Fast Money Brazil

After a pause, gas prices set new mark

2008-06-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

Retail gas prices set a record high for the 26th time in the past 27 days, motorist group AAA's Web site showed Tuesday.

AAA reports the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline rose to $3.978. That was up 0.3 cent from the $3.975 mark set Sunday and matched Monday, the first time pump prices didn't rise since May 7.

The AAA survey shows gas prices are up 10% from a month ago and almost 26% higher from year-ago levels.

This record runup of prices at the pump is happening at the start of the summer driving season, which unofficially began over Memorial Day.

The average price for gas has passed the $4 a gallon mark in 12 states, as well as in Washington, D.C. Those states where gas has already passed the $4 threshold are as follows: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and West Virginia.

The most expensive state for buying gas is California, where a gallon of regular unleaded costs an average of $4.274, according to AAA. The second most expensive state is Connecticut, where a gallon of gas costs $4.260.

The least expensive state for purchasing gas is South Carolina, where a gallon costs $3.795 a gallon on average. The second least expensive state for gas is Missouri, where a gallon runs $3.80 a gallon.

Gas prices have been pushed to record levels in the past year on the back of record oil prices. As the price of crude oil has more than doubled, gas prices have increased by almost a quarter.

Roomster

2008-06-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

For those who are seeking for a apartment in United States, Canada & the United Kingdom or also for those owner who are seeking for renters roomster.net is the website you must visit.
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It offer you two types of memberships. The Basic Membership allows you to search , post & contact all our members for free. But the Full Membership gives you you all the facilities of the basic membership coupled with the access to a safe and secure private mailbox. The rates are flexible starting at $5.95 for 4 days, $14.95 for 2 weeks and $29.95 for 4 weeks of full access.

Insurance Portal

2008-05-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

In the United States, the culture of the insurance is spread out. It has insurance for practically everything since good until people. For the traditional goods as house, car, life insurance, among others, have diersos types of available information in the Internet. However, few sites American sites are so well organized for the boarding of the subject as the EZ Insurance Portal. This is one of the more organized sites that i was saw. Beyond the traditional information, it offers to resources consuming Americans to acquire insurances of diverse types.

One of the good chances that can be found by there is the insurances for cars. It has diverse information showing the necessary cares at the moment of if acquiring such product. She is of great utility this guide therefore helps the users forgotten more if to prepare to acquire insurance products. It shows the importance of if having an adequate insurance the necessities, what it helps sufficiently. One of the objectives of the EZ Insurance Portal it is to educate the consumers, helping encontrasr the best alternatives for the product that they look. It visits the EZ Insurance Portal and it discovers solutions that will be able to help you. EZ Insurance Portal, life insurance quotes.

car insurance quote

2008-05-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

Looking for a reasonably priced, affordable car insurance? At carinsurancerates.com you will find everything you need.

Carinsurancerates.com is an online insurance quoting service for comparing car insurance quote from top rated insurance companies. Clients could Lower their auto insurance rates by as much as $400 a year. Lauched in 1997, carinsurancerates.com is a leading car insurance quotes comparision website. Clients can get free online car insurance quotes in 5 minutes.

The car insurance rates website features articles, tips, advice that you will find very useful.

The process is as simple as it gets, you just browse the site through the tabs at the top to find articles. You can also use the advanced search feature to locate specific topics in their database. When you feel that you are ready to receive a quote, simply use the quote box located at the top left of the website.

At carinsurancerates.com you can even find insurance quotes for Home Insurance, Life Insurance, Health insurance and Renter’s Insurance.

For more informations, clients can call 800-986-1643 for help.

The website is nicely done, has a good template, color scheme and is simple to navigate, you will find that contents are very complete and usefull.

Sony swings to quarterly profit

2008-05-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

ony reported a $277 million profit for the January-March quarter on Wednesday, marking a reversal from a year ago on losses trimmed from its struggling PlayStation 3 video game business.

Sony Corp. (SNE), which also has a sprawling entertainment business, including a Hollywood studio, had racked up a 67.6 billion yen loss during the same period the previous year.

The Tokyo-based manufacturer of the Walkman portable music player said Wednesday that it expects profits in coming months to dwindle because of a strengthening yen, which batters the earnings of Japanese exporters such as Sony.

Sales were solid in liquid-crystal display TVs, digital cameras and Vaio computers, the Tokyo-based manufacturer said. But sales of mobile phones, old-style picture tube TVs and PlayStation 2 machines declined during the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended March 31.

Quarterly sales dropped 6.5% to $18.6 billion, Sony said.

Sony's latest results underline a steady recovery on the reduction of losses in its PlayStation 3 business and the sale of assets, including its former headquarters in Tokyo.

The PlayStation 3, which went on sale in late 2006, required enormous startup costs and has yet to post a profit as a business for Sony. It has also lagged behind rival Wii console from Nintendo Co.

Sony said it sold 9.24 million PlayStation 3 machines in the fiscal year ended March 31, and expects to sell 10 million PS3 consoles in the fiscal year through March 2009.

Sony's bottom line for the fiscal year just ended was also helped by the absence of expenses for a massive battery recall that hit the previous year.

In the previous year, Sony recalled millions of lithium-ion laptop batteries suspected of defects that caused them to burst into flames in some cases.

For the fiscal year ended March 31, Sony posted a better-than-expected profit of $3.5 billion, a record for Sony and nearly three times the profit earned in the previous fiscal year.

For the fiscal year through March 2009, Sony expects profit to slide 21.5% to $2.8 billion. It expects sales to edge up 1% to $86 billion.

Unfavorable currency swings are expected to hurt Sony's earnings for the current fiscal year, the company said.

Sony said it is expecting the dollar to trade around ¥100 for the fiscal year. The dollar, which traded at an average of about ¥114 last year, fell below ¥100 earlier this year and is now trading near ¥105.

Sony's profitability in its core electronics sector improved in the fiscal year ended March. Sales in its movies unit declined 11% because fewer films were released compared with the previous year.

Releases for the fiscal year just ended that contributed to theater and home entertainment revenue included "Spider-Man 3" and "Superbad," according to Sony.

Sony's music business in Japan also fared better compared with a year ago, boosted by best-selling albums. Sony's results reflected its equity holdings in major joint ventures, such as Sony BMG Music Entertainment, which saw success with Avril Lavigne's "The Best Damn Thing" and Alicia Keys' "As I Am" hit albums.

But equity-related income declined on year from Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB because of greater research and development costs, it said.

Sony shares rose 1.3% to close at $46 on Wednesday. The earnings were announced shortly after the close.

Foreclosure filings hit record in April

2008-05-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

U.S. foreclosure filings reached a record high in April, rising almost 65% over the previous year and putting municipalities at risk by cutting into the value of taxed property, according to a study released Wednesday.

Some 243,353 households, nearly one in 519, received a foreclosure filing during April, according to the U.S. Foreclosure Market Report from RealtyTrac, an online marketplace that tracks foreclosed properties. That was up 4% from March, and surpassed the record of 239,851 set in August 2007.

It's "the highest monthly total we've seen since we began issuing the report in January 2005," said chief executive James J. Saccacio in a statement.

RealtyTrac's measure of foreclosure filings includes notices of default, auction sales and bank repossessions. According to the report, 54,574 were fully repossessed by banks in April.

Property tax plunge: The record number of foreclosures added their weight to an already saturated real estate market, pulling down home prices. Plunging home values reduce the money that cities, villages and towns collect in property taxes.

In particular jeopardy are parts of Nevada, California, Arizona and Florida, whose states maintained the highest foreclosure rates, according to RealtyTrac.
Find mortgage rates in your area

"For example, the city council in Vallejo, Calif. - part of a metropolitan area with a foreclosure rate that ranked sixth highest in the nation in April - last week voted to have the city file for bankruptcy," said Saccacio.

The state of California had the second-highest foreclosure rate in the nation, up 112% over the previous year and affecting about one in 204 households. The top spot among states was held by Nevada, which maintained a foreclosure rate 3.6 times the national average, affecting about one in 146 homes.

Nationwide, single-family home prices have fallen 7.7% since the beginning of the year to the lowest level since at least 1982, according to the National Association of Realtors, and data from real-estate broker Zip Realty showed that the number of houses on the market grew by 3.5% in April.

With more homes being seized by banks, local governments also lose out on tax revenue from sale transactions. "It's really hitting the municipalities from multiple fronts," said RealtyTrac marketing vice president Rick Sharga in an interview.

Ten hardest hit metro areas: Cities in California and Florida have been particularly hard-hit. Areas in those states accounted for 9 of the top 10 metropolitan foreclosure rates.

The California metro areas of Merced, Stockton, Modesto and Riverside-San Bernardino took the top four spots. In Merced, one out of 66 households was hit by foreclosure in April.

In Florida, Cape Coral-Fort Myers came in at number 5, Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce and Fort Lauderdale came in at numbers 9 and 10.

Also making an appearance was Las Vegas, a city that had seen heavy real estate speculation, at number 7 with one in 116 households receiving foreclosure notices.

As Congress debates plans to prop up troubled homeowners, the foreclosure rate shows little signs of slowing. Delinquent mortgage payments, which lead to foreclosure, will likely rise over the next six to 12 months, according to a key mortgage trend statistic from First American CoreLogic.

BingoSuite

2008-05-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

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Nikkei rises to highest in 4 months

2008-05-14T07:48:00.001-07:00

Japan's key stock index rose to its highest in four months Wednesday as investors welcomed the dollar's stability and upbeat earnings reports from telecommunications giant NTT and other companies.

The Nikkei 225 index climbed 164.82 points, or 1.18%, to 14,118.55 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, its highest finish since Jan. 10.

The dollar's strength against the yen pushed up exporter issues, while the market welcomed results from some leading companies such as Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., which Tuesday reported a 32% jump in profits.

Amid lingering concerns about the health of the U.S. economy, however, "investors don't want to take a big risk at this point," said Yasuyoshi Shizuma at BNP Paribas (BNP).

In currencies, the dollar traded at ¥104.88 midafternoon in Tokyo, up from ¥104.74 late Tuesday in New York. In March, the dollar fell below ¥100.

Automakers Honda Motor Co. (HMC) surged 3.11%, while Mazda Motor Corp. rose 1.32%, while electronics maker NEC gained 0.96%.

Mining shares gained after base metals on the London Metal Exchange mostly gained overnight, especially zinc on reports about smelter shutdowns in China after a strong earthquake. Toho Zinc gained 3.5% and Nippon Mining Holdings added 4.2%.

Electronics maker Pioneer nose-dived 18% on disappointing earnings reports and a forecast for a fifth consecutive year of losses amid a difficult business environment on costly restructuring in its TV operations.

Gas hits 7th straight record high

2008-05-14T07:48:00.000-07:00

Retail gas prices hit record highs for the seventh day in a row, auto group AAA's Web site showed Wednesday.

The nationwide average for a gallon of regular unleaded hit $3.758, up 2 and six-tenths of a cent from the previous day's high of $3.732.

Gas prices have now risen for eight straight days. The pinch on consumers at the pump comes just ahead of the summer driving season.

The AAA national average shows gas prices up more than 11% over the past month and up nearly 22% from year-ago levels.

Retail gas prices have been pushed up by crude oil prices, which have doubled in the last 12 months.

Stocks on inflation watch

2008-05-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

Investors appeared nervous early Wednesday, ahead of a key inflation reading.

About three hours before the open, Nasdaq and S&P futures were lower and pointing to a negative start on Wall Street.

Investors are awaiting the Consumer Price Index report, the government's key inflation reading, due out at 8:30 a.m. ET.

The overall CPI is forecast to be up 0.3%, according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com. So-called core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, is forecast to be up 0.2% in April. Both increases would match the gains seen in March.

At 10:30 a.m. ET comes the report on U.S. fuel inventories. Congress voted Tuesday in favor of measures aimed at stopping President Bush from continuing to fill the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But oil still hit a trading record of $126.98 during the trading session Tuesday before retreating to finish up $1.57 at $125.80.

In early electronic trading Wednesday oil prices retreated slightly, with a barrel of U.S. crude falling 29 cents to $125.51.

In major corporate news, Carl Icahn reportedly is considering the idea of launching a proxy fight for control of the board at Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) after the company saw share prices plunge following the rejection of the takeover bid by Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500). Shares of Yahoo jumped in afternoon trading Tuesday, but they remain 7% below their level before the withdrawal of the Microsoft bid earlier this month.

