Stocks are soaring this year. Everywhere. And if you think the rally has been big in the U.S., just check out emerging markets.
Eurozone finance ministers gave a clear indication they were preparing to paper over Greece's failure to hit international lenders' mandated budget targets for 2011, saying they would now evaluate Athens' performance based on goals that combine both this year's and next year's finances.
European Union ministers struggle to contain a debt crisis that could engulf an entire continent.
With each passing day, Greece's economic and political malaise deepens despite one massive International Monetary Fund-European Union bailout package after another to keep that country afloat. And with each passing day, as the Greek economy continues its downward spiral under the weight of externally imposed draconian budget austerity, there is the increased risk that a disorderly Greek euro exit could result in real contagion to the rest of the European periphery and especially to Italy, an otherwise solvent country.
Hooded youths tossed stones and police fired stun grenades Friday in front of the Greek Parliament as lawmakers faced tough new conditions they must meet before euro zone finance ministers will give them billions of desperately needed euros to bail out the debt-ridden country.
Chinese imports fell sharply in January, a sign of sluggish domestic demand that will fuel concerns about whether the fragile global economy can count on China as a bastion of growth.
One year after the TSA administrator brought efforts to privatize airport screening to a virtual standstill, Congress has kick-started the program, opening the door for other airports to "opt out" of TSA screening.
Faced with a strong jobs report Friday, Republicans tried out a new rhetorical message: This isn't a disaster, but Ronald Reagan could have done better.
Companies are saying the job market is getting better. Workers are saying it's already kicked into high gear.
That loud noise you heard Friday morning? Cheers from the White House and President Barack Obama's campaign headquarters in Chicago.
It's not tough to find critics of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae on either the right or the left. But there has been little progress made in rehabilitating the mortgage giants.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich both accused each other of having financial interests in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the Republican debate Thursday night.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel launched an outspoken defense of the European project on Wednesday, but warned that the bloc's richest nation would not make bailout promises to solve the eurozone crisis that it cannot keep.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls for reform at the World Economic Forum while avoiding bailout promises.
The British economy shrank by an estimated 0.2% in the last quarter of 2011, the Office of National Statistics announced Wednesday, but the country is not yet in recession because growth was positive in the quarter before that.
President Obama = big government.
Republicans focused on the Obama administration's job record during their rebuttal to Tuesday night's State of the Union address.
Freddie Mac is in the spotlight of the Republican presidential contest, as Mitt Romney attacks Newt Gingrich for his 2006 work for the mortgage finance firm.
The International Monetary Fund lowered its outlook for the world economy on Tuesday, and warned that the global financial system faces growing risks from the debt crisis in Europe.
The one thing Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich seem to agree on about Freddie Mac is that it played a significant role in the housing bubble -- and the subsequent financial meltdown that followed when it burst.
In the world of economic and social development, lists are easy to come by. The class of leaders gathering in Davos are well aware that ranking nations -- by levels of freedom, ease of doing business, competitiveness, fragility -- has become a preferred sport for analysts working for governments, magazines, NGOs or think tanks around the world. But it's rare to find a surprising result.
Entrepreneurship and business are rarely accorded a serious place in discussions around drivers of economic development. A cursory look at the numbers makes this seem very surprising. China has pulled approximately 600 million people out of absolute poverty since Deng Xiaoping unleashed market reforms in the late 1970s. Never in human history have so many people been pulled out of grinding poverty is such a short span of time.
At first glance, South Carolina would seem to be in pretty bad shape.
In their attacks on the food stamp program, some Republican presidential candidates are leaving a deeply misleading impression of the nation's leading anti-hunger program. No one aspires to enroll, but for those who must, it is an essential lifeline that addresses one of the harshest impacts of poverty and unemployment -- hunger.
The economy is slowly but surely getting better. That's the good news. The bad news is that the market has already figured that out.
The World Bank Wednesday slashed its 2012 growth forecasts for both emerging and developing economies from its estimates of only six months ago, and warned the world is on the cusp of a new global recession that could be as bad as the crisis four years ago.
