Posts Tagged ‘Netflix’

The Week Unpeeled

The US employment report propelled markets even higher last week after a robust January, with pretty impressive numbers for this economy, with non-farm rising by 157,000 jobs and November and December numbers revised upwards by a total of 127,000 jobs. The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9 percent last month (a new normal level?), and US saw real growth decline in the fourth quarter (down 0.1 percent) but markets charged ahead nonetheless.  The Dow ended up 149 points on Friday to close at 14,009, the highest close since 2007 and up 6.9 percent since the start of the year.

Elsewhere:

• Blackberry changed its name to Blackberry (remember it was really called RIM) and launched a new phone that got pretty good (not universal, though) reviews;
• The iconic black cabs of London were bailed out by a Chinese automaker;
• The Washington Post is moving out of its headquarter office of four decades to a newsroom unknown;
• Time Inc. is cutting 500 from its staff, or 6 percent;
• Television (?) series “House of Cards” debuted with Kevin Spacey this weekend on Netflix, receiving more media attention about its unusual distribution (all episodes available immediately on Netflix) than its content;
• The New York Times (and other media outlets) reported that their records have been attached by Chinese hackers, coinciding with reporting on The Times investigation about wealth of China’s prime minister;
• News and talk dribbled out about changes at CNN under new chief Jeff Zucker, with Chris Cuomo hired away from ABC;
• The Super Beyonce Commercial Bowl amid reports that some of the TV ad actors were lip synching;
• Former New York City mayor Ed Koch died with local media bestowing heaps of seemingly well-deserved tributes/praise; and
• The TV comedy “30-Rock” bid farewell last week, with Tina Fey, the star and writer, honored with a Ben & Jerry’s named after her character Liz Lemon (probably better now than making the cover of Time).