GOOD DAY FOR: Magazine weight loss, as Condé Nast’s January 2009 issues are considerably slimmer than they were a year ago, due to cuts in advertisements. Worst hit is Wired, which has 47 percent fewer ad pages this year than last. Three other Condé Nast publications are also on the industry’s 10 worst-hit list: Architectural Digest (46 percent drop), Vogue, and Lucky (both down about 44 percent). (The New York Times)
BAD DAY FOR: The power of sin and vice, as normally recession-proof market sectors—alcohol, tobacco, adult entertainment, and casinos—have failed to show their usual resilience in this recession. In every downturn between 1970 and the current one, according to Merrill Lynch, vice industries have gained 11 percent on average, compared with an average 1.5 percent drop in the S&P 500. In 2008, vice stocks have generally done worse than the S&P 500’s 39 percent plummet. Casinos have been faring particularly poorly. (BusinessWeek.com)
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Why Turkey's Kurdish insurgents are laying down their armsUnder the Radar The PKK said its aims can now be 'resolved through democratic politics'
-
Book reviews: 'Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves' and 'Notes to John'Feature The aughts' toxic pop culture and Joan Didion's most private pages
-
The FDA plans to embrace AI agencywideIn the Spotlight Rumors are swirling about a bespoke AI chatbot being developed for the FDA by OpenAI
