Blog Posts by Stacy Curtin

Following President Barack Obama's State of the Union address earlier this week, Mohamed El-Erian, CEO and co-CIO of PIMCO, the world's largest bond fund, is cautiously optimistic that Washington will get out of the way of the economy. He outlines his reasons why with The Daily Ticker's Lauren Lyster.

Related: U.S. Still Suffering Depression Conditions: Paul Krugman

1. Obama Gets Real: "The president was very realistic in where the economy stands," says El-Erian. "He basically said we have overcome the crisis phase and now we have to get into the growth phase."
2. The Roadmap: "[Obama] set out conditions we need in order to [grow] and they basically come down to investing in education, infrastructure, private-public partnership and also dealing with promises that unfortunately we can no longer meet as a society because the world has changed," he says. "He was very explicit on what is at stake."
3. Accountability: "[Obama] made it very clear who is accountable for what. Now the hope is that

A new report by the National Intelligence Estimate confirms that China is America's biggest cyber threat.

The report is classified, but people with knowledge of the findings spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity.

"The United States is the target of a massive, sustained cyber-espionage campaign that is threatening the country’s economic competitiveness," according to the article. "The report, which represents the consensus view of the U.S. intelligence community, describes a wide range of sectors that have been the focus of hacking over the past five years, including energy, finance, information technology, aerospace and automotive."

But other industries have been targeted as of late, including the media and the U.S. Federal Government.

In recent weeks, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg disclosed cyber attacks traced back to China. Twitter was also hacked, but the origins of that attack remain unknown. But perhaps the

Apple (AAPL) shares may be on a downward spiral these days, but the company's money-making iPhone is in high demand.

The smartphone gained 2% market share in the U.S. between October 2012 to December 2012, according to recent to comScore data. During those three months Apple held 36% of the market, making it the #1 smartphone maker in the U.S.

Google's (GOOG) android system, which is used by many different phone makers, ranked as the No. 1 smartphone platform with 53.4% market share.

Related: Apple Analyst Thinks The Stock Is A Steal At This Price

According to comScore, 126 million people in the U.S. owned a smartphone during that three month period, up 5% from September. Samsung controlled 21% of the smartphone market versus 9.1% for HTC and 10.2% for Motorola.

Apple sold a record 47.8 million iPhones in its last fiscal quarter, compared to 37 million in the year-ago quarter. But those figures missed Wall Street's expectations and the stock fell on the news. Apple shares are down

The Federal Reserve is the latest victim of a cyberattack. The U.S. central bank said Tuesday its internal websites had been infiltrated by hackers, but the breach was short-lived and did not have any critical impact.

"The Federal Reserve system is aware that information was obtained by exploiting a temporary vulnerability in a website vendor product," a Fed spokeswoman told Reuters. "Exposure was fixed shortly after discovery and is no longer an issue. This incident did not affect critical operations of the Federal Reserve system."

This news follows reports on Sunday that Anonymous, an Internet-based activist group, penetrated the Fed's security system and published stolen information on 4,000 U.S bank executives.

Related: U.S. Banks Under Cyber Attack from Iran: Is Your Money Safe?

Some inside the cyber community believe the attacks against the Fed were retaliation for the death of Internet prodigy and programmer Aaron Swartz. The 26-year-old digital rights activist and hacker was

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 157,000 jobs in January. Economists polled by Reuters were expecting an increase of 160,000 jobs. The unemployment rate rose to 7.9% in January from 7.8% at the end of 2012.

But November and December monthly payrolls were revised up by a total of 127,000 jobs. The broadest measure of unemployment, also known as U6, remained unchanged at 14.4 million. The BLS defines "U6" as "total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons."

U.S. markets are trading higher after the jobs report. The S&P 500 (GSPC) is up 0.31% to 1,507 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is up 0.63% to 13,948 mid-morning Friday.

Jack Ablin, chief investment officer for BMO Private Bank in Chicago, shared his assessment of the labor market with The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task and Lauren Lyster.

"I think the jobs market is improving," he says. "It seems like we

As expected, the Federal Reserve announced Wednesday it will continue its $85 billion monthly bond-buying stimulus program until the economy improves.

The central bank also pledged to keep interest rates near zero until the national unemployment rate falls to at least 6.5%, and as long as inflation stays in line with its 2% target.

In the accompanying video, Jim Grant, founder of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, joins The Daily Ticker to discuss the Fed's first FOMC statement of 2013 and its efforts to support full employment and price stability.

"I think the Fed's actions are counterproductive," he says. The Fed's intentions to jump start growth are actually working against the economy, Grant argues.

"If it were as easy as printing money or creating credit to levitate an economy or to reactivate business activity the world would have been richer many generations ago," he says.

Ahead of the Fed announcement the Commerce Department reported 2012 fourth quarter GDP fell for the first

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) closed Tuesday at a 52-week high of 13,954, very close to its all-time high. It was the Dow's highest close since Monday, Oct. 5, 2007. The index is up 7% year-to-date.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (GSPC) is also hovering near its record high. The index ended Tuesday's trading session at 1,508.

As the markets continue to soar, many are wondering if the retail investor is back.

The Wall Street Journal printed the following headline on its front page Wednesday: Individual Investors Help Drive Stock Surge. The article cites a report by mutual-fund tracker Lipper Inc. showing that $6.8 billion has flowed into stock mutual funds in just the first three weeks of this year.

But as The Daily Ticker’s Aaron Task and Lauren Lyster point out in the accompanying video, reports of the retail investors' return may be exaggerated. The Lipper figure is the biggest inflow into equity mutual funds since 2001 yet it is nothing compared to the net outflows from 2009-2012.

President Obama has nominated former New York U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White to head up the Securities and Exchange Commission. Since stepping down from her role as a state prosecutor, White has worked for the Manhattan law firm Debevoise & Plimpton.

"Over a decade as a U.S. Attorney in New York, she helped prosecute white-collar criminals and money launderers," the president said Thursday at an event at The White House. "In the early 1990s, she brought down John Gotti, the head of the Gambino crime syndicate. And she brought to justice the terrorists responsible for bombing the World Trade Center and the American embassies in Africa. So I’d say that’s a pretty good run. You don't want to mess with Mary Jo."

On the flip side, White has also defended some of the biggest names on Wall Street. She was a defense attorney for Ken Lewis, who was charged with improper disclosure of Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch, and she represented Rajat Gupta, who was charged with and