One of the fiscal implications of the current financial crisis is the effect on funded pension plans in many OECD countries. Some of the countries’ pension fund portfolios have high exposure to equities and mutual funds. Many of the mutual funds in these countries are also heavily invested in equities. The following diagram shows the …
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The London-based world’s leading band valuation consultant, Brand Finance, published the Top 500 Global Banking Brands for 2009 last month. They have published this annual report since 2006 in partnership with The Banker magazine. This list is released annually and is based on data from the world’s largest stock exchanges. Each brand is assigned a …
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The S&P 500 Index is down 24.43% as of March 5, this year. The energy sector components within the index have fallen 21.11% in the same period. As the recession deepens, the consumption of gasoline has decreased. After soaring to over $140 last year, Crude Oil is now in the $40 range. Today the April …
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Infrastructure is one of the key sectors that will see large investment as part of the massive $787 billion package signed President Obama last month. The law titled “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” will promote investment in infrastructure such as roads, bridges, electricity grid, etc. Billions of dollars will pour into these projects over the …
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The Global Finance magazine released the world’s safest banks list for 2009 on February 25th. For the first time they published this mid-year update due to the turmoil in the world’s banking industry. The list was compiled based on the comparison of long-term credit ratings and total assets of the 500 largest banks in the …