Bad News on U.S. Unemployment

  Ah yes, the last 24 hours is one of those brief spans as an investor and a finance blog writer designed to make you look foolish.  First we had good news on U.S. unemployment and now, today, we have bad news on U.S. unemployment. Yesterday ADP (the private...

Good News on U.S. Unemployment

  The late May and early June financial market sell off had many causes, but among the most important was the sputtering recovery in the U.S. jobs market.  In fact, the data for about five weeks now has been mixed to down.  Until now. Separate jobs figures this...

Credit Ratings Independence Tested

  You might have heard that the debt of the country of Portugal was lowered to “junk” status on 5 July, 2011 by Moody’s, one of the three major international debt ratings agencies.  Now various European governmental officials are criticizing the...

Shareholder Activism on the Rise

  Because most companies are on a calendar year for financial reporting, their annual shareholder meetings and proxy statements are considered by their owners in the late spring to early summer.  This annual meeting season has seen a rise in shareholder...