A week of economic woes and Facebook fizzle
Jeremy Hobson: Three terms that we’ve been hearing a lot of this week: Greek exit, debt ceiling showdown, Facebook fizzle. Add to those terms the official economic yardsticks: stocks, jobs, factory output, and the economic picture just doesn’t look too rosy this week.
Marketplace’s Scott Tong reports on what all this is doing to our psyche.
Scott Tong: Socializing on Facebooking can be a distraction, but the company’s Wall Street face plant stole investors’ attention this week, too. While we were networking, US business orders slowed, HP laid off 27,000 workers, and the big question – how it’s going in Europe – remains answered.
Stock strategist Rod Smyth is with RiverFront Capital in Richmond, Virginia.
Rod Smyth: Instead of Facebook, Americans should be focused on elections that recently happened in France. And the clear change of message, which is a rejection of German austerity.
Germany versus the rest of Europe suggests a political fix for the euro zone remains far off, and markets aren’t fond of unpredictability. At least there’s China, right? Not so much, factory action there has slowed. All told, the International Monetary Fund thinks the world economy will grow slower than last year. In the last month, world stocks have tumbled seven percent. Crude oil has slipped seven as well.
In Washington, I’m Scott Tong for Marketplace
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