Posts Tagged ‘recession’

Bargain basement

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

Attention K-mart shoppers…pop quiz. Today 99 cents could buy you a) something tacky from the dollar store or b) one share of Citigroup? If you answered c) all of the above, you’re right! Citi actually closed out at $1.02, so add a few more cents and a share of the troubled investment bank could be yours tomorrow.

The market in general also tanked again today, with U.S. stock indexes finishing down 4%. Earlier this week the Dow hit its lowest level since 1997. With market performances like that, it could be time for everyone to start hitting the dollar store. Or the bottle.

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Duh!

Monday, December 1st, 2008

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) revealed the worst kept secret in the world on Monday when its Business Cycle Dating Committee report “determined that a peak in economic activity occurred in the U.S. economy in December 2007.”

The peak marks the end of expansion and the beginning of a recession. The NBER does not accept the common definition of recession: two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.
NBER defines a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income, and other indicators.”

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UBS changes outlook – U.S. recession likely

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

That the Federal Reserve Bank lowered the Fed funds and discount window rates this morning is old news; but now UBS has officially changed its outlook today and is predicting a U.S. recession.

“The ball started rolling with the recession-like rise in unemployment in December,” says Jim O’Sullivan, UBS chief U.S. economist, adding that last month’s decline in the CEO confidence index, combined with a slipping stock market and weak jobs report have tipped the balance. “It’s just the sense that businesses and consumers are getting more cautious. And the down turn in housing is starting to feed on itself,” he says, adding that he anticipates recovery in the second half of 2008.

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