Oil Prices -
Few inputs impact the world economy like the price of oil. Oil powers cars, trucks, boats, airplanes, and even power plants that make up the backbone of the global economy. As oil... read more | Subprime lending - For information on the 2007 subprime crisis and credit crunch, click here.
Subprime lending is the practice of extending credit to borrowers with certain credit... read more | U.S. Economic Cycles -
Economic cycles, sometimes referred to as business cycles, are the fluctuations in economic activity that occur in any developed economy. Theoretically, any deviation... read more | Corn Prices -
Corn is the most widely produced feed grain in the United States, accounting for more than 90 percent of total production. Around 80 million acres of land are planted with corn.... read more | U.S. Housing Market -
The U.S. housing market includes the construction, sale, and resale, of all residential properties across the country. Even though it's only focused on housing,... read more | IPhone - click to enlarge image
Prior to its June 29th release in 2007, Apple's iPhone had already seen the kind of media hype and expectation that other consumer products could only dream of.... read more | Interest Rates -
This article describes the impact of interest rates. A related concept is the Yield Curve.
An interest rate is the cost of borrowing money. Among the many industries affected... read more | Aging Baby Boomers -
As the Baby Boomers continue to enter retirement, the U.S. faces one of the most dramatic demographic shifts in its history. The baby boom ran from 1946 to 1960, during... read more | Emerging Markets -
Emerging markets generally refer to the economic activity in industrializing regions of the world. The term is often used interchangeably with developing markets, though... read more | | Baltic Dry Index (BDI) -
The Baltic Dry Index is a daily average of prices to ship raw materials. It represents the cost paid by an end user to have a shipping company transport raw materials... read more | Rise of China's Middle Class - Increasing prosperity among the Chinese populace is creating a new market for Western retailers who previously envisioned China solely as a supplier of goods. ... read more | | | Coal Power - If you are reading this article on a computer plugged into a standard wall socket in the U.S., there is a 50% chance that your computer is being powered by coal. Coal is the... read more | Commodities Prices -
A commodity is a physical substance, such as food, grains, and metals, which is interchangeable with another product of the same type. Commodities are raw materials that... read more | Luxury Consumption - Demand for luxury goods can be seen as a bellweather of burgeoning economies, as wealthy population segments consume more leather goods, clothes, watches, liquor and other... read more | Aluminum Prices -
At roughly 1/3 the weight of an equivalent volume of steel, aluminum is lightweight yet strong enough for a wide range of uses. It is a good conductor of heat and... read more | Impact of Internet Advertising - The breadth of U.S. advertisers across virtually all industries means that growth of advertising spend is highly correlated with the GDP, a measure of the... read more | The Dollar - The dollar's value refers to the purchasing power of the dollar versus other currencies, or the exchange rate between the two currencies. When the dollar is strong, foreign goods... read more | | View all concepts |
IPhone - click to enlarge image
Prior to its June 29th release in 2007, Apple's iPhone had already seen the kind of media hype and expectation that other consumer products could only dream of.... read more | | Impact of Internet Advertising - The breadth of U.S. advertisers across virtually all industries means that growth of advertising spend is highly correlated with the GDP, a measure of the... read more | E-Commerce - One of the first and most prominent e-commerce players, iconic eBay has left a huge footprint on the way we buy and sell.
The Internet has created a new economic ecosystem, the... read more | WiMAX vs WCDMA - 3G is the third generation of mobile phone standards. 3G is best defined as the generation that enabled mobile broadband, or the ability to wirelessly use the Internet or... read more | | Mobile Phone Usage in China - China: the next big mobile phone gold mine?
China's mobile telephony market can make or break manufacturers. Similarly, the enormous subscriber base of Chinese... read more | 3G -
Mobile telephones, the 1st generation of which were introduced in the mid-1980's, have been constantly evolving since their inception. Today, over 2B mobile phones are in usage and... read more | Commoditization of PCs - Over the last few decades, PCs have become an increasingly important part of our daily domestic and work lives. PCs are used for tasks ranging from rudimentary email... read more | Blu-ray vs. HD DVD -
As of mid February, 2008, the battle for supremacy in high-definition DVD technology is over. Toshiba has officially surrendered to Sony in the most expensive format war... read more | IPod Effect - In April 2007, Apple celebrated its 100 millionth iPod sale, claiming that it was the fastest selling music player in history. Indeed, after its introduction a little over five... read more | | | Open Source -
From an investment research perspective, the term "open source software" refers primarily to a set of terms and conditions associated with the software's license. There are... read more | Voip - VoIP offers at the Tesco checkout counter. The UK-based retail giant operates its own VoIP service and has more than one million subscribers to date.
