What the Finance

The Fed announced today a cash injection of $95 billion in exchange for a 2-year bridge loan and a 79.9% equity stake. But why has the Fed saved AIG when only a few days ago, the Fed refrained from offering any kind of guarantees to the troubled Lehman Brothers, failing to prevent the ex-fourth-largest-US- investment-bank’s […]

New York The unthinkable is happening and the world economy is buffeted about by three storms! The credit crisis on one hand, the bankruptcy of some of the largest US financial institutions and investment banks, and finally the inflationary storm that rockets energy and food prices, amid a general liquidity shortfall, i.e. where is the […]

Lufthansa employees won the battle with inflation, for the time being, as they managed to get a 5.1% raise in their wages, after a week’s strike and hard negotiations with the German airline’s management team. But unfortunately, the European Central Bank (ECB) doesn’t share the same feelings, as they struggling to contain inflation by means […]

The news that Iran is actually test firing long range missiles hit badly the already weak US Dollar which came off across the board this morning. This has resulting in flattening out yesterday’s

I have a loan to repay (yes, count me in!)… in euros. So, while I can afford to spend some time watching the direction of the ever-changing cross currency rates on a daily basis, the bad news is that

The crowding out effect is a term that it’s being used more and more on financial newspapers and other reports. But I do not want you to feel left out of the conversation every time someone brings it up – and it does happen quite often lately, no wonder why – so here’s a brief […]

Slowing GDP growth prospects and rising inflation have been the two main concerns for many countries in the last couple of months. In the US, the economy managed to avoid an outright contraction by a few basis points. The central bank has aided financial institutions, by means of providing and expanding liquidity. Going forward, the […]

There was, a week ago, a glimmer of hope in the world with regards to the food crisis. Not anymore. Prices of essential food items have gone drastically up with the past few days. One thing is for sure that we have gone from an era of plenty to one of scarcity. Experts agree that […]

Despite the fact Fed policy makers cut the rates seven times already since September 2007, which amounts to a total of 3% decrease in borrowing costs, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped only half a percentage compared to the same period. ‘So, if that didn’t do the trick, then what will’ is […]