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Fall in demand for durable goods (orders for durable goods in the US fell 5.2% in January) means also fall in aggregate demand. Falling aggregate demand - the total spending on goods and services implies firms will start to lay off workers and unemployment rates are likely to rise. According to the business cycle, at current point there is a negative output gap, because economy is producing below its long-term trend economy can sustain.

This article talks about the increase of oil prices due to the price of the dollar being down. This article supports the topic of this week because as the demand of oil increases so do the prices. As the demand for the consumption of a product increases, the price for the product either increases or decreases. Changes in the relative prices of goods (such as oil) occur because of technological change or shifts in supply or demand. Based on this article "The price of oil and gasoline are up because the Federal Reserve has driven the value of the dollar down." - Charles Kadlec

The article talks about topic covered already in the title, with some interest to the growth of industry of southern euro-zone countries and exacerbation of German and French production. So obviously, here I can refer to PPF where resources (also human capital) are being used more efficiently; here is the movement inside existing frontier or perhaps even outward shift with improved quantities and qualities of goods (especially capital). Nevertheless, economists still fear the euro-zone might fall in recession again if there are two quarters of consecutive fall (if the economy contracted). The market clearing price of many durable goods can be determined only to some extent, due to the presence of outside disturbance (fiscal and banking crisis - therefore always introducing new policies and bail-out deals). Another thing associated with the previous sentence and the article is the price mechanism (interaction of demand and supply) which allocates resources. Under unstable circumstances which are currently taking place in euro-zone, incomes are plummeting (falling GDP per capita) except for some particular periods of time when the economy meets actual growth, meaning that there is less demand leading to an inverse effect for producers. Normally, producers wish to supply more at higher prices, especially if income of people soars so they buy more of that goods. Therefore, higher prices do not present an incentive for producers to produce more. All the producers want to increase their producer surplus; but the trend is clear - towards maximized community surplus, since producers depend on consumers' utility.

These article talks about how people spend less of their income for charity. This could be income elasticity, since people would spend their income or something they would find more necessary (such as food for their families or just buy necessary things for their own good). Therefore, there is no more demand for charities and people do not offer their money to charities anymore.

This article talks about the increase in demand of gold and the amount of price paid to get gold between 2010 and 2011. The demand of gold increased by 11% from the first quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of 2011 while the price increased by 40%. The increase in demand directly increases the supply of gold because if people want it, the rate of mining would increases so that gold is available at all time. Also, the amount of money spent on the gold would also increase because gold does not grow and one day gold would finish. The people who sell the gold would therefore put additional money on the price of the gold to get their own profit. This process would however continue because every time gold is found, the amount of gold left in the earth reduces. This allows the seller to always increase the price of the gold which means that there can never be a balance between the price and the demand. As the demand of gold increases, the price of gold decreases and the amount of gold left on earth decreases. Looking at the chart in the article, we can see that if the demand of gold increases the supply of gold would also increase but there was a slight decrease in the years 2007 to 2009. The article states that 'China's total annual gold demand topped 700 metric tons for the first time ever last year and is expected to keep rising over the next decade'.

This article talks about how the oil prices are very elastic. Due to Venezuela having a "shortfall"in their production, OPEC decided to take advantage of this. They saw this as a "a legitimate excuse to increase output". Therefore, this allowed them to increase the prices a little more and still be able to sell more oil, causing a greater profit for OPEC. In other words, because Venezuela had a shortage in their oil production, other countries were able to take advantage of this and allow the elasticity of their product to create the greatest profit possible.

according to the article, increasing excise taxes, encouraging smoke-free public places,and reducing salt and trans fat in food might help decrease deaths from noninfectious diseases. It would make sense because, if excise taxes are imposed, demand will slightly fall. Also if smoke-free places are encouraged, non-smokers will not have to be exposed to smoke all the time.

This article discusses how the goods are less in demand so their GDP is decreasing. Goods may be too much, the economy is shrinking every time its recorded and is projected to fall in the coming months.

The profit of the Microsoft decreased as people started buying more smart phones and tablets. This is related to elasticity as people will buy more tablets since they are cheaper than PCs. Therefore, the demand of the PCs and Microsoft is elastic since it is not a necessity and people are buying substitute products

The strong dollar and increasing competition present a barrier for McDonald's effort to increase its profit. McDonald's used to have inelastic demand, since it did not have much competition and changes in price would not affect total revenue. If they wanted to increase total revenue, they just raised the prices. However, nowadays, as competition takes place, their demand is becoming more and more elastic, because of the more substitutes offered by competition.

Here we have an uncanny case of a company that has little to no competition, yet its market share is actually dropping. Sony has been constantly ignoring the price elasticity of it products so much so that they refuse to recognize their fall from favor in the market war. "Our initial expectation is that sales should double at a minimum," Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in an interview [at the time]. "We've gotten our production issues behind us on the PlayStation 3, reaching a position to pass on the savings to consumers, and our attitude is the sooner the better." As a result Sony has kept its prices constant.

The article talks about the increasing investment in African countries due to falling interest rates and lackuster growth. Investing in African bonds gives off a high profit.

This article talks about the increase in price of oil and the increase in demand for oil. Analysts said that the price of oil would increase as time goes and suppliers are trying to meet the demands of people. The cost of one barrel of North Sea Brent has increased and made a new record in both euro and pounds. 'Many analysts say the broader trend is that prices will continue to rise because of risks to oil supplies'. Oil supplies were slowed down in the late 1970's and early 1980's because of the war between Iran and Iraq. During global consumption, oil would increase in price by about 1.3 million barrels a day said by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. However, supply will fall by about 310,000 barrels a day.

This article talks about the drop in price for the Australian dollar. Glenn Stevens commented on this drop and admits that the volatility of Australia's currency will deter investors. Obviously, volatility means there is the potential for a quick rise in exchange rate as well as a quick fall, but investors want something more secure, something that is steadily increasing, not a moving target.