slumps

Drivers passing Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo curse the protesters.

Stocks fell as poor earnings reports from technology companies suggested that the upcoming earnings season could show that companies invested less in new technology as the recovery slowed.

The currency fell to an 18-month low and stocks sagged amid continuing nervousness over Europe’s finances.

Top company bosses saw their pay decline further in 2009, the first time in two decades that it has fallen for two consecutive years, according to a new analysis.

Chevron said Friday it pumped its way through a weak third quarter, producing more oil as prices recovered from a severe plunge earlier in the year.

Interpublic Group of Cos. on Thursday reported a 55.6 percent drop in third-quarter profit on continuing worldwide slumps in advertising.

Aerospace and defense company Heico Corp. said Wednesday its third-quarter earnings fell 13 percent, hurt by the ongoing slump in passenger and cargo air traffic.

Mining giant Rio Tinto said sharp falls in metals and mineral prices were behind first-half profit dropping by nearly two thirds.

The government, re-examining the economic numbers going back decades, finds that past eras were both better and worse than thought.

With secure jobs and ample incomes, the rich and the near rich are supposed to be insulated from economic slumps.

Well, not this time. Many feel fearful, threatened, and impoverished.