Two months ago, in an attempt to stem breakneck inflation, Zimbabwe's government ordered businesses to freeze prices. Since then, it's been crippled by a shortage of basic goods, and inflation shows no sign of slowing, Gretchen Wilson reports.
Just when it looks like the Fed might be ready to lower interest rates in the U.S., the European Central Bank has indicated it may raise rates over inflation worries. And at least one EU member state says the ECB's got it wrong, Stephen Beard reports.
When the U.S. subprime mortgage industry sputtered out, it sent world markets into a tailspin. But that's nothing compared to what a crash in China's financial market would do to the global economy, Chris Farrell tells us.
The subprime lending fiasco has left the entire banking system a little tight on cash. And it couldn't have come at a worse time for college freshmen in need of student loans. Stacey Vanek-Smith reports.
Wall Street investors are still anxious to hear which direction the Fed might turn next in its attempts to calm the financial markets, but Bernanke's doing everything he can to keep the "real economy" purring. Bob Moon reports.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson came together today to reassure everyone that they're on top of any changes to the subprime-riddled economy. Bob Moon reports.
Now that the Federal Reserve has stepped in to calm credit-crunch fears, we figured it was time to assess where the markets and the economy might be headed. Kai Ryssdal talked with Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James.
The stock market took another dive this week as fears of an imploding credit market continued to spread. At issue are expectations that the current credit crunch might get worse. Host Tess Vigeland goes back to the beginning of it all with economist Mark Zandi.
The Fed today cut the discount rate — what banks pay to borrow from the Fed — by half a percentage point. Banks use it only when they're in a bind. Like the one they've been in the past couple of weeks. Jill Barshay reports.
The Japanese yen is fast gaining strength against the dollar, but that could be bad for Japan's heavily export-dependent economy. Really bad. Economist Andrew Hilton explains.
