PORTFOLIO TRACKER By John O’Donoghue Nearly, but not quite. By Monday 27th the S&P 500 stood at -27% for the month, but a last minute reprieve saw the month close at a more sedate but still extremely scary -16.75%. For the record, the worst month – for the S&P at least – was September 1931,
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. Whenever I talk to people about the dramatic down-sizing of the Cyprus wine industry it sparks all sorts of comments. Generally negative. “It was the fault of the government, they have always done nothing”. “The Big Four wine companies in Limassol are to blame”. “It was the growers”. “It was the unions”. “It was
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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday central bankers around the world were ready to do more to ease severe credit market strains and support faltering economic growth. "The continuing volatility of markets and recent indicators of economic performance confirm that challenges remain," he said in remarks prepared for delivery to a European Central
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Sales at retailers suffered a record decline in October, government data on Friday showed, as shoppers reined in spending with home prices falling, although plunging gasoline prices also reduced outlays by consumers. Sales slumped 2.8% last month to a seasonally adjusted $363.7 billion, the largest decline since the series began in 1992, the U.S. Commerce
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Top cellphone maker Nokia Oyj said the world's mobile phone market would be weaker than it expected in the fourth quarter due to the economic slowdown and was set to fall further in 2009. It forecast 1.24 billion phones being sold worldwide this year, down from its previous estimate of 1.26 billion, and said handset
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Stocks pared losses on Friday following a report that showed a surprise rise in a gauge of consumer sentiment for November, tempering worries about the faltering economy. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 16.01 points, or 0.18 percent, at 8,819.24. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 6.43 points, or 0.71 percent, at
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Consumer confidence rose unexpectedly in November, rebounding from a record drop the previous month as tumbling gasoline prices offset worries about unemployment and recession, a survey showed on Friday. The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its index of confidence edged up to 57.9 from 57.6 in October. Despite the rise, sentiment remains at
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Videogame sales are expected to be strong this year and in 2009, despite the economic troubles that have hurt some retail stores that sell the games, industry executives said on Thursday. Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets interactive entertainment conference in New York, they said their optimism is fueled by solid sales of advanced game
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Facebook said on Friday it had removed several pages from its site used by Italian neo-Nazis to incite violence after European politicians accused the Internet social networking site of allowing a platform to racists. Seven different group pages had been created on the site with titles advocating violence against gypsies. "The existence of these groups
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World leaders headed to Washington on Friday to try to find ways to tackle a global economic crisis that has plunged much of Europe into its first recession since the euro currency was formed. The worst financial crisis in 80 years has weakened the world's major economies and official data showed the 15-nation euro zone
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