World Payments Report 2013
CapGemini
Innovative offerings in the payment acquisition space are flourishing from banks and new entrants…
Nearly 1 Billion Smartphones Were Shipped Last Year
Business Insider | 06 February 2014
Global smartphone shipments grew an estimated 35% in the fourth quarter last year to hit about 280 million units shipped, according to our latest estimates…
Deficit continues to drop sharply – CBO
CNN Money | 04 February 2014
The age of trillion-dollar deficits is well over…
ISM Has Biggest Miss On Record, New Orders Plunge Most Since 1980
Zero Hedge | 03 February 2014
The downward revision to last month’s recent record high appears to have been the warning flag but this is a disaster…
Morgan Stanley to Pay $1.25 Billion to Resolve Mortgage Lawsuit
Reuters | 04 February 2014
Morgan Stanley said it would pay $1.25 billion to the U.S. regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to settle a lawsuit related to the sale of mortgage-backed securities…
Market’s 19th Breakdown Sees Bulls Unmoved as Trillions Lost
Bloomberg | 05 February 2014
Eighteen times Michael Shaoul has watched the U.S. stock market lose 5 percent or more since 2009…
Argentina Declares War on Amazon, Ebay
The American Interest | 22 January 2014
Economic buffoonery continues in Argentina, as the sinking government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner now requires consumers who make online purchases…
What’s Wrong With the S&P500?
All Star Charts | 03 February 2014
Long time readers know that we’re not in the business of asking “why”…
Google Looks Into Accepting Bitcoin
Extreme Tech | 24 January 2014
Google is investigating Bitcoin, but isn’t quite ready to publicly jump on the train…
IBM Leaves the x86 Market at Long Last
Extreme Tech | 23 January 2014
IBM has announced the sale of Big Blue’s x86 server division to Chinese manufacturer Lenovo, thus terminating IBM’s long-running relationship (and one-time rivalry) with Intel…
Financial Perspectives – Feb. 3, 2014
Financial Perspectives | 03 February 2014
President Barack Obama used his State of the Union speech to roll out a plan to coax low- and middle-income Americans into saving more for retirement…
The Middle Class Is Steadily Eroding. Just Ask the Business World.
The New York Times | 02 February 2014
In Manhattan, the upscale clothing retailer Barneys will replace the bankrupt discounter Loehmann’s…
Treasury Issues Guides for Bitcoin Miners, Investors
The Hill | 31 January 2014
The Treasury Department has decided that people who mint or invest bitcoins do not need to register as money transmitters with the government…
U.S. Stocks Drop After ISM Manufacturing Gauge Retreats
Bloomberg | 03 February 2014
U.S. stocks fell, ending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s longest stretch without a 5 percent slide since 2006…
U.S. Banks Ease Loan Standards in Fed Survey as Demand Rises
Bloomberg | 03 February 2014
Banks in the U.S. saw increased demand from businesses and consumers for lending and in turn made those loans more readily available, according to a Federal Reserve report…
On Death and Derivatives
Golem XIV | 29 January 2014
On Sunday a former Senior Deutsche Bank manager, William Broeksmit, was found hanged at his house…
Russell Investments Chief Economist Dueker Found Dead
Bloomberg | 31 January 2014
Mike Dueker, the chief economist at Russell Investments, was found dead at the side of a highway that leads to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state…