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According to the Commerce Department, consumer sales have risen 1.1% in February, the largest increase in 5 months. The good news calmed fears that the recent expiration of the payroll tax cut would reduce the willingness of consumers to purchase goods. Consumer spending makes up 2/3 of the macroeconomy and it therefore always a reliable gauge of the current status of the national economy.

This article talked about how Apple broke the monopoly in computer industry controlled by Microsoft. 14 years ago Justice Department worried that without government intervention, consumer choice would be significantly limited by Microsoft. However, today Apple broke this monopoly and took a big share of market. By using non-price competition and creating innovative product, Apple survived and succeed in computer industry. So we can see there is no such thing as a monopoly in computer industry, the advancement of technology will always give the market to the firm.

This article reveals that as the cost of remaining Czech inflation rate in a low range, the consumer demand is weak and unemployment rise up. This article proved the trade-off relationship between inflation and unemployment.

This article talks about brand loyalty, but specifically how the american consumer is caring less about the brand. it is reported that when making an economic decisions, only 25% of the decision is weighted by the brand, a huge drop from 40%. This fact alone, reported by Ernst and Young, has changed many CMO's approach to marketing.

This article first reminds the reader how theoretical perfect competition is so monopolies are inevitable. It goes on to talk about how there are benefits of having monopolies like Google. 

This article discusses the merger of American Airlines and US Airways. It states that when this merger is completed, they will then have the control of 75% of the market, making the market an oligopoly. This decision is met with skepticism, with the constant question being asked "So I'll ask again, is there one, just one, example of deregulation working in consumers' favor?" It brings in the opinion of a Harvard professor who states that we have been enjoying low fares for years now.

This article talks about the oil price, how experts sets the oil price that there won't be a shortage problem in future. People they would prefer low prices but consumers firstly think of the benefit that they get from this business and also about the development of oil producing, for that they need more money that causes growth of prices. That's why they are trying to find an equilibrium price of oil, which will comply everyone's requirements.

This article talks about the organic milk shortages, that farmers can't buy enough food to feed their caws because the price for their food has been increased, as a result they give less nutrition to their caws and get less milk. But demand for organic milk is still high and in the article they will some suggestions how to solve that problem.

The demand for organic milk is greater than supply because the production cost of creating organic milk is greater than the revenue. The reason for the shortage is that the cost of organic grain and hay has gone up but the price farmers receive for milk has not. As a result farmers buy less grain and hay which lowers the production of milk. The low supply of organic milk than in turn increases the overall price. The solution for this issue would be to increase the price of income the farmers would receive for their milk. If the solution were applied, the farmers would pay more for organic grain and more milk would be produced and consumers would be satisfied.

This article states that no streaming service will ever be perfect because of the intense competition between these services. They are trying to join together with cable networks in order to gain more consumers.

This article talks about a oil company in Russia that controls on the gas exports and oil giants are trying to convince the government to liberalize exports. It also mentions how even if they were liberalized, it would take a while to change who exports gas because of loyalty from consumers.

In the old days there wasnt really monopolies they were mostly quasi-monopolies. The government owned enterprisis and there were not really private sectors and only customers were the one that was suffering but since the old days are gone most of things changed. They believe that monopolies are preffered by consumers and companies instead of competition. The developing technology is a great factor in a way of helping firms to advertise their product to convince people or take people's attention to buy the product. The advertisements and the high prices of products convince people to buy the product because they trust the price and the trusworthiness of the firm.

Prices of petroleum products are rising which has led to an increase in the prices of daily-use items. Pakistan's citizens are demanding their government to review its pricing mechanism. Instead of having a weekly review, consumers want the government to switch back to the monthly price review. This article shows an imbalance in the price rationing of petroleum.

Not only does this article fit well with the topic of price mechanisms, but it also is a great example of the effects that products can have on an entire economy. Petroleum is not just used to fuel cars, it is used to manufacture all sorts of other products. That aside, every company, one way or another, is affected by the price of petroleum, and when the price goes up, the manufacturers and retailers pass the increase in transportation costs on to the consumer, who indirectly pays for the high price of petroleum.

The article is an analysis of the Tyson Foods company. The article starts by surmising that the company is 30% undervalued. The article also continues into justifying why there might possible be the reduced price. The article also mentions some food products and talks about their elasticity or in-elasticity. According to the article many foods are inelastic because people buy only as much as they want to buy and the foods have a strong consumer base.

Since our topic this week is on exchange rates i thought it would be a good time to address a topic of interest to me - virtual money. the bitcoin is accepted as a form of currency by many and from the article, we can deduce that it has a high exchange rate. A norwegian man had bout $27 worth of bitcoins which now translates to $886,000. this value and exchange rate is un-paramounted and extremely high but there are reasons for this. Bitcoins are now being used as a form of currency for illegal trading - forged documentation serving as an example. This increase in demand has lead to appreciation for the value however many countries are just starting to recognise the bitcoins currency value. many owners are just starting to accept bitcoins as a form of payment in the hopes that it can appreciate and they can sell it for more in the future. However in the article we get an understanding that the bitcoin fluctuates greatly. This detracts consumer confidence however the sheer idea of investing in virtual money is enticing to many, increasing the demand for the bitcoin.

The U.S. has had a current account deficit since 1999. Lately, a growing U.S. economy is not contributing to the global trade market as much as it had in the past. This is causing people to become worried about a global economic storm that might emerge in the near future.

This article states that UK's economy is slowly growing due to consumers buying and spending more. This won't be able to make up the 0.2% fall in GDP for 2012, but it is still a small start.

This article talks about how price controls influenced the market before the Christmas Eve in Ethiopia. They describe the chaos that was happening when the government reduced the price of food. Some people says they appreciate this changes , however others against the price controls in country, because they think that this is not beneficial at all.

The article is about France wanting to increase the tax on palm oil by 400% and palm oil makes up 20% of the ingredients used in nutella. Nutella is Europe's favourite breakfast chocolate and hazelnut spread. The article states that the reason for the tax increase is because its link to health concerns leading to obesity as well as causing severe damage to the environment.

Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism director Wan Uzir of Malaysia announced (on November 8) 14 items that are price controlled by the government but are recommended to be sold at a price even lower than the maximum set by the government. These price controls, on items such as chicken and potatoes, are in anticipation of the nearing Holiday, Deepavali (Diwali) on November 13, mainly to protect consumers from potentially unmanageable prices.