Research Center

Economy Watch: The Wall Street Roller Coaster is Back

Wall Street seems determined to panic like it’s 2008, no matter what the bearded one says, so the roller-coaster ride was back downward on Wednesday, pretty much erasing Tuesday’s gains, which had mostly erased Monday’s losses.

Economy Watch: Fed To Market: Calm Down

The Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) statement on Tuesday, which much of the investing world had been anticipating (between moments of headless-chicken panic), started off bland enough, per Federal Reserve custom.

Economy Watch: S&P Downgrade Ripples Through the Markets

Observers, pundits and prognosticators weren’t quite sure what investors would do after Friday’s unprecedented Standard & Poor’s downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt.

Economy Watch: S&P Lowers the Downgrade Boom

On Friday evening, Standard & Poor’s went where no rating agency has gone before by downgrading long-term U.S. sovereign debt.

PODCAST: Economy Watch Weekly with Dees Stribling

For the week ending August 5, Congress managed to raise the debt ceiling at the last minute, while handing off tough budget decisions to a congressional bipartisan Super Committee; Wall Street goes into a free-falling panic, presumably over euro debt; and the jobs report isn’t as bad as expected.

Economy Watch: Wall Street Tanks, but July a Better Month for Hiring than June

The July jobs reports had some relatively good news on the heels of Wall Street’s worst day in three years; commodities drop along with stocks; and CRE prices remain steady.

Economy Watch: Debt Ceiling Done, Now Back to Worrying about Jobs

Corporate downsizing announcements spiked to a 16-month high in July; a Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows a wide variation in jobless rates among metro areas; and the non-manufacturing sector is growing, but slowly.

Economy Watch: Congress Acts as Deadline Nears, but GDP Still Anemic

Although not yet finalized, a last-minute deal is in the works to raise the debt ceiling; U.S. GDP gets revised way down; and homeownership rates continue to shrink.

PODCAST: Economy Watch Weekly with Dees Stribling

For the week ending July 29, while Congress continued to dither over the debt crisis, equity markets acted nervous and bond markets showed a steady hand; U.S. GDP projections have been revised downward; and the housing market at least isn’t sinking.

Economy Watch: Congress Continues to Spin Its Wheels

Congress doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere on the debt ceiling mess; foreclosures were down in the first half of the year, though perhaps due to blockage in the pipeline; and pending home sales were up in June.