Clear Channel (CCU, Fortune 500) agreed to a lower buyout offer from private equity firms late Tuesday as part of a settlement the radio broadcaster made with the banks financing the deal.

American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500) is due to hold its annual meeting today. CEO Martin Sullivan is under fire after the insurer posted heavy losses in the two most recent quarters. Former CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, still the largest individual shareholder at AIG, pushed the world's largest insurer to postpone the meeting in a letter released Monday.

After the bell Tuesday, Applied Materials (AMAT, Fortune 500), the leading maker of equipment used by computer chipmakers, reported lower earnings and revenue as new orders in the period fell. Still, earnings excluding special items beat forecasts of analysts surveyed by earnings tracker Thomson First Call by a penny a share. But shares fell about 3% in after-hours trading.

Electronics and entertainment conglomerate Sony (SNE) reported a $277 million profit for the January-March quarter on Wednesday, marking a reversal from a year ago on losses. Shares closed up in Tokyo Wednesday ahead of the after-market report there.

Department store operator Macy's (M, Fortune 500) is due to report earnings before the U.S. market open.

In global trade, Japan's benchmark stock index rose to its highest level in four months. European stocks drifted in morning trading.

Murad Acne Complex

2008-05-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

Hello my friend, do you want to solve the problems with Acne?

Murad acne treatment is like Proactiv and other skin care systems that offer a number of different products to be used together to resolve skin issues. Each kit comes with a cleanser, exfoliating gel, skin lotion, and of course a spot treatment compound. All of these elements combined create the Murad Acne Complex

Even though the Murad acne treatment solution uses chemicals, there are a few natural ingredients. These include apricot kernel, tangerine, lemon and lime essential oils with antioxidants that will provide protection for the skin against environmental damage.

Talk to your dermatologist about the various treatment options you have when it comes to fighting acne and blemished skin.

Acne Complex is easy, and very good to solve the Acne problems.Go now to: http://www.murad.com/acne-complex

Google, Big Oil invest $115 million in solar startup

2008-05-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

The souring economy hasn’t dissuaded green tech investors from making big bets on renewable energy. On Wednesday, solar power plant builder BrightSource Energy announced it had raised $115 million from a group of investors that include Google.org, the search giant’s philanthropic arm, and oil giants Chevron and BP.

The investment in the Oakland, Calif.-based startup is Google’s (GOOG) second big solar energy play in the past two months. In April, Google.org joined a $130 million round for eSolar, a Pasadena solar power plant company whose chairman is Idealab founder BIll Gross.

BrightSource Energy, started by American-Israeli solar pioneer Arnold Goldman, has contracts to supply California utility PG&E (PCG) with up to 900 megawatts of solar electricity from power plants to be built in the Mojave Desert on the California-Nevada border. BrightSource has developed a new solar technology, dubbed distributed power tower, that focuses fields of sun-tracking mirrors called heliostats on a tower containing a water-filled boiler. The sun’s rays superheat the water and the resulting steam drives an electricity-generating turbine. (Artist rendering of BrightSource’s planned Ivanpah plant above.)

Given that a 500-megawatt solar power plant can cost more than $1 billion to build, $115 million is but a drop in the bucket. But it will allow BrightSource, which previously raised $45 million, to proceed with the development of its technology as it seeks project financing for construction of its first power plants.

And it can’t hurt to have such high-profile backers when you negotiate power purchase agreements with utilities. Besides Google, BP Alternative Energy (BP) and Chevron Technology Ventures (CVX), previous investors participating in the new round include Morgan Stanley (MS), VantagePoint Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and DBL Investors.

Another new BrightSource investor is Norweigan oil and gas behemoth StatoilHydro (STO). Apparently, even Big Oil has seen the light when it comes to hedging its bets with green energy.

Wall Street needs new regulation - Schumer

2008-05-14T07:22:00.000-07:00

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday he believes the credit crisis may get worse and that regulatory failings helped fuel the problems rocking the economy.

The chairman of the Joint Economic Committee presided over a hearing exploring the problems in the credit markets and what changes in regulation were necessary to avoid future market disruptions. Witnesses included former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and experts from a number of leading think tanks.

Schumer said he shared the hope of economists that "the worst of the credit crisis is behind us, but I am not convinced that it is over."

Schumer's remarks echoed a proposal by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to update how the nation's financial sector is supervised, including far more centralized regulation.

"In my view, this credit crisis is as much a failure of regulation as it is a failure of the marketplace," Schumer said. "We have a 21st century global financial system, but a 20th century national set of financial regulations. That needs to change soon."

Schumer criticized the administration and Republican members of Congress who argue that government should do everything possible to avoid interfering with markets.

"The market does not solve all problems by itself and neither does the government," he said.

Volcker suggested that the failures in the credit markets were widespread, ranging from regulation to basic economic problems such as the rising U.S. trade gap. He endorsed the idea of the Fed becoming the principal financial regulator, although he cautioned that the central bank "is not equipped to do it now."

He said a greater oversight role for the Fed would require the creation of a new position filled by an official who is held accountable. But he suggested that the needed regulatory changes will not be easy to accomplish.

"The life of a regulator is not a happy one. When things are going well no one wants to be regulated," he said. "When things go bad, everyone asks, 'Where were you?

Credit Repair Service

2008-05-12T11:10:00.001-07:00

Just let me for a while to discuss about website where users can find a way to solve bad credit. What does this mean? Simply that this site you can review positive solvency to do credit repair.

The website name is www.repairyourbadcredit.com. This website will saves your time, money and a lot of frustration, you amazed in this way, how is simple: The world of the distribution of loans and repair services as a country united states of America, but people who suffers "headaches bad credit" I am sure everywhere, including in other countries, poor repair credit gives you the possibility of a negative impact of items from your credit file, which is in fact the point.

Repairyourbadcredit.com is a website with a long description of how this system works, it contains descriptions of how to solve bad credit, the primary means of your credit repair, repair costs for credit cards and more, the tutorials talk "negative delete article," But is it? One negative factor of distance is an element, that the limitation of some of your credit card.

This website claimed that they had helped many people to do Bad Credit Repair, and the element that will be deleted from your credit report "is not coming back" or of this site is to offer a Credit Repair Services, credit institutions should be easily repair At afterwards, so you can choose to give it a chance!

360 feedback

2008-05-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

The 360 feedback aims to provide employees with feedback on their performance from those above, below, and at the same level in the company. With managerial support, employees are expected to analyze the feedback to identify their strengths and weaknesses and then develop a plan to improve their productivity and effectiveness.

Provide with easy graphical and intereactive tools which made creating the questionnaire easy and modifying the report just as easy, the cost was incredibly small too!

It can be nice to have a third-party look at your product or project and give you a solid reality check. 360 Degree Appraisals fully online customisable system, with no costs for setup.
Reactive360 brings a fresh approach to 360 degree appraisals
including fully customisable questionnaires and reports allowing multiple raters/appraisors.
Reactive360 is the place you can go to for a thorough appraisal of your work.

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enclume potracks

2008-05-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

Pot racks can either be placed leaning against a wall or mounted to the ceiling. Regardless, these pot racks provide a way for the cook to reach his/her utensils faster, and not spend unnecessarily rummaging through kitchen cabinets and shelves for each item.

I normally hang the pans that I regularly use and put the unused pots in the kitchen cabinet. I recently found out a better way of organizing my pots through enclume pot racks
Enclume potracks have various designs. They offer very stylish standing and hanging pot racks made of wood and steel.

They are durable too, as Enclume are built and constructed to last a lifetime. Find a huge selection of items and get what you want now at potrackixchange.com

Ameritek Mortgage

2008-05-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

At Ameritek Mortgage you can find information on CA reverse mortgages, mortgage refinancing, California reverse mortgages, or home loans, receive free mortgage quotes, or just get some basic info about mortgages, loans, etc.

You might be wondering how much money you would get by using this type of loan. The program specializes for California homeowners 62 years old or over is called California reverse mortgages

The requirement for this is that the applicants have to be at least 62 years old. But they retain full ownership of the house just as they did before, and there is no minimum income for qualification. The system seems to be very easy to qualify for.

If you prefer a line of credit then you can draw it anytime up to the maximum amount given. Lump Sum Cash Advance will give you an amount of cash at closing. You can choose Modified Tenure if you want to have a combination of those three plans.

But remember you can not lose your home at any time regardless how much equity is left. Judging by the term and advantages you get this type of loan is really lenient. Anyone who is on his or her old age should consider this reverse mortgage loan.

AmeriTekMortgage.com is the perfect place for you to learn about California reverse mortgages.

SportsNutShop

2008-05-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

Hello my friend, are you are looking to Nascar Gifts,Nascar Merchandise ,or a Nascar Apparel?

Sportsnutshop.com also provides a Driver Name Merchandise. If you love to buy gifts for your loveones, they have beautiful Nascar gifts and you can select the best items from their site and I'm sure you really like it. Their unique collections of caps, T- shirt, bags, toys and other items are very nice and very affordable.

You can select lots of driver name apparel,they offer best quality products like ladies vee neck t-shirt and many more. I'm so happy to know that they are distributing an items which are very unique that suits my taste.

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Bad Credit Auto Loans

2008-05-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hello my friend, are you looking a site to provide a solution to bad credit auto loans? Once you have decided to take an auto loan, apply for loan at Gimmearide.

Everybody deserves a second chance, and after the application is approved the chances are that the consumers with bad credit don’t make the same errors that they made in the past, and can start to rebuild their good name and good credit.

People with bad credit ratings are given second chance to apply for other credits. With GimmeArride you can solve Bad Credit Auto Loans, Bad Credit Car Loans, Guaranteed Auto Financing, and much more.

GimmeARide.com is a partnership with top automobile loan financiers helps you get the auto loan you need for the car you want.

It saves you the time of looking at vehicles you can’t afford,Shop around and compare deals and financing rates.

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Cheap Hotels

2008-05-06T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hello my friend, are you looking to a Hotel to stay in vacations?

London is the capital city of England and United Kingdom. London is today one of the world's leading business, financial and cultural centres, entertainment, media, fashion and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the major global cities. No wonder why there are so many people who'd love to visit there. The London Hotels are a good place to visit and stay alone or with your family.

Birmingham is UK's second largest city situated between Manchester and London; and is easily accessible by modes of transport such as by air, by rail and by road. Visit Birmingham Hotels, they are very accessible to anyone.

Manchester is also a city in UK. It is a very known city because of football. You will also find museums, fine dining places and excellent shopping areas here. Samples of Manchester Hotels are: The Midland Hotel Manchester, Britannia Hotel Manchester and Lowry Hotel Manchester.

Do you want go to Paris? Don't forget to visit Paris Hotels.

eLearners

2008-05-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hello my friend, do you want know Online Colleges ? So, you need to know elearners .

At elearners.com you can begin online college search easy and quickly. You can find out what you are looking for by its accredited online degrees, online colleges, on-campus degrees programs, online certificates, online courses, and online training.

Each school offering an Online Masters Degree through eLearners.com is accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and/or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
Whether you are just starting to think about going back to school or have already made the decision to return, please check out the Guide to Online Education.

If you found a college of your interest, you'll get lots of information concerning the school and the kind of certificate you are interested in.

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Stuff.Tv

2008-05-04T07:12:00.000-07:00

Stuff.Tv is a new dedicated site to the news of technology and gadget.
Do you want to know some gadget information relate to the technology reviews?

On the home page, you can see Today’s Hot Stuff and breaking news. Besides, you can read the reviews on all types of gadgets: Computer, Phone, Camera, Games, etc.

For the stuff in communication, some brand of mobile phones is also available there. Some offering from Nokia for free tune in a year is well to take. From Stuff.tv, you can get more information on the product that you are going to buy.

Discover more about the stuff: The Reviews Page and the Top 10's Page.

Stuff.Tv is the site to you discover more about the world of technology!

http://stuff.tv

Fed moves on credit card crackdown

2008-05-02T18:51:00.000-07:00

The Federal Reserve on Friday pushed ahead with a proposal to stop abuses by credit card issuers, a day after two other key bank regulatory agencies proposed effectively the same package of new rules.

