COMM 337: Coming attractions - in class and in the financial markets

D R A F T

No face-to-face class meeting Thursday, Oct. 13. Instead, I will post a class discussion question to The Mackerel Wrapper. Watch this space for exciting opportunities to express yourself in the written word!

Background for next week's analytical paper. Since we'll be looking at coverage of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, in class today (Sept. 29), we'll spend some time foday with a a survey of really, really pessimistic investors by the Bloomberg financial news service. Bloomberg's summary:

Investors See Europe Crisis Driving Economic Slump
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Global investors anticipate Europe’s debt crisis leading to an economic slump, a financial meltdown and social unrest in the next year with 72 percent predicting a country abandoning the euro as a shared currency within five years, a Bloomberg survey found. About three-quarters of those questioned this week said the euro-area economy will fall into recession during the next 12 months and 53 percent said turmoil will worsen in a banking sector laden with government bonds, according to the quarterly Global Poll of 1,031 investors, analysts and traders who are Bloomberg subscribers. ...

There are at least a few more optimistic signs. The German parliament voted today to commit more money to bailing out euro-zone countries like Greece that are in financial trouble. While you're reading at the British Broadcasting Corp.'s coverage, follow some of the links under the heading "Europe economy essentials." Excellent background by what is arguably the most trusted news service in the world.