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Biggest business stories of 2012 Big banks paid for their financial crimes, the never-ending euro zone crisis continued and shoppers ditched turkey dinners for deals. Here’s a look at major business news of the year.
Big banks agree to mortgage settlement
In February 2012, 17 big banks, including Bank of America, Ally Financial, HSBC and Morgan Stanley, agreed to pay $25 billion to settle allegations by state and federal officials that they used falsified documents to evict homeowners facing foreclosure. The deal represented the largest industry settlement with the government since the 1998 agreement with tobacco companies.
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AP/Bloomberg/Reuters
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Yahoo’s ups and downs
Yahoo had a string of leadership changes in 2012. Former chief executive Scott Thompson took over from Tim Morse in January. Barely five months in, Thompson’s exaggerated résumé surfaced, forcing his ouster. Ross Levinsohn was named interim CEO as the company searched for a replacement. In July, Yahoo managed to take everyone by surprise, snagging Google’s Marissa Mayer.
Noah Berger
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AP
Facebook IPO and stock woes
Crowds gathered around Nasdaq’s glass-enclosed showroom in Times Square to watch Facebook's first trade . The May debut was marred by technical glitches and chaotic trading, but that was the least of Facebook’s stock market woes in 2012. The company’s share prices plummeted after its $38 debut, trading below $20 in August. Its ride on Wall Street continues to be rocky.
Zef Nikolla
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Facebook via Bloomberg News
Carlyle Group IPO
Carlyle Group chief executive David Rubenstein. With shares priced at $22, the Carlyle Group IPO raised $671 million, the fourth-largest IPO for a private equity company on record. The firm fought perceptions that the private equity industry is a challenging one for investors, posting strong earnings at the end of the third quarter.
Astrid Riecken
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For The Washington Post
Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets
Following the release of a disappointing jobs report, the Dow Jones industrial average erased its gains for the year, plummeting more than 2 percent on June 1. Overall, markets had a positive year due to strong action by global central banks and the Federal Reserve’s steady monetary policy.
Jin Lee
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Bloomberg News
Libor scandal
From left: Marcus Agius, chairman of Barclays; Robert Diamond, former chief executive of Barclays; and Jerry Del Missier, former chief operating officer of Barclays. On July 3, the British bank announced that Diamond had stepped down amid a scandal involving the manipulation of an international lending rate: the London interbank offered rate, known as Libor. More resignations and investigations followed on both sides of the Atlantic, with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner among those questioned about his knowledge of Libor manipulation.
Chris Ratcliffe/Peter Foley
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Bloomberg News
Global economic slowdown
Former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao inspects an honor guard during a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi. Strong growth among developing countries had been a bright spot in an otherwise tepid world recovery. But that changed as emerging markets like China faced a manufacturing slowdown and India battled inflation. In July, economic fears were confirmed as the International Monetary Fund trimmed its forecasts for global growth.
Kevin Frayer
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AP
U.S. drought
Through a scorching summer, drought gripped the Corn Belt and more than half the United States, reaching proportions not seen in more than 50 years. Rising crop prices and a drop in farm inventories shaved points off growth and may have cost the economy around $50 billion.
Daniel Acker
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Bloomberg News
Apple becomes world's most valuable company
In a year that continued to prove that if Apple makes a product, people will buy it, the tech giant officially became the world’s most valuable company in August. The third generation iPad, the iPhone 5, the fourth-generation iPad, the iPad mini and Apple Maps were all released in 2012, and all the while Tim Cook’s leadership style was put under the microscope.
Eric Risberg
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AP
QE3
The Federal Reserve announced a third round of quantitative easing in September to stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment. For the first time, it made a definitive promise that it would keep interest rates ultra-low even if the economy starts to recover. The Fed’s actions underscored the painfully slow economic recovery.
Chris Rank
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Bloomberg News
Unemployment rate drops to below 8 percent
The nation’s jobless rate dropped to its lowest point in nearly four years in September, reaching 7.8 percent. And it happened for the right reason: not because people gave up looking for a job, but because far more people reported having one. The stock market reacted strongly, with the Dow closing at a five-year high on Oct. 5.
Carla Gottgens
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Bloomberg News
Superstorm Sandy
More than a decade after 9/11, the New York Stock Exchange was forced into a two-day shutdown after Hurricane Sandy submerged Manhattan. Sandy shut down the financial capital and large swathes of the East Coast, and raised a serious discussion about climate change and disaster-preparedness.
Charles Sykes
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AP
“Fiscal cliff” talks begin
A day after President Obama was reelected, the stock market tanked as the nation turned its attention to its next great worry: the series of year-end tax hikes and automatic spending cuts known as the “fiscal cliff .” House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and President Obama signaled the start of bipartisan cooperation as they announced plans to negotiate an agreement over the cliff.
Susan Walsh
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AP
Black Thursday
This year, retailers mixed some of the oldest of American rituals: giving thanks, eating turkey and hunting bargains. Wal-Mart, Target and other stores had shoppers lining up before finishing the last crumb of pie. Workers staged protests, but the shopping festivities continued regardless.
Brian Davies
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AP
Ongoing: Silicon Valley patent disputes
Apple won a sweeping victory in its landmark patent dispute against Samsung when a Silicon Valley jury ruled that Samsung had infringed on its design patents. Samsung paid damages worth $1.05 billion. This was the year of intellectual-property disputes, showcasing the fierce competition among Silicon Valley companies, both big and small.
Sascha Schuermann
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AP
Ongoing: Euro-zone crisis
This summer saw a wave of protests across Europe as the region continues to battle recession, record-high unemployment rates and harsh austerity measures. Greece elected a new government, suicide rates spiked , Germany’s economy sputtered and the European Central Bank promised definitive action. But the continent’s economic slowdown is likely to continue well into 2013.
Yannis Behrakis
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Reuters
Ongoing: Year of the tablet
When they weren’t suing each other over patent violations, tech companies were releasing tablets . The tablet explosion in 2012 provided holiday shoppers a range of options. Microsoft threw its hat into the ring with the release of the Surface tablet.
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AP/Bloomberg/Getty Images/Reuters
Ongoing: Housing recovery
In an otherwise sluggish economy, housing remained a bright spot throughout 2012. Record low mortgage rates , strong sales numbers and the resurgence of practices such as house-flipping showed that the market had bottomed out after the financial crisis and was firmly on its way up.
Nam Y. Huh
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AP
FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES
Photos of the day
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Rodent exhibition, swimming with elephants, Mexico’s feline mayoral candidate and more.
Johnathon’s journey
Johnathon Carrington graduated Friday as the valedictorian of his neighborhood school, Dunbar High, and is headed to Georgetown University. But Carrington, 17, is nervous, and so are...
Eye on entertainment
Sandra Bullock, Jessica Sanchez, Snooki, Billy Porter, Billy Crystal, Sean Hayes, Gwen Stefani and other celebrities.
The Grand Medieval Joust
The Grand Medieval Joust at Eltham Palace, an English Heritage property that was the childhood home of King Henry VIII, aims to lend insight through reenactment into life at the palace...
Brazil’s other soccer fields
With the Confederations Cup opening this week and the World Cup one year away, all eyes are on Brazil, where soccer is arguably played with more passion and art than anywhere else....
Father’s Day picnic in Northeast D.C.
A decades-old backyard barbecue in Northeast Washington draws hundreds in honor of dads everywhere. “It’s off-the-chain fun,” says Butch McNair, who has worked one...
Miss USA 2013
Miss Connecticut USA Erin Brady is crowned Miss USA 2013 in Las Vegas.
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