Articles on Finance, Economics, and the Stock Market

The following articles contain in-depth information on a wide variety of financial topics.
Check back here regularly for the latest news and analysis on market moves, trading, and economics.

Stock Market Basics for Beginners Safe Havens and Stability other than Gold and Treasuries

21 weeks 6 days ago

Stock markets around the world have been in the headlines during the summer, for all the wrong reasons. Due to increased uncertainty and a lack of confidence in global markets, a huge amount of money has been flowing out of equities into perceived safe havens such as gold, cash, and US government treasuries. If you are thinking about jumping into the market, or learning about stock market basics these downward trends may be unsettling to you.

One of the most important stock market basics for beginners to be aware of is that all markets are highly unpredictable in the short term. Because ther

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Intellectual Property in the Twenty First Century Part 2

22 weeks 3 days ago

Most experts agree that pharmaceutical firms would not commit so many resources to developing new drugs if not for the privilege of being the sole producer for a number of profitable years. Drugs are generally far more costly and harder to access worldwide while they are under patent protection. However, without the patent, the drug may never have been discovered. The slow pace of innovation, especially the span of time from discovery to market, more than merits 20 years of protection. Even once an active ingredient is found to be effective and a patent is awarded, the drug must pass rigorous testing before it is allowed into the open market. This testing, manufacture, and marketing time eats into the profitable life of a medication.

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Intellectual Property in the Twenty First Century Part 1

23 weeks 17 hours ago

Patents have been making a lot of news this summer. On July 22, the National Public Radio (and Chicago Public Media) show This American Life aired an hour long special titled, “When Patents Attack!” Last week we reported on Google’s deal to purchase Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion for its patents.

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Google Motorola Merger Smartphone Android

Beyond Smartphones What’s next for Google and Motorola?

24 weeks 5 days ago

In our July 22 post, Three Hot Tech Stocks, we mentioned that Microsoft’s partnership with Nokia could help both companies compete in the Smartphone sector. Now Microsoft can integrate its Windows smartphone operating system into the Nokia hardware for a more harmonious union. We also asked, how would Google monetize Android? And with all their cash, what new divisions or surprise acquisitions might Google roll out next?

Google began to answer our questions this week by acquiring Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. But this deal isn’t about manufacturing and selling mobile phones. Motorola holds numer

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Understanding the S&P Rating System

26 weeks 11 hours ago

There are three major credit rating agencies that score the investment quality of stocks and bonds, one of the best known being Standard & Poor’s (S&P). This week S&P downgraded United States bonds from AAA (“Triple-A”) to AA+. Both are strong, investment-grade ratings. Both AAA and AA+ would be considered safe long-term investments. If you’ve been watching the news lately you can only begin to guess which of the US’s laundry list of troubles sparked the recent downgrade. If anything, you might wonder, “Why now?”

The housing bubble officially burst around 2007. The US government bailed out numerous financial institutions in the past few years.

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Articles on Finance, Economics, and the Stock Market

The following articles contain in-depth information on a wide variety of financial topics. Check back here regularly for the latest news and analysis on market moves, trading, and economics.

The following articles contain in-depth information on a wide variety of financial topics.
Check back here regularly for the latest news and analysis on market moves, trading, and economics.