Economy

There are few banks that conservative investors should contemplate putting their money into these days. The inherent uncertainty in most bank stocks will probably make you squirm, as it should.

New York- Higher fares and a stumbling economy are taking a toll on airlines' premium-seat sections as more business travelers choose coach, a report said Monday.

Tokyo -- The Japanese economic stimulus package will be funded with a supplementary budget instead through deficit-covering bonds, it was announced Friday.

Here's a couple of predictions I recently came across:

Where'd I find these bearish remarks? They weren't part of a Jim Cramer rant or a Barack Obama speech. In fact, they weren't made by anyone contemplating recent headlines.

Singapore -- A former International Monetary Fund chief economist said in Singapore that a large bank failing was to be expected soon.

Beijing -- China spent more than $42 billion to stage the Beijing Olympics but senior officials are confident the country will not go into a post-Games recession.

Master investor Warren Buffett has said the 21st century will belong to China. Venture capitalist John Doerr has called cleantech "the biggest economic opportunity of this century."

Tokyo -- Japan economy shrank in the last quarter, the first such decline in four quarters, pointing to an economic downturn.

London -- Prices in Britain rose 4.4 percent in July, rising above economic forecasts and more than twice the target rate set by the Bank of England, the government said.

Baghdad -- A vital part of Iraq's economy, private sector jobs not related to oil, has failed to make a comeback since the 2003 invasion, a government source said.

Tokyo -- The Japanese economy shows signs it has gone from slow to shrinking, a turn that may mark the end of its longest growth run since World War II, analysts said.

Las Vegas -- Boyd Gaming blamed tougher credit markets and a slower economy for its decision to delay construction of its $5 billion hotel project on the Las Vegas Strip.

At the mightybargainhunter.com blog the other day, I read an interesting point: "Inflation and rising prices are often used interchangeably, but they're not the same thing." The author explained that technically, inflation is an increase in the money supply (which dilutes its value), while rising prices are a possible (but not inevitable) consequence of inflation, "because people have more dollars (say) in their hands with which to bid up the price of anything that the money can buy."