Though US GDP for the December quarter was down 3.8%, it was better than the 5.3% which was tipped by economists. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index improved on December’s reading. Also Amazon’s shares rocketed 18% after an earnings report that was stellar for such dark times. 

Treasury Secretary Ken Henry says the Aussie economy will grow by 1% this year if the economic stimulus package is passed. He sees it as a recession buster! 

Obama’s team reveals a rescue plan for troubled US mortgagees and the stock market turned around with the Dow Jones nearly wiping out a bigger than 200-point loss. 

The Americans passed their economic stimulus package over the weekend, which should start the process of pulling the US economy out of recession. 

Why is the Aussie economy in a better position than most Western economies? This is one reason and it’s offered by Craig James of CommSec: “One key factor is the adjustment of the Australian dollar. The global economy has slowed, commodity prices have fallen, so the Aussie dollar should fall. And it has. The lower […]

The US central bank boss, Ben Bernanke, spoke to Congress and he did not spook the stock market — that’s a rare feat. In fact, the market went up nicely and the VIX or fear index dropped around 14%. 

Richard Cripps, the chief investment officer of the US-based Equity Compass Strategies, thinks a rally is at hand! And get this, he told CNBC that he thinks the Dow Jones Index could go up 50%! On the local front CommSec says new business investment soared 6% higher in the December quarter, underpinned by an 11.5% […]

Despite the headlines, CommSec’s Craig James this week told his regular newsletter readers the following: “Australia can avoid recession in 2009...” That’s right, one of the country’s most respected and most quoted banking economists does not think a recession is a foregone conclusion! 

A better than expected GDP number did not help Wall Street with concerns that the solutions to the banking crisis are hitting a snag or two in Congress. The idea of a bad bank that takes over the toxic assets of banks is caught between what price will the government pay and who loses — […]

A positive day on Wall Street followed some steps in the right direction to come up with a better bank rescue plan. There is talk that the mark-to-market rule might be dropped for the banks and this helped bank stocks today. Also the stimulus plan looks like it could be passed next week! The Dow […]

Wall Street had another nothing day that turned slightly negative when poor corporate earnings carried more weight than better-than-expected economic news. The Dow Jones lost 121 points or 1.5% to 7,956. The Nasdaq dropped 1 point to 1,515. The S&P 500 gave up 6 points to 4,830. Significantly, after hours Cisco reported and beat the […]

Wall Street again showed that it’s ready to head up but it needs news that gives it confidence that the worst of the US economic and banking crises is behind us. However, the Obama administration is yet to prove its ‘banking fix up plan’ has credibility. That said, talk that the US President is putting […]