British Output downhill

The GDP of Britain faced a 0.5% decline in the 4th quarter of this year. Even though forecasters were not predicting drops in the British output, this drop in the 4th quarter is the last component of a 2% drop in the GDP the year of 2010. Construction is a very significant sector of the British economy and the harsh weather of the last quarter is said to have affected that sector significantly. The Business service and finance industries were also participants in the drop in output in this last quarter which reminds us of the intensity of the reliance of the British economy on these industries. The British economy could be about to face a slow year in 2011.

The Recovery: Still Patchy

The recovery seems to be long-lasting and strengthening, leading to hopes that American firms are hiring again, but hold the cheers. America remains over 7m jobs short of the previous employment peak, and figures published on January 7th showed that the economy added just 103,000 jobs in December—scarcely enough to keep up with population growth. The unemployment rate fell in that month by nearly half a point, to 9.4%, but that was mainly because so many jobless workers gave up and stopped looking.

Even though some labor markets are experiencing a strong rebound, this may be mainly due to geographic variations. More than ten percentage points separate the nation’s highest unemployment rate, in Nevada, from its lowest, in North Dakota. Growth has been seen, but it's highly concentrated. Of the million or so jobs added in 2010, two-thirds were created in just 11 states, and one—Texas—accounted for 20% of the country’s net job gains. And even within the fastest-growing states, hiring has been tightly packed in just a few cities, leaving most residents feeling glum. Firms in Professional and business services are expanding through contracts with outsourcing firms rather than permanent recruitment. This reflects the uncertain nature of recovery, but it also indicates a move towards leaner business models.

For now, too much of America does not feel that the recovery is real.

Cocoa prices soar on Ivorian ban

I personally find this article interesting because, it raises an important question which is “to what extend should the politic of country be intertwine with his economy”? I believe that it is unacceptable for Alassane Ouattara to stop all export of cocoa just to arm ONE man. This as seen the article affect people globally, people that have nothing to do with the political conflict in Ivory Coast. This increases the price of cocoa and will increase the price of other cocoa based product such as chocolate.

The economy should not be used for political influence.

Renewable energy without Uncle Sam's help

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- At a solar power company in downtown San Francisco, Edward Fenster plans on doubling his workforce to 8,000 people in the next year.

Fenster is chief executive of SunRun, a company that puts solar panels on residential rooftops.Over the last four years, his business has grown from one employee (himself) to 4,000, most of them contractors SunRun hires to do the installations.

Sun Run's growth spurt is in large part due to the subsidies it enjoys from the federal government. Fenster expects his customers to more than double next year.

Generally, tax breaks mean the federal government absorbs about 30% of the costs for a solar project. That's fairly standard across the wind and solar industry. Fenster knows just where his business, and others like it, would be if those subsidies disappeared.

I think investing in renewable energy is very important that its environmental programs should not be cut for many reasons such as creating jobs, building new factories, environmental-friendly, free of foreign oil imports etc. However, on the other hand, the products for renewable energy tend to be expensive to consumers but will be beneficial in the long run. Ideally, this renewable program could be used as a buffer against foreign imported oil in order to prevent jobs from being lost.

U.S. Economy: Confidence Increases More Than Forecast

Confidence among U.S. consumers rose more than forecast in January, reaching an eight-month high, as the outlook for jobs brightened. Growing optimism, an improving labor market and tax relief may combine to help spur consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy. At the same time, the absence of a sustained housing rebound and unemployment above 9 percent are among reasons the Fed may announce tomorrow it will stick to a plan for more stimulus.

The gain in consumer confidence this month contrasts with the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary sentiment index, which fell this month as Americans worried that higher gasoline prices would hurt their finances.

The proportion of Americans who expect their incomes to rise over the next six months increased to 11.4, the highest since May. The share of consumers who said jobs are currently plentiful rose a point to 5.2 percent. Those who said jobs are hard to get decreased.

Confidence rose in all nine U.S. regions, led by a 21.3- point surge in the West South Central area, which includes Texas and Oklahoma. Texas led states with the biggest payroll gains in December as employers added 20,000 workers, a Labor Department report showed today.

Even though consumer confidence may have risen due to a large amount of spending during Christmas, I see this is a good opportunity as the good news spread. The market is still enjoying the leftover consumer confidence from the three months end of 2010. However, the gain in the consumer confidence may act as a boost to both producers and consumers, encouraging them to do more purchasing and selling.

