Term 2 Progress Test 2 Revision Sheet

Study the terms and concepts for chapter 15 in your textbook.

Revision Sheet Term 2 Progress Test 1

Study chapters 13 and 14 from the Introduction to Business book.

Facebook

Facebook is currently the largest social networking site used by more than 500 million people. It was found in 2004 by a Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. At first it was only for Harvard students then for all high schools and colleges. And country by country it became one of the most popular sites, however it outflanked many other sites like MySpace.

It is also one of the new titans of internet and it managed to challenge even google. It showed a new vision through personal relationship and recommendations instead of searches. For example the new idea to "Like" something. Zack also introduced new messaging system which is unified and can be used for email, text messaging or online chat. It can be used through mobile and web.

Currently Mark Zuckerberg likes to keep control over his company. It even declined a $1 billion offer from Yahoo in 2006. He even turned down the idea of stock offering. Facebook raised 500 million dollars in january 2011 by investors Goldman sachs and a russian investor, seeking $50 billion value.

Article

Done By: Asdaf Iqbal

Signs of Recovery

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/jpmorgans-fourth-quarter-profits-rise-47-to-4-8-billion/?ref=business

The article, in short, reveals positive figures for JP Morgan's performance for 2010. It increased its profit that year from 11.4 billion dollars the year before to 17.4 billion, a 47 % increase. This was apparently due to a better consumer lending environment and retail financial services, which include everything from mortgages to credit cards to checking accounts.

The financial report could pave the way for JP Morgan to increase its dividend by as much as a dollar.

The bank however is facing litigation coming from its mortgage business. Along with other several banks, they are going through state and private investigations over questionable foreclosure procedures. Homeowners and state regulators have claimed that banks foreclosed on homes without proving the owned the mortgages. Some banks are even being accused of forging documents in foreclosure procedures.

Speculation over the banking system's ethics is not a new subject. Many have been known to use immoral tactics to make profit. But with so much power it is hard to monitor everything a bank may or may not do. Many of these investigations do not harm the banks.

Since the financial crisis, JP Morgan has a come a long way from when it earned 0.06 dollars a share in the fourth quarter of 2008. “Solid performance in the quarter and for the year reflected good results across most of our businesses, which benefited from strong client relationships and continued investments for growth,” said JP Morgan’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon.

The bank is constantly hinting at increasing its dividend but first, like many other banks, must receive the green light from the Federal Reserve to complete its second round of "stress tests" to determine the capabilities of certain banks. This is an initiative to help prevent banks from striving for too much and ending up losing it all as was one of the main causes of the 2008 financial crisis.

Good news for banks is a bright light for the general recovery of the broader economy. “It’s not like issues from the financial crisis are going away, but we think we’ll see positive overtones as to how the economic recover is taking hold,” said Moshe Orenbuch, an analyst at Credit Suisse.

Rising chinese inflation to show up in U.S economy

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/business/global/12inflate.html?src=me&ref=business

Inflation has arrived in China. And after Tuesday’s release of crucial financial statistics by China’s central bank, few economists expect Beijing officials to be able to tame rising prices any time soon.

While American importers of Chinese goods will feel the squeeze, the effect on American consumers may be more subtle and the overall impact on United States inflation may be minimal.

In China, consumer prices were 5.1 percent higher in November than a year earlier, according to official government data. And many economists say the official figures actually understate the rate of inflation, which might in reality be twice as high.

“Four percent, China can bear it — beyond 5 percent, people will complain a lot,” said Huo Jianguo, president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation here.

Higher global commodity prices, as well as rising wages in China, play roles in the increasing cost of Chinese goods. But economists say the main reason for the inflation now is China’s foreign exchange reserves, which surged by a record amount in the fourth quarter.

U.S. dollar gains push gold prices down

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

NEW YORK: The U.S. dollar rose Tuesday, pulling the euro from a three-week crest and decreasing gold prices harshly.
Weak consumer stocks on Wall Street and a guess by Morgan Stanley that the standard S&P 500 would lose position in 2011 weighed on opinion a day after the S&P 500 and the Dow increase by two-year highs.
An unexpected boost in U.S. factory orders in November was reported on Tuesday. Orders recorded their biggest profit in eight months.
“No reason that the [U.S.] market is down other than it is up a lot. The news is good, but you could get a 4 to 5 percent correction out of nowhere only because stocks are up a lot,” said Jim Awad, managing director of Zephyr Management in New York.
“But the forward momentum is likely positive, supported by increasingly good news in the economy,” he added.
Spot gold prices tumbled below $1,400 an ounce, losing $28.05, or 1.98 percent, to $1,385.70.
“Pressure [on gold] is expected to return over the next week based on our expectation for a problem in oil prices, gains in the stock market and general stability in the dollar,” MF Global said in a note.
Copper fell from a record high hit Monday, dropping 7.7 cents, or nearly 2% to $4.38 per pound in New York trade. Crude oil prices fell $2.43, or 2.65%, to $89.12 per barrel.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=123228#axzz1Arb7bzGh

Is the Iphone bad for the American economy

http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2011/01/11/is-the-iphone-bad-for-the-american-economy/?xid=huffpo-direct

This article points out how the iphone, while being a major success, could be considered detrimental to the American economy. As is known, the iphone is an American product, however, what many people might be oblivious to is the fact that it is manufactured in the People's Republic of China. This increases the US trade deficit with China. The authors of the study presented in the paper introduce us to an idea that could cut down on Apple's profist but could be beneficial to the US economy. The idea is relatively simple, start manufacturing iphones in the US. My perspective about this article is incredulous, simply because the US economy is based on Capitalism and companies shouldn't make sacrifices in the sake of the country's well being.