Global Economy

Article Index

France and Britain Take the Lead on Executive Pay Restrictions

Executive pay has been a delicate issue in the United States where the Obama administration's "Pay Czar," Kenneth Feinberg, has been asked to keep bonuses for top financial managers disciplined without driving off top talent.

However, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have been more blunt about exacting a toll on the financial firms that required taxpayer bailouts.

The United Kingdom on Wednesday announced plans to levy an immediate 50% tax on discretionary bonuses greater than 25,000 pounds, or about $40,000.   The U.K. Treasury estimates the tax will affect 20,000 bankers and bring in about 550 million pounds, or about $894,000,000. However, some bankers have suggested the tax would reap about 4 billion pounds, or $6.5 billion, if firms press ahead with large bonus payouts regardless of the tax, the Financial Times reported.

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China Will Continue to Drive the Global Economic Recovery in 2010

China isn't just leading the global economic recovery - it's lapping the field.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an 8.9% annual rate in the third quarter - the fastest pace in a year and up from 7.9% in the second quarter And the median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News is for China's GDP to jump more than 10% in the final three months of 2009, setting the stage for double digit growth in 2010.

China has been the muscle behind the worldwide economic recovery for much of 2009. That role will continue in the New Year as the Red Dragon maintains its catalyst role.

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A Year After the Crisis, the Global Economy is Firing on All Cylinders

What a difference 12 months can make.

Just one year after every national economy on earth was in deep trouble, a powerful global rebound is underway. In fact, the global upswing is a lot stronger than most investors realize.

So don't let a few days' decline here and there cause you to lose sight of one of the most important investing trends investors will find today.

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G20 Leaders Meet to Rebalance World's Economy While Imposing Banking Reforms

Leaders from the G20 nations, which represent 85% of the global economy, will hold an economic summit in Pittsburgh this week to determine how they can keep the economic recovery on track while rebalancing growth and imposing new regulatory restrictions on banks. U.S. President Barack Obama and his overseas counterparts will meet for the third […]

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Buy, Sell or Hold: Kimberly Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) Offers a Strong Defensive Position and a Generous Dividend Yield

In the last few months we have seen a very strong stock market rally. The market has recovered from highly distressed levels and posted exorbitant gains.  In addition the “wall of money” from the U.S. Federal Reserve has pushed risk-prone investors back into the market, pushing its general level up. You see, the massive fiscal […]

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Investment News Briefs

With our investment news briefs, Money Morning provides investors with a quick overview of the most important investing news stories from all around the world. OECD: Up To 25 Million Jobs Lost; BHP Affirms China's Strength, Demand; Adobe Buys Omniture; Emerging Market Stocks Double From Oct. Lows; Corning Buys Plastic Maker Axygen BioScience; Blockbuster Closing […]

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Buy, Sell or Hold: The SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSE: GLD) Continues to Offer Investors a Hedge Against Inflation

The just-concluded Group 20 (G20) meeting left us with a chorus of very "prudent" governments and central bankers singing the praises of easy monetary and fiscal conditions. So where can we take refuge when all the central banks in the world print money and governments run deficits in order to spend like drunken sailors? The […]

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10 Global Trends to Follow for the Next 18 Months

By William Patalon IIIExecutive EditorMoney Morning/The Money Map Report There's an old Wall Street adage that tells us that "the trend is your friend." And there's a witty bit of wisdom we've developed here at Money Morning to help guide our readers and us that says: "Go global or go home." Combine those two and […]

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Caterpillar Digs Deep into the Developing World for Profit

By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) beat estimates up and down Wall Street with a 13% jump in first-quarter profit that was largely driven by booming international sales. Caterpillar reported net income of $992 million ($1.45 a share) for the quarter, up from $816 million ($1.23 a share) a year ago. Sales soared […]

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IMF Warns of Global Economic Slowdown

By Jennifer Yousfi Managing Editor Global growth will slow to 3.7% in 2008, the International Monetary Fund announced yesterday (Wednesday), in its most recent World Economic Outlook. There is also a 25% chance of a global recession should economic growth fall below 3% in 2008 or 2009. The United States will largely be responsible for […]

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