Economists forecast U.S. growth on upswing in 2011

A poll was taken of 46 economists who say that there has been an increasing amount of optimism about the U.S. recovery. These economists predict the economy to annually grow at a rate of 3.2% to 3.4% each quarter of this year, 2011. Economists see this growth becoming ‘self-reinforcing’ which is a nice change of pace for our economy. Businesses are expected to use the growth of their stronger sales to begin hiring more aggressively and generate a higher income. As a soon to be college graduate, this is very reliving to hear. Unemployment rate is starting to drop and jobs will open up and U.S. corporations will be more confident and demanding. The job market is finally becoming more stable as the economy recovers.

Greece - World's largest solar farm

Greece has decided to construct a 200 MWh photovoltaic facility in western Macedonia, which happens to have the largest unemployment rate in Greece. Not only will this project save 300,000 tons of carbon emissions per year, but it will also ensure 200 permanent positions in the economy. It is interesting to note that this has happened after a fairly recent bailout, while the project itself will cost 600 million euros. This is a bold move for Greece, 600 million euros for 200 permanent jobs may seem like a lot, but this investment for the future will surely outweigh the cost. Hopefully this will signal more wealthy economies to invest in similar technology.

Japan Just a Warm-Up

The United States is seeing strong similarities between Japan in the 1980's and China today with their rising economic powers. The difference seems to be that China is much stronger and more powerful than Japan was in the 1980's. China has been encouraging outside investors where Japan did not. China has put much of their focus on long term projects including commercial aircraft, telecommunications equipment, high-speed trains, clean energy, and automobiles. Due to this promising economic future, China has also managed to attract many entrepreneurial investors from the Unites States looking to partner with these up and coming ventures. This recent action in China is going to further increase their economic power and increase the United States' economic dependance on them to survive.

Increasingly Confident Fed Is Set for First Meeting of 2011

The Federal Reserve will use its first policy meeting of 2011 this week to revisit its economic projections. The statement that will be released on Wednesday will likely reflect a guarded optimism about the economy and keeping to the Federal Strategy- putting $600 billion into the baking system.

The Federal Reserve is also try to improve its communication and transparency by scheduling meetings with the Federal Open Market Committee.

Ben Bernanke stated this about the future of the economy, “increased evidence that a self-sustaining recovery in consumer and business spending may be taking hold.”

The economy is expected to grow by up to 4 percent this year, above the 2.5 percent needed just to maintain the unemployment rate at its current level of 9.4 percent. Inemployment is expected to remain close to 8 percent

A great burden for Zapatero to bear

First it was Greece, then Ireland, then Portugal and now it’s Spain. While in the US the economic crisis is almost over, in Europe bailout of countries is still a major topic of the news. After recent subprime mortgage crisis, it looks like most of the countries who was effected by the crisis undergone some changes in their economic system. This article talks about some of the reforms that president of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, is proposing. Mainly most of the reforms call for new transparency rules for banks, to clarify exposure to toxic loans. This article once again illustrates just how big the role of the government is in the economy of a country.

U.S. companies fear the Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year is two weeks away, and that means trouble for American firms. As Chinese workers are going home to celebrate this major holiday, factories in China will be shut down for 15 days straight.

The problem is old, but the negative effect that it causes has been increasing recently. American firms fear that many workers will not come back to their jobs after the holiday. This will cause a great shortage in the U.S. for products that are made in China.

The problem is contributed by the Chinese government incentives to keep the peasant inland to work on farm rather than leave home to work in factories. Moreover, the quality of life in China has improve significantly over the years, causing workers to look for better jobs with higher wage.

As manufacturing cost is increasing in China, due to lower supply of workers and demand for higher wage, many American firms are moving their factories to other countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Thailand. Others even choose to produce their products in the U.S., since this will help retailers to fill their inventory much faster.

China Growth Shows Contrast With U.S.

China has been experiencing unprecedented growth over the past several years. The economy has grown from the 6th largest in 2000 to the second largest in 2010. They are currently growing at a rate of 9.8% in the fourth quarter of 2010. That is in three tiems faster than the economy in America is growing. The two largest economies are facing two different problems. China is struggling to control prices because of inflation and in the United States the problem is price stagnation.

