The Business Big Shots Blog

The unemployment rate dropped for June, to 9.5%, even though 125,000 jobs were lost. The reason is that the rate is defined by people who are out of work and looking for work. The decline in the civilian labor force demonstrates that people are not looking for work any more. ...

Private equity firms have billions of dollars to spend - and it's time they did. Unused money, called in the industry, dry powder, is bad news for hedge funds. Typically these funds last 10 years and dry powder is invested within the first 3 to 5. Either the money must ...

On Thursday the Dow was up almost three percent to 10,172. Foreign reports boosted markets as Australia had stronger than expected employment figures, New Zealand raised interest rates, Japan's economy grew 1.2% in the first quarter, and the European Central Bank boosted its expectations for the European growth this year. ...

After bailing out the banks, governments have kept interest rates low, and as a result, profits have soared. News about the 1st quarter was slightly disappointing today, but 3% growth ain't bad. Two big factors this week: geopolitical fears coming from the Pacific Rim, and foreign (European) debt. Many investors worry ...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has given up all of the gains it has made this year over the course of the past couple of weeks. Why? Well, in large part due to fears of a Greek default. But that's not all. When Germany announced last week that it was ...