Economic Indicators

Earlier this week when the House defeated the Wall St. bailout, I thought we might be glimpsing a populist uprising. Wrong! According to NPR, the U.S. House just passed a $700 billion financial rescue package by a vote to 263-171, paving the way for the government to start buying up troubled assets from financial institutions caught on the wrong side of record home foreclosures. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is …

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Breaking news from the nation's capitol: A bipartisan group of U.S. House lawmakers defeated a $700 billion rescue plan for Wall Street on Monday, rejecting pleas from the Bush administration and congressional leaders from both parties. The 205-228 vote against the plan sent stocks plummeting, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down around 500 points as news of the vote spread through Wall Street. Okay, back to …

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Today's a good day to be Goldman Sachs. Warren Buffett, the wisest investor in Stock Market history, just gave the firm a vote of confidence like no other. Nothing talks like money, and Buffet's firm, Berkshire Hathaway, just put $5 billion on the table. Buffett says Goldman Sachs is an exceptional institution. "It has an unrivalled global franchise, a proven and deep management team and the intellectual and …

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Ed Cotton of Butler Shine and Stern says it's a challenging, but exciting time to solve marketing problems. Brands needs to understand that the world has changed and the hopes and dreams they promised to consumers might ring rather hollow today. Brands need to get practical. They need to be smarter. They need to get the current mindset and tailor their offerings to meet current needs. Obviously, value takes on new …

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Like John McCain, I don't pretend to know much about economics; therefore, today's news from Wall Street is somewhat mystifying to me. In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself on Sunday to Bank of America for roughly $50 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis, while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy protection and …

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USA Today points to this study from private equity firm, Veronis Suhler Stevenson, which forecasts media expenditures in the coming years. VSS projects that communications spending will increase 5.4% to $923.91 billion in 2008, as strong gains in the institutional and alternative media sectors (like gaming) offset the downward pressure of declining traditional advertising spending. VSS also notes that communications …

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The economic downturn has to hurt the ad business at some point. According to the Los Angeles Times, certain sectors like online display advertising are already feeling the pain. In one ominous example, Lee Enterprises Inc., which owns 54 newspapers including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said in its most recent earnings report that its online ad revenue had dropped 9.1% while print ad revenue fell 10.1%. Companies …

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Nielsen has been talking to shoppers in effort to determine how the economic slowdown is changing behavior. They found that nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of consumers are reducing their spending, up 18 points since June 2007. courtesy of Flickr user, Jim Forest “Consumers are altering their driving and spending habits at dramatic levels,” said Todd Hale, senior vice president, Consumer & Shopper Insights, The …

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