Description: Shares of Boeing are flying higher after the aerospace company landed a multi-billion dollar contract to make 180 aerial tankers for the Air Force. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 02/25/2011 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/markets/2011/02/25/mkts_boeing_0225.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Is there a fundamental concern investors should have when a company is highly dependent on government related spending?… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Governments & Regulators
Eyeing Inflation with Liz Ann Sonders
Description: Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab & Co., gives her view on inflation in the U.S. now and inflationary signs to look for in the year ahead. Dow Jones’ Veronica Dagher has the interview. Source: Marketwatch.com – video report Date: 02/23/2011 Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/eyeing-inflation-with-liz-ann-sonders/5658E1E7-2BD4-498B-A73C-A7CC24C49E96 Questions for discussion: Do you agree with the… Read more »
China’s hold on rare earths
Description: As China stockpiles rare earth minerals used to manufacture consumer items like iPhones and cameras, the U.S. is facing a growing shortage. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 02/18/2011 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/markets/2011/02/18/mkts_rare_earths_china.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Do you think domestic development of rare earth mines should proceed? How would you expect prices to move over the… Read more »
American dream still home ownership
Description: KB Home CEO Jeffrey Mezger says recovery is taking place in California and Texas and foreclosed homes are finding buyers. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 02/18/2011 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/02/17/n_kb_home_lookahead.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Do you agree with the analysis presented in this report? How would investors be expected to react to the forecasts presented for… Read more »
Facebook’s $50,000 factory jobs
Description: Facebook is opening a data center in April in Prineville, Oregon, and has promised to create jobs in exchange for tax breaks. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 02/11/2011 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/02/11/t-facebook-oregon-data-jobs.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Summarize the financial structure of this investment by Facebook from the firm’s point of view and then from the other… Read more »
Banks slashed small business lending by $43 billion
Description:Â The numbers back up what small business owners have been saying for two years: Main Street suffered a brutal credit crunch. Source:Â CNNMoney.com Date: 02/11/2011 Link:Â http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/11/smallbusiness/small_business_lending_drop/index.htm Questions for discussion:Â Do you believe there was a credit crunch for small business? How differently were bigger businesses treated by the banks? How much affect do… Read more »
At Center of Derivatives Debate, a Gung-Ho Regulator
Description:  Gary Gensler has his work cut out for him. As chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, he is leading the charge to overhaul the murky $600 trillion derivatives market, which was at the center of the financial crisis. The Dodd-Frank Act, the financial overhaul law enacted last year, requires Mr. Gensler’s agency to… Read more »
Public Investors in Privately Held Companies
Description: The lengthening time frame it takes for privately held companies to be acquired or to file for an IPO is spurring interest in startups that cater to investors who want to trade in shares of non-public companies. MarketWatch’s John Letzing interview with Thomas Foley, founder of Xpert Financial Inc., in San Francisco. Source:Â Marketwatch.com… Read more »
Stock-Hedging Lets Bankers Skirt Efforts to Overhaul Pay
Description:  Intent on fixing a banking system that contributed heavily to the recent financial crisis, lawmakers and regulators pushed Wall Street to overhaul its pay practices. Big banks responded by shifting more compensation into stock, a move intended to align employees’ interests more closely with those of investors and discourage excessive risk-taking. Source: NYTimes.com  … Read more »
Never Again?
Description:  The final judgment of the official inquiry into the 2008 financial crisis — that it was an avoidable disaster, brought about by regulatory neglect and Wall Street recklessness — was an admonition to the government never to let it happen again. Source: NYTimes.com  Date: 01/29/2011 Link: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/never-again/ Questions for discussion: Summarize the report… Read more »
