Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Your Morning News 1.23.08

Posted by Josh in Barnanke, Federal Reserve, Heath Ledger, Investing, Oscars, President, Stock Market, Your Morning News

The biggest news today that every paper put on the front page is the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut, which was an attempt to prevent a massive sell off in stock markets all over the world. Most papers agree that it worked, sorta, but that we are still either entering or already in a recession. Yesterday’s rate cut was the largest in 20 years. Some people say that the Fed is too concerned with the stock market since their job is ostensibly to worry about the economy as a whole, and not just Wall Street.

Confused? Me too. We will have a longer post some time over the next few days explaining exactly what the Federal Reserve is and how it works.

The Washington Post has an excellent article with advice for investors of all ages. Their advice for those just starting out is that we are investing for the long term (not planning on withdrawing the money for 40 or 50 years) so one week, month, or year doesn’t really matter. The article actually recommends that young people go out and invest while stocks cost less to prepare for their eventual bounce back.

The President and Congress are close to an agreement on a stimulus package, so that bounce back will be just around the corner.

Oscar nominations are out, but no one knows if there will actually be an awards show because of the writers’ strike.

Finally, filed under news you heard about already, Actor Heath Ledger was found dead in a Manhattan apartment yesterday.

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