Did you know that earlier this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said that the United States will run out of borrowed money by October 17th? This is known as the debt ceiling, and indicates that Congress will again need to figure out how to keep government running while still paying down past bills. Are you interested in more daily business news like this? Here are three interesting headlines to hit the business world this month.
1. Postal Service Likely to Raise Stamp Prices
In a decision that is likely to rile businesses that still rely on the mail service to deliver ads and information to consumers, the U.S. postal service has propose a rise in first class postage cost for 2014. The change would add $.3 to each stamp, raising the total price to 49 cents, according to online business news. The Postal Service has said that they are in a precarious financial situation, and last year they posted a $15.9 billion net loss.
2. UK Stock Market Now Majority Foreign Owned
According to Telegraph Business News, foreign investors now own more than half of Britain’s stock market, worth almost two trillion pounds. To compare, 20 years ago, less than 20% of the UK stock market was foreign owned. At the same time, says Telegraph Business News, UK pension funds have also fallen to an all time low of 4.7%. This is said to be the result of fund managers looking for less risk and higher returns on investment.
3. J.C. Penney Co Inc Shares Make Fall Quickly
This week, Goldman Sachs said that sales at the department store were likely to improve more slowly than originally expected, and they also had concerns about the business’s liquidity. They cited an overall difficult environment for retailing, as well as weak business fundamentals at Penney’s. After this announcement, shares of the stock fell to $9.94, which was the lowest they have gone in 13 years, according to Reuters business news.
What business world news headlines have you seen this week? Let us know in the comments.