The move comes at a time when the $2 trillion industry has come under increasing scrutiny.

"The proposed rules are intended to establish a new baseline for fairness in how credit card plans operate," said Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, which regulates many U.S. banks. "Consumers relying on credit cards should be better able to predict how their decisions and actions will affect their costs."

Among other things, the plan would allow consumers more time to pay monthly bills. It would also prevent companies from applying interest-rate increases retroactively to pre-existing balances. And it would ban "double cycle billing," a practice that computes finance charges based on previous billing cycles.

A top financial services lobbyist blasted the plan.

"The Federal Reserve's proposal is an unprecedented regulatory intrusion into marketplace pricing and product offerings," said Edward Yingling, chief executive of the American Bankers Association.

On Thursday, the Office of Thrift Supervision, responsible for overseeing the nation's savings and loans, and the National Credit Union Administration, approved proposed rules the Fed "substantively similar."

The reforms will be subject to public comment for 75 days. The agencies expect to finalize any new regulatory changes by the end of the year.

Regulators under pressure to act

Under the new scheme, companies that issue credit cards would be required to outline the factors that determine which of several advertised interest rates and credit limits a customer will receive. In addition, the rules would prevent companies from charging fees to open an account and receive credit.

Regulators, most notably the Fed, have been under pressure from politicians to do a better job of overseeing the banking industry in general or risk losing some of their regulatory powers.

At the same time, lawmakers have pushed to make the credit card industry more consumer friendly at a time when Americans struggle with debt and increasingly rely on their credit cards to make ends meet.

U.S. consumers were saddled with $850 billion in credit card debt as of the end of last year, according to the Consumer Federation of America.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., joined by a group of fellow Democratic lawmakers, unveiled legislation on Wednesday that incorporated some of those same regulatory proposals and added some new ones such as preventing issuers from charging customers a fee to pay a credit card bill by phone.

Earlier this year, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., introduced a legislative plan dubbed the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, which garnered attention at a House hearing last month.

Industry says rules could choke off credit

Card industry representatives have been quick to warn that the passage of new legislation or additional regulation could hurt all credit card carriers.

"We are deeply concerned that these rules will result in less competition, higher consumer prices, fewer consumer choices, and reduced consumer access to credit cards," said Yingling, the banking industry advocate. In short, everyday consumers will bear the real cost of these proposals.

Americans with shabby credit histories, for example, may no longer have similar access to credit. At the same time, consumers with good credit could soon find themselves facing higher interest rates.

In the early 1980s, before issuers relied on credit scores in vetting customers, interest rates hovered around 18% and everyone paid an annual fee.

Nowadays consumers pay an average interest rate of just over 13%, and three quarters of card issuers do not charge an annual fee, according to the bankers group.

The consumer federation and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group said they were encouraged by the joint proposal, but added that regulators did not address other problems like unwarranted interest rate changes and aggressive marketing to college students.

"It's a good first step in addressing a number of abusive practices," said Travis Plunkett, legislative director at the consumer federation. "However, it will still be necessary for Congress to step in because the proposal only deals with a few of the problems that have been identified."

At the same time, legislators could have quite a fight on their hands. Previous efforts trying to reform the industry have largely failed, while recent legislative proposals have found little support among GOP lawmakers.

Source: CNN

Mixed end to upbeat week

2008-05-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

Stocks were mixed Friday, following an otherwise upbeat week on Wall Street, as rising oil and gold prices and Sun Microsystems' surprise quarterly loss countered any relief about the April employment report.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) rose 0.4%. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index added 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost a few points. All three major gauges ended the week with slim gains.

Stocks had risen through the morning on the employment report, but lost steam by midday.

"The employment report got us going in the morning, but we've had a big rally and are perhaps due for a bit of a pullback," said Greg Church, president at Church Capital.

Stocks closed at 4-month highs Thursday, as investors hailed better-than-expected readings on manufacturing and consumer spending, one day after the Fed cut interest rates and hinted the economy seems to have stabilized.

Bets that the worst is over also helped buoy stocks in April, following five down months on Wall Street caused by questions about the depth of the housing and credit market crises.

Questions still remain, Church said, limiting any upside for stocks in the short term.

Better employment picture: Employers cut 20,000 jobs from their payrolls in April, surprising economists who were expecting a bigger deficit of 75,000, according to Briefing.com estimates. Employers cut 81,000 jobs the previous month.

The unemployment rate, generated by a separate survey, fell to 5% from 5.1% in the previous month. Economists thought it would rise to 5.2%, on average. And average hourly earnings, the report's inflation component, rose just 0.1%, versus forecasts for a rise of 0.3%. Earnings rose 0.3% in the previous month. (Full story).

Another report showed factory orders jumped a surprising 1.4% in March, topping forecasts for a rise of 0.2%. Orders fell 1.3% in February.

Fed action: The central bank said Friday that it will join central banks in Europe in building on recent efforts to manage the global credit crisis. The Fed will boost the amount of emergency reserves it makes available to U.S. banks to $150 billion in May, up from $100 billion in April. (Full story).

Earnings news: Sun Microsystems and Chevron were among the companies reporting quarterly results late Thursday and early Friday. With 78% of the S&P 500 results already out, earnings are currently on track to have fallen 15% from a year earlier.

Sun Microsystems (SUNW) reported a surprise quarterly loss late Thursday, with the weak economy causing some customers to put off buying big-ticket items. Sun also forecast flat revenue for the current quarter, and said it could cut up to 2,500 jobs. Shares slipped 22.6%. (Full story).

Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) reported higher quarterly earnings that topped forecasts on higher quarterly revenue that missed expectations. Shares inched higher. (Full story).

In other company news, Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) and Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) talks have reportedly intensified, as the two tech leaders attempt to reach a friendly merger agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported. Earlier in the day, the Journal said that Microsoft's bid for Yahoo could turn hostile.

Investools (SWIM) shares slumped 29% in unusually active New York Stock Exchange trade, after the brokerage and seller of financial education products said that the SEC is probing some of its business practices.

On the upside, the rally in commodity prices gave a boost to some of the underlying stocks, including Aluminum maker Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) and chemical maker DuPont (DD, Fortune 500).

Market breadth was mixed. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners topped losers 9 to 7 on volume of 1.27 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers 4 to 3 on volume of 2.28 billion shares.

Dollar rebounds: The dollar continued its recovery against the euro and yen on the improved economic news and on bets that the Fed will pause its rate-cutting campaign. (Full story).

Bonds slump: Treasury prices continued to retreat as investors pulled money out of the so-called safe-haven investment and poured it into stocks. The decline sent the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.86% from 3.76% late Thursday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Commodities: Oil and gold prices climbed, while gas prices eased modestly.

U.S. light crude oil for June delivery rose $3.80 to settle at $116.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for June delivery rose $7.10 to $858 an ounce.

Additionally, the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas slipped to 3.622 from an all-time record of $3.623 the previous day, AAA reported. Gas prices had hit all-time highs for 17 straight days.

Source: cnn

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Bush offers $770m for food crisis

2008-05-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

George W Bush has offered $770m (£390m) in international food aid to help ease the effects of surging food prices that have sparked riots in some countries.

The US president said he was asking Congress to approve his request.

The White House has come under intense pressure to step in as high food and petrol prices have squeezed poor families both at home and abroad.

The global crisis has sparked rioting in several developing countries, with the threat of worse to come.

"We're sending a clear message to the world that America will lead the fight against hunger for years to come," said Mr Bush.

'Silent tsunami'

The new money would come in addition to some $200m the US president released for emergency food aid two weeks ago, but Mr Bush warned that "more needs to be done".

"In some of the world's poorest nations, rising prices can mean the difference between getting a daily meal and going without food," he said.

"The American people are generous people and compassionate people. We believe in the timeless truth, to whom much is given, much is expected."

Food price increases, dubbed by the United Nations World Food Programme a "silent tsunami", have sparked riots in some countries, including Haiti, Cameroon and Indonesia.

The UN has warned that high prices are expected to continue despite increased production.

Source: BBC

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Stocks sway on Exxon, economic news

2008-05-01T07:34:00.001-07:00

Stocks were mixed Thursday morning as investors weighed Exxon Mobil's earnings miss, a big rise in jobless claims and signs that consumer spending continues to hold up despite the economic slowdown.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index were both little changed in the first few minutes of trade. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) added 0.4%.

Stocks ended lower Wednesday - on the last day of an otherwise strong April - as investors took a 'sell the news' reaction after the Federal Reserve cut a key short-term interest rate, as expected, and signaled it may not cut rates again anytime soon. Stocks were mixed early Thursday.

In the news:

Income drops, spending rises. Personal income rose a less-than-expected 0.3% in March, while personal spending rose a greater-than-forecast 0.4%, the Commerce Department reported. The Core PCE deflator, the report's inflation component, rose a greater-than-expected 0.2%. (Full story).

Jobless claims. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment jumped by 35,000 last week, the government said, topping forecasts for a rise of 18,000. (Full story).

Exxon Mobil. The No. 1 U.S. oil company reported sharply higher quarterly sales and earnings on surging oil prices, but results were shy of forecasts, sending shares more than 3% lower in morning trade. Stock (XOM, Fortune 500).

Source: cnn

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Food price rise could last another two years

2008-04-30T19:35:00.001-07:00

You may have to get used to paying more for your groceries for another two years or more.

Experts say an increase in global food consumption combined with increasing use of crops such as corn and soybeans for alternative fuel production are partly to blame.

Agricultural economists who've studied food price fluctuations cite historical trends that show run-ups in farm commodity prices typically happen in five-year cycles.

Prices flare up in the first two to three years of the cycle and then start to moderate by the fourth or fifth year, said Chris Hurt, agricultural economist at Purdue University .

If 2007 was the first year of this latest cycle, Hurt said farm supply could start catching up to demand by 2010, helping to push down milk, bread, cereal and other grocery prices.

Until then, "Americans will be moving backward in their [food] lifestyle." By that he means that more families will trade down to cheaper food alternatives, or eat out less often, in order to adjust their budgets to both higher food and fuel costs.

Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), the No. 1 discounter and supermarket chain, said Tuesday that spending patterns in its stores already support the trend. The retailer said shoppers are buying more white meat and less red meat, stocking up on larger package sizes and buying more boxed frozen meals as eating at home replaces going out.

"This is the first price boom we've seen since the 1970s," said Bill Knudson, professor of agricultural economics at Michigan State University, agreed. "There's an old industry saying that high prices cure high prices. My personal opinion is that food prices will remain high for another two or three more years."

The good news, however, is that "there's no grave concern" of a pending food shortage in the United States, Hurt said.
Why is food more expensive now?

Experts point to four main global trends for the rise in food prices.

First, growing incomes in developing countries such as China, India, Malaysia mean citizens in these countries are eating better and more frequently, thereby putting more demand on the global food supply.

"People are consuming more quantity and higher-quality foods," said Hurt. "They are eating more meats, eggs, grains and [drinking] milk."

Second, adverse weather patterns over the past four years have harmed crop production in Australia, southern Europe, Ukraine and even parts of the United States.

American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) economist Jim Sartwelle said a prolonged drought in Australia - a major wheat and dairy producer - has led to big drops in world exports of wheat and milk.

Third, the United States is normally a big food surplus nation but, "with a weak dollar, there's been a run on our pantry of food supplies," Sartwelle said. "A lot of our excess production is going overseas and this is pushing up domestic prices."

Fourth, burgeoning demand in the European Union and the United States for ethanol and other biofuels has sparked a price surge in corn, soybeans, sugarcane and other commodities used to produce those alternative fuels.

It's not only consumers feeling the price pain, Sartwelle said.

He said that "even with higher retail prices, farmers and grocers get very little increase in their profit margin," because it's being offset by higher packaging costs, energy cost to produce and stock food and fuel to transport products.

Bill Ferriera, president of the Apricot Producers of California, also sees a bump-up in the costs of farming.

"Fertilizer costs have doubled from last year and farm labor availability is a big problem," he said. "Many farmers are choosing not to grow produce that is labor intensive."

Despite these food price hikes, Americans still spend only about 10% of their disposable income on food and beverage purchases per year, according to the Department of Agriculture.

That's below the 15% share of disposable income that Europeans spend on food and drinks, and the whopping 70% that citizens of Pakistan and Bangladesh budget for consumables, said Hurt.

