The Stock Market Blues and another Big Retailer Hacked

Good Day World!

Let’s take a look at two money-related stories that are going to affect millions of Americans.

The first story comes to us from Wall Street.

The stock market had a bad week last week in case you weren’t following. I have no idea what will happen this week, but experts sure seem gloomy about the chance for a sudden turnaround. Traders and market analysts are saying a 10 percent “correction” isn’t out of line.

A big reason why is the Federal Reserve has announced it’s intentions to turn off the money flow since the banks are back on their feet, house prices are rising again and the unemployment rate keeps falling.

So, in what appears to me to be a toss of the dice, the Fed is gambling the economy is strong enough to keep gaining strength, even if interest rates begin to rise. Players in the stock market don’t agree.They think it’s too soon to be pulling the plug.

The second story is about another retail giant being hacked: Michaels

Just when you thought it might be safe to buy at a giant retailer again…

Michaels, the nation's biggest arts and crafts retailer, said that it may have suffered a “data security attack” on its computer system that processes payment cards and that federal law enforcement and a computer forensics firm were investigating.

Word of the possible attack on the Irving, Texas-based retailer, first reported by security blogger Brian Krebs, comes in the wake of recent data theft breaches at major retailers Target Stores and Nieman-Marcus.

Last year’s findings revealed the retail industry is now the top target for cybercriminals.  For the first time, the retail industry made up 45 percent of Trustwave data breach investigations (a 15 percent increase from 2011) with e-commerce attacks emerging as a growing trend surpassing the amount of point-of-sales attacks.

Experts believe thieves are using a device known as a RAM scraper, which enables them to grab encrypted data by capturing it as it travels through the live memory of a computer, such as a checkout stand.

Time for me to walk on down the road…