S&P Downgrade Vs the Market, By the Headlines and the Numbers
Standard & Poor’s downgrades U.S. debt… which sees no shortage of buyers as the market goes through one of its worst days in years, with the Dow down over 600 points. What’s going on?
Ad Categories: Business and Finance
The Volatility Index and the Dow Drop
When the market is feeling ill, look around for the VIX: the CBOE index that charts fear—or maybe just sensible pessimism—in the marketplace.
Kraft Klefts, Market Jumps
The food colossus announces a surprising split, dividing its legacy grocery division and its growing snacks and international divisions—led in part by soap salesman turned international marketer Sanjay Khosla.
Groupon IPO: SEC May Tell Lefkofsky to Please Be Quiet, Please
Groupon’s co-founder, former college carpet baron Eric Lefkofsky, runs afoul of the Securities and Exchange Commission, for stating what everyone presumes he already thinks.
Urban Partnership Bank Chairman David Vitale on ShoreBank, Federal Aid for Banks, and Detroit’s Troubles
WHAT I WAS THINKING: Q & A with the longtime banking executive
CME Group CEO Craig Donohue on the Financial Crisis, Chicago’s Inferiority Complex, and More
Warren Buffett and others have warned about the evils of derivatives—the contracts traded on CME’s Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade. And after every financial debacle, especially the latest, derivatives are trotted out as a cause. Are these things the kerosene on a fire they’re made out to be? Derivatives didn’t cause the … Read more
Gas Prices: Should You Blame Libya, Wall Street Speculators, or the Day of Rage?
Gas prices are high. (OK, well, gas prices are always high by vernacular measures.) Why? No one really knows. But we do know a lot about how much we don’t really know. Here’s a quick tour through the exciting world of oil pricing.
Because Chicago's economists have suggestions for our most pressing civic dilemmas. Now if only they could agree…
Robert Kaestner, June Lapidus, and Deirdre McCloskey debate topics such as privatizing parking meters, selling naming rights to Soldier Field, and building a third local airport in Peotone.
Because a spirit of invention prevails
A Chicagoan releases a garment 20 years in the making: the Emergency Bra
Shaking the Foundation: Chicago's architecture community devastated by recession
After glorying in a decade of booming construction, the city’s architecture community has been hit hard by the economic downturn. What does that herald for the future of one of the city’s signature attractions—its collection of memorable buildings?