May 2008

It's been a couple of hours since the jobs numbers were released this morning, and the initial market gains have almost been wiped out. I must admit we were shocked to see a reading of a job loss of only 20,000 jobs and a decline in the unemployment rate to 5%. By no means do I want to downplay that number or dance in the streets knowing that Americans have been losing jobs for four consecutive ... read more

Yesterday, I met up with a friend of mine who works on Wall Street. We talked about many things -- from the credit markets, potential job losses to anticipated market performance. At the very end he told me about a trip he's making to D.C. today. He's participating in a race to raise money for returning war veterans and their families. I was so touched by what he and many others are doing to help ... read more

“We’re probably in a recession it’s not quite reflected in the GDP data, which is growing at like 0.6% or something. It’s certainly not a strong economy it can certainly ease down. A lot of people get hurt when GDP grows at that rate it’s got to grow a lot faster than that to keep everybody employed.” “It’s a recession for an awful lot of people if it’s not a general recession ... read more

What a day for ExxonMobil? The company reported disappointing earnings today and the stock was down $3.37 to $89.70 – or 3.6%. Earlier this morning I interviewed Neva Rockefeller Goodwin, an economist and great-granddaughter of the late John D. Rockefeller. She is one of the fifteen members of the Rockefeller family petitioning for some major changes in both the management structure and ... read more

It's not every day that we read a story that touches us to the core. Yesterday I received an e-mail from a close Wall Street friend and my father about an article written by George Vecsey. It was on the cover of The New York Times sports section entitled, "A Sporting Gesture Touches 'Em All." In a moment that was made for television, two young softball players carried a softball player from the ... read more