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The Federal Reserve is identifying risks in the financial system that could someday erupt into a new financial crisis, but regulators must be careful not to unintentionally hamper lending as they set up new oversight, according to Chairman Ben Bernanke.   “We want the system to be as strong and resilient as possible,” and more intense […]

Online shopping grew at its fastest pace in nearly four years in April as soaring fuel prices sent Americans to their computers instead of the malls to shop on the internet instead, according to MasterCard Advisors.  Consumers spent $13.8 billion online in April, a 19.2 per cent increase over the same month of 2010, according […]

The Grammy Award-winning Irish rock band U2 is an excellent case history in how to create a powerful culture of connection.  This is the opinion of Michael Lee Stallard and Jason Pankau, partners in E Pluribus Partners, the world’s leading experts on how rational and emotional connections can boost productivity, innovation and organizational performance in […]

New home sales rose in March, with the number of properties on the market at its lowest since the 1960s.  Additional gains will be stymied by competition from the market’s glut of previously owned houses.  Single-family home sales rose 11.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted 300,000 unit annual rate, according to the Department of Commerce, […]

It’s going to rain.  According to a study by climatologists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Texas Tech University, temperatures in Chicago will continue rising over the next century, largely due to human emissions of heat-trapping gasses.  The strength of that warming trend and the impact it brings depends on the amount of […]

Ben Bernanke’s first-ever press conference is important because the unprecedented move gives the world a look at the inner workings of the often arcane Federal Reserve.  As a general rule, the Fed’s chairman avoids press conferences.  Typically they issue statements that are worded with extreme care.  Since the economic meltdown, however, the Fed’s increased role […]

The controversial Cape Wind Energy Project – to be constructed in Nantucket Sound between Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts – has been given the green light by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.  “The Department has taken extraordinary steps to fully evaluate Cape Wind’s potential impacts on environmental and cultural resources of […]

The Federal Reserve is unlikely to follow the European Central Bank’s (ECB) recent decision to raise interest rates and will hold off until there is looming inflation.  The ECB’s move may be the first of several this year as high oil costs drive consumer prices above its target.  That’s not to say that some members […]

Social networking could gain 1.3 billion new users if a deal goes through that will introduce Facebook to China.  Facebook Inc. has signed an agreement with Baidu, Inc.  a search engine company, to create a social-networking website in China.  “We are currently studying and learning about China, as part of evaluating any possible approaches that […]

The American recovery is on the road to recovery, unless the mounting federal deficit slows its momentum. A recent survey by Smart Brief and the international market research firm Ipsos of 841 financial professionals found that 67 percent think that stock prices will rise this year and that the country’s economic output will increase by […]