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It seems so easy in the IBM commercial. An underling explains to her pessimistic boss how their company will save millions of dollars with "green" technology.
"Where do I sign?" he asks, as happy music erupts and cartoon animals dance across the screen.
What the ad never mentions is the money he’s going to […]
Filed under: news by Wolf
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Pension funds and other big investors in commodities are reassessing strategies for 2009 after their huge buildup in commodity index exposure this year backfired as underlying raw material prices imploded.
Institutional investors in commodities have thus far stuck to “long-only” futures indexes, which principally make them buyers of commodities, not sellers. This worked wonders when […]
Filed under: term by Wolf
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WASHINGTON – Construction of new homes in America plunged last month to the lowest level on records going back nearly 50 years as U.S. builders slashed production while Wall Street nosedived.
Embattled homebuilders, who enjoyed a five-year boom, are now building new homes and apartments at a record-low pace, according to government data released […]
Filed under: marketing by Wolf
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Imre Apostagi says the hospital upgrade he's overseeing has stalled because his employer in Budapest can't get a foreign-currency loan.
The company borrows in foreign currencies to avoid domestic interest rates as much as double those linked to dollars, euros and Swiss francs. Now banks are curtailing the loans as investors pull money out […]
Filed under: legal by Wolf
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Slashing government spending is certainly a phrase that plays well on the campaign trail.
But real spending cuts won’t mean fewer school administrators or less environmental red tape. Real cuts mean that you’ll have to live with a smaller military, put off your retirement and pay more for your health care - and that’s […]
Filed under: technology by Wolf
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NEW YORK – Oil prices tumbled below US$95 a barrel today, falling for a second day as investors bet that a revised US$700 billion financial bailout plan won't be enough to avoid a recession and revive dwindling U.S. energy demand.
The declines came a day after the Senate overwhelmingly approved the bitterly contested rescue […]
Filed under: marketing by Wolf
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A measure of U.S. business activity slowed for the first time in seven months in September as new orders and inventories weakened.
The National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago said today its business index decreased to 56.7 this month from 57.9 in August. Fifty is the dividing line between growth and contraction. The index averaged […]
Filed under: business by Wolf
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Asian hedge fund managers are waiting with dread to see if tough new short selling restrictions sweep across the region after Australia and Taiwan joined U.S. and UK regulators in cracking down on the practice.
Major Asian markets, such as Japan and Hong Kong, have so far held their fire. But industry executives, many angry […]
Filed under: economics by Wolf
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U.S. financial institutions are using stock swaps and intricate loan transactions to help foreign investors avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes on dividends paid by U.S. companies, according to a Senate report to be released on Thursday.
The report by the U.S. Senate Homeland Security subcommittee on permanent investigations said investment bankers use phrases […]
Filed under: marketing by Wolf
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Tom Ryan, chief executive officer for CVS Caremark Corp. said Thursday he expects enough Longs Drug Stores Corp. shareholders will accept his company's' $2.9 billion bid despite some shareholder pressure to increase the deal price, according to a MarketWatch report.
"We believe we're going to get the two-thirds vote," Ryan said at a […]
Filed under: business by Wolf
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