Nov 12 Watch News Wrap: Wall Street Ends Week Down on China Interest Rate Concerns In other news Friday, Wall Street fell for the week on worries that China may raise interest rates to curb inflation, which could slow Chinese growth and hurt the global economic recovery. Continue watching
Aug 11 Watch Wall Street Suffers Bad Day Over Fears of Stalling Recovery Major indexes on Wall Street gave back more than two percent of their value Wednesday over concerns about the strength of the U.S. economy. Gwen Ifill discusses the plunge and the Federal Reserve's acknowledgment that the recovery has slowed with… Continue watching
Apr 27 Watch Global Markets Rankle Over Greece’s Deepening Debt Crisis Downgrades of Greece's debt rating to junk status sent markets tumbling in Europe and the U.S. Gwen Ifill talks to financial expert Eswar Prasad about the far-reaching effects of the European nation's economic crisis. Continue watching
Oct 19 Arrests, Scrutiny Put Hedge Fund Sector on Edge The arrests of a prominent Wall Street hedge fund founder and five others on Friday have unsettled the hedge fund world and could spur calls for new rules governing the largely unregulated financial sector. Continue reading
Jul 28 Thaler Responds to Posner on Consumer Protection Paul Solman: Earlier this month, I was pleased to learn that one of the most intriguing economists of my career span, the University of Chicago’s Richard Thaler, had entered the rotation of the… Continue reading
Jul 16 How is the U.S. Savings Rate Determined? Question: How is the U.S. savings rate, which has gone from near zero percent in the past to 6.9 percent recently, determined? And a more elaborate question: Is it truly the difference between what is earned and what is… Continue reading
May 22 What Are the Chances the Government Will Profit on the Bank Bailouts? Question: It seems that almost all of the news we hear about the government’s bailout of the banks is negative, as if the American taxpayer will never see another dime of the bailout money again. But isn’t it true… Continue reading
Apr 20 How Should We Interpret the String of Positive Earnings Reports from U.S. Banks? Question: After three major banks – Citigroup, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs – announced better-than-expected earnings last week, Bank of America announced more than $4 billion in first-quarter profits today. How should we interpret this string of good earnings reports?… Continue reading
Apr 20 Who Pays the Rating Agencies? Question: Who pays the rating agencies, like Moody’s? What is the source of their income? Paul Solman: That’s been the scandal. They’re paid by the issuers of the bonds and stocks they rate. They thus have a huge incentive not… Continue reading
Apr 06 Where Does Money Go When It’s Taken Out of the Stock Market? Question: As the Dow continues to fall, I keep wondering where the money is going. Obviously, money is being pulled out of the stock market, even though we all are still buying and using products, and companies are still functioning. Continue reading