What Dubai Means for Emerging Markets
Analysts say the emirate’s debt crisis likely won’t impact the reputation of true emerging markets, whose credit ratings are mostly improving
Emerging market assets attracted risk-takers and were early to rally even during the darkest days of the financial crisis and the recession earlier this year. Now, with news that Dubai has requested a standstill on $3.5 billion in debt that comes due in December and may default on $60 billion in debt, investors may be taking a harder look at emerging market assets.
The big fear is how much potential there is for contagion to other markets or assets if the emirate’s investment arm, Dubai World, defaults on its debt. We have learned the hard way in the current financial crisis that risks around real estate Continue Reading
A Guide to Assessing Franchising Opportunities
Jim Denney faced a common choice: buy a franchise or start an independent company?
He was an experienced business owner in Scotia, N.Y., near Albany, who had spent a year investigating a promising franchising opportunity — a business that raised sunken concrete slabs by pumping cement slurry beneath them, a technique sometimes known as mudjacking.
The franchise brought many advantages: brand recognition, a 60-year history as a successful company, a proven business model and systems already in place for operations, training, equipment and safety — all of which would allow Mr. Denney to shorten the learning curve and grow faster.
But he and his partner had reason to be wary. They already owned another franchise business and had grown frustrated by the lack of Continue Reading
SEC Greenlights Prosper; P2P Lending Resumes In 14 States, More Coming
Good news for P2P lending and trading platform Prosper as it concludes its 9-month hiatus during which it was not allowed to continue its loan operations in the United States.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is now greenlighting Prosper to facilitate peer-to-peer lending in 14 states with more on the way, borrowing nearly nationwide. Prosper is now the first and thus only Internet auction-based P2P loans platform to have its registration statement declared effective by the SEC, which is evidently good news for other players in the P2P lending industry, such as Continue Reading
A $200 Billion Credit-Crunch Buster?
The Fed unveils the details behind its plan to jump-start consumer and small business lending
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before the Senate Budget Committee on Mar. 3 in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong/Getty Images
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg
The federal government on Mar. 3 provided some long-awaited answers on how it plans to unlock consumer and small business credit markets, which have been frozen more solid than an icy tundra.
The $200 billion joint Federal Reserve Board and U.S. Treasury program, Continue Reading
Economy shrinks as consumers cut back on spending
WASHINGTON
A day after the Federal Reserve slashed a key interest rate to battle an economic downturn, the government reported Thursday the economy did shrink in the summer, sending the strongest signal yet that a recession may have already begun.
The Commerce Department reported that the gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, fell at [...]
Ukraine Gets an IMF Bailout
The IMF has agreed to lend Ukraine $16.5 billion, helping the country to avert a run on its banks and its currency, the hryvnia
The victims of the global financial crisis just seem to be getting bigger and bigger. First it was financial institutions, then came entire countries. After Iceland, the latest domino to wobble [...]
Surviving The Storm
For the bold, opportunities abound: Strategies for managers, employees, investors, consumers, and borrowers
When conditions are dire and people are losing their nerve, Traxis Partners hedge fund manager Barton Biggs pulls out a chart of the London stock market’s performance during World War II. The fever line plunges as the German army invades Poland, Denmark, [...]
Want a Loan? Act Responsibly
Someday, banks may try to assess the credit risk of borrowers via “responsibility” scores based on unconventional metrics like school grades or eBay reputations
As bankers claw their way out of the credit crunch, they’re likely to get a lot more curious about our ability to repay loans. To do that, they’ll no doubt search [...]
Stocks Plunge On Recession Fears
Shares have plunged in Asia on growing fears of a global recession.
Japan’s Nikkei tumbled more than 7% at one point, hitting levels last seen in May 2003.
It recovered some of the losses to end down 2.46% amid hopes of a bounce on Wall Street later in the day.
In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading [...]
Stocks: The Lost Earnings Season
The coming blitz of quarterly results may leave investors more confused than ever about the outlook for corporate profits and the economy
For stock investors, this earnings season is turning into the lost quarter.
This month, companies began unveiling their results from the 2008 third quarter, which included July, August, and September. And the next couple [...]
Fall in LIBOR Bodes Well For Global Economy
After central bankers and policy-makers took unprecedented steps to shore up global financial markets, the economic support for the world’s banks — estimated at roughly $3.3 trillion — is starting to pay off. On Oct. 20, the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), the rate banks charge each other to borrow money, fell the most in [...]
Startups Feel the Squeeze
With the IPO market bleak and venture capital scarce, innovative new companies are running low on cash
Gajus Worthington has seen the effect of the financial meltdown on U.S. startups, and it’s not a pretty picture.
The chief executive of Silicon Valley’s Fluidigm set out to take his chipmaker public about a month ago. On Sept. [...]
Short-Sellers: Unfairly Targeted in the Market Crisis?
During the nearly three-week ban on shorting financial shares, the market sank 21.5%. Are regulators after the wrong parties?
As the panicked selling in equities markets around the world has accelerated over the past two weeks, there have been several attempts to slow the process, including the temporary suspension of trading on stock exchanges from Moscow [...]
How Small Business Owners Can Cope with the Crisis
Don’t wait for that bailout to take effect. Manage your credit, watch costs, think globally, and hang on until a recovery materializes
Record financial bailouts that are followed by historic stock market drops, frozen credit markets, and a growing global economic crisis. Each day seems to bring a new round of bad news, and there’s no [...]
The Sky Falls on Wall Street
A bronze statue of a bull fighting with a bear is displayed at the Museum of American Finance on Oct. 7 on Wall Street in New York. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The week started with hope for a U.S. plan to calm world stock markets. By Friday, investors wondered if anything could stop the slide
Stupefying. Dizzying. [...]
GM Plus Chrysler Equals Survival?
The automakers may try to salvage one healthy company out of two sick ones
General Motors (GM) and Chrysler LLC have had discussions about merging their operations amid widespread speculation that neither company can survive the current global economic meltdown and havoc in the financial markets, according to executives at both companies who spoke on [...]
The Fed, the Crisis, and Your Portfolio
After the bold step by Bernanke & Co. to cut rates, what moves should you make? Here are five questions to ask your financial adviser—now
Financial advisers are usually an unflappable bunch. When the markets are wild, investors turn to their financial planners for calm, consistent advice: Stick to the plan, think long term, don’t do [...]
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