Read all about it! This Week’s Top Line News Summary –9/21/09

News junkies at heart – and out of public relations best practice – everyone in our firm reads, watches and clicks through the top national business news each morning.  As PR practitioners, it is our job to identify rapidly emerging trends for our clients, and to get them involved in the public dialogue by introducing them to reporters as knowledgeable and dependable sources.

We also have a dedicated committee of volunteers that scans the papers every Monday for headlines in our top practice areas – financial services, professional services and healthcare – to make sure we identify the top news impacting our clients.  We’ve received positive feedback from within BlissPR, so we will now share the highlights of our “Top Line News Summary” with the outside world through this blog, as well.

Each week we pick three sectors to highlight – for this week, see below.  In the future, you may also find news from sectors such as commercial real estate, legal, bankruptcy, consulting firms, personal finance, retail industry analysis, technology, venture capital, asset management, insurance, successful individual health insurance marketing, pharmaceutical industry, and general healthcare public relations and marketing.

Without further ado, here is our analysis of this week’s top headlines in banking, markets and HR/management:

• Banking — The big news this week is that Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, head of the Senate Banking Committee is preparing legislation to propose the merger of four bank agencies – the Federal Reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the FDIC and the Comptroller of the Currency – into one super-regulator, an idea that is significantly different from what Obama envisions. The plans are likely to run into big opposition from the banking industry in the coming weeks.  To read more: http://tinyurl.com/ny6daa
• Markets – Many analysts are anticipating a bear market as the Dow nears 10000. This rally is of particular concern to many economists because all previous rallies of this magnitude took place in the 1930s and the 1970s, and were periods of turbulence for both the economy and the markets and none of the gains was sustained. Investors will have a keen eye on the Fed this week as they meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, with their official announcement released Wednesday afternoon.   To read more:  http://tinyurl.com/mu5nd2
• HR/Management:  There is a great article in today’s WSJ on a “hot management trend.”  As CEO’s become more entrenched in the day-to-day operations of a company, many companies, most recently AOL Inc and Avon, are finding themselves in a position where the COO is being squeezed out.  As this new trend unfolds, a new model for succession planning follows as companies look for ways to broaden experience and develop a deeper bench of talent.

What are you paying attention to this week?

(photo by JWorld)

To reach Gretchen:

Phone: 212.840.1460
Email: Gretchen@blisspr.com
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