Media Navel Gaze: January 5, 2015
The Week Unpeeled
Last week was marked by traditional year-in-review reviews in a year full of big news from the Ukraine, the Middle East, Ebola, the World Cup and the Olympics to cheap energy, gay marriage and Pope Francis. Odd that Ebola Fighters got Time "persons of the year" (I'd vote ISIS or energy prices, events that truly changed the global landscape), but the really big winners were the US markets, where stocks surged to its sixth annual advance in a row, with the blue chips up 7.4%, closing out the year at 17,823, and well over 100% since The Great Recession.
Elsewhere:
- The US dollar continued its rally to an 11-year high, which no doubt will impact foreign debt payments; the greenback rose some 12% in 2014 alone;
- Financial media have increased their focus lately on whether the strength in the US markets will continue amid weaker economies overseas;
- The US put sanctions in place against North Korea's arms industry following the nation's alleged hacking at Sony; and
- The Interview does pretty well online.