So even with a 4.5% expected rise in overall food prices, Americans, per person, will only spend an extra $87 this year on groceries, according to the Economic Research Service of the Department of Agriculture.

But that's little consolation for consumers whose budgets are already stretched amid the the worst food price inflation in 17 years, according to government reports.

The latest nationwide quarterly survey from the AFBF, which tracks supermarket prices for 16 basic grocery items, showed the total cost of its basket of goods rose to $45.03 in the first quarter of 2008, up 8% from the prior quarter.

Products with the steepest retail price jumps were a 5-pound bag of flour, up 69 cents to $2.39; cheddar cheese, up 61 cents to $4.71 a pound; corn oil, up 58 cents to $3.01 a 32-ounce bottle; and dozen large eggs, up 55 cents to $2.16.

But higher prices aren't here to stay, Hurt said. He's confident that producers will allocate more land to production over the next two to three years. "I expect greater use of technology to increase crop yields and better use of genetics to create drought-tolerant crops," he said.

Knudson said the United States this year is expected to dedicate 2 million acres of land from its federal Conservation Reserve Program to farming in order to increase production during lean times.

"In Canada more land will also be committed to farming this year," he said. "All this should help to eventually increase food supplies through the [price] boom cycle."

Source: Cnn

Dollar falls after Fed

2008-04-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

The dollar fell against a mixed bag of currencies and long-term treasury prices retreated from their highs Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced it again is cutting interest rates.

In a widely-anticipated move, the central bank trimmed its key federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2%. But the Fed also signaled its intention to put rates on hold to fight inflation.

The Fed's decision follows a government report that indicated the economy continues to be hampered by higher energy and food prices. The Commerce Department estimated that the U.S. gross domestic product during the first quarter rose at a very modest seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.6% during the first quarter, though the figure came in better than the market anticipated.

Joe Balestrino, a portfolio manager at Federated Investors, said most fixed-income investors are focusing on what the central bank says about the economy. He said recent statements by the Fed have taken a softer tone in describing economic conditions, indicating that its rate cut campaign has been working.

"They've acknowledged strains in the financial markets driving their monetary policy, and those strains have now been somewhat reduced," Balestrino said. "Right now you have the combination of an economy that stopped going backward, and a financial market that has significantly improved."

Treasurys: The 30-year long bond rose 14/32 to 96 20/32 and yielded 4.58%, up from 4.38% just prior to the Fed's announcement, according to BGCantor Market Data.

Prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 3/32 to 97 15/32 and yielded 3.75%. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The 2-year note fell 5/32 to 99 22/32 and yielded 2.27%, down from 2.40%.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday it plans to sell $21 billion of new securities in its quarterly refunding. The government plans to auction $15 billion of 10-year notes on May 7 and $6 billion of 29 1/2-year bonds on May 8.

In addition, the Treasury said it plans to revive the sale of one-year bills as a way to raise money to combat the federal budget deficit. The government said the economy's decline has hurt tax receipts, and increased its funding needs.
Check the latest currency rates

Dollar: The dollar fell against foreign currencies after the Fed's announcement.

The euro bought $1.5615, up from $1.5564 just prior to the release, and the British pound rose to $1.9877 up from $1.9847.

The dollar rose versus the yen to ¥103.95, down from ¥104.55 before the Fed.

Lower interest rates can boost the economy, but they tend to be inflationary, leading traders to transfer funds to countries where they can earn higher returns.

Source: Cnn

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Japan holds the line on interest rates

2008-04-30T07:08:00.001-07:00

Japan's central bank decided Wednesday to keep its key interest rate unchanged amid lingering worries about a global slowdown.

The Bank of Japan policy board meeting unanimously decided to keep the rate at 0.5%, the bank said in a statement.

The decision was widely expected amid continued uncertainty over the U.S. economy and its impact on global markets.

Japan's economy is slowing, and the bank will carefully examine downside risks at home and abroad before taking any concrete monetary policy steps, the policy board said in its semiannual outlook report released later Wednesday.

Housing and business investment "have been weaker than expected while exports have been stronger," the BOJ said, adding that capital spending will pick up gradually in fiscal 2008, which ends March 31, 2009.

The bank said uncertainty over the global economy and financial markets persists, citing "downside risks" to the U.S. economy as a potential threat to Japan.

"Given the current situation where the outlook for economic activity and prices is highly uncertain, it is not appropriate to predetermine the direction of future monetary policy," the report said.

It said the bank will "carefully assess the future outlook for economic activity and prices."

Higher CPI expected. For next fiscal year, the board said it expected the consumer price index, which excludes fresh food prices, to rise by 1%, and real gross domestic product to rise 1.7%, compared with 1.5% growth for financial year 2008.

The market was also awaiting signs about the future direction of monetary policy from comments later in the day from new Bank of Japan Gov. Masayuki Shirakawa.

Wednesday's decision is the first since Shirakawa took the helm of the central bank earlier this month. His assumption of the post followed weeks of a power vacuum after the term of his predecessor, Toshihiko Fukui, ended in March.

Much of last year, market watchers had expected the BOJ would soon start raising its key interest rate. The global economic turmoil set off at midyear by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis has scotched that view.

Source: CNN

Why the Fed's not done cutting rates

2008-04-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

The market is eager to see Ben Bernanke heading for the sidelines. But with the U.S. economy softening, he may not stay there for long.

The Federal Open Market Committee is due to conclude a two-day policy meeting Wednesday afternoon. Trading in futures markets predicts the Fed will cut its key fed funds overnight lending target by a quarter-point, to 2%, and hold the line there in coming months. If the markets are right, the Fed is ready to go on hold for the first time since it began cutting rates last summer in response to troubles in the credit markets. The shift wouldn't come a moment too soon for some observers.

"Lower fed funds?" wrote Bill Gross, managing director at bond investor Pimco in Newport Beach, Calif., in his May investment outlook. "They would, in Pimco's opinion, likely do more damage than good from this point forward." Gross wrote Tuesday it's imperative that the Fed hold rates steady because "foreign and domestic investors are being fleeced with negative real interest rates, and the weak dollar, stratospheric commodity prices and steadily rising import inflation are the result."

But while surging food and energy prices have stolen the headlines this month, some observers believe falling house prices will force a substantial consumer retrenchment that could turn the Fed's attention back to economic growth. So while the Fed will surely be eager to show Wednesday that it hasn't forgotten that inflation is a concern, it could find itself cutting rates again later this year.

"The Fed is very likely going to find a way to signal a wait-and-see approach," Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg wrote this week. "That should not, by the way, be confused with an end-of-the-cycle approach."

For now, a pause in Fed action would be a welcome development after months of unrest. In addition to cutting the fed funds rate from 5.25% back in September, the Fed has expanded the scope of emergency loan programs to keep financial institutions lending to consumers and businesses. Since last month's Fed-brokered rescue of Bear Stearns (BSC, Fortune 500), fears of a default at rival brokerages such as Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) and Lehman Brothers (LEH, Fortune 500) have fallen sharply, judging by trading in the firms' credit default swaps.

But if Bernanke's policies have succeeded in easing the market's liquidity problems, signs of a slowdown in the United States economy have only become more pronounced. Rosenberg points to steep declines in home sales, retail sales and consumer confidence over the past three months. Merrill Lynch now expects second-quarter gross domestic product to fall 2.3% from a year ago, in the first quarterly contraction of U.S. economic output since the 1990 recession.

Rosenberg, who has been saying the Fed will cut its target rate as low as 1% during this cycle, isn't the only one talking about a prolonged slowdown. Merrill chief John Thain made a similar point in the firm's first-quarter earnings call two weeks ago. He said the firm believes the worst of the capital markets dislocation is past, but that related problems could just be coming to light.

"I think the real risk going forward here is how much do all of the problems in the financial and credit markets seep into the real economy," Thain said. "What is the impact of higher energy prices, higher food prices, higher unemployment, and falling home prices on the consumer and what's the impact of that in terms of the U.S. economy and ultimately the global economy?"

More bad news on the home-price front came this week, when Standard & Poor's said prices in 20 major markets dropped an average of almost 13% from a year ago in February. "There is no sign of a bottom in the numbers," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P. "Prices of single family homes continue to drop across the nation."

Falling house prices are likely to weigh on consumer spending, by preventing homeowners from funding consumption by tapping their home equity. That slowdown makes Dan Libby, a senior portfolio manager of the Sands Brothers Select Access Management fund, skeptical of the prospect that the economy will bounce back fast enough to permit the Fed to hold rates steady for long.

Libby said he believes Bernanke has staved off a deep recession and a market panic by acting as quickly as he did. But he said that he sees little sign that a strong recovery is at hand. While Libby said the Fed doesn't want to repeat its mistakes of the last cycle, when it left interest rates at very low levels even as economic growth picked up, he believes rates could fall to 1.5% before Bernanke & Co. are forced to confront a possible monetary tightening.

"I expect to see a slow, grinding muddling-through type of economy" for the next year or two, Libby said. He added that the Fed must "be careful about sounding too hawkish" when it issues its statement Wednesday laying out how it sees the risks confronting the economy.

That statement is what investors expect to be focusing on at 2:15 p.m. EST, when the Fed announces the results of today's meeting. "What is critical is what signal the Fed provides in the press statement," Rosenberg wrote this week, "and how much emphasis they put on inflation."

Source: CNN

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Dollar rally stymied by consumer data

2008-04-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

The dollar was mixed against major currencies Friday after a consumer sentiment reading fell to its lowest level in more than 25 years.

The pound rose to $1.9826 in late New York trading from $1.9755, while the Japanese currency was unchanged at ¥105.26.

The euro slid to $1.5635, down from $1.5686 Thursday. The 15-nation currency has slid since it reached the latest in a string of records on Tuesday, breaking through the $1.60 mark for the first time and rising as high as $1.6018.

On Thursday, the euro lost more than two cents after a downbeat German business confidence survey and an unexpected drop in American claims for jobless benefits.
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The Reuters/University of Michigan released its consumer sentiment index Friday, which fell to 62.6 for April from 69.5 a month earlier. It was the lowest reading since the early 1980s.

The dollar has been weighed down recently by a combination of gloomy U.S. economic data and high European inflation.

That has fueled expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates yet again while the European Central Bank leaves rates unchanged - or even raises them, a possibility deflated by Thursday's German business confidence survey.

"We are just seeing a continuation of upward adjustment for the dollar on a combination of exhaustion of the euro surge, and market expectations that there may not be a lot more easing on interest rates by the Fed," said Bob Sinche, head of global foreign exchange strategy at Bank of America Corp.

UniCredit analysts said in a research note that "the U.S. dollar recovery across the board ... looks fairly excessive at this stage." They noted that "nothing has really changed on the current economic scenario."

In other trading Friday, the dollar edged down to 1.0347 Swiss francs from 1.0356 Swiss francs, but rose to 1.0178 Canadian dollars from 1.0139 Canadian dollars.

Nursing School

2008-04-25T06:51:00.000-07:00

If you are one of those, who is moved by the very sight of others trauma, sufferings or pains. You always wished to do something to alleviate their pains and sufferings and support them. If so , you are the person whose mission is predetermined and it is nursing.

You know; certified nursing assistants are doing the jobs like feeding the patients, bathing, grooming, dressing and if necessary helping the patients to move about.

There is site : www.medical-career-training.com, wherein you get all the information about cna training . The site offers the links of all the cna schools in your nearby area where from you can get the required cna programs as per your choice.

Certified Nursing Assistants mostly work in nursing homes and earn to the tune of $20500 or more, since they usually have to work overtime.

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Look of the year

2008-04-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

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Wholesale Clothing

2008-04-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

If you love fashion and have always dream about having your own business, you would have to find a good merchandize wholesaler which offers quality wholesale products. You would also need to find one that offers the lowest prices. Another good option is to buy goods from suppliers who specialise in liquidation and closeouts as they offer merchandizes at really low prices. One such supplier is MerchandizeLiquidators.com. They are the largest wholesale liquidator and distributor in the closeout industry which offers wholesale prices for used merchandise, apparel liquidation, wholesale clothing supplier and distributor, furniture liquidators and many more.

