Global News

To the city's social elite, Teresa Rodriguez seemed to talk sense. Did she also talk them out of $30 million?

Depending on how money is defined, the nation's supply is either flat or running out of control. The confusion may be intentional.

The dot-com bubble has burst. The Nasdaq bear refuses to go into hibernation for the winter. “Geek chic” suddenly looks as tired and dated as those Priceline PCLN ads with William Shatner that looked so cool only a few months ago, when Priceline’s stock was soaring.

Financial statement information is of very little use in the valuation of Net stocks. There's no significant positive association between bottom-line net income and market prices. In fact, the association is usually negative.

California's new $10 billion energy bailout plan is being greeted with skepticism by both industry experts and consumer groups. That’s not surprising because the state of California, which has already proven itself to be “the gang that couldn’t deregulate”, has rushed to implement an emergency plan that looks increasingly like a band-aid on a severe gut-shot wound.

The coalition of unions, consumer and women's groups who have been fighting the bankruptcy law are just about out of ammo. Both houses of Congress are expected to pass the measure this week, and President Bush has said he's ready to sign it into law.

It looks as if oil politics could be the vehicle for George W. Bush to define his administration's geo-strategic principles, solidify support in Congress,  reward his supporters in the energy "bidness" and unify the country behind his foreign policy, just as it was for his father. That does not necessarily  mean a repeat of the Persian Gulf War, but oil provides an ideal vehicle for restating the imperial American policy abroad.

"Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hittin," explained famous philosopher, Hall of Fame ballplayer, and pennant-winning Manager (for the both the Yankees and Mets), Lawrence "Yogi" Berra, when asked about a long dry spell at the plate. He could have been speaking for the equity markets' hivemind this week. The Nasdaq composite is off more than 53% from its high reached less than one year ago. After a big January pop, the COMP ended the month 46% off its March 2000 peak, and then proceeded to lose another 16% from its January 31 level.