Palash Ghosh

Stocks began 2011 with a bang – equities leaped, powered by some strong manufacturing data in the U.S. and Europe and by a generally bullish outlook for the new year.

Does a company like Facebook that manufactures no tangible products and employs only about 2,000 people really be worth as much as $50-billion.

The devastating floods in Queensland Australia has driven up the prices of certain commodities, including coal, wheat and sugar. With warnings that the flood may not recede for weeks, the longer-term impact on commodity prices becomes a great concern.

With a pop in its share price on the first trading day of 2011, Apple Inc. (AAPL) has now surpassed the $300-billion level in terms of market cap.

Construction spending edged up slightly in November over the prior month, according to the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is preparing for a potential onslaught of embarrassing and perhaps damaging information about the bank from Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks, according to a report in the New York Times.

The economy of Singapore surged by an astounding 14.7 percent in 2010, primarily driven by a surge in manufacturing activity, versus a 1.3 decline in the prior year, making it Asia’s fastest-growing economy.

Many observers believe the bond bull has run out of steam, although a 'pop' in the bond bubble is probably unlikely.

Many investment banks and commodity analysts have taken a highly bullish stance on crude oil prices for 2011, based largely on economic recovery in the U.S., continued money-printing by the Federal Reserve (thereby, weakening U.S. dollar) and persistent high demand from the emerging markets, particularly China and India.

Douglas C. Borthwick, Managing Director of Faros Trading, reviews the global currency markets from 2010 and provides some outlook and guidance for 2011

Wall Street appears to be almost universally bullish about U.S. stocks for 2011.

Top Ten Predictions for U.S. Economy/Markets in 2011. These predictions come from Michael Yoshikami, president and chief investment strategist of YCMNET Advisors Inc. in Walnut Creek, Cal.

These predictions come from Richard Kang, Chief Investment Officer and Director of Research at Emerging Global Shares, an ETF company focused on the emerging markets.

Stocks finish 2010 with a whimper amidst sluggish holiday trading, although equity indices delivered quite a strong year in performance.

Here are the ten worst-performing stocks in the S&P 500 index for 2010.

Here are the ten best-performing stocks of the S&P 500 for 2010.

2011 will be a “horrible” year for British workers, warned Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), a federation of UK trade unions.

Germany is committed to the euro currency and the German people are now stronger in the wake of Europe’s economic crisis, said Chancellor Angela Merkel in her annual televised New Year’s message.

Companies should not be forced to place women in high executive/director positions in British companies, said Lord Mervyn Davies, the former trade minister. However, there should be some pressure applied to somehow raise the number of female directors.

Despite all the turmoil surrounding it, the euro zone will welcome its seventeenth new member, Estonia, when the clock strikes midnight in Eastern Europe, making it the first former Soviet state to adopt the euro currency.

Stocks fell modestly, despite some encouraging economic data, as investors likely locked in profits given the market’s nice rise in December.

At present respective growth rates, the average Chinese person will be wealthier than the average American in 27 years, according to Ed Lazear, a Stanford University economics professor.

Coal stocks are getting a boost from a research note by an analyst at Simmons & Co. who wrote that prices for U.S. electricity-generating coal have fallen behind international trends, suggesting great upside for domestic coal producers.

The Spanish economy will show positive growth in the fourth quarter, said the country’s Prime Minister, after a flat third quarter prompted fears of another looming recession.

Pending home sales climbed again in November, with the broad trend over the past five months indicating a gradual recovery into 2011, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The Vatican has established a new financial authority that seeks to combat money laundering and make its financial activities more transparent.

Groupon, the social buying website which recently rejected a $6- billion takeover offer from Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has attracted the interest of some large institutional investors and is seeking to go public by the end of next year, according to a report in the New York Times.

Despite a last-hour market sell-off, stocks gained modestly in thin trading volume as the major indices look to be on course for a strong December rally.

South Korea, among other countries, would be a better candidate than South Africa to join the BRIC group of prominent emerging market nations, said Jim O’Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and the man who first coined the “BRIC” term.