VoIP is one of the few technologies... read more | Software as a Service - Software is ubiquitous in today’s business world, where software applications can help us track shipments across multiple countries, manage large inventories, train... read more | Digital Outdoor Advertising - Digital outdoor advertising is turning old media into new media and a sluggish outdoor advertising industry into a growth industry. With digital signage becoming a... read more | Online Video - The explosive growth of Google's YouTube and video-sharing services such as BitTorrent has led to a dramatic increase in the amount of data traversing the internet -- Google CEO... read more | | | | View all in this category |
Oil Prices -
Few inputs impact the world economy like the price of oil. Oil powers cars, trucks, boats, airplanes, and even power plants that make up the backbone of the global economy. As oil... read more | Corn Prices -
Corn is the most widely produced feed grain in the United States, accounting for more than 90 percent of total production. Around 80 million acres of land are planted with corn.... read more | Baltic Dry Index (BDI) -
The Baltic Dry Index is a daily average of prices to ship raw materials. It represents the cost paid by an end user to have a shipping company transport raw materials... read more | | Coal Power - If you are reading this article on a computer plugged into a standard wall socket in the U.S., there is a 50% chance that your computer is being powered by coal. Coal is the... read more | Carbon Trading - Carbon emissions in action, EPA
Carbon emissions by sector and fuel type, EIA
"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from the obsservations in... read more | Natural gas - Natural gas pipeline, photo courtesy of FERC
Remember when your mom used to remind you to "sniff for gas" before leaving the house? While safety was (hopefully!) her main concern... read more | Global Climate Change - Global warming could mean more freak storms like Hurricane Katrina, pictured above--bad news for insurance companies.
For thirty years now, many scientists have been... read more | | | Nuclear Energy - Nuclear energy involves a controlled reaction to split atoms of nuclear fuel, typically uranium or plutonium, creating two new atoms. When accomplished on a reasonable scale,... read more | | Cellulosic ethanol - It’s hard to open a newspaper without finding a story about biofuels, and in particular, ethanol. Most cars in Brazil can run on 100% ethanol.
Ethanol, if blended with... read more | | | Clean Coal -
Coal can be very dirty. When you pick up a briquette to put in your barbeque, your fingers turn black; when coal is burned in power plants and factories, the smoke released into... read more | Peak Oil - “Peak oil” is a concept recognized and described by geologist Dr. M. King Hubbert (the peak in oil production curves is called Hubbert’s Peak) in 1955 that refers to the fact... read more | U.S. Energy Regulations - President Bush and the Secretary of Energy review a Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) facility, which the Energy Policy Act of 2005 supported
Untangling the web of... read more | Electric Cars - This article is about Electric Vehicles. For the article on the company with ticker EV, see Eaton Vance (EV).
Governments worldwide have adopted regulatory schemes meant to... read more | Biodiesel - Biodiesel is a nearly perfect substitute to petroleum derived diesel fuel. It is derived from the transesterification of biogenic oils such as vegetable oil and animal fats. The US... read more980 views | | View all in this category |
Rise of China's Middle Class - Increasing prosperity among the Chinese populace is creating a new market for Western retailers who previously envisioned China solely as a supplier of goods. ... read more | | | Mobile Phone Usage in China - China: the next big mobile phone gold mine?
