Wall Street Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Bernie Madoff, Financier Behind Notorious Ponzi Scheme, Dies At 82

By NPR News April 14, 2021

Bernard Madoff, shown here in 2009, died Wednesday in a federal prison facility in North Carolina. CREDIT: Louis Lanzano/AP

As a money manager, Madoff defrauded thousands of investors out of tens of billions of dollars over the course of nearly two decades. His scheme wiped out the savings of individuals, charities, municipal governments and college endowment funds, and he was so hated at the time of his 2009 trial that he wore a bulletproof vest to and from the courthouse.Read More

‘The Game Is Rigged’: How Fury Over The Great Recession Fueled The Reddit Trade

By NPR News February 9, 2021

WallStreetBets started as an investment forum — and its moderators continue to insist it is just that as the group has now grown to boast nearly 9 million members. But interviews with some of its members and an examination of its threads also show something else — that it's morphed into a movement of sorts, riding a giant wave of unresolved anger from the Great Recession.Read More

The Spectacular Rise Of SPACs: The Backwards IPO That’s Taking Over Wall Street

By NPR News December 29, 2020

Shaquille O'Neal's got a SPAC. Former House Speaker Paul Ryan's got a SPAC. Famed investor Bill Ackman launched a $4 billion SPAC. And a 25-year-old became the youngest self-made billionaire thanks to — you guessed it — a SPAC. So what is a SPAC? A "special purpose acquisition company" is a way for a company to go public without all the paperwork of a traditional IPO, or Read More

A Yield Curve Inversion Just Happened. It’s Done So Before The Last 7 U.S. Recessions

By NPR News July 1, 2019

The floor of the New York Stock Exchange. An economic indicator known as the "yield curve inversion" hit the three-month mark, which has preceded the past 7 U.S. recessions. Richard Drew/AP

An inauspicious milestone was achieved on Sunday: the yield curve remained inverted for three months, which has for almost half a century preceded economic recessions.Read More