For a few short days in October 1987 the U.S. financial system came perilously close to completely collapsing. Dramatic shifts in the flow of capital between interrelated markets occurred as a sudden swing in expectations from optimism to pessimism among market participants overwhelmed the worlds financial systems. Panic selling led to a complete loss of [...]

LONDON (Reuters) – The credit market turmoil is presenting opportunities for funds to snap up investment grade bonds at bargain basement prices, particularly among financials, but the window of opportunity is unlikely to be open for long. With hedge funds and other nimble investors coming back to the market, and historically wide spreads — the [...]

The slowing U.S. economy did not seem to slow down Google, which reported a surprisingly strong surge in first-quarter profits Thursday. Google’s net income jumped 31 percent to $1.31 billion and revenues swelled 42 percent to $5.19 billion compared to the same period last year. The report trumped many Wall Street analysts, who had reduced [...]

LONDON (Reuters) – BlackRock, the giant U.S. investment fund with some $1.36 trillion in assets under management, reckons the banking crisis is not over and companies are delaying expansion plans and in some case cutting spending. But in a note, Bob Doll, the firm’s global chief investment officer for equities, says there are nonetheless 10 [...]