With the housing market slightly recovering from its collapse a few years ago, Americans are searching to purchase a home again, but are they going about it in the right way? A new survey suggests potential homebuyers aren't. According to a study by the Consumer Financial … [Read more...]
OPEC Will Not be Slashing Oil Output to Support Prices
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will not be reducing its oil output in order to support prices as the price of oil has fallen to $45 per barrel, says one United Arab Emirates official. UAE energy minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui told a Gulf … [Read more...]
Affluent Believe ‘Poor Have it Easy’ Today
Since the financial collapse a few years ago, there have been a number of topics that have dominated political discourse: income inequality, the rich paying their fair share, the welfare system and a greater redistribution of wealth. These have been talked about incessantly, and a … [Read more...]
Canadians Having a Tough Time Reaching Financial Goal
The Canadian economy may be improving, but consumers in the Great White North aren't that confident about their own personal finances, says a new poll released by CIBC on Monday. According to the survey, 65 percent of Canadians ended 2014 feeling confident about reaching their … [Read more...]
Gas Tax Hike May Become a Reality Soon
Last month, former Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Ed Rendell recommended that the federal government begin to raise the gas tax as fuel prices continue to fall in order to pay for infrastructure projects. “The gas tax hike … would be 12 cents adjusted for inflation," said Gov. … [Read more...]
Number of U.S. Renters Increased Significantly in 2014
Despite the fact that most mainstream economists dismiss any sort of uptick in price inflation, the amount of rent that Americans paid this year shot up nearly $21 billion to a grand total of $441 billion. According to a new report from Zillow Inc., a Seattle-based real estate … [Read more...]
Paying Down Debt is Canadians No. 1 New Year’s Resolution
This is the time of the year when everyone starts reflecting on the last 12 months and then proceed to come up with a number of resolutions for the next 12 months. Saving more money, losing weight, paying off debt, exercising more and improving upon one's career are usually the most … [Read more...]
Unexpected Rise in U.S Weekly Job Claims Sign of Things to Come?
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week. However, it still hasn't changed the perception that the labor market continues to improve and return to pre-recession levels. Initial claims, which is a description for layoffs, for state … [Read more...]
Start Date for Tax Filing Season is Set on Jan. 20th
Christmas is over, the turkey is digesting in our bellies and the unrelenting reality of tax season is upon us. For the next few months, Americans will be undergoing the pain of filing their tax forms and paying the taxman. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced Tuesday that … [Read more...]
Controversial Movie The Interview Available on iTunes
Apple had initially refused Sony’s offer of hosting the controversial movie on iTunes. However, after waiting for a long time the company has finally decided to include The Interview to its iTunes store. Other streaming sites such as YouTube, Google Play and Xbox Videos as well as … [Read more...]
California Needs 11 Trillion Gallons of Water to End Drought
The state of California is experiencing a massive drought. In order to end this multi-year drought, the Golden State will need approximately 11 trillion gallons of water, and even with the plethora of storms in the past month it still won't be enough to address the … [Read more...]
China Suffers Further Oppression as ‘Great Firewall’ Blocks Gmail
For months, access to the world's largest email service was continually disrupted across China. Now, it is being reported that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Gmail has been completely blocked, and the Great Firewall is getting the blame for this lack of access, according to GreatFire.org, … [Read more...]
Amazon Scored 10 Million New Prime Members at $99 Year
Christmas is finally over and retailers are starting to look at the numbers. For Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and its customers, it was a holiday of big business and savings. In its annual day-after-Christmas debrief, Amazon announced it had signed up to 10 million new subscribers for its … [Read more...]
North Korea’s Internet Outage is Over
Ostensibly, North Korea's Internet experienced a complete outage Monday as the nation's elite and well-connected could not access websites - the average citizen doesn't have an Internet connection nor a device to browse the World Wide Web. It is now being reported that it has returned … [Read more...]
Russia Orders Exporters to Sell Forex Currency
One day after the Russian government confirmed that it would not impose currency controls because it did not believe in them, it was announced that Moscow would in fact institute informal currency controls by ordering exporters to sell their foreign exchange currency revenues to aid … [Read more...]
Russia is Embarking Upon a ‘Full-Blown Economic Crisis’
A former Russian finance minister has lambasted the government for helping the country enter into a "full-blown economic crisis" for not tackling the nation's financial problems fast enough during the "quiet years." Alexei Kudrin, a former finance minister, warned that Russia will … [Read more...]
Swiss Franc Tumbles as Central Bank Announces Negative Rates
In a surprise move that sent shockwaves throughout markets everywhere, the Swiss National Bank (SWB) announced it would institute an interest rate of -0.25 percent on large deposits held by investors in Swiss francs. This move is meant to discourage investors from seeking the franc as … [Read more...]
U.S. Consumer Prices Fall Amid Lower Oil Prices
With every piece of good economic news comes some bad financial news. Amid declining energy prices, United States consumer prices fell in the month of November, a sign that inflation levels will still remain below the Federal Reserve's target rate of two percent just before we ring … [Read more...]
New Home Construction Declines but We’re Still Recovering
Last month, the number of housing starts and building permits declined, but the figures did remain at the same levels on par with the gradual housing market recovery, says a new report by the Department of Commerce. According to the report released Tuesday, groundbreaking fell 1.6 … [Read more...]
Ruble Tumbles as Bank of Russia Raises Interest Rates
It's safe to objectively say that the Russian Federation is going through a currency crisis. As the ruble continues to decline - it tumbled to 73 against the dollar during the Tuesday trading session - the Bank of Russia announced that it has raised its short-term interest rate … [Read more...]