Merchandize Liquidators carries a wide assortment of ladies’ clothing, men’s clothing, jeans, kids’ clothing, handbags, hair accessories, shoes, costume jewelry and much more sold at below wholesale prices. You really have to check out their store for more items. They even carry a huge selection of branded items such as Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY, Liz Claiborne, Calvin Klein and lots more at low prices.

They make every effort to accommodate the needs of all customers, from those with small budgets to those stocking a whole chain of stores. So, they can make your buying experience comfortable, knowledgeable, pleasurable, but more importantly, offer you merchandise at huge discounted prices! Just take a look at MerchandizeLiquidators.com and you will see what I mean.

Hedge fund manager rakes in $3.7B

2008-04-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

Hedge fund manager John Paulson of Paulson & Co. took home $3.7 billion last year, making him the biggest earner in the industry, according to Alpha Magazine.

Alpha's annual survey of hedge fund pay found that the top five fund managers - Paulson, George Soros of Soros Fund Management, James Simons of Renaissance Technologies Corp., Philip Falcone of Harbinger Capital Partners and Kenneth Griffin of Citadel Investment Group - each made more than $1.2 billion. That's about the price JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) paid to acquire troubled Wall Street firm Bear Stearns (BSC, Fortune 500).

Alpha's survey took into account each manager's share of their firm's performance and management fees, as well as personal capital gains, and did not include any benefit from the sale of a firm or an initial stock offering.

Fund managers are enjoying massive paydays at a time when financial markets are in turmoil and millions of homeowners face foreclosure. As a result, hedge funds are likely to draw the ire of Congress and face more regulation in the future, the magazine said.

Source: CNN

gagner de l'argent

2008-04-16T19:33:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered how people make so much money on the internet has they say? Some people make loads of “argent gratuit” (free money) playing at online casinos, playing poker, roulette and other similar games.

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Live TV

2008-04-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

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Paulson: 'Expect more bumps' ahead

2008-04-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

Top financial leaders, faced with the biggest crisis to hit the global economy in at least a decade, are pledging to strengthen their regulation of banks and other financial institutions while anxiously hoping the slump in the United States will be a short one.

After an opening round of talks among the world's seven richest industrial countries, financial officials were scheduled to reconvene Saturday for discussions focused on the 185-nation International Monetary Fund and the IMF's sister lending institution, the World Bank.

The IMF, the lender of last resort for countries in trouble, is facing its own economic hard times. Officials were to discuss a proposal that would trim 15 percent of the agency's staff and sell about $11 billion in the institutions' vast gold reserves.

The biggest agenda item during the three days of meetings was the severe credit crisis that hit last August and could result in losses approaching a staggering $1 trillion before it is over, according to an IMF estimate released this week.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson assured the IMF's policy-setting panel on Saturday that the Bush administration was moving aggressively to deal with the economic slowdown in the United States, but he said risks remain.

"The weak housing market, together with high energy prices and stress in financial markets, is penalizing U.S. economic growth," he said. "We must expect more bumps in the road."

In a joint statement after talks Friday, the Group of Seven nations -- the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada -- endorsed an action plan to bolster regulation of big banks, investment houses and other financial firms that have already announced billions of dollars in losses from a credit crisis that began with rising defaults on subprime mortgages in the United States, but quickly spread to other types of investments around the world.

"The turmoil in global financial markets remains challenging and more protracted than we had anticipated," the G-7 officials said in their joint statement. In their comments, the officials left no doubt that they are all watching to see how developments unfold in the United States.

"The U.S. economy has to get over the economic unrest," Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga told reporters, because what happens in the United States will affect Asia and other parts of the world.

The IMF issued an economic outlook that predicted the United States would endure a mild recession this year and that weakness in the world's biggest economy raised the risks of a global recession to one in four.

Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke tried to reassure their colleagues that U.S. policymakers are doing everything possible to unfreeze credit markets in the United States so that businesses and consumers will be able to get loans more easily and the economy will start to pull out of the slowdown.

The crisis claimed its biggest victim last month with the forced sale of Bear Stearns (BSC, Fortune 500), the nation's fifth largest investment house.

Axel Weber, head of Germany's central bank, said the "measures that were taken in the US have already had some effect" and the aggressive interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve should help bolster growth in the second half of this year.

While Democrats in Congress are pushing for a more aggressive program to help an estimated 2 million homeowners at risk of defaulting on their mortgages, Paulson said the administration believed its plan, which relies heavily on voluntary efforts by the private sector, was the best approach.

Regarding the larger proposals, Paulson told reporters Friday night, "I see very little likelihood that anything like that will pass."

The G-7 communique's biggest change from the joint statement the group issued at their last meeting in February revolved around the discussion of currencies.

Europeans won in an effort to note "concern" about the sharp fluctuations that have been occurring in currency values. It was the first major change in the G-7 language on currencies in four years and was meant to underscore European worries about the dollar's decline to record lows against the euro. That has led to cries of protests from European manufacturers losing sales to American producers whose goods are now more competitive.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said the true test of the changed currency language would come on Monday when currency markets reopen. However, there was no expectation that the words would be backed up by any joint intervention to prop up the dollar.

The action plan to beef up financial regulation was developed by the Financial Stability Forum, led by Mario Draghi, head of Italy's central bank.

It calls for strengthening oversight to make sure financial companies have sufficient capital to protect against losses and improved risk-management procedures and establishes deadlines in an effort to make sure countries move quickly to implement the regulatory reforms.

In an effort to get a reading on the crisis from the private sector, the G-7 officials met over dinner Friday night with executives of some of the world's biggest financial companies including Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), Deutsche Bank (DB), Credit Suisse (CS) and Barclays (BCS).

Techs fuel bigger advance

2008-04-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

Stocks rallied Thursday, building on the recent market advance, as investors welcomed an upgrade of Intel, lower commodity prices and improved earnings forecasts from Dow stocks Wal-Mart and DuPont.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index both added 0.4%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) and the Russell 2000 (RUT) small-cap index both added 1.3%.

A bullish analyst note on the chip sector and talk that Yahoo and AOL may team up were among the factors supporting technology shares. Meanwhile, investors also welcomed improved first-quarter earnings estimates from chemical maker DuPont and retailer Wal-Mart.

"We're looking at some good earnings forecasts today and that really got the market going," said Greg Church, president of Church Capital. "Everyone is expecting poor first-quarter earnings, so to have a couple of Dow components say things are looking better sets a good tone."

First-quarter earnings are expected to have fallen around 13% from a year earlier, due largely to weakness in the financial sector.

The gains Thursday were also reflective of a better mood on Wall Street that seems to have emerged since the near-collapse and rescue of Bear Stearns a few weeks ago, with JP Morgan and the Federal Reserve stepping in. (Full story).

"Conditions in the credit market have improved and that's been helping the tone," said Robert Philips, president and chief investment officer at Walnut Asset Management.

"While there are lots of issues that still need to get resolved, a fear of the whole system falling apart has passed," he said.

Friday brings results from Dow component General Electric (GE, Fortune 500). Investors will also see the March reading on import and export prices as well as the April consumer sentiment index from the University of Michigan.

Also in focus: News that Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) and Time Warner's (TWX, Fortune 500) AOL are reportedly in talks to combine their Internet operations, in a move that would challenge Microsoft's (MSFT, Fortune 500) attempt at buying Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500). Time Warner is the parent company of CNNMoney.

In response, Microsoft is now talking with News Corp. (NWS, Fortune 500) about a joint bid for Yahoo, according to reports.

Meanwhile, Yahoo is also looking at a potential advertising deal with Google (GOOG, Fortune 500).

Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) rallied after Banc of America securities upgraded it to "buy" from "neutral," according to published reports. The upgrade was part of a broader bullish note on the chip sector.

All the activity gave a boost to the tech sector, enabling the Nasdaq composite to advance more than the other major gauges.

Retailers' tough March. Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, Fortune 500) said that first-quarter earnings would top forecasts. However, the world's largest retailer also reported a smaller-than-expected rise in March sales at stores open a year or more.

Wal-Mart's sales were representative of a maddening month for merchants, in which cooler weather and sluggish spending cut into profits.

Among other companies, Limited Brands (LTD, Fortune 500), Pacific Sunwear (PSUN), Gap (GPS, Fortune 500), Saks (SKS) and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) all reported March sales declines.

Discount retailer Costco (COST, Fortune 500) said March sales rose 7%, topping forecasts. Shares gained.

Other corporate news. Lehman Brothers (LEH, Fortune 500) liquidated three funds last month, worth about $1 billion, after their assets began to deteriorate amid the credit crisis. (Full story).

Virgin Media (VMED, Fortune 500) plunged 11% after the company said it was selling $1 billion in bonds to pay off debt.

Millennium Pharmaceuticals (MLNM) rallied almost 50% on news that Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical will buy the biotech in an $8.8 billion all-cash offer.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners topped losers three to two as 1.28 billion shares changed hands. On the Nasdaq, advancers trumped decliners four to three on volume of 2.21 billion shares.

Economic news. The February trade balance showed imports outweighed exports, surprising economists.

A separate report showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment last week fell more than expected.

In another bad sign for the struggling economy, more than 50% of panelists who participated in the Blue Chip Economic Indicators Survey say the economy is already in or will soon fall into a recession.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, speaking Thursday afternoon, said that regulators have to get going putting measures in place to prevent a future financial crisis from happening. (Full story).

Commodity prices. U.S. light crude oil for May delivery fell 76 cents to settle at $110.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for June delivery fell $5.30 to $932.20 an ounce.

Other markets. The dollar gained versus the euro and rose against the yen. The greenback briefly touched an all-time low versus the euro before rebounding after the Bank of England cut its base lending rate by a quarter-percentage point to 5%, a 17-month low. The European Central Bank held rates steady at 4%.

Treasury prices fell, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.54% from 3.48% late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Bad Credit Loans & Credit Cards

2008-04-04T06:41:00.000-07:00

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$15B housing fix gets fast-tracked by Senate

2008-04-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

With unusual speed, leading Senate Democrats and Republicans have negotiated a bipartisan, $15 billion housing relief package that the Senate will start debating Thursday, and will likely vote on by next week.

The package contains funding to help borrowers refinance unaffordable loans and help boost activity in neighborhoods with properties in foreclosure. It also includes a big business tax break for homebuilders, as well as a new tax credit and deduction for homeowners and home buyers. Additionally, the package has measures to make loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration more accessible.

Lawmakers have been under election-year pressure to do more about the mortgage crisis. The Senate package reflects concessions from both sides of the aisle. But the package will be subject to amendments and the House will have its say next week after the Senate votes.

"It's not the end of the road, but it's a very strong beginning," said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., in a press briefing Wednesday evening.

The Democrats allowed two provisions they've been pushing for to be excluded from the package: a measure that would let bankruptcy judges reduce residential mortgage debts, and a measure that would let the Federal Housing Administration insure up to $400 billion in troubled loans if lenders agree to write them down to affordable levels for borrowers.

The bankruptcy measure is expected to be introduced as an amendment in the Senate, and the FHA measure may be added to the bill when the House takes it up.

Senate Democrats also yielded ground on a provision to change the down payment requirements for FHA loans. Democrats have been pushing to reduce them, but the bipartisan agreement actually increases them by half a percentage point. That may not fly in the House, when it considers the package.

In exchange, Senate Republicans agreed first to not block a housing stimulus package. They also gave the nod to a $4 billion provision that would let states and local governments buy and refurbish foreclosed properties, a measure the White House had characterized as a bailout for lenders and speculators. And they agreed to include a number of other provisions that had been included in Democrats' earlier housing relief proposals.
Home builders get big boost

Forty percent of the cost of the bill will fund a business tax break expected to help home builders. One construction workers' union characterized the provision as a "taxpayer funded giveaway to big corporate homebuilders, many of which helped cause the mess by pushing subprime loans through their mortgage subsidiaries."

But supporters of that measure say it will help keep all homebuilders - large and small - out of bankruptcy and will preserve thousands of jobs.

The Mortgage Bankers Association gave the total package high marks. "A more modern and effective FHA, mortgage revenue bonds for state housing finance agencies, additional money for counseling -- these are all things that will be of great help to struggling homeowners," said MBA Chairman Kieran P. Quinn in a statement.

Housing advocates like some elements of the package but don't think it goes far enough, particularly because it excludes the bankruptcy provision, which they estimate could keep up to 600,000 homeowners out of foreclosure.