Traders Beat on Pay as Gap Survives Crisis

This article explores the income inequality between jobs in the finance world and other types of jobs in the United States. Interestingly enough, the salary of many Wall Street workers has actually increased in the last couple of years. This has caused much public anger because many of these bonuses for employees are still coming out of tax dollars. Meanwhile, jobs such as cancer scientists and neurosurgeons are being paid half as much as workers in the finance world. The basic explanation for this, according to finance companies is that their workers are now under more stress due to the current economy-they are saying that the marginal utility of the worker has gone up due to economic pressures. Whether this is true or not, it appears as though there is a definite trend towards management jobs as opposed to jobs in the life sciences, which now makes sense after seeing the income inequality between the two. This trend may cause problems within the economic system and create discontent within the society.

The Rise of The Redback

As many know, China is one of the fastest, if not the fastest growing economies in the world. With new markets and a growing economy, the yuan has a lot of potential to grow (the yuan is the currency in China). China's president Mr. Hu Jintao believes that, "the dollar's role reflects America's historical clout, not its present stature" Mr. Hu means that the dollar is not what it used to be as the leading currency in the world. China is planning on opening up their financial markets in order to begin to compete with the US dollar. It is said that China's economy will surpass the USA economy within the next 20 years. So far, China has been attracting new businesses opening in Chinese currency, and is the worldwide leader in exports. The action of this is referred to as the pool of "Redbacks". With new opportunities in China, people will be more likely to invest stock and bonds through the Chinese markets. Later on, China is looking to lend its own currency rather than borrowing in their own currency. Unfortunately the current system is not set up to support this new movement. With the many investments that China already has in other countries, the investments weaken when Chinese currency strengthens. They will have to find a way to counteract this in order to really take a strong stab at gaining the worlds best currency.

Rising Commodity Prices: Blessing or a Curse?

In the article, it reveals how commodity prices are rising globally and how that may affect both the US and world economy. In the short term, these rises are beneficial for speculators looking to make quick money. However, these higher prices are unstable, says The Economist. With food prices rising worldwide, rising prices of commodities could hurt those in developing (and some industrializing) countries. In the United States, rising prices benefit in the short term, yet smack of trends from early to late 2007, when the author of the article claims the the major downturn began. This downturn is blamed on the rising prices of oil, which constrained consumers' budgets, reducing their ability to buy luxuries and some more expensive necessities.

Whether this upward trend in commodity prices ends in a crash or not will also have a large impact on the world's political makeup. Depending on the parties in charge in the US and Europe, fiscal policies could see rapid change--again, pending the fate of the commodity market. Rising prices in the oil industry have twice in the last 40 years pushed the US into a recession (1970s and 2000s), will food and oil prices combine to extend our economic woes?

China in the Mind of America"-Sputnik moment

Recently there has been a lot of concern about China's rapid rise in economic strenght. The mentioned article in The Economist explores the nature of some reactions by senior American political figures to this controversy.

The situation seems dire: drawing the comparison to the Sputnik moment in 1957. However this seems like a cliche political moment. A large number of Americans are overreacting to the rise of China. Many US political figures are not helping matters by exporting the blame of tough times, to pacify their respective constituencies.
Paul Romer, a Stanford University professor and Hoover Institution fellow mentions in his podcast that it is absurd to think that China will be anywhere close to the US in GDP per capita in the next 5 years. He goes on to mention that as China continues to grow, it's production will experience diminishing returns and it is unlikely that China will ever economically surpass the USA!

America is currently intimately interlocked with China in international trade. To view China as a threat is illogical. As whenever the American economy suffers, the Chinese economy feels the pain as well.

Economic gains vs. Environmental risks

World oil consumption is rising, the IEA says that demand may reach 110m barrels per day. For Alberta’s tar sand, where tar sands contain the world’s second-largest trove of oil, this is great news. The Canadian Association of Petroleum (CAPP), says that the sands will produce nearly 3.5m b/d by 2025. 

The IEA says that the production of oil that is easy to reach with conventional methods, like drills and wells, is at its peak and there is a necessity to look towards new sources like the Alberta tar sands. With 173 billion recoverable barrels, the tar sands are worth 15.7 trillion, where Alberta will gain some of the wealth, the rest going through Canada with contracts of goods and services and even some going to poorer eastern provinces.

Because Canada is America’s biggest supplier of oil and petroleum, TransCanada is looking at building a $7billion pipeline, named Keystone XL, that would send 510,00b/d of oil from Alberta to refineries in Texas. With the 2010 gulf oil spill still on people’s mind, many are uneasy about the environmental risks associated with such a long pipe. It seems like whenever new locations of oil are found, they are in an environmentally rich area. Environmental concerns around Alberta’s tar sand include threatening local rivers, poisoning fish, destroying landscape, killing wildlife and polluting the air. It will be interesting to see if Canada looks past the environmental risks for the economic gains.

