The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) is 7% off its end April high, and has broken decisively down through its 50 Day Moving Average.
The Fed and its supporters in the economist brotherhood (yes they are mostly men) have described this as a ‘soft patch’.
The markets are not so sure, and there are a confluence of factors suggesting the Dow and many other global stock markets are about to go bump in the night …
Will raising the retirement age hold off a pension crisis?
In the US, the pension deficit amounts to $3 billion. Unlike wages, pension promises have been deemed, weirdly, to be permanent and sacrosanct. But as budget pressures bite, politicians are going to have to change laws and constitutions.
Even though the heat is cooling off tech company investments, Groupon is set to IOP for $750 million. However Groupon is seen as a sales company, and not a tech company. And it looked like their stocks were going to crash after their not-so-well received SuperBowl ads.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s May arrest for sexually assaulting his hotel maid caused a media frenzy – and a sensation of DSK jokes followed. Everyone from Joan Rivers to SNL weighed in on the darkly humorous aspects surrounding DSK’s arrest and many couldn’t resist drawing parallels to the scandalous news.
The Saturday Night Live video may not be available in your country so here’s a transcript of ‘Cold Case’, poking fun at Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
[ open on exterior, Rikers Island ]
According to a recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Australia was ranked as the best advanced economy in the world to live in.
The 2011 Your Better Life Index saw Australia attain extremely high scores in Housing, Life Satisfaction and the Environment.
Alisher Usmanov, the Russian magnate behind DST, is telling reporters that he thinks valuations are starting to get too high in tech. Usmanov, owns about 10 percent of Facebook, said he’s cautious about investing more money in Internet companies, as prices may have peaked.
DST is the late stage investment firm that in 2009 and 2010 put hundreds of millions of dollars into mature startups like Zynga, Facebook, and Groupon.
It was those very valuations that first got people screeching about a bubble.
U.S., China and five other large economies will face deeper scrutiny from their peers to ensure their policies don’t derail a global expansion that may be strong enough to absorb recent shocks. The seven countries have a gross domestic product greater than 5 percent of the Group of 20 nations’ economy, and so carry “the greater potential for spillover effects,” G-20 central bankers and finance ministers said during weekend talks in Washington.
The Financial Services Ombudsman in Ireland recorded the highest number of complaints against banks in recent months. Customers are complaining about being harassed and mistreated by banks and financial institutions over mortgage arrears and loan repayment disputes.
In 2011, 7,2300 consumers filed complaints claiming to have been subjected to heavy handed tactics by banks and other institutions.
CHINA – The State Council plans to increase the individual income tax threshold from the current 2,000 yuan ($360) a month to 3,000 yuan. This symbolizes an important step toward narrowing the gap between the haves and have-nots, improve social services and resolve the countries’ income distribution disparity.
Property tax is aimed at taxing individual’s accumulated wealth and is desperately needed to reverse the country’s wealth distribution momentum.
Eric Cantor has represented a section of Richmond, Va., in Congress since 2001 and now is the House majority leader. He would like to craft a permanent U.S. tax system that caters exclusively to those at the top.
Michele Bachmann, the Republican representative from Minnesota, a onetime tax lawyer who hopes to make a run for the White House.
