Category: News Desk

Regulators Close More US Banks


 

Regulators last month closed banks in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Colorado, bringing to seven the number of closures in 2011.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took over the banks,

the largest by far being United Western Bank, based in Denver, with $2.05 billion in assets.

Also seized were the Bank of Asheville, based in Asheville, N.C., with $195.1 million in assets;

the CommunitySouth Bank and Trust, based in Easley, S.C., with $440.6 million in assets;

AOL Buys Huffington Post


 

Turkish Model for “New Egypt” Intriguing, Not Definitive


 

As Egypt struggles to reinvent itself, many experts in the region say that it

might look to Turkey for some valuable lessons — although there are significant major structural differences as well.

Arriving at a template that effectively integrates Islam, democracy and vibrant economics

has been a near-impossible dream for Middle East reformers stretching back decades.

To a large extent, Egypt’s inability to accommodate these three themes lies at the root of its current plight.

10 Most Jobless Countries


 

205 million people were unemployed in 2010 (according to a UN Report) and that number is not expected to improve this year – which leaves global economic growth on the back foot.

Europe, Africa and South America’s labour markets are struggling to recover from the 2008 financial crisis – as people under 25 face youth unemployment rates at a record level of 21 percent.

Here are the 10 most jobless countries:

US Home Ownership Hits 12-Year Bottom


So what’s happened in the US property market since the mortgage-based derivatives meltdown in 2008?

An even smaller percentage of Americans own their own homes today than at any time since 1998

when homeownership sat at a low 66.5 percent.

Back in 2004, homeownership reached 69 percent, an all-time high.

The home ownership gap between white and minority households is creeping up to 30 percent – the highest it’s ever been –  

John A. Paulson’s Gold Bets Net Handsome $5 Billion Profit


 

John A. Paulson is a hedge fund manager known for having the Midas touch. 

Founder and president of Paulson & Co., a New-York based hedge fund, Paulson is best-known for his tidy $5 billion profit in 2010 (according to two investors in his company) – when the housing market collapsed.

Paulson believed the dollar would lose its value in the coming years and so invested in gold via a gold exchange-traded fund (ETF), SPDR Gold Shares one of the largest ETFs in the world that holds 1,230 metric tons of gold bars in HSBCs vault in London.

Egypt’s Suez Canal Key for World Oil & Gas Shipping


 

Western oil and gas companies have halted most drilling in Egypt, but as violence has broken out in some cities,

the biggest immediate threat to world energy supplies could emerge from a possible blockage of the Suez Canal or nearby pipelines.

So far oil and gas flows through Egypt have not been interrupted, and the army has stepped up security around the canal and pipelines.

But rising tensions in the port of Suez have led several shipping companies to order their ships not to change crews in Egypt.

Social Media Innovation Aids Egypt Struggle


With the unruly sounds of protests in the background, the Egyptian man declared there were 50,000 demonstrators in the streets of Cairo.

“And the number is growing,” he said, raising his voice to be heard on the recording.

Unedited, raw, anonymous and emotional, Egyptian voices are trickling out

through a new service that evades attempts by the authorities to suppress them by cutting Internet services.

Egyptian Economy on the Brink


 

Egypt’s economy is approaching paralysis as foreign commerce, tourism and banking all but halted,

placing acute pressure on President Hosni Mubarak to find a way out of the weeklong chaos.

International companies closed plants and sent workers home or out of the country;

food staples went undelivered to stores;

and banks remained closed during a week when many Egyptians, who are routinely paid monthly, would receive their paychecks.

Global Markets Shaken by Egypt Turmoil


Like no other recent event since the global financial meltdown of Black September 2008,

the unfolding turmoil in Egypt is unnerving financial actors all over the world.

On Wall Street, it’s known as a “Black Swan,” an allegedly exogenous event —

a sudden political or economic jolt that supposedly cannot be predicted or modeled,

but sends shockwaves rippling through the global political economy.