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• Dollar Remains Near Two Month High - 17 December 2009

The US dollar fell back a bit Wednesday (December 16) morning as analysts believe the Fed is likely to leave its key interest rate at zero. New data on consumer prices show little change after 10 months of increases, suggesting inflation is not a big enough concern at this point to warrant an immediate rise in rates.

• US Economy in Recovery Despite Rising Unemployment Rate - 5 October 2009

While stock has retreated in the past two weeks, optimists are quick to point out that in comparison to the advance over the past seven months or so, the retreat can be considered as minimal. With investors having had the task of dealing with various reports on manufacturing, jobs and consumer activity that have missed forecasts in the past week, it is not surprising that stocks will have taken a bit of a beating. The S&P 500, for example, lost 4.3 percent, but when compared to the 51.2 percent gain over the past seven months many agree that the loss it nothing to panic about. Pessimists, otherwise referred to as realists depending on who you are talking to, believe that things are only going to get worse as third quarter reporting looms on the horizon.

• The Conference Board - 30 July 2009

Promoted as providing "Trusted Insights for Business Worldwide", The Conference Board is a well-respected authority in the business world. With its main offices based on Third Avenue in New York City, this non-profit global business organization also has offices in Hong Kong and Brussels. Functions of The Conference Board include holding conferences with high profile executives from all over the world, and conducting business management research relevant to the current global market. One of the reports compiled by The Conference Board is its Consumer Confidence Index, which is of great interest to stock market traders, bearing in mind that a healthy economy is largely reliant on consumer spending.

• Collusion – A Barrier to Competition - 13 July 2009

In the business world, collusion is an agreement between rival companies to collaborate to gain an unfair advantage in their particular market sector. Instead of competing, they work together to drive up profits. Although this is an illegal practice in most countries, with the United States, Canada and the majority of European Union member countries having antitrust and competition laws in place to prevent it, collusion nevertheless does take place. Depending on how many suppliers there are in a market sector, collusion generally takes the form of price fixing, where all parties agree to sell their products at the same price, but can also take the form of limiting production and supply and division of market share. Collusion is most often found in an industry where there is a duopoly, where only two companies are competing for the same market, or an oligopoly, where more than two but nevertheless a limited number of companies are competitors.

• Wall Street Recoups 2009 Losses, Looks to Week Ahead - 15 June 2009

Following a day of ebb and flow on Wall Street, stock closed mixed on Friday with the Dow Jones industrial Average wiping out this year’s losses, ending the week at 8,799.41, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell to 1,858.80 and the Standard & Poor’s 500, a broad-market based index, crept up to close at 946.19. Trading volumes were sparse as the week drew to a close, which many view to be typical of summer trading and no cause for concern. Stock market investors appeared to be unaffected by the consumer sentiment index compiled by the University of Michigan, which showed a gain in June to be somewhat below market expectations, indicating that consumer optimism with regard to improved economic data has been dampened by concerns over inflation and the possible impact of higher interest rates.

• Markets Rally Despite First Quarter Economic Data - 30 April 2009

Wednesday saw Wall Street rally as the Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.11 percent, or 168.78 to end the day at 8,185.73, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 increased 2.16 percent, or 18.48 points to 873.64, and the Nasdaq composite advanced 2.28 percent, or 38.13 points, to 1,711.94. The rally was quite unexpected when taking into account the dismal data revealing that the United States economy contracted in the first quarter of 2009 at an annualized rate of 6.1 percent. Nevertheless, investors were encouraged by higher consumer spending which they took to be an indicator that the recession may end soon. These hopes were boosted when, following a two day meeting of its policy making committee, the Federal Reserve noted that, although the U.S. economy is still contracting, there were signs that the pace of deterioration was slowing down.

• Financial Sector Drives U.S. Market As Investors Await Details of Toxic Mortgage Buy-Up Plan - 23 March 2009

Wall Street pulled back on Thursday and Friday of last week after enjoying a seven-day market rally which resulted in the Dow gaining 14 percent. Stocks jumped on Wednesday spurred on by the Federal Reserve’s latest credit crisis plan, but fell again Thursday and Friday as concerns set in that the Fed’s plan to inject a significant amount of money into the economy could fuel inflation. Optimists are quick to point out that any market rally is subject to pullbacks and anticipate that positive steps from the Obama-administration in dealing with righting the wrongs in the financial sector will reflect well on markets.

• Will U.S. Investors Continue To Shrug Off Flow Of Bad News? - 8 December 2008

Friday’s U.S. stock market gains fueled hopes that the market may finally be bottoming out. While analysts are divided as to whether this is so, it certainly appears that investors are becoming somewhat accustomed to bad news and are trading anyway. At one point in Friday’s trading session the Dow was down 257 points, but rallied and ended the session with a gain of 3.1 percent, or 259 points to 8,635. The S&P 500 rose 3.7 percent, while the Nasdaq added 4.4 percent. The five-day decline for the Dow, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq was 2.2 percent, 2.2 percent and 1.8 percent respectively.

• Will Black Friday Rescue U.S. Retailers? - 28 November 2008

Traditionally many retailers have viewed Black Friday as the means to pull them out of the red and into the black financially speaking (hence the name), but this year Black Friday is generally being viewed with trepidation as analysts predict that cash strapped Americans will be carefully considering every dollar they spend. Retailers throughout the U.S. have battled through a difficult year, with many going out of business or declaring bankruptcy, so Black Friday has now more than ever before become a light at the end of a long dark tunnel for many businesses relying on consumer spending to keep them going.