China's mobile telephony market can make or break manufacturers. Similarly, the enormous subscriber base of Chinese... read more | | | | | | Revaluing the Yuan - Many argue that the Chinese currency is undervalued relative to the U.S. dollar due to the Bretton Wood II system. The U.S. possesses several mechanisms to seek a... read more | Outsourcing to China - Investors betting on the growth of business process outsourcing to China should be focused on engineering and IT investments connected China, because these job functions... read more | | | U.S.-China Anti-Dumping Laws -
This article is about a specific legislative remedy sometimes employed to counteract a trade imbalance. For a larger discussion of trade between the U.S. and... read more | | View all in this category |
Oil Prices -
Few inputs impact the world economy like the price of oil. Oil powers cars, trucks, boats, airplanes, and even power plants that make up the backbone of the global economy. As oil... read more | Corn Prices -
Corn is the most widely produced feed grain in the United States, accounting for more than 90 percent of total production. Around 80 million acres of land are planted with corn.... read more | | Commodities Prices -
A commodity is a physical substance, such as food, grains, and metals, which is interchangeable with another product of the same type. Commodities are raw materials that... read more | Aluminum Prices -
At roughly 1/3 the weight of an equivalent volume of steel, aluminum is lightweight yet strong enough for a wide range of uses. It is a good conductor of heat and... read more | Natural gas - Natural gas pipeline, photo courtesy of FERC
Remember when your mom used to remind you to "sniff for gas" before leaving the house? While safety was (hopefully!) her main concern... read more | | Commoditization of PCs - Over the last few decades, PCs have become an increasingly important part of our daily domestic and work lives. PCs are used for tasks ranging from rudimentary email... read more | Grains Prices - Grains is a blanket term describing the edible seeds or fruits of a variety of different grasses. The most commonly cultivated grains include maize (corn), wheat, rice, barley,... read more | Timber Prices -
Timber, or trees cultivated and harvested for commercial purposes, is used in a wide range of industries. Timber's end products are among the most basic yet widely used goods... read more | | Beef Prices -
In 2007, the retail value of all US produced beef was $74 billion.[1] Beef prices depend in part on the availability and pricing of cattle feed. For instance, heavy droughts... read more | Dairy Prices - In the US, dairy has a farm value of production that makes it second only to beef [1]. (See Beef Prices for more on US beef production and consumption.) Despite increasing... read more | | Silicon Prices - Silicon, essentially sand, is the second-most abundant element on Earth. Since the start of the Computer Age, though, silicon has been used primarily to make semiconductors, for... read more | Tomato Prices - Tomatoes prices have followed in the footsteps of many other foodstock commodities such as wheat and corn for many of the same reasons: increasing prices for energy,... read more | Soybean Prices -
The United States grows more soybeans than any other country in the world, accounting for 32% of the world's production. Its fields yield 2,585 million bushels of soybeans... read more | Chicken Prices - The US poultry sold $43 billion of chicken in 2007.[1] Chicken prices are highly dependent on chicken feed prices. In fact, feed costs make up 65% of the cost of raising a... read more | Cocoa Prices -
Americans consume about 3 billion pounds of chocolate annually, but consume less per capita than Europeans. Sixteen out of twenty of the top chocolate consuming countries (per... read more | Coffee prices - Coffee beansWorld coffee exports were 7.97 million bags in July 2008, up from 8.31 million in July 2007. [1] Overall in 2008, declining output coupled with rising worldwide... read more | | View all in this category |
Aging Baby Boomers -
As the Baby Boomers continue to enter retirement, the U.S. faces one of the most dramatic demographic shifts in its history. The baby boom ran from 1946 to 1960, during... read more | | | Cardiac Disease - In modern times, cardiac disease has emerged as the leading cause of death worldwide, particularly in developed countries. The World Health Organization reported that 16.7... read more | Health & Wellness -
The term "health and wellness" has become a powerful tool for marketers in various industries. As people decide to change their habits and pursue healthier lifestyles,... read more | Incidence of Cancer -
In modern times, cancer has emerged as a leading cause of death, particularly in developed countries. Whereas vaccines and cures have eliminated many of the diseases... read more | Clinical trials -
Clinical trials are the process by which a new drug's safety and effectiveness are tested as part of the FDA approval process. When a company discovers and develops a new... read more | Obesity -
Worldwide levels of obesity are rising, a trend especially pronounced in the United States. Obesity--both morbid and not--has been linked to a number of serious diseases, especially... read more | | Medicare - Medicare is a government program that covers most health care costs for people 65 and older, as well as individuals undergoing dialysis treatment for kidney failure. Medicare covers... read more | Diabetes drug market -
Diabetes is the syndrome of having excess blood sugar due to low levels of insulin or insulin resistance. Approximately 21 million individuals in the U.S. have diabetes,... read more | Pharmaceutical patents -
Pharmaceutical patents protect manufacturers of prescription drugs, prohibiting others from producing a drug during the length of its patent protection. The length of... read more | | | | Lasik Surgery - Lasik surgery is a surgical procedure to correct vision.
