Top News: Wall Street in 2014, Reviving Yahoo, and the N.S.A’s Phone Data Collection Program

“What’s in Store for Wall Street and the Markets in 2014”

So what lies ahead for 2014? A sneak look into Wall Street’s crystal ball:

1. Fill her up! Energy prices will be uncharacteristically stable: Due to advances in drilling technology, the U.S. is the new Saudi Arabia. This is probably the best news of the past year for the regular-Joe consumer and will continue to deliver good news and increased prosperity throughout the New Year. Why? Because unlike almost every other silver bullet that’s supposed to fire up the economy, this one actually works. The advent of dropping energy prices puts money back in the pockets of ordinary Americans and consumers the world over, giving them cash to spend and thereby stoke other parts of the economy. As well as the obvious benefits, such as boosting global car sales, lower energy prices are set to cut costs across all sectors. “The unexpected rise of U.S. oil production and technological advances have significantly transformed the way we live today and will continue to do so in the future,” says Deutsche Bank in its outlook for 2014.

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“Bumps on a Road to Revival for Yahoo”

Marissa Mayer’s arrival at Yahoo as chief executive a year and a half ago was widely hailed as an opportunity to infuse the struggling Internet pioneer with the smarts and cachet that had helped her succeed as a top executive at Google. She was one of the earliest employees at Google, with a reputation for inventiveness and attention to detail. If anyone could fix Yahoo, it was believed, it was Ms. Mayer.

But the announcement on Wednesday that she had tossed out her top lieutenant, Henrique de Castro, was her first public acknowledgment that turning around Yahoo would be far more difficult than has sometimes been suggested by the media attention she has received.

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“Obama Calls for Overhaul of N.S.A.’s Phone Data Collection Program”

President Obama, declaring that advances in technology had made it harder “to both defend our nation and uphold our civil liberties,” announced carefully calculated changes to surveillance policies on Friday, saying he would restrict the ability of intelligence agencies to gain access to telephone data, and would ultimately move that data out of the hands of the government.

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