Ellen Schloemer, research director for the Center on Responsible Lending, said the point of the provision isn't to encourage homeowners to file for bankruptcy. Rather, she said, "it would give loan servicers air cover to modify loans. And it [gives them] incentives to do it."

Currently loan modifications are done on a voluntary basis. And servicers, who fear being sued by investors who own the loans, are only allowed to modify mortgages when they can justify why doing so would be a better solution than anything else.

Republicans object to the bankruptcy provision, contending it would raise mortgage costs for everyone, since lenders would price in more risk if they knew a third party could alter the loans' terms. Some studies have shown, however, that cost increases would be minimal.

In proposing the bankruptcy provision as an amendment, Democrats may modify it further to win some Republican support. One approach: judges would only be allowed to change the interest rate on the loan, but not the principal.

Lawmakers in the House - led by Financial Services Committee Barney Frank, D-Mass. - are expected to take up housing measures at hearings next week. Experts say that lawmakers must act swiftly if they hope to prevent a substantial number of foreclosures this year.

Below are some of the provisions in the proposed bill:

Modernize the FHA: Measures in the bill would overhaul the Federal Housing Administration's loan insurance program, which helps homebuyers with weak credit or little cash get an affordable mortgage.

The changes proposed in the bipartisan bill would raise the FHA loan limits from 95% of an area's median home price to 110%. But in high-cost areas, the FHA loan limit may not exceed $550,000.

Under the bipartisan economic stimulus package passed in February, the cap for FHA loans in high-cost areas was temporarily raised to $729,950. The Senate package also calls for FHA loan down payment requirements be raised to 3.5% from 3%.

Help for troubled borrowers trying to refinance: The bill lets states offer $10 billion in tax-free municipal bonds, the proceeds of which would be used to subsidize mortgage refinancing for subprime borrowers trying to get out of unaffordable loans.

Under current law, state and local housing agencies are allowed to issue tax-free bonds only to help subsidize mortgages for first-time homebuyers, or those purchasing property in distressed areas.

Tax credits for buying troubled properties: The bill creates a tax credit of $7,000 for homebuyers who buy foreclosed homes or homes where the current owner is in default.

New property tax deduction: For the 28.3 million homeowners who take the standard deduction on their federal tax return, the bill would allow them to take a second standard deduction for the property tax they pay. The new standard property tax deduction will be $500 for single filers and $1,000 for couples filing jointly.

Currently only homeowners who itemize their deductions can deduct their property taxes.

Bigger tax break for homebuilders and other businesses: The bill would expand the so-called net operating loss carryback. The provision would extend to four years from two the time company may apply its 2008 and 2009 losses to past tax bills.

Money to aid areas hit by foreclosures: The bill would allow $4 billion in grants to state and local governments to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed home.

More money for consumer counseling: The bill calls for an additional $100 million for housing counselors working with homeowners at risk of foreclosure.

Greater transparency for borrowers: The bill might call for greater disclosure in the mortgage application process, so consumers could more easily understand the terms of their loans and won't be surprised by big payment increases.

Starbucks to fight tip-sharing ruling

2008-03-29T09:41:00.001-07:00

Starbucks Corp. will not pay back its California baristas for tips they shared with shift supervisors, defying a San Diego Superior Court ruling last week.

"The ruling would take away the right of shift supervisors to receive the tips they earn for providing superior customer service," said Chief Executive Howard Schultz, in a voicemail message to employees Wednesday night. "I want you to know that we strongly believe that this ruling is extremely unfair and beyond reason."

In the voicemail, a transcript of which was released by Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500), Schultz said the media "grossly mischaracterized" the coffee chain's standard practice of allowing shift supervisors to share in tips left for baristas.

"We would never condone any type of behavior that would lead anyone to conclude that we would take money from our people," he said.

The company said in a separate statement Wednesday that there is no money to be "refunded or returned from Starbucks."

The California lawsuit was filed in 2004, and was granted class-action status in 2006. Last week, San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett ordered Starbucks to pay baristas more than $100 million in back tips and interest, saying state law prohibits managers and supervisors from taking a cut from the tip jar. A hearing is set for May 1 before Cowett on how the California tip money should be distributed.

Starbucks responded in the statement that "shift supervisors are not managers and have no managerial authority," and customers don't differentiate between the supervisors and baristas when they tip.

Cowett also issued an injunction preventing Starbucks' shift supervisors from sharing in future tips, but Starbucks said it would not comply with the order while it appeals the court decision.

Since the ruling, two similar lawsuits against Starbucks have been filed, one in Minnesota and one in Massachusetts. Both seek-class action status. In his message to employees, Schultz vowed to "vigorously defend" the company.

Shares of Starbucks dipped 45 cents, or 2.6%, to $17.17 in afternoon trading.

Barry Diller wins battle for IAC/InterActiveCorp

2008-03-29T09:38:00.001-07:00

A Delaware judge on Friday sided with media mogul Barry Diller in his dispute with John Malone, effectively paving the way for the breakup of Internet media giant IAC/InterActiveCorp.

The decision is the latest chapter in a high-profile showdown between billionaires Diller and Malone, who has a controlling interest in IAC/InterActive. Under a 1995 proxy agreement between Diller and Malone, Malone gave Diller the right to exercise Malone's 60% voting authority.

The media moguls are battling over Diller's proposal to break up IAC (IACI, Fortune 500) into five separate companies. IAC's holdings include Ask.com, Match.com, Ticketmaster, and the Home Shopping Network. The proposal would diminish Malone's majority shareholder voting power in the spinoffs. Malone agreed that the spinoff would be a good idea, but objected to the shareholder voting structure of the spinoffs.

Delaware Chancery Court Judge Stephen Lamb on Friday upheld that proxy agreement, letting Diller vote Malone's shares in favor of the breakup

Malone contends that Diller is attempting to wrest control of IAC from Liberty Media (LINTA), which owns a majority of the company's voting stock.

Malone and Liberty had asked the court whether it could oust Diller on the claim that he breached his fuduciary duties to shareholders by devising the spinoff plan.

On that matter, Lamb concluded that "it is premature to consider the claimsrelating to the fiduciary duties of the IAC board of directors.

"The simple, inescapable fact is that the IAC directors have not yet finally authorized the spin-off," he wrote, "and have not even considered many of the essential terms of that transaction, including the voting structure of the spincos."

The ruling caps a five-day trial held earlier this month.

Diller issued a statement late Friday, expressing regret over the falling out. "I wish this hadn't happened, but it did," he said. "Now it's over and we can all get on with our work and lives."

Countdown to iPhone 2.0

2008-03-29T09:38:00.000-07:00

Apple is gearing up for a big bump in sales of the next generation iPhone, if new production plans are any guide.

The plans show the faster iPhone will be rolling off the assembly line this summer. The initial order calls for 11 million iPhones to be built this year, with that total split between the existing 2.5G phone and the upgraded 3G phone, according to people familiar with the plan.

Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) appears to be targetting a June introduction of the 3G version of the phone, roughly a year after the original iPhone's debut. And similar to last year, Apple seems to be scheduling a limited initial supply to be followed by more phones in the fall quarter.

Observers are split on how to interpret the plans however.

Bank of America analyst, Scott Craig, who put out a research note Friday dissecting the Apple production plans, says the order indicates a significant production increase. If true, this could provide a surprise boost to the company's numbers. BofA expects 8 million iPhones will get sold this year, and if the 3G model is successful, every additional million beyond their projection translates to about $400 million in added sales and 12 cents per share - or 2% - more in profit.

But other analysts familiar with Apple's order patterns say the production reports are typically overestimated by the company, largely to keep component suppliers fully stocked should demand take off. By this reckoning, Apple will probably make about half of the 11 million iPhones the initial production plan calls for. It will probably have about one million 3G phones ready at launch and 4 to 5 million to follow later this year, says one analyst.

The curious part of the upcoming 3G iPhone introduction is just how Apple plans to handle the older iPhone. The new phone will operate on AT&T's (T, Fortune 500) faster network giving a big speed boost to mobile Internet users. The new phone will also be packed with more features including GPS navigation. Apple will clearly have a big price tag on the new phone, and observers speculate that the older version - which fetches $500 for the larger memory model - will likely get another price cut.

With two premium phones in the market, Apple is looking at a potentially robust second half sales spree. But the Cupertino, Calif. gadget giant will not have the field entirely to itself. Several phone makers are introducing touchscreen phones aimed at the iPhone this year. Sony Ericsson dazzled fans at recent gadget shows with a prototype of its upcoming Xperia phone, a touchscreen design with a slide-open keyboard. Another prototype that is a dead-ringer for the iPhone is Garmin's (GRMN) nuvifone, a GPS touchscreen device with a phone built in.

And probably the most hotly anticipated new smart phone in the wings is Research in Motion's (RIMM) 9000 BlackBerry. Though RIM acknowledges that a new BlackBerry is in the works, there have been scant few details available about its design. It will most likely include a touchscreen and easily be regarded as a sweet piece of handcandy for BlackBerry loyalists.

Take-Two rejects Electronic Arts bid

2008-03-26T06:25:00.000-07:00

Grand Theft Auto" publisher Take-Two Interactive told its shareholders Wednesday to reject a $2 billion buyout bid from rival video game company Electronic Arts, saying it's not enough.

But in the same breath the company said it will explore alternatives, even combining with EA or other third parties, to maximize its value for shareholders. But it wants to wait until after April 29, when "Grand Theft Auto IV," the latest in the blockbuster series, hits store shelves. The game is by far Take-Two's most popular and one of the best-selling franchises in the industry.

Bid turned hostile earlier this month. The $26-per-share bid turned hostile March 13 when EA took the offer directly to shareholders. Take-Two's board had asked for 10 business days to mull over the decision and that time ran out Wednesday.

Take-Two took several steps to prevent EA from going through with a hostile takeover. It adopted a 180-day shareholders' rights agreement, also known as a "poison pill." It kicks in if an outsider acquires 20 percent of Take-Two's shares or if an existing shareholder who already owns this much buys another 2%.
Zap! Videogame takeover fight heats up

Chairman Strauss Zelnick said the rights agreement "will not, and is not intended to, prevent a takeover of the company on terms that are fair to and in the best interests of all stockholders."

Shareholder meeting moved. Take-Two (TTWO) also moved back its upcoming annual shareholder meeting to April 17 from April 10 and amended its bylaws to give shareholders more time to nominate board members.

A representative for Redwood City, Calif.-based Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) could not immediately be reached for comment.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.'s shares have briefly climbed above $26 in recent weeks, but analysts are not expecting the offer to go much higher. The company said it has received other "indications of interest" since EA's offer became public last month, but there haven't been any "substantive discussions."

Take-Two said it is willing to start preliminary talks, including with EA, before April 29 under confidentiality agreements.

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2008-03-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

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2008-03-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

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2008-03-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

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2008-03-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

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AOL's plan B-ebo

2008-03-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

Ever since Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) announced its surprise bid for Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) last month, the heat has been on Time Warner to figure out its next move for AOL, the former Web juggernaut that could be left out in the cold if its two main rivals merge.

On Tuesday, Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner's (TWX, Fortune 500) new CEO, told a media conference that the company would consider any options to sell or merge AOL. "We can't rule it out and we wouldn't," Bewkes said. "It's our obligation to try make sure that AOL exists in whatever configuration makes it the strongest and most valuable."

What to make, then, of AOL's news Thursday that it is buying Bebo, the third-biggest social networking site in the United States, for $850 million in cash? While not a game-changer in and of itself, the Bebo deal means AOL has spent close to $2 billion in the past year or so on acquisitions as it races to leave behind its tangled legacy as the 1990s phenomenon that introduced much of America to the Web.

The upbeat view is that maybe there is new life in the old cow after all - particularly in the wake of a spate of high-level executive departures in its advertising business in recent weeks.

If the latest AOL plan takes hold, the company will meld its online advertising network with the reach of its AIM instant-messaging service and a bona fide social network that has some 40 million registered users worldwide. In particular, AOL contends it has a leg up over Bebo's much bigger rivals, MySpace and Facebook, in making money out of social networking.

Additionally, Bebo helps AOL achieve another goal of increasing its presence outside of the United States - the site is particularly strong in the UK and Ireland. Double bonus: It gets the services of Bebo CEO Joanna Shields, a highly-regarded former Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) executive who joined Bebo only last year, and who has agreed to stay on.