Because laser vision correction is not covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or most private insurance plans, consumers must pay... read more | | View all in this category |
U.S. Economic Cycles -
Economic cycles, sometimes referred to as business cycles, are the fluctuations in economic activity that occur in any developed economy. Theoretically, any deviation... read more | Interest Rates -
This article describes the impact of interest rates. A related concept is the Yield Curve.
An interest rate is the cost of borrowing money. Among the many industries affected... read more | The Dollar - The dollar's value refers to the purchasing power of the dollar versus other currencies, or the exchange rate between the two currencies. When the dollar is strong, foreign goods... read more | Private Equity's Impact - Private equity refers to a type of investment aimed at gaining significant, or even complete, control of a company in the hopes of earning a high return. As the name... read more | Yield Curve - The yield curve describes the relationship between short- and long-term interest rates (i.e., the "term structure"), and is often represented as a graph showing the duration of... read more | Revaluing the Yuan - Many argue that the Chinese currency is undervalued relative to the U.S. dollar due to the Bretton Wood II system. The U.S. possesses several mechanisms to seek a... read more | Inflation -
Inflation is a measure of how much the general level of prices for goods and services is rising over time. As inflation rises, the purchasing power of every unit of currency is... read more | | Auction Rate Securities -
Auction Rate Securities are a type of long term bond which, via weekly (or monthly) "auctions", allow holders to sell off the debt to others and recoup their money at... read more | The Penny -
Politicians have occasionally called for the elimination of the penny, which costs 1.7 cents for the U.S. mint to manufacture.[1] In 1989, Representatives James Hayes, of... read more | | View all in this category |
U.S. Economic Cycles -
Economic cycles, sometimes referred to as business cycles, are the fluctuations in economic activity that occur in any developed economy. Theoretically, any deviation... read more | Interest Rates -
This article describes the impact of interest rates. A related concept is the Yield Curve.
An interest rate is the cost of borrowing money. Among the many industries affected... read more | Aging Baby Boomers -
As the Baby Boomers continue to enter retirement, the U.S. faces one of the most dramatic demographic shifts in its history. The baby boom ran from 1946 to 1960, during... read more | The Dollar - The dollar's value refers to the purchasing power of the dollar versus other currencies, or the exchange rate between the two currencies. When the dollar is strong, foreign goods... read more | Carbon Trading - Carbon emissions in action, EPA
Carbon emissions by sector and fuel type, EIA
"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from the obsservations in... read more | Global Climate Change - Global warming could mean more freak storms like Hurricane Katrina, pictured above--bad news for insurance companies.
For thirty years now, many scientists have been... read more | Government Regulatory Agencies -
A regulatory agency is a government department that has responsibility over the legislation (acts and regulations) for a given sector. Regulatory agencies exist... read more | | Clean Coal -
Coal can be very dirty. When you pick up a briquette to put in your barbeque, your fingers turn black; when coal is burned in power plants and factories, the smoke released into... read more | Clinical trials -
Clinical trials are the process by which a new drug's safety and effectiveness are tested as part of the FDA approval process. When a company discovers and develops a new... read more | Outsourcing to China - Investors betting on the growth of business process outsourcing to China should be focused on engineering and IT investments connected China, because these job functions... read more | U.S. Energy Regulations - President Bush and the Secretary of Energy review a Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) facility, which the Energy Policy Act of 2005 supported
Untangling the web of... read more | Antitrust Legislation -
US antitrust legislation or "competition law" focuses on three kinds of activity discouraging to competition: monopoly, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and price... read more | Medicare - Medicare is a government program that covers most health care costs for people 65 and older, as well as individuals undergoing dialysis treatment for kidney failure. Medicare covers... read more | Election 2008 - The two main candidates, Barack Obama (Democrat) and John McCain (Republican), differ greatly in their approach to the economy. On points ranging from how deal with rising... read more | |
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