Speaking before the House Committee on Financial Services last week, Janet Yellen, head of the Federal Reserve, testified that the US financial system is much safer today than it was in 2007 when the most recent economic decline commenced. “I believe the financial system is much safer. There is twice as much high-quality capital among… Continue Reading
According to a report published by Boston-based research group Cerulli Associates, the number of financial advisors in the United States has fallen for five straight years. The report points to large numbers of experienced advisors entering retirement as the cause of the decline in numbers of these professionals. In 2014 there were about 285,000 financial… Continue Reading
Marshall Lux, former chief risk officer for consumer businesses at JP Morgan, and now senior fellow at the Kennedy School at Harvard, believes that regulation which has been enacted in the wake of the financial crisis has disproportionately harmed smaller banks in the United States. Lux has been researching the issue of how recent regulations,… Continue Reading
Leveraged, inverse and inverse leveraged exchange-traded products first came on the scene in 2006. During the financial crisis, however, they rose to prominence as they showed outrageous returns. Many were attracted to the price swings and the opportunity to get amazing returns in a short period of time. Since that period, according to Michael Sapir,… Continue Reading
Since May this year the price of gasoline has been taking a nosedive. During the interim seven months the average price of a gallon of gas as gone down by one dollar. According to the Lundberg survey released on Sunday, gasoline is at the lowest price it has been in four years. Regular-grade gasoline is… Continue Reading
September inventory and sales figures are helping renew optimism in the economic recovery after August figures fed fears that the economy was entering another slump. August’s bad news was found in the miniscule 0.1 percent rise in business inventories. August’s tiny rise was the smallest in over a year. August sales also fueled skepticism with… Continue Reading
Despite data showing that the US economy grew at its fastest rate in eight years during the second quarter of 2014, Americans still believe that the country is still in the midst of a recession. The economy swelled during the Q2 at an annualized rate of 4.6 percent, duplicating the fastest quarterly growth since 2006.… Continue Reading
Now that the long, cold winter is fading into the past, spring is bringing warmth as well as growth to the US economy. According to the government, the US economy saw 4.6 percent annualized growth during the 2nd quarter of 2014, compared to a 2.1 percent slowdown in the first quarter. Analysts expressed optimism that… Continue Reading
A survey conducted by the financial information company Sageworks revealed US industries with the lowest profit margins over the past 12 months. The company examined over 1,000 industries and discovered that the vast majority of sectors are showing positive profit margins, while the most profitable industries have two digit margins. Profit margins are a good… Continue Reading
According to a survey conducted by the National Association of Business Economists, most economists believe that the Federal Reserve is “on the right track” with its programs to repair the US economy. The NABE survey, which was released on Monday, also showed that a majority of economists believe that there is only a small risk… Continue Reading