Federal aid helped many cash-strapped Americans keep a roof over their heads during the prolonged economic slump, but the number of people living a step away from the streets has grown sharply, researchers reported Wednesday.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was asked about his previous statements concerning the food stamp program during Monday's presidential debate.
CNN's John Defterios explains how emerging markets are countering Europe's debt crisis.
According to Mitt Romney, the nation's growing focus on income inequality is all about envy.
In yet another push to define the Democrats as defenders of the middle class, a top economic adviser for the Obama administration outlined Thursday the massive growth in income inequality and its ramifications on the nation. Alan Krueger, chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, said that inequality is now causing an unhealthy division in opportunities and is posing a threat to economic growth. Economic mobility has decreased and the middle class has shrunk.
It has been more than three years since then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson fired his famous metaphorical bazooka and the federal government seized control of mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The leaders of Germany and Italy sought to present a united front Wednesday in the fight to resolve the eurozone debt crisis and revive the ailing European economy.
Italy's prime minister is in debt talks with Germany's chancellor in Berlin. Diana Magnay reports.
Germany's economic recovery went into reverse at the end of last year but the country still notched up 3 per cent growth in 2011 -- twice as fast as in the US and the rest of the eurozone.
CNNMoney: Middle class dropoutsupdated: Wed Jan 11 2012 05:23:00
Nearly one third of Americans who were raised in the middle class dropped down the economic ladder as adults -- and that's before the Great Recession hit.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged six former executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with securities fraud on Friday for misrepresenting their holdings of high-risk mortgage loans.
Fannie Mae CEO Michael Williams plans to resign, the government-controlled mortgage giant said Tuesday. Williams, who took over as president and CEO of the troubled company in 2009, will continue as CEO until Fannie Mae's board names a successor. The firm did not provide a specific reason for Williams' departure; in a statement, Williams said only that he had decided that "the time is right to turn over the reins to a new leader." Williams will leave behind a firm still struggling to get its finances in order. In November, Fannie Mae reported a net third-quarter loss of $5.1 billion. The loss forced the firm to ask for another $7.8 billion in funding from the Treasury Department, a request that took its bailout total to $112.6 billion. Federal regulators put Fannie Mae and fellow government-sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac into conservatorship during the financial meltdown in September 2008. The sister companies now depend on government help to cover losses on the
Money Magazine: Are we the next Japan?updated: Wed Jan 04 2012 18:19:00
There's no shortage of debate as to whether the Obama administration and Congress have done the right things in attempting to avert a debt crisis and revive the stalled economy.
The starkly contrasting economic trajectories of countries inside the eurozone were highlighted on Tuesday as Germany reported unemployment at 20-year lows while Spanish jobless figures rose for the fifth consecutive month.
French presidential candidate Francois Hollande opened the new year with a shot across the bow of rival President Nicolas Sarkozy Tuesday.
Manufacturing grew at a faster pace in December, according to a closely-watched reading on the health of the sector.
Investors may be saying good riddance to a choppy year, but they'd better buckle up. The first quarter of 2012 is going to be a roller coaster ride, with Europe front and center.
Until 2011, we were in a Rip Van Winkle-world. Events unfolded so fast that every morning, we seemed to wake up in circumstances unrecognizably transformed from those of the previous night. Yet this year has broken the mold. Nothing happened: certainly, nothing worthy of record by an historian like me.
Economists are a bit more optimistic about the U.S. economy as 2011 comes to a close. But only a bit.
Consumer confidence shot higher for the second month in a row in December, according to a survey from The Conference Board.
The U.S. economy was weaker than previously thought in the third quarter, according to a government report, although economists are expecting stronger growth in the final three months of the year.
A top White House economic adviser said on Wednesday that congressional deadlock on extending payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance benefits could threaten the U.S. economy.
If Congress fails to pass an extension of the payroll tax holiday, it would put a serious dent into economic growth in 2012 and could even help tip the U.S. back into a recession, according to economists.
