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The Audit

Opening Bell: Did We Dodge A Recession?
May 14, 2008 07:22 AM
Well, that was fast. The Wall Street Journal on page one says economists are hedging their bets on a recession, saying the business outlook has improved markedly in just the past month. And New York Times columnist David... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Clear Channel Deal On
May 13, 2008 07:29 AM
Leveraged buyouts are back in the news this morning. The papers write that the Clear Channel Communications deal, which collapsed in recriminations between the private-equity firms who agreed to buy it and the banks who agreed to finance the... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Payday Loan Scams
May 12, 2008 08:05 AM
The Chicago Tribune this morning reports on an insidious new phenomenon: online payday loans. One woman, Rochelle Parker, landed an 842 percent APR loan, and a succession of loans to pay off the earlier ones. But that’s nothing... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Et tu, A.I.G.?
May 9, 2008 08:20 AM
Insurance giant American International Group posted a record $7.8 billion loss in the first quarter as it wrote down more than $15 billion in assets, much of them mortgage-related, and said it needed to raise more than $12 billion... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell
May 8, 2008 07:48 AM
Stocks fell the most in four weeks, with the Dow dropping 206 points (1.6 percent) and financial shares tumbling 3.7 percent. The Wall Street Journal blames the financials drop on investors taking profits they’ve made in the run-up... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Oil Prices Keep Rising…
May 7, 2008 07:15 AM
The price of oil continued its record rise, and the papers all give major play to stories on how much higher it’ll go. The Financial Times on page one reports that a Goldman Sachs analyst, “who three years... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Countrywide Deal Hits Snag
May 6, 2008 07:18 AM
Investors bailed out of Countrywide Financial yesterday, sending its shares down 10 percent after an analyst said Bank of America would lower its price to as little as $0 a share and urged it to bail out of the... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Yahoo To ‘Burn The Furniture’
May 5, 2008 07:11 AM
The business press goes wide with Microsoft backing away from its unsolicited bid for Yahoo, ending for the moment a pursuit that could have reconstituted Internet competition. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Financial Times all... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: The Fed Flashes Its Fangs
May 2, 2008 07:21 AM
The Washington Post on A1 says the Federal Reserve and other bank regulators will unleash “one of the most aggressive efforts in decades” against abusive credit-card industry practices. This expected wave of oversight must be real after all.... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Economy Expands, But…
May 1, 2008 07:20 AM
The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Financial Times all go big with news that the economy expanded—barely—in the first quarter, but most signs point to recession. Gross domestic product rose at a slightly higher than expected annual... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Home Prices Plummet
April 30, 2008 07:47 AM
In today’s house-o-rama, home prices fell faster last month than at any time in a key index’s two decades, dropping nearly 14 percent in February from a year earlier, according to the Case-Shiller index of ten major cities (prices... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: $7 A Gallon?
April 29, 2008 07:29 AM
The New York Times on page one looks behind the inexorable rise in oil and gas prices the last few years and finds that despite economic models predictions, oil production isn’t increasing as expected, nor is demand falling.... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Will The Fed Wilt?
April 28, 2008 07:18 AM
The New York Times fronts a story on how the mortgage industry is fighting tougher regulations proposed by the Federal Reserve. The opposition is already prompting the Fed to consider scaling back its plans. The regulations would cover... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Homes Still Not Selling
April 25, 2008 08:20 AM
So much for the spring selling season. New-home sales fell sharply in March far more than expected, to the lowest level in nearly seventeen years, the papers report. Sales fell 8.5 percent (seasonally adjusted) from a month earlier,... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Fed To Halt Rate Cuts?
April 24, 2008 07:27 AM
The Wall Street Journal leads page one with a report that the Federal Reserve is considering a halt in its campaign of aggressive rate cuts. While the Fed is likely to trim rates by a quarter-point at its... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Murdoch Tightens His Grip…
April 23, 2008 07:42 AM
The Wall Street Journal newsroom throws up a “save us” flare on page one with a story about Rupert Murdoch stepping on the gas in his bid to change the august newspaper. The WSJ’s top editor, Marcus Brauchli,... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Journal Editor Quits
April 22, 2008 07:44 AM
Rupert Murdoch was a busy man yesterday. The top editor of The Wall Street Journal abruptly resigned just four months after Murdoch took over its parent Dow Jones & Company. And The Journal reports that his News Corporation is... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: Frankenfood
April 21, 2008 07:46 AM
The New York Times fronts a story saying that recent food-market problems are eroding resistance to genetically modified crops. With prices soaring for staples like rice, once-skittish consumers and industry groups are modifying their principles. Even Europe is... Continue reading
The Kicker

Inflation investigation
April 18, 2008 03:21 PM
Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture points out a BreakingViews column that questions whether the government is low-balling the inflation rate. We don't have access to the $1,500 a year Web site (they're so protective of their... Continue reading
The Audit

Opening Bell: The Hours
April 18, 2008 07:14 AM
Lots of bad employment news today, and we’ll start out with the lead story in The New York Times, which splashes across two columns a report that says Americans are getting fewer hours at work, setting off a... Continue reading

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