Making money in investments requires backbone. We call it risk taking. If you are willing to take an acceptable level of risk, you can usually make money. If you think you can somehow magically invest without risk you are banking, not investing.

US airlines are forecast to lose a record $7.2 billion this year, in part because most use gas-guzzling elderly Boeing 767s as opposed to newer, more fuel-efficient planes common in European fleets.

American Airlines, Continental and Delta have all announced cutbacks due to rising fuel costs.

Consumers are also being squeezed. USA Today reports that summer airfares in the US are set to rise by as much as four times thanks to spiraling oil prices.

“The sector-wide downturn is pretty textbook,” says Theo Casey in Fleet Street Daily.

As a result of soaring fuel costs, aircraft demand forecasts are being revised… upwards. Yes, that’s the latest news. What has happened to all the green intentions that columnists are trying to inspire?

The U.S. Federal Reserve reduced the benchmark U.S. lending rate by a quarter point – from 2.25% to 2% – yesterday (Wednesday), and then hinted that it will take a break from one of its most-aggressive rate-cutting campaigns in decades.

If U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers make the expected quarter-point rate cut at the end of their meeting today (Wednesday), the impact will be felt well beyond U.S. borders.

U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers will likely cut its key interest rate to 2.0% from 2.25% this, which would mark the seventh such move since the central bank launched its rate-reduction campaign in mid-September.

Just one day after arch-rival Airbus SAS was forced to raise prices because of a weak dollar, The Boeing Co. (BA) said yesterday (Wednesday) that its first-quarter profits soared 38%, easily eclipsing Wall Street expectations.