Richard M. Kovacevich is the retired Chairman & CEO of Wells Fargo. William M. Isaac is Global Head of Financial Institutions at FTI Consulting and former Chairman of the FDIC. The views expressed are their own.
Fortune: Wal-Mart's makeoverupdated: Mon Dec 19 2011 11:50:00
What happened to the smiley face? It's long gone from Wal-Mart marketing after years as the corporate symbol, and its disappearance is part of a much larger story. It's hard to believe, but for decades the world's largest retailer wasn't much of a marketer. It spent little on marketing, and its efforts, epitomized by the grinning circle, could be charitably called down-home and realistically described as amateurish. Change finally began four years ago when Stephen Quinn was made chief marketing officer of Wal-Mart U.S. He exiled the smiley face to the land of e-mail emoticons and developed a new theme -- "Save money. Live better" -- that became a statement of corporate purpose. Current TV commercials actually include some wit while hammering home the message.
If Congress doesn't extend unemployment benefits in the next few weeks, millions of jobless Americans will find themselves without a vital safety net in 2012.
Women must make their voices heard in climate negotiations. The role of women as agents of change in their homes, places of work and communities is often underplayed. Yet their role is critical: Women understand the inter-generational aspects of climate change and sustainable development. We women think in time horizons that span the lives of our children and grandchildren. We need to use this understanding to influence the political process and to inject a much needed sense of urgency into the climate change negotiations.
President Barack Obama accused Republicans of making a blunt political calculation after his election three years ago, deciding to resist his initiatives, skirt compromise and bank on the economy getting worse to bolster their re-election prospects.
Some 32,885 people died on the nation's roadways in 2010 -- a number that, while slightly higher than preliminary figures released in April, shows the downward trend in traffic deaths is continuing, now reaching low levels not seen since 1949, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported Thursday.
Bamboozled by eurozone debt crisis jargon? CNN is here to help you tell your bond yields from your banking interventions, your defaults from your haircuts. And if you need anything more explained, please submit your questions to Soundoff at the bottom of the story.
Europe's debt crisis has dragged on for nearly two years and has only intensified by the day as leaders fail, time and time again, to deliver a credible solution. Yet investors and economists continue to bank on a big breakthrough.
The job market is showing some signs of life. And that's of course a good thing. It's just too bad that people still aren't making enough money to keep up with the fact that the cost of almost everything is getting more expensive.
Eurozone countries now have a week to develop a plan that will reassure world markets,. CNN's Jim Boulden reports.
Young workers are landing jobs again.
After coming close to stagnation in recent months, U.S. manufacturing growth strengthened in November amid a wave of new orders, a purchasing managers' group said Thursday.
More than one in five Americans saw at least a quarter of their available household income vanish each year during the Great Recession, and they lacked a sufficient financial cushion, according to a report released Monday.
Under pressure to avert a financial meltdown, European leaders are working on a new plan to ensure fiscal discipline across the euro area.
Investors kept the pressure on European debt on Thursday as interest rates on government bonds remained at elevated levels, a day after a weak Germany bond auction rattled markets in the United States.
CNN's Richard Quest interviews Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos in London about the world economic situation.
The good news is, a recent pick-up in consumer spending is fending off fears of another U.S. recession.
European bond yields rose Wednesday after a German bond auction flopped, undermining trust in eurozone government debt.
Americans don't usually pay a lot of attention to Spanish politics, but the election of 2004 proved an exception. The election that occurred Sunday should be a second.
It does not make for pleasant dinner conversation. But we have a global sanitation crisis. More than 40% of the world's population does not have access to a toilet. These 2.6 billion people, most living in low- and middle-income countries in Asia and Africa, face the daily challenge of finding a bush, train track or empty lot where they can urinate and defecate in relative privacy.
The Euro crisis is not just a Greek crisis, or an Italian crisis, or now even a French crisis.
The euro may survive the current crisis, but the European Union may not. CNN's Tim Lister reports.
