International companies are preparing contingency plans for a possible break-up of the euro zone, according to interviews with dozens of multinational executives. http://www.cnbc.com/id/45487482
If the global financial crisis has taught the world anything, it’s that there is massive weakness running through western banking systems. The big banks in New York and London, once considered to be the strongest and most stable in the world, have been completely exposed for what they are– weak, toxic, and […]
The AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines, said on Tuesday that it had filed for bankruptcy protection in an effort to reduce labor costs and shed a heavy debt burden. AMR was the last of the major legacy airline companies in the United States to file for Chapter […]
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Congress has a way of waiting to the very last minute to resolve big issues, so December is usually a busy month on Capitol Hill. This year will be no exception. But next year? Next year will be no exception on steroids. This December, for example, […]
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Preliminary reports for Black Friday indicate that retailers may have seen their strongest sales ever during the all-important kick-off to the holiday shopping season. Retail sales on Black Friday climbed 6.6% this year to an estimated $11.4 billion, according to ShopperTrak, which tracks foot traffic at […]
MANILA — Americans calling the customer service lines of their airlines, phone companies and banks are now more likely to speak to Mark in Manila than Bharat in Bangalore. Over the last several years, a quiet revolution has been reshaping the call center business: the rise of the Philippines, a […]
In 1992 when Rutgers professor Benjamin Barber coined the term “McWorld,” there were 12,700 McDonald’s worldwide. Today there are over 33,000. The relentless spread of McDonald’s over the past 61 years is an incredible business success story. In some markets the burger chain is just getting started, with plans to open 200 stores […]
The defining moment was the fiasco over Wednesday’s bund auction, reinforced on Thursday by the spectacle of German sovereign bond yields rising above those of the UK. If you are tempted to think this another vote of confidence by international investors in the UK, don’t. It’s actually got virtually nothing […]
In many ways, the answer to that question is obviously yes. Money-market funds in the United States have quite dramatically slammed shut their lending windows to European banks. According to the Economist, Fitch estimates U.S. money market funds have withdrawn 42 percent of their money from European banks in general. And […]
By ANGUS MCDOWALL | REUTERS DUBAI: A suggestion last month that Saudi Arabia will try to limit how much money expatriate workers send home showed concern about the cost of having foreigners make up nearly a third of the population. An estimated 9 million foreign workers and their dependents remitted […]
AMMAN (AFP) -Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday lowered Jordan’s long-term local-currency sovereign credit rating to “BB” from “BB+” expressing concern about the country’s economy and political situation. The ratings agency also maintained its “BB/B” long- and short-term foreign-currency sovereign credit ratings on the Kingdom as well as the short-term local-currency […]
To protect their savings, Greeks are pulling their euros out of the bank at an alarming rate. Over the past 21 months, they’ve been sending money to Swiss bank accounts, stuffing safe-deposit boxes, and installing home safes to horde euros. Greece: What would happen if Greece leaves the euro zone? [3] This post originally […]
By Dr. Zia H Shah The short answer to this provocative question in the title is that the elite 1% will pay Zakat, which is a tax on savings and property. […]
When Pfizer cut its research budget this year and laid off 1,100 employees, it was not because the company needed to save money. In fact, the drug maker had so much cash left over, it decided to buy back an additional $5 billion worth of stock on top of the […]
By MOHAMMAD AL-RASHEED It all started with the search for spices and ended with colonization Europe’s contribution to human progress is colossal. That is a fact. Just remember the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution and what followed and you get the idea. The other fact is that Europe has contributed […]
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The United States may be known as the Saudi Arabia of coal thanks to its large deposits. But under an expected investment push, Saudi Arabia could soon become the Saudi Arabia of solar power. Early next year the oil rich kingdom is expected to announce a […]
By 1931 the world was in depression. Germany would have been too, with or without its pathological fear of inflation. The Nazis would presumably have made the same electoral gains. But suppose Germany had inflated in 1931, like the U.K. did. The following chart compares the trajectory of the U.K. […]
The short answer is no. But the two countries are begging for comparison, since they’re among the largest economies in the eurozone. And they share the less-than-stellar distinction of seeing their bond yields soaring to sickening heights. Spain’s 10-year bond yield was trading at 6.37% on Friday. That’s better than […]
By ARJUWAN LAKKDAWALA | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: With the price of gold skyrocketing and no immediate signs of it coming down, people wanting to buy gold for their immediate needs are in a dilemma — to buy then how to buy. The prices in the market makes it nearly impossible […]
Yesterday we mentioned the big spasm of “end of the world” analyst notes, as suddenly more and more people on Wall Street conclude that Europe is really going to blow it and collapse. So, how to know if this is really going to come to pass? In his note cheerily titled US […]