Rising inequality in the United States

Inequality has risen in the United States and there are important reasons why this is a problem. Inequality and poverty go hand in hand. The reason behind this is that lower classes lacking access to education and benefiting less form all the factors considered in the solow curve leads in the long run to more poverty. Furthermore inequality directly leads to social and psychological aspects that harm society. Competition is one of societies key aspects of society and increasing inequality has a a negative psychological effect on the lower classes. Inequality does not have a direct impact on a countries GDP, at least not in the short run, so many may not consider inequality as a severe problem. Tension between social classes and the obstacles that inequality imposes on upward mobility within the social ladder are issues the inequality leads to that affect society in a negative way. Countries with a lower Gini coefficient like Norway experience less political and crime than countries with higher instability like Brazil for example.

Global Poverty and Inequality

This article speaks on a very pertinent topic, global poverty and inequality. I found this topic to be fitting because as we discussed in class, equity(inequality of the distribution of income) is one of the five main institutions of an economic system. In almost all cases, inequality of distribution of income is an unavoidable way of life. Even for socialist nations who pride themselves on this very institution see some inequality, and for their lack of inequality comes at the expense of the entire nation being equally poor! So is inequality of distribution of income such an important issue? Some would say yes because as the gap between the rich and poor shrinks, entrepreneurship and general business activity increase, growing the economy efficiently and quickly. On the other hand, is it worth losing economic and social freedoms to ensure the success of this institution? I think not.

In Wreckage of Lost Jobs, Lost Power

This article discusses our recovery from the recession compared to the recoveries of other countries such as Britain, Germany, and Japan. I really enjoyed this article because of how it made me think about a lot of the terms and concepts we have been studying in class and how they relate to the economy in its present state. It starts off by explaining the confusing and problematic situation we are currently experiencing in the United States- GDP has recovered better here than in Russia or Germany for example, yet we are continuing to suffer from a deep jobs slump worse than in many other countries. Basically what is happening is that we have a smaller amount of Americans producing goods and services more efficiently. David Leonhardt explains that it isn't this simple and the basic structure of the American economy and the balance of power between employers and employees might be at fault. He suggest that we start studying and considering the policies implemented by other countries as possibilities for our own employment recovery.

The rich and the rest

The article begins by outlining the various problems a growing economic inequality may cause for our world. Big economic players from England's Prime Minister David Cameron, to Warren Buffet have continuously cautioned about the problems with the growing economic inequality from country to country. Buffet has been trumpeting a higher estate tax for years, saying that the lack thereof only allows inequality to persist. The article highlights the change in recent frame-shift in many people's views toward inequality. Pre-recession debate was largely about not having a dramatic change in inequality, but rather ensuring that the poor don't slip further into poverty, a somewhat laissez-faire approach to addressing the economic gap. Whereas many of the solutions discussed in the recent debate point to the need for income redistribution by taxing the rich, the article says that addressing issues that impede economic growth and propping up the social safety net are two ways to take on inequality without taxing the rich. These policies have been implemented in various countries, including Brazil and have curbed the growing gap. The article finishes with interesting proposals. It is posited that in many of the countries affected by income inequality, the elite are the only ones that have access to various mechanisms for getting richer. This makes sense, they have access to internet, where the poor do not, the often run in crowds that give them the opportunity to network and gain insider information. China even has restrictions on migration, keeping poor farmers in the countryside and preventing them from maybe getting a leg up. Governments should try to give a freer, better access to education, they should also break down the barriers that keep the poor from getting access to insider information. The internet could be the tool to do this, but again, it is often only available to the more well-off.

