 2008

While months of market volatility have taken a toll on stock market players, there is an air of cautious optimism that the market rally being experienced at present will continue, at least in the short term. Following President-elect Barack Obama’s pledge that on his first day in office he would have a plan to deal with the U.S. economic crisis, early session losses on Thursday were reversed. While gathering his economic team, which has met with approval from many quarters, Obama reassured the nation that “help is on the way”.

• U.S. Markets in Anticipation of Obama-Administration Economic Team Announcement - 24 November 2008

At the end of a week of volatility, reflecting the many uncertainties and unanswered questions facing investors, U.S. stock markets rallied during Friday’s trading and while not entirely regaining the losses of the week, at least minimized those losses to some extent. Many believe that the rally in the market can be attributed primarily to the rumors and speculation with regard to who will be making up the Obama administration’s economic team. The President-elect is scheduled to introduce this team to the nation on Monday afternoon, and analysts are hopeful that with the new administration starting to take shape, it will have a confidence boosting effect on investors, and U.S. citizens as whole.

• Fannie Mae Faces Possible De-Listing From NYSE - 19 November 2008

Embattled mortgage backer, Fannie Mae, revealed on Tuesday that it had received notification from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) that its shares currently fail to fulfill price-related requirements for listing on the exchange. One of the NYSE requirements for continued listing is that the average closing price of a stock remains above $1 per share. Fannie Mae stock was trading at levels as high as $40.45 around a year ago, but on Tuesday closed at 47 cents, underscoring just how dire the once mighty mortgage backer’s circumstances have become.

• G20 Summit Aims For Agreement On Global Finance Regulations - 14 November 2008

Ahead of the much publicized G20 economic crisis summit to take place in Washington tomorrow, 15 November, President George W. Bush has come out strongly in defense of U.S.-style free enterprise, more commonly referred to as capitalism, and cautioned foreign leaders against crushing global growth by implementing restrictive rules. He is reported as saying that the aim of the summit should not be to put additional government in place, but rather that government should be smarter. Why did Bush feel the need to defend capitalism so vehemently? It appears that many of the countries that will be participating in tomorrow’s summit are laying the blame for the current crisis squarely at the feet of capitalism – and by extension the United States.

• Federal Reserve Approves American Express Application To Become Commercial Bank - 11 November 2008

In an effort to remain afloat amid the global financial crisis and the dramatic slowdown of consumer spending, New York-based American Express, the United States’ largest credit-card company measured by purchases, announced that it had received approval from the Federal Reserve to operate as a commercial bank. This follows on the heels of major investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs making the move to commercial banking. In view of the current financial crisis which calls for swift action, the Fed fast-tracked the application’s approval by waiving the thirty-day waiting period that would normally apply to an application of this nature.

• Companies Explore Merger Possibilities To Counteract Economic Crisis - 7 November 2008

Google has withdrawn from a planned advertising deal with Yahoo, due to resistance from clients and regulators. This fueled speculation that Yahoo may be an acquisition target. During a technology conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang reportedly said that he was “very open minded” with regard to a full or partial merger with Microsoft Corporation. In May this year, Microsoft pulled out of a bid for Yahoo, which at the time offered as much as $33 per share. Since May Yahoo’s share price has suffered and investors are anxious for Yahoo to reconsider some sort of deal. Analysts are doubtful that Microsoft would enter into a full merger deal, but believe that a deal for Yahoo’s online search business is very possible.

• U.S. Stock Markets Subdued Ahead Of U.S. Presidential Election - 4 November 2008

U.S. stock markets were rather subdued on Monday, closing practically flat ahead of Tuesday’s presidential election. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 5.18 points (0.06 percent) closing at 9,319.83, while the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.45 points (0.25 percent) closing at 966.30 and the Nasdaq composite increased 5.38 points (0.31 percent) to close at 1,726.33. In Europe, the London FTSE gained 1.51 percent, the Paris CAC40 rose 1.17 percent and Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.62 percent.