GOLDMAN SACHS

Markets have been talking about QE3 for two years. Now, after a sovereign credit downgrade, the near collapse of the European financial system, and facing an anemic recovery that has only marginally helped heal the carnage in the labor and housing markets, the vast majority of financial pundits believe QE3 this week is "pretty much a given."

Investors fed up with years of poor returns are deserting BRIC equity funds, pushing share valuations to record cheap levels and questioning the future of the high-profile investment theme.

Because of the U.S. Treasury Department's announcement Sunday that it has launched an offering of $18 billion worth of its American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG) common stock, the government will soon go from being the company's majority shareholder to being one of its minority shareholders.

It's been three years since the Great Recession technically ended, and still, unemployed Americans are struggling to find work.

Gold futures blew past the $1700-per-ounce mark early Thursday morning ahead of a widely-anticipated appearance by European Central Bank president Mario Draghi where the central bank head was expected to announce further monetary accommodation in the eurozone.

This past weekend, Hollywood studios received bad news. The number of tickets sold during Hollywood's all-important summer season -- the first week in May through Labor Day weekend -- shrank to 532 million in 2012. That's off 4 percent from last year and on track to be the lowest summer attendance in almost 20 years, according to preliminary estimates from Hollywood.com.

It seemed everyone was claiming their crystal ball has been right in anticipation of a much-hyped speech by the world's most powerful central banker, who managed to turn the attention of traders around the world to his podium in bucolic Jackson Hole, Wyo. Friday. They were all right and, as usually happens in such cases, they were also all wrong.

Two years after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced plans for a massive second round of monetary stimulus -- so called QE2 -- at a yearly Fed summit in Jackson Hole, Wyo., the world's most powerful central banker returns, with markets primed for him to deliver on even more stimulus.

Workday, the human-resource software company started by PeopleSoft founder David Duffield, filed for a $400 million initial public offering sometime later this year.

Market-watchers continued to use words like "anticipation," "expectations," "disappointment" and "excitement" Thursday, less than 24 hours ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that is being hyped up as a make-or-break moment for economic affairs in 2012.

Can Richard Schulze, the 71-year-old founding CEO of Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) put his money where his mouth is? Can he fork up billions from private eqiuity behemoths like KKR (NYSE: KKR)?

When Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) cut its fiscal year sales and earnings guidance for a second straight quarter on Monday, stock in the company rallied over 7 percent. The reason: investors think the worst is over for the New York-based jeweler.

The top after-market NYSE gainers Tuesday were Williams-Sonoma, La-Z-Boy Inc, Express, Inc, GenOn Energy and Pioneer Energy Services Corp. The top after-market NYSE losers were Qihoo 360 Technology, EnCana, Beazer Homes, Tim Hortons and Agrium Inc.

There's an almost-daft energy over Wall Street at the moment as stocks keep to four-year highs, a trend that hasn't kept analysts from warning that the party is about to be over.

It may be surprising to many who believe that Wall Street and global finance are inherently malevolent that a century ago, the public had a very similar perception of financial services, a notion that was channeled by editorial cartoonists in hard-hitting illustrations in magazines like Puck and newspapers like the New York Herald. These cartoons would be as fitting today as they were in 1912.

Shares of Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. 1 social networking site, fell to a new record low of $19.01 in midday Friday trading, a day after insiders were allowed to sell as many as 241 million shares they had been required to hold since the May 17 initial public offering.

Trading in U.S. stocks has been going on at a snail's pace recently, a fact market-watchers are blaming on policy uncertainty, but could also be the result of investors fed up with the fragmented, unpredictable nature of the market.

Poor risk control, not fraud, was the reason for the disappearance of $1 billion during the collapse of MF Global.

Thursday frees holders of as many as 271 million shares of Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. 1 social networking site, to sell them for the first time since the first-day trading fiasco on May 18, when shares that had been priced at $38 first traded at $42.05, then didn’t trade for 30 minutes and closed at $38.23.

Two years after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced plans for a massive second round of monetary stimulus at a yearly Fed summit in Jackson Hole, Wyo., market watchers are beginning to take odds on the chances that his speech at this year's Jackson Hole summit could produce a similar announcement.

The Carlyle Group (Nasdaq: CG), a global asset manager, and Getty Images management said Wednesday they formed a partnership to acquire privately held Getty Images Inc. from Hellman & Friedman for $3.3 billion.