What's Going On – News Roundup
Tuesday evening news Roundup
- I am not sure what we did by giving Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson $700 billion to spend. The stock market isn’t happy. The stock market fell approximately 5% today. So far in 2008, the stock market has lost 32% of its value. This is the worst loss in value since 1937. Want more dire warnings? Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has hinted that the Fed may lower interest rates. I thought that low interest rates were one of the reasons we got into this problem!
- Hedge funds, on average, lost over 4% in September. Early trading in Asian markets looks like the bad news is going to continue.
- With the Food and Drug Administration looming over their heads, the pharmaceutical companies that make pediatric cough and cold remedies have voluntarily agreed to want that their products should not be used for children under four. Recent studies have suggested these remedies do not help young children.
- More bad news for the John McCain camp. New intelligence estimates suggest that sectarian violence could break out at any time in Iraq. In spite of John McCain’s proclamation that we have won, the national intelligence estimate states that “victory” is not certain. Of course, this should be obvious to anyone who’s paid any attention over the last five years.
- 17 Chinese born Muslims that have been detained in Guantánamo Bay for over six years have been ordered to be released by a US federal judge.
- One of the best heavyweight bouts is not being shown on HBO. Wells Fargo and Citibank are battling over Wachovia. Towards the end of last week, Citigroup had stepped in to buy Wachovia Bank. From out of nowhere, Wells Fargo came up with a different and possibly better offer. An announcement was made that Wachovia would be sold to Wells Fargo. Citibank filed an injunction. The battle is continuing behind closed doors. By the way, did you notice that Bank of America, the bank that bought Merrill Lynch and Countrywide, reported a 68% drop in their revenues compared to last year’s third quarter?