To be sure, there is a chorus of sentiment both within and outside of Time Warner that the company needs to stop rearranging the deck chairs at AOL and the sooner it extricates itself from the Internet company - either through some kind of merger, spin-off or an outright sale - the easier it will be to generate some much-needed enthusiasm for Time Warner stock.

Its shares are down 25% in the past year after several years of moving mostly sideways. (Fortune is one small piece of Time Warner, the world's largest media company by revenue. With around $40 billion in sales, Time Warner counts everything from the Warner Brothers movie studio to CNN, HBO, People magazine and America's second-largest cable-TV company among its businesses).

The less glowing but (in my opinion) more realistic way to view AOL's purchase of Bebo is that it is the equivalent of renovating your kitchen and bathroom before putting the house up for sale because your broker tells you it will sell faster and fetch more.

Bebo lags far behind MySpace and Facebook in its sector, but is a proven brand that has succeeded in a space where AOL has talked a big game but stumbled. Two years ago, the company launched something called Aimpages which were designed to be its answer to MySpace, designed around niftily tying into people's existing buddy lists on AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM). Needless to say, we have not heard much about Aimpages since.

But in making this deal at the same time it is trying to figure out if there is a way to combine with Yahoo and thwart the Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) deal, Time Warner also gets to send the message that AOL is not standing idle.

AOL is still a big business, generating $5 billion a year in revenue from a combination of Web advertising and subscriber fees from its fast-declining (yet still lucrative) dial-up Internet access business.

The biggest move Bewkes made in the months before he took the reigns at Time Warner was to accelerate AOL's repositioning as a free Web portal business coupled with an online advertising business -- now called Platform A -- that has been molded out of various acquisitions including advertising.com and Tacoda.com. He has said that the company is working to separate the access business, which many analysts expect him to sell, from the rest of AOL.

With Bebo, the company is pursuing roughly the same strategy that it did when it launched Aimpages. The idea now is that Platform A should give the AOL portal business a leg up in generating revenue for Bebo and that - once again - there ought to be some way to fuse Bebo with the sea of 27 million worldwide AIM instant messaging users.

There are, of course, a couple of catches. One is that AOL's history of integrating acquisitions has not exactly been stellar. (For every Advertising.com, there is at least one Netscape - remember them?)

The other is that it is far from proven that instant messaging and social networking really mix. Sure, they are both things that young people spend time doing. But instant messaging is right up there with China and mobile phones among new media opportunities that are forever on the verge of generating buckets of marketing dollars.

"What they're talking about trying to do is like a country doctor trying to perform brain surgery," a top executive at a rival social networking site told me.

Maybe so. Nonetheless, Bebo gives AOL more curb appeal for whatever comes next.

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2008-03-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

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2008-03-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

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Citi Oks $102M for CEO Pandit

2008-03-13T19:27:00.000-07:00

Citigroup Inc.'s new chief executive Vikram Pandit received $3.16 million in total compensation during 2007 - the year that started with him running his own hedge fund and ended with him at the top of the largest U.S. bank by assets.

And to convince Pandit to stay with the troubled bank while he works to extricate it from losing bets on mortgages and the now-frozen credit markets, Citigroup's board in January signed off on awards valued at about $102 million. That includes a $2.5 million retention equity award; nearly $27 million worth of stock, and 3 million options that in January were worth around $73 million.

For his six months at Citigroup last year, Pandit received a salary of $250,000, according to a Thursday regulatory filing. He received no cash bonus and no perks, but got stock and option awards in July worth $2.91 million.

After working for most of his career at the investment bank Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) and then starting up his own hedge fund, Old Lane, Pandit arrived at Citigroup in July 2007 when Citi bought Old Lane. At the time, Pandit received $165.2 million in payment for the sale of his partnership interest in Old Lane. He invested $100 million back into an Old Lane fund, where it will remain invested until July 2011, Thursday's filing said.

By mid-December, Citi's board named Pandit chief executive, about a month after then-CEO Charles Prince was ousted amid huge mortgage-related losses at the bank.

Citi ended up paying Prince more than it did Pandit during 2007. Prince received a $40 million payout from stock awards, a bonus and other benefits, according to regulatory filings. That amount does not include the 1.61 million Citi shares he already owned, his $1 million salary for 2007, or his perks for the year - which included nearly $171,000 in aircraft use.

The AP's total pay calculations include executives' salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, Citigroup posted a loss of nearly $10 billion, its biggest ever, after its investments in bad debt lost $18.1 billion in value. When Pandit took the CEO spot in December, he said he would conduct a "dispassionate review" of Citi's many operations around the globe. The review, still under way, has so far included streamlining and paring back Citi's mortgage business.

Pandit was not the only executive at Citi to earn big incentive awards in January.

The filing said that in January 2008, Citigroup approved a $1.95 million cash bonus, $3.09 million in stock awards under the company's Capital Accumulation Program (CAP) and $1.95 million in retention equity awards for Win Bischoff - the Citi veteran who was named chairman of the company in December.

For Gary Crittenden - who was named CFO last February - Citi in January approved a cash bonus of $2.85 million, $4.59 million in stock awards under CAP, and $5.35 million in retention equity awards.

Meanwhile, Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) approved in January total incentive and retention awards of $19.3 million for Citi's Global Banking CEO Michael Klein; $12 million in total awards for Citi's Global Wealth Management CEO Sallie Krawcheck; $8.3 million in total awards for Vice Chairman Lewis Kaden; and $10.25 million in total awards for Vice Chairman Stephen Volk.

IBM CEO's pay up 11% to $20.9M in 2007

2008-03-11T19:01:00.002-07:00

IBM Corp.'s chairman and chief executive, Samuel J. Palmisano, enjoyed an 11% raise in compensation to $20.9 million in 2007, a year in which the technology company increased its profits and stock price.

In a regulatory filing Monday, IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) said Palmisano, 56, was paid $1.8 million in salary and $5.8 million under a long-term incentive plan. He also got options and stock equivalents worth $12.3 million when they were issued.

Another $988,479 came to Palmisano through various perks, including $406,235 worth of travel on IBM aircraft and $516,622 in contributions to his retirement plan.

The Associated Press calculates total pay by tallying executives' salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The AP total may differ from figures that companies report.

Palmisano's total of $20.9 million was up from $18.8 million the prior year. The increase came as Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM posted a 10% gain in net profit, to $10.4 billion.

IBM's stock price rose 11% in 2007.

Fed pumps more money into financial markets

2008-03-11T19:01:00.001-07:00

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday announced yet another measure to pump more liquidity into the jittery financial markets.

The program will lend up to $200 billion of Treasurys to primary dealers, a group of 20 big investment firms, for a 28-day term. The firms can put up as collateral mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which generally are seen as safe because of an implicit government guarantee.

But in an unusual move, AAA-rated mortgage securities issued by banks will also be accepted. Many investors have shied away from these mortgage-backed securities because they fear defaults in the underlying assets will erode the value.

Coordination The effort, which is being done in conjunction with other central banks in Canada and Europe, is designed to promote trading in these markets that have frozen up, experts said. The measure allows banks to temporarily get these illiquid securities off their books.

"They are providing liquidity to keep the deterioration of that market from bringing down the broader economy," said Ian Lyngen, interest rate strategist with RBS Greenwich Capital.

Also Tuesday, the Fed announced that 82 banks submitted $92.6 billion in bids in its $50 billion auction held the day before. The Fed last week said it was increasing the auction sizes.

Lending stays slow But despite the eagerness to accept the government's "liquidity" injections, banks aren't significantly increasing their lending, experts said. In fact, some banks seem to be pulling back even further - for example, Citigroup Inc.'s (C, Fortune 500) last week said that it will scale back its mortgage business.

"It's still not enough to get the banks to loosen their lending terms," said Walker Todd, a research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research and former attorney and economist at the New York Fed, referring to the last week's measures.

Banks have already borrowed a total of $160 billion since the Fed started holding these auctions in December as a way to ease the credit crunch, which began last year when mortgage defaults and foreclosures began to skyrocket. Since then, the crisis has extended far beyond the residential home loans, roiling the markets for everything from municipal bonds to student loans to auto financing.

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2008-03-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

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2008-03-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

High-cost mortgages just got cheaper

2008-03-08T08:32:00.002-08:00

The size of loans that can be guaranteed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae was raised today by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. The new, higher loan limits will stay in effect through the end of the year, allowing the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), to buy much higher-priced mortgages in some areas of the country.

Also today, the size of the loans that the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) can insure was raised by Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Both moves will lower borrowing costs for buyers of higher priced homes, and aim to boost flagging real estate markets.
Best time to buy a home in four years

Previously, Fannie and Freddie could only insure mortgages of up to $417,000, called conforming loans. That meant, assuming a 20% down payment, that only buyers of homes costing $521,500 or less were eligible for mortgages with GSE backing.

The new loan limits for Fannie and Freddie vary by area based on local median home prices and go as high as $793,750 in Honolulu. (For details, see table below).

Loan limits for FHA-insured loans were even lower; no more than $362,790. Now mortgages of up to $729,750 will qualify for FHA insurance.

The problem was that there are whole swaths of the nation where the typical home cost far more than that, and non-conforming or "jumbo loans" carry interest rates of about a point higher. For a $500,000 mortgage, that's an additional spending of $330 a month.

In many parts of the country prices are much higher. In San Jose, Calif, the median priced home costs nearly $850,000, according to the latest figures from the National Association of Realtors. In San Francisco, the figure is nearly $780,000; in Anaheim, Calif.; $657,000; in Honolulu $625,000; and in the New York metro area, $525,000. That means more than half the loans in those markets would not qualify under conforming loan limits.

"Families in high-cost states have been priced out of FHA-backed loans," HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said earlier today, in a speech before the Las Vegas Association of Realtors. "This has created a vacuum, filled by exotic subprime loans."

During the liquidity squeeze that began during the summer of 2007, jumbo loans became very difficult to find even for well-qualified borrowers. that made it hard to buy homes in certain regions, freezing up real estate markets.

By making it easier for buyers to get loans, regulators hope to get these markets moving again.

The new loan limits affect 71 metropolitan areas, as well as 21 counties outside of those metro areas.

Bush: 'Economy has slowed'

2008-03-08T08:32:00.001-08:00

President Bush said Friday that "it's clear our economy has slowed," hours after a government report showed a decline in payrolls for the second straight month.

But he said the long-term outlook is good, with a stimulus package enacted last month by Congress providing support for the economy.

"I know this is a difficult time for our economy," the president said. "But we recognized the problem early and we provided the economy with a booster shot."

Bush said the effects of the stimulus package are "just starting to kick in" and that the plan will "put money into the hands of American workers and businesses."

Earlier in the day, Bush's chief economic adviser Edward Lazear said that the nation's economy could contract in the current quarter. But he added that, "we expect that the economy will get stronger, primarily in the third quarter."

The statements come after the Labor Department said employers made their deepest cut in staffing in almost five years during February, highlighting concerns that a recession is imminent.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in remarks made on the Senate floor that Americans are "burdened by an economy that is spiraling downward every day."

Reid noted that Bush does not think the economy is headed for a recession, but argues that the facts prove otherwise.

"This morning, all signs point in that direction," Reid said. "But regardless of what label we use, there is no doubt whatsoever that the American people are suffering."

Meanwhile, oil prices spiked to a record high above $106 a barrel Friday, raising concerns that higher gas prices will hurt consumers and increase inflation.

On Wall Street, stocks fell to their lowest level in nearly 18 months as recession fears continued to spook investors.

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2008-03-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

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Yahoo buys time to handle Microsoft bid

2008-03-05T18:26:00.001-08:00

Slumping Internet pioneer Yahoo on Wednesday postponed a key deadline in a looming battle with spurned suitor Microsoft, hoping to gain more wiggle room as it tries to escape a takeover.

The Sunnyvale-based company's maneuver means that March 14 is no longer the deadline for Microsoft to nominate a slate of candidates to replace Yahoo's current board - the 10 directors who rejected the world's largest software maker's initial takeover offer of $44.6 billion.

Microsoft had already signaled it was prepared to oust the board if Yahoo didn't come to the negotiating table before March 14.