The debt crisis in Europe may be entering a dangerous new phase as core members of the euro currency union now appear vulnerable to attack by the bond market.
Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need big pay packages to protect taxpayers from losing more of the billions spent to rescue the mortgage finance companies, according to the head of the agency that sets pay at the beleaguered firms.
European economic growth was once again virtually nonexistent in the third quarter, further raising the risk that the continent could soon fall into a new recession.
Consumers kept hitting the stores in October, despite economic headwinds and uncertainty that many economists had feared would keep them from spending.
Mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac received the biggest federal bailout of the financial crisis. And nearly $100 million of those tax dollars went to lucrative pay packages for top executives, filings show.
German and French economic growth rebounded in the third quarter of this year, putting the countries in slightly better shape to withstand a looming eurozone recession.
French PM's prediction raises questions over eurozone's future. CNN's John Defterios reports.
The Asian Development Bank has called for India and China to be ready to help rescue the eurozone from its sovereign debt crisis to avoid a long-term downturn that will stunt the growth of Asian economies.
Douglas J. Elliott, who worked as an investment banker for two decades, is a fellow at the Brookings Institution.
President Barack Obama, in Hawaii for a weekend economic conference, said Saturday that leaders of nine nations have agreed on the "broad outlines" of a trans-Pacific free trade agreement.
CNN's Fareed Zakaria looks ahead at what the president hopes to accomplish during his upcoming trip to Asia.
President Barack Obama begins a nine-day trip through the Asia-Pacific region Saturday with a stop in Hawaii for a weekend economic conference where he will press for progress on a trans-Pacific free trade agreement.
Ohio residents this week voted to reverse a controversial law that would have limited union bargaining rights in order to help control ballooning state and local government shortfalls.
The eurozone crisis has truly engulfed Italy -- but is it because the country is insolvent or simply unable to access funds easily in the financial markets?
Europe is heading for recession. China is battling its own economic demons. And with the United States also facing problems at home (9% unemployment anyone?), it's hardly in a position to help.
Losses widened at mortgage giant Fannie Mae in the third quarter, forcing the government-controlled firm to request another $7.8 billion from the Treasury Department.
It's no surprise that top earners in America make a heck of a lot more than middle- and lower-income Joes.
OPEC now expects demand for oil to grow even more than it projected just a year ago, as the oil cartel said the recovery from the Great Recession took place faster than it expected.
There were more than 49 million Americans living in poverty in 2010, under an alternative measure released by the Census Bureau Monday.
The cost to taxpayers for bailing out mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac won't be quite as bad as previous estimates, according to the federal agency overseeing the two companies.
Richard Wilkinson charts the hard data on economic inequality, and shows the real effects on health and lifespan.
Douglas J. Elliott, who worked as an investment banker for two decades, is a fellow at the Brookings Institution.
The European Central Bank cut interest rates for the first time in two years Thursday, reversing a direction set earlier this year, as the new head of the monetary authority said Europe is heading into a mild recession.
The world's most powerful political leaders will gather this week in France to chart a course for the global economy as the outlook for growth remains fraught with risks.
The world's population has more than tripled since I was born in 1938. On Monday, our world's population is expected to hit the milestone of 7 billion people -- up from 2.5 billion in 1950 -- with almost all of the growth expected to happen in the cities of less developed countries. This means that the problems the world faced when I was a child are even more urgent now for my grandchildren.
Stocks are poised to end October with one the best monthly performances on record, but the market's wave of uncertainty is far from over.
As stimulus funds dry up, cash-strapped states are facing steep rises in Medicaid spending, forcing them to slash services and trim costs.
The nation's economy regained some much-needed strength in the third quarter, as the pace of growth nearly doubled compared to the previous three months.
After three years of belt-tightening, Tom Van De Water, 41, a customer information systems manager in Stratham, N.H., has finally loosened the family budget. This year he and his wife, Alyson, 41, celebrated their 10th anniversary in St. Lucia, and she bought him a pricey watch for his birthday.
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