FUTURISTIC GROOVES

The Beginning of a Multilateral Economic System

ron — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:50:13 +0000

Global economic meetings used to mean the G7 and then the G8. However, last weekend marked the emergence of a new phenomenon the G20. Which have set stage for the beginning of a better multilateral economic system. It used to be a rich-country affair with Russia invited in during in the 1990s - but that was [...]

Global Stock Markets in 2008

ron — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:57:17 +0000

Curious on how some of the main global stock indexes have fared during the financial turmoil of 2008? The BBC elaborated here on main global stock indexes and how they have fared during 2008 (graphs update automatically).

Obamanomics

ron — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:50:14 +0000

“Let us remember that if the financial crisis has taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers, in this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people.” Obama’s Victory Speech. November, 2008 As DealBook pointed out in its fall 2008 special section, this is a [...]

OBAMA

ron — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:28:59 +0000

Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday November 4th 2008, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive. Hopefully Obama will reinvent America and ties better balanced international relations especially with Europe in order to [...]

The Downturn

ron — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:27:19 +0000

Global share markets have fallen back amid investors’ widening fears of a sustained worldwide economic recession. It is startling how quickly and savagely the global credit crunch is morphing into a full-blown economic crisis. The latest gloomy news on the economy took the euro below $1,26. Six months ago, a euro would buy as much as $1,60. [...]

Looming Real Economy Burst

ron — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:42:44 +0000

The far-reaching consequences of the global financial crisis are becoming apparent for the real economy. Today (Thursday 16th), the financial crisis shifted gears owing to fears for a global recession and battering financial markets. Even as governments sought yet more action to pull the world economy from the brink of collapse. Tokyo stock market’s benchmark Nikkei [...]

Gains, gains, everywhere

ron — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:14:31 +0000

The eight-day losing streak ends Monday after central banks and governments announced measures to bolster the global financial system. At the close Monday (October 13th), the Dow Jones industrial average soared 936.42 points, or 11.08%, to 9,387.61 — the biggest point gain ever. The S&P 500 index climbed 104.13 points, or 11.58%, to 1,003.35, boosted by [...]

Top 10 blogs to get you through the banking crisis

ron — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:52:20 +0000

Perplexed by plummeting indexes? Worried about your bank’s future? Comment Central’s rounded up ten of the best blogs to guide you through the banking crisis:link.

Global Stockmarkets Plummet

ron — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:03:23 +0000

Stock markets in Asia and Europe plummeted on Friday October 10th. Japan’s stockmarket ended the week in disarray: the Nikkei 225-share index fell by 24% on the week, twice the weekly fall of the 1987 crash. It is now at five-and-a-half-year lows. Europe followed suit. London’s FTSE 100 slumped by more than 10% within minutes [...]

“Major global downturn” says IMF

ron — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:28:27 +0000

The world economy is entering a major downturn in the biggest financial crisis since the 1930s, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a hard-hitting report, the IMF warned the global economy was facing its most dangerous crisis for 70 years. World economic growth will slow substantially this year, and only pick up modestly later in [...]

Inside Wall Street’s 36 Hours of Alarm

ron — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:46:34 +0000

“If we don’t do this, we may not have an economy on Monday.” So said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, according to The New York Times, in an emergency meeting on Thursday, Sept. 18 — part of a 36-hour period that The Times says included “two of the scariest days ever in financial markets.” It was during [...]

Global Financial Crisis

ron — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:13:48 +0000

A detailed background analysis on the current situation around the financial crisis can be found here (BBC Global Financial Crisis), here (Wharton, Wall Street’s Day of Reckoning: What’s Next), and here (HBS, Financial Crisis Caution Urged). A graphical overview of the crisis can be found here.

Where now for capitalism?

ron — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:34:04 +0000

Stock markets are plunging and investment banks collapsing. What does this mean for the future of capitalism? Do we need more regulation or, indeed, less? Can bank mergers save the day? Leading economists, thinkers and analysts give their views at this section of the BBC webpage.

High leverage is out, (retail) deposit is back…

ron — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:10:29 +0000

The last two major investment banks (Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley) in the US have changed their status to become bank holding companies, allowing them to take deposits from investors. The changes should enable Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to raise more funds by opening commercial banks. The move - part of a huge restructuring effort [...]

Too big to fail…

ron — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:04:08 +0000

American finance has a new, if reluctant, kingpin: the government. In a dramatic move on the evening of Tuesday September 16th the Federal Reserve agreed to provide American International Group with a loan of $85 billion (€59 billion) to help it stave off bankruptcy. In return, either the Fed or Treasury will take effective control [...]

Global Market Turmoil Continues

ron — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:25:25 +0000

Once the gold standard in the insurance industry, AIG is the latest victim of the meltdown in the credit markets. The insurance business is all about risk—understanding it, minimizing it, pricing to compensate for it. But American International Group (AIG), the biggest insurance company in the world, seems to have had very little concept of [...]

The Resurgence of South Korea’s Financial Industry

ron — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:08:31 +0000

Bloomberg has written up a report on South Korea’s ambition to build up world class financial institutions and capabilities. In 1999, Kim Jung Yul sat at a table negotiating the sale of Korea First Bank to San Francisco-based Newbridge Capital LLC as it sought cash to stay afloat during the Asian financial crisis. Nine years later, [...]

Who will save Lehman?

ron — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 07:50:01 +0000

Executives at Lehman Brothers are racing to meet a deadline of Sunday night to find a new owner for the troubled bank, the BBC has learned. More in-depth coverage can be found at Financial Times and BusinessWeek.

Google’s Longer-term Strategy @ Work?

ron — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:10:58 +0000

Will Its “Chrome” Web Browser Put a Shine on Google’s Long-term Strategy? Casual observers may have concluded that Google’s introduction this week of its Chrome web browser was a direct assault on the dominance of Microsoft’s Explorer. But Wharton professors David Hsu and Kevin Werbach see a longer-term strategy at work. They say Google wants [...]

The second browser war

ron — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:14:13 +0000

Google’s new web browser is its most direct attack on Microsoft yet. Google doesn’t just want to grab market share with its new Web browser, Chrome. It wants to change the way we use computers. Read more on BusinessWeek and The Economist.

Rethinking Business?

ron — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:20:35 +0000

Imagine a crazy wonderland where most of what you learned in business school is either upside down or backward. A land where customers control the company, jobs are avenues of self-expression, the barriers to competition are out of your control, strangers design your products, fewer features are better, advertising drives customers away, demographics are beside [...]

Coke’s Restyling Efforts

ron — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:10:04 +0000

Five years ago, Coca-Cola’s design chief was told: “We need to do more with design. Go figure it out.” Now his labors are bearing fruit. Read more.

Social Networking King… Facebook?

ron — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:46:06 +0000

Facebook is quickly expanding into many world regions and this internationalisation strategy seems to pay off. According to figures released by comScore (SCOR) on Aug. 12. Facebook has overtaken Myspace and now counts 132 million users, nearly 63% are outside North America. The site, which had been translated into 20 languages including French, Spanish, and [...]

Golden Olympic Opening Ceremony Photos

ron — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:49:15 +0000

Source: IHT

Let the Games Begin!

ron — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:31:33 +0000

Furthermore, today, BusinessWeek devoted a string of articles to the Olympics as well. * As Olympics Open, China’s Economy Slows * Olympics Security Is No Game * Slide Show: China’s Olympic Stars * Slide Show: Olympic Innovation * Case Study: Ambush Marketing With the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the eyes of the world have turned to China. The McKinsey Quarterly has taken [...]