Yahoo hasn't offered a new nominating deadline. It will be set once Yahoo announces the date of its annual shareholders meeting. Microsoft will have up to 10 days after the public notice to nominate directors and begin what's known as a "proxy" battle.

"Our objective here is to enable our board to continue to explore all of its strategic alternatives for maximizing value for stockholders without the distraction of a proxy contest," Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang and Chairman Roy Bostock wrote in an e-mail sent to the company's employees.

Microsoft didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Yahoo could wait a few more months before announcing its annual meeting, which can be held as late as July 12 this year. But Yahoo is more likely to set the date within the next week or two, according to a person familiar with the company's thinking. The person wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

Top Google exec jumps to Facebook

2008-03-05T18:25:00.001-08:00

Now it's Google's turn to be hounded by an upstart. Facebook, the popular social networking site, has lured top Google executive Sheryl Sandberg to serve as its chief operating officer.

Sandberg, who ran Google's online sales unit, is the first senior executive to jump from Google's management team to another company. George Reyes, Google's chief financial officer, announced his retirement in August, but is staying on until a successor is named.

News of Sandberg's exit comes amid a steady drop in Google shares. Since hitting a high of $747 in December, Google shares have dropped 41% as the days of hyper growth appear to have ended for the Net colossus.

Sandberg's move to the No. 2 job at Facebook was first reported by Kara Swisher on her BoomTown blog, which is run by The Wall Street Journal, and confirmed by Fortune's GoWest blogger Adam Lashinsky.

At Google, Sandberg ran the automated advertising operations for the search giant, the unit responsible for a large part of the company's profits and revenue.

Sandberg is expected to apply her deep operations skills to Facebook and transform the social networking site into a full-fledged business. She replaces Owen Van Natta, who announced his exit last month.

"The focus for Facebook is scaling," Sandberg said in an interview Tuesday. "That's what I've done at Google. Another similar challenge is building an advertising network, which I also did at Google."

Facebook has become the leading challenger to MySpace the online social networking unit of News Corp (NWS, Fortune 500). Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, who is also chief executive.

This isn't the first time Facebook has raided Google. In the last seven months, it brought in Gideon Yu, the former chief financial officer of YouTube, a Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) unit, as its CFO. Facebook also nabbed Benjamin Ling, the engineer credited with creating Google Checkout, to run its software platform.

Sandberg joined Google in 2001, three years before it went public.

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2008-03-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

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How Sony Won the HD-DVD war

2008-03-02T10:30:00.000-08:00

The Oscars were a non-event this year for Sony - the studio took home only one gold statue - but Sir Howard Stringer was in town with plenty to celebrate.

The globe-trotting Sony Corporation chief was fresh off his company's triumph in the high-stakes, high-definition video player wars. On February 19, Stringer was en route from Tokyo to London, to attend a movie premiere and then a party for his 66th birthday, when Toshiba held a press conference announcing it would stop producing less expensive, Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500)-backed HD DVD players and would cede the battle to Sony-led Blu-ray.

It was somehow fitting that Sir Howard's next stop on his world tour would be Hollywood, because it was here that the Blu-ray battle was ultimately won. Toshiba only threw in the towel after the Warner Brothers studio decided last month to stop releasing its DVDs in both formats and go exclusively with Blu Ray. The victory was not only crucial to proving Stringer's strategy of showing that Sony's entertainment, electronics and games businesses could work together but - perhaps more critically - helped exorcise the ghosts of its failed Betamax video tape format that has haunted Sony for two decades.

Ebay agrees to pay up for 'Buy It Now'

2008-02-28T13:26:00.000-08:00

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- EBay Inc. has settled a seven-year patent dispute with MercExchange LLC that prompted an important intellectual-property ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.

The online auction company said in a statement Thursday that it bought the three MercExchange patents it had been accused of violating. The price was not disclosed; eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) said the figure would not materially affect its financial results.

Great Falls, Va.-based MercExchange sued eBay in 2001, arguing eBay's "Buy It Now" option -- which lets eBay sellers make items available at set prices -- infringed on MercExchange patents. MercExchange's founder, patent lawyer Thomas Woolston, had patented technologies related to an electronic network of consignment stores.

A jury ruled in MercExchange's favor in 2003, awarding $35 million in damages. A judge reduced the award to $25 million, but with interest the penalty had reached $30 million by December, when a federal judge certified the penalty and eBay was still threatening to continue appealing.

MercExchange had hoped to win a court order preventing eBay from continuing to use the technology and pursued that quest to the Supreme Court, which ruled in 2006 that judges do not necessarily have to block a technology from being used when a jury finds a patent violation.

EBay said the settlement would end all claims by MercExchange. In addition to the three patents involved in the case, eBay said it would license other technologies from MercExchange.

EBay spokeswoman Kim Rubey said she could not elaborate.

A spokesman for MercExchange did not immediately return a call.

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2008-02-27T04:14:00.001-08:00

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Apple's iTunes no. 2 music retailer

2008-02-26T17:15:00.000-08:00

Apple Inc.'s online iTunes music store is now the number-two music retailer in the U.S. behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc. as measured by unit volume, market researcher NPD Group said Tuesday.

NPD said that iTunes moved into second place due to the amount of music it sold during 2007, which was based on a 12-track CD equivalency for song downloads.

The market researcher began tracking music sold stateside during the middle of 2006. In the fourth quarter of that year, Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) Co. took second place behind Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), while Target Corp (TGT, Fortune 500). took third place and Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) iTunes store fourth place, NPD analyst Russ Crupnick said.

For the full year 2007, Best Buy came in third and Target fourth, he said.

Crupnick called Apple's move to the number-two spot "fairly understandable given the pressure that's been on CDs and the almost 50% growth in digital downloading in the past year."

About 10% of music acquired in the U.S. was through legal downloads in 2007, and consumers who bought digital music legally through pay-to-download Web sites grew by 5 million to 29 million in 2007, NPD said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, an estimated 1 million consumers did not buy CDs in 2007, and 48% of U.S. teenagers didn't buy any CDs during the year, up from 38% in the year before, according to NPD data.

"It wouldn't surprise me if we see the same things continuing into 2008 because what our research is showing is that teens are continuing to check out on the CD," Crupnick said.

NPD also said that the amount of music consumers bought in the U.S. rose 6% in 2007, though the decline in CD sales and increase in legal digital download sales still led to a 10% overall decrease in music spending.

Apple shares fell $2.55, or 2.1%, to $117.19 in morning trading, while Wal-Mart shares rose 80 cents to $51.13.

IBM to buyback $15B in stock

2008-02-26T17:12:00.002-08:00

IBM is raising the bottom end of its profit forecast for 2008 on the back of a new stock buyback plan, surpassing Wall Street's expectations.

The Armonk, N.Y.-based company said Tuesday it plans to buy back $15 billion worth of its stock, which will boost its earnings per share. IBM expects to spend $12 billion on the buyback this year.

IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) is forecasting a profit for the year of at least $8.25 per share. In January, the company said it expects to earn $8.20 to $8.30 per share.

Analysts are predicting a profit of $8.22 per share, according to a Thomson Financial poll.

Hollywood writers approve new contract

2008-02-26T17:12:00.001-08:00

The Writers Guild of America says members have voted overwhelmingly to approve a new contract with Hollywood studios that increases payment for shows offered on the Internet.

The guild says the deal was endorsed by 93.6 percent of those who voted in Los Angeles and New York.

The contract was approved through a mail-in ballot that came after members were briefed two weeks ago on the deal and voted to end the 100-day strike that devastated the entertainment industry.

Under the contract, writers will get a maximum flat fee of about $1,200 for programs streamed on the Internet during the deal's first two years and then get 2 percent of a distributor's gross in year three

Hotmail freezes up for hours

2008-02-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

Hotmail and other sites requiring a Microsoft login have been out for hours for some users.

SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft Corp.'s free Web-based e-mail service and other sites have been unavailable for hours to Internet users around the world Tuesday.

Web surfers were unable to log onto Hotmail, along with other services that require a Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) login, such as the Xbox Live video game community site and the Windows Live Messenger instant messaging program.

Microsoft confirmed the problem was international in scope, but did not say how many people were affected or when a resolution was expected.

"We are aware that some customers may be experiencing difficulty accessing their Windows Live accounts," said Microsoft spokeswoman Samantha McManus in a statement. "We're actively investigating the cause and are working to take the appropriate steps to remedy the situation as rapidly as possible."

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2008-02-19T17:03:00.001-08:00

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2008-02-16T03:47:00.000-08:00

America for sale

2008-02-13T07:05:00.000-08:00

- The big foreign-money purchases of stakes in Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley are merely a hint of what's ahead in 2008. Foreign buyers, such as sovereign wealth funds from countries like Kuwait and Singapore, will continue to make headlines by grabbing major U.S. assets this year, and the trend is much broader than investments in Wall Street firms that need a capital infusion. What's important to understand is why this is happening - the reasons go beyond what most people realize - and why it may be even more worrisome than it seems.

Such deals were hot even before the bank bailouts. Foreign buyers set a record last year by purchasing $414 billion of U.S. assets - even more than they bought in the wonder year of 2000. The usual explanation is that the dollar was cheap, which was certainly an important factor. But more had to be going on. Many of the biggest deals were done by Asian or Middle Eastern buyers who already hold much of their wealth in dollars. Those investors didn't get a discount because of the dollar's declining value. In addition, U.S. stocks were hitting record highs through much of last year, so it's hard to say that American businesses in general were bargains. Why, then, were foreign buyers so busy?

Dneero Survey

2008-02-13T07:04:00.000-08:00

dNeero Survey

2008-02-11T14:57:00.000-08:00

dNeero Survey

2008-02-04T12:38:00.000-08:00

Exxon sets record with $40 billion US annual profit

2008-02-02T15:51:00.000-08:00

Exxon Mobil Corp. posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company Friday — $40.6 billion US — as the world's biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from record-high crude prices at year's end.

Exxon also set a United States record for the biggest quarterly profit, posting net income of $11.7 billion for the final three months of 2007, beating its own mark of $10.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005.

The previous record for annual profit was $39.5 billion, which Exxon Mobil made in 2006.

The eye-popping results weren't a surprise given record prices for a barrel of oil at the end of 2007. For much of the fourth quarter, oil hovered around $90 US a barrel, more than 50 per cent higher than a year ago.

Crude prices reached an all-time trading high of $100.09 on Jan. 3 but have fallen about 10 per cent since.

Exxon Mobil, which owns 70 per cent of Canada's largest oil producer and gasoline refiner and seller, Imperial Oil Ltd., is one of the world's biggest energy companies, with three per cent of global oil output.

Microsoft offers $44.6B US in cash and stock for Yahoo

2008-02-02T15:48:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Corp. has pounced on slumping Internet icon Yahoo Inc. with an unsolicited takeover offer of $44.6 billion US in its boldest bid yet to challenge Google Inc.'s
dominance of the lucrative online search and advertising markets.

The surprise offer of $31 US per share, made late Thursday and announced Friday, seizes on Yahoo's weakness while Microsoft tries to muscle up in a high-stakes battle with Google likely to define the technology landscape for years to come.

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, shown here at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, announced job cuts of 1,000 employees earlier this week.Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, shown here at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, announced job cuts of 1,000 employees earlier this week.
(Associated Press/Paul Sakuma)

In a statement Friday, Yahoo said it will "carefully and promptly" study Microsoft's bid.

With its profits steadily sliding, Yahoo's stock slipped to a four-year low earlier this week and a new management team has been trying to steer a turnaround but sees more turbulence through 2008.

The announcement lifted Yahoo's share price by more than 47 per cent, while Google fell eight per cent, dragged down by a fourth-quarter earnings report that missed Wall Street expectations.

dNeero Survey

2008-01-31T07:06:00.000-08:00

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2008-01-30T16:22:00.000-08:00

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2008-01-30T07:01:00.000-08:00

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2008-01-30T06:57:00.000-08:00

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2008-01-29T16:52:00.000-08:00

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2008-01-29T06:15:00.000-08:00

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2008-01-28T16:35:00.000-08:00

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2008-01-28T16:33:00.000-08:00

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2008-01-28T16:31:00.000-08:00

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2008-01-28T16:28:00.000-08:00

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dNeero Survey

2008-01-28T07:27:00.000-08:00

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2008-01-27T04:14:00.000-08:00

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