The US government charged Countrywide, the mortgage giant now owned by Bank of America for labelling defective mortgages as good-quality and selling it to state-controlled mortgage financers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Washington: The United States sued Bank of America for more than $1...

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India is ranked 132nd the lowest ranked among BRIC nations as well as below neighbouring Pakistan at 107th and Nepal at 108th, according to World Bank survey. Singapore is the topper followed by Hong Kong and New Zealand New Delhi: India continues to be a tough place for doing business...

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The irony is that capitalist analysts’ and economists’ predictions rely so much on government policy rather than the market forces and not just in China   The growth of the Chinese economy decreased this quarter as it has since the beginning of 2010. It is also much slower than the...

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Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit steps down with immediate effect and the Board has named Michael Corbat as his successor Banking major Citigroup said its cheif executive Vikram Pandit has resigned and its board has named Michael Corbat as the new chief executive.   The Board namee...

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The main purpose of any market is price discovery, however in pursuit of active management, all governments have tampered with the process. And when the market reasserts itself, it may not be pleasant   Every investor is bombarded by massive amounts of numbers every trading day....

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The purpose of QE3 was to stimulate economic growth and corporate earnings, which is what the markets expect. Sadly both will be disappointed Edmund Burke, the eighteenth century politician and philosopher, wisely pointed out, “You can never plan the future by the past.” Sadly that is...

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As college costs continue to climb, families are turning to federal Parent Plus loans to fill the gap. But with no checks on their ability to repay, many parents are left overburdened, and others set up for failure More than a decade after Aurora Almendral first set foot on her dream...

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Federal watchdog in the US says the mortgage giant had no coordinated plan to bet against homeowners, though Freddie Mac held billions of dollars of investments that paid off if borrowers stayed stuck in high-interest loans Mortgage giant Freddie Mac did not keep homeowners trapped in...

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Like the Federal Reserve, the Chinese government continues to pump in money, but the real problem is that both are facing “structural problems that counter-cyclical remedies cannot fix, so the private sector cannot find areas to make enough profit to justify its investment”   Over the...

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Whatever happens in China, the US, Europe or emerging markets, one thing is absolutely certain: the global economy is slowing and with it, corporate earnings. Now that is a real terror   For most of the worlds’ markets the summer has been quite kind. Traders departed for the mountains or...

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While Democrats paint a glowing picture of the bailout, ProPublica’s Bailout Tracker database tells the whole story. A look at the biggest losses and gains stemming from the TARP and Fannie, Freddie bailouts in the US   Quick, how many billions in the red are taxpayers on the bailout...

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According to market analysts, the might worsen as local governments have attempted to unleash a new round of stimulus packages amid the current economic downturn Beijing: China's state-run banks are facing increased bad loans partly due to a lending spree to support massive economic...

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When the markets finally realize the enormity of the debt problem across the world, no amount of stimulus will make much difference The potential for additional stimulus may have distracted the markets, but it has not solved any problems. This is especially true in Europe where investors...

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The purpose of stimulus is basically to manipulate the markets, which have taken the bait and have gone up relying on expected economic growth. But if the stimulus does not appear or simply does not work, the markets could be in for a large disappointment and larger correction It is my...

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According to EFSF chief Klays Regling, eespite the lack of confidence of market participants and scepticism, the member-states of the Euro area have made significant progress on national level in reducing macroeconomic imbalances Mumbai: Contrary to the mainstream media perception and...

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Goldman Sachs’s recent note maintains that S&P 500 will be 1250 at year’s end, when currently it is at 1418 signifying huge downside David Kostin, who recently replaced perma-bull Abby Joseph Cohen as Goldman Sachs US Chief Equity Strategist, has warned investors that S&P is likely to...

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China's corporate debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 107% in 2011, the highest in the world as large Chinese companies' debt burden is increasing after 2008   Beijing: Cautioning China's corporate debt ratio has reached a 'dangerous' levels, experts have warned against any stimulus measures...

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The economic impact of the drought will be more severe in emerging markets. With the global economy slowing, the bad harvests could not have come at a worse time. India has had trouble taming its inflation and now it will get worse The world’s food supply is in danger. Droughts around...

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Profits and growth depend on good management. Yet investors have the habit of lumping countries into categories based on vague criteria and assuming correlation across the class, a sure recipe for disaster in any language Recently I read several articles on a popular US financial website...

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The US Senate's Permanent Sub-committee on Investigations, said HSBC was found to be doing business with Al Rajhi Bank, whose key founder was an early financial benefactor of al Qaeda, and also have provided US dollars and services to some banks in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh despite their...

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