Life After Capitalism

As far as economic systems go, capitalism has proven its dominance and claimed the title of most viable and sturdy economic system when compared to socialism. At least so far. Capitalism is excellent for stimulating budding economies of underdeveloped countries by helping allocate resources for goods and services and creating jobs for people. But are there limits to how big an economy can grow under the guiding hand of capitalism? When it comes down to it, capitalism is driven by people’s interest to invest money into more money, exponentially increasing the amount of capital in an economy. But have some wealthy nations grown to the point where more is not necessarily good? Capitalism relies heavily on the attractiveness of material incentives. But as human beings become more conscious of the thin lines between morality and monetary values, theorists around the world start to question whether the drive for material might not be in the best interest of everyone. One such theorist is a man named Robert Skidelsk, who wrote the book The World After Communism. Skidelsk asserts that capitalism instills a certain amount of greed into our culture, shaping our preferences and inclinations. He goes on to say that eventually when a society reaches a point where (mostly) everyone has enough and is well off, leaders should try to more evenly distribute wealth and instill a sense of modesty within the economy. Skidelsk hypothesizes that “perhaps socialism was not an alternative to capitalism, but its heir”. Regardless of whether or not that’s true, I don’t see our country changing a system that has help it make it one of the most powerful nations in the world.

Hu Flaunts Rising China Power by Using Friendly Confines of Chicago Visit

The president of China, Hu, arrive in Chicago today for his only U.S. stop outside Washington. Instead of places with more Chinese residents and businesses in the East and West coasts in the US, Hu chose Chicago, because it is more friendly to China.
Nowadays, China is the world’s second- largest economy. As the economic power rising, US is much softer to China than before. For a lot of US companies, they get the most profits from Chinese consumption. Chinese consumption provides jobs and revenues for US market. As a result, even China and US treats each other as potential enemy, economic profits for each other now seem more important to both sides.

US looks to Chinese market to increase exports, spur job growth

On Wednesday, in the midst of Chinese President Hu Jintao's weeklong visit to Washington, President Obama summoned a handful of American corporate elites to join him at the White House for a trade summit with the visiting Chinese envoy. Specifically, President Obama and his corporate heavyweights sought to intensify their focus on US-China trade relations by increasing US exports to the ever-growing Chinese market. During the summit both parties hashed out the details of a brand new $45 billion package that aims to increase exports from corporations as GE, Boeing, and Microsoft. In my opinion, the United States reached a pivotal benchmark with this dealing because they properly acknowledged that China is their best customer.

Debt crosses $14 trillion mark

US debt has already passed the $14trillion mark this Wednesday, which puts the country only $300 billion away from the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling. The debt ceiling is a cap on how much the federal government can legally borrow. Whether or not to raise the debt ceiling is still in debate. The Treasury Department estimates that between March 31 and May 16, the debt will reach the cap. If the US reaches the debt ceiling and the lawmakers are unable to raise the ceiling by that time, the Treasury would be prohibited from borrowing more money, and the result will be disastrous. Not only the US will be greatly affected, the international market will also be hit.

U.S. Deficit

The article highlights the fact that when all is said and done, something has got to give when it comes to the United States' debt problem. Congress must approve an increase in the debt ceiling, and with Republicans now in control, that is unlikely to happen without significant concessions. The ability to carry debt is not unlimited, and the article points out that any default on Treasury debt would have catastrophic, world-wide consequences.

US equivalents

This very interesting article, maps out both the GDP and population of states within America and compares them to foreign countries with the nearest equivalence. Some states are compared to countries which would come as no surprise, though others are astonishing - Maryland's GDP is equivalent to that of South Africa. It would be interesting to include the dept of US states in comparison to foreign countries as well. This map truly shows how good we have it here in the United States..

Larry Summers: More jobs are coming

Despite the high unemployment rate, Larry Summers seems to give a very optimistic outlook on the current economic situation in the United States. Having been President Obama's chief economic advisor and secretary of treasury under Bill Clinton, Larry Summers has a very highly respected background in the business and economic worlds. He states, "I think the prospects for starting to see significant employment growth and reductions in unemployment right now are better than they've been in the United States in a number of years". This is a statement that we frequently hear as there is an extraordinary amount of analysis on the current economic situation and what is to come. On the other hand, this comment doesn't just passes over one's head when the remark is coming from a person with such great knowledge on the subject. Summers expects the economy to grow at a rate of 3% to 4% in the next few years. When discussing specific jobs, Larry Summers believes that employment in the construction industry is going to decrease tremendously while the IT and Health Care industries are much more likely to experience future job growth. He attributes the expected drop in demand in the construction industry to the large amount of current vacancies in houses and buildings. As a way to possibly prevent this fall in demand, Summers suggests infrastructure projects in order to create more jobs in construction.

Senators talk tough on China currency

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Senate Democrats renewed their push to crack down on countries that manipulate their currencies, ahead of a key meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington.

A bill introduced Monday by Senator Charles Schumer and two other Democrats, would impose penalties, including possible tariffs, on nations that manipulate their currencies -- particularly China...

What would be the implications/consequences of the economies between the United States and China if the United States were able to enact tariffs in response to China's manipulation of its currency? Would that benefit us or hurt us in short term as well as long term?

In a bold push, Target goes international

For years, Target and its competitors backed away from expanding internationally. Now, finally the Target Corporation is making their first attempt to go internationally into Canada. The Minneapolis, MN based retailer explained that their plan is to open 100 to 150 stores in Canada over a two year period starting in 2013 when Target opens its first Canadian store. In recent years Target has only been able to open up 10-21 stores. This is a huge step forward for Target. The international deal is $1.85 billion for Target to obtain leasehold interests in up to 220 stores run by Zellers Inc. (Canada’s second-largest mass-merchandise retailer).

Target is my favorite store to shop at. The store offers a broad array of unique, high-quality products at reasonable prices for its consumers. I believe Target is making a very bold move by going internationally and I think it will extremely benefit the company as a whole. This transaction is giving Target a tremendous opportunity to expand the Target brand, the Target store and the experience of shopping at Target worldwide!

Bigger Trade Deficits Coming?

In this article, the author David Leonhardt discusses how Joseph Gagnon who is a former Federal Reserve economist explained that the world's financial imbalances such as China's trade surplus and the United States trade deficit, and that it will most likely return to record levels in the soon future. It also discusses to avoid of global imbalances, economies with current deficits need to cut their fiscal deficits more than they are projected, and the account surpluses should reduce financial outflows.

National Debt: The Ugly Facts

Very relevant towards todays class discussion- the fall of capitalism. America has long been the poster child of a great economy, but now it appears that the collapse is inevitable.

Small business lending to increase, regulators say

this article talks about how the FED chairman Ben Bernanke expects 2011 to be a much better year in terms of economic stability. it mentions that the banks are starting to give out more small business loans to due to the improving credit situation in the US. This could put an end to the banks keeping large amounts of excess reserves and it could provide more money for further investment in the local markets. Bernanke also mentions that he expects retail sales grow more in the new year, but he still believes it will be some time before the unemployment rate decreases to a point were we can be comfortable.

Illinois Wakes Up

This article expands on the earlier comment I made about Illinois raising their tax rates. Income tax went up from 3% to 5% and the corporate rate rose from 7.3% to 9.5%.
Many governors are criticizing Illinois and saying business should move to their states.
However, this change will most likely not drive business out - some other states listed in the article have been higher rates .
Mostly this article applauds Illinois for finally facing their budget problems and doing something about it - something that many states refuse to do.
However, this will hurt people and businesses in Illinois - my family now lives in IL and they are already stressing about the rate change.

Solar Panel Maker Moves Work to China

Evergreen Solar, currently the third largest solar panel maker in the United States, is closing its American factory and shifting production to China. They are aided by at least $43 million by the government of Massachusetts. The move is a joint venture with a Chinese company in central China. The move was made as a result of higher support by the government in China. The move will be final by the end of March, with all 800 workers being laid off.

I believe that the move is smart for Evergreen Solar because the cost of producing in the U.S. is much higher than producing overseas. The new trend now is to outsource production and I believe this is the right move for Evergreen to continue its growth. It was said that "Evergreen’s stock, which traded above $100 in late 2007, closed Friday in New York at $3.03". As you can see the stock price has fallen dramatically due to inefficient use of sources. This seems to be the logical move to lower costs and experience growth.

Banks Are Poised to Pay Dividends After 3-Year Gap

Financial analysts say that America's big banks are going to begin giving out dividends again for the first time in three years while they were repairing their ruined balance sheets. This comes after their second straight year of profit increases.
This will raise income for many retirees and pension funds - people who considered the bank shares a secure source of income. As an example, JP Morgan had a dividend payout of $1.52 per share before the crisis and now only has a 20 cent dividend rate.
JP Morgan Chase will be the first to report their financial performance , followed by Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo.

U.S. Export Financing Challenges China

People were scared of China's export-machine? Well, they may not have to worry much about it since the Ex-Im Bank tests the new financing model in challenge to China.

The financing terms for the $477 million deal required the U.S. to work with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a multilateral organization that monitors export-financing terms by developed countries—but not by China—to attempt to provide a level playing field.

The move is one of several challenges the Obama administration has made to China, the world's largest exporter, as its president, Hu Jintao, prepares to visit Washington next week.