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World Economic Forum 2013 Kicks off this Week
Nearly two years ago, Davos 2011, the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum was living the events in Egypt and Tunisia that eventually led to new regimes emerging in some of the North Africa and Middle East nations. Many people... More of this article »
Australian Businesses to Watch in 2013
In 2013 there will be many Australian businesses hoping for a successful year, including established businesses and new companies. From tech companies to service related companies, all businesses will be hoping for a good year, and... More of this article »
Grand Opening of Downstream Casino Resort’s Expansion
One of the premiere casino resorts in Oklahoma, the Downstream Casino Resort, opened its extension last January. A seven-story tower called Kappa Hotel Tower which features a hotel, spa, bar and café, was added. This expansion is... More of this article »
In-store Shoppers to Go Online Next Time They Buy
According to a study from the International Business Machines Corp, majority of shoppers made their purchase in a store and not from online stores. More than 80 percent of shoppers polled by IBM bought something at a store but only... More of this article »
Online Commerce Increases to New Highs
Internet commerce is becoming more and more common and eBay, the e-commerce pioneer, says that it enjoyed its best year to date in 2012. The company said shoppers flocked to its site in search of bargains and used its payment service,... More of this article »
Consumers Push Up Retail Sales in December
Economists were worried about the looming tax increases and spending cuts at the end of 2012 and yet consumers kept on shopping. Retail sales in the United States increased 0.5 percent to $415.7 billion in December. They didn’t worry... More of this article »
How To Find A Mortgage Broker
There are a number of important things to consider when looking for a mortgage broker, and by taking a few simple steps, a person can find the best mortgage broker possible. By looking for these particular aspects of a broker, a person... More of this article »
HP CEO Whitman Calls Windows 8 a Work in Progress
Some people say that Meg Whitman doesn’t have the experience to run a $120 billion company such as Hewlett Packard. There are some who say that shoe’s more of a smooth talker than a down-and-dirty operator. Whitman contends that... More of this article »
House Republican Open to Tighter Gun Control Laws
Georgia Representative Phil Gingrey outraged Liberal observers when he spoke about rape and pregnancy when he spoke before the Chamber of Commerce in his Atlanta-area district. He said that his position was misconstrued. Representative... More of this article »
Whitman Earned over $15 Million at Hewlett-Packard during 2012
Computer and printer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard, based in Palo Alto, California gave its CEO Margaret Whitman close to $15.4 million in compensation for her first full year as the CEO of the company, even though HP reported a huge... More of this article »
BTP and Bund: a Comparison of Yields
Last month for the first time we got back to BoT the annual auction with yields less than a percentage point of interest. One thing that has not been seen since January 2010. The reasons for this movement? Probably the most abundant... More of this article »
Economic Freedoms Decline in Egypt
It makes for uncomfortable reading, Egypt’s drop of 3.1 points in the Index of Economic Freedom, the annual guide published by The Wall Street Journal and top US think tank The Heritage Foundation. The US doesn’t come out... More of this article »
Fiscal Cliff Worries Lead to Less Hiring and Investment
At least one in four small and medium sized businesses in the United States said they scaled down on hiring and investment in late 2012 due to concerns about the fiscal cliff. Almost a third of chief executives surveyed said they had... More of this article »
The Fiscal Cliff: The beginning of the end?
We are talk a lot about the Fiscal Cliff, but often in a language that is a bit like… What’s this? Literally it is a “fiscal abyss” in which the U.S. economy might fall – some people talk about a decline... More of this article »
Samsung Series 7: 2013 Korean Lightweights Champions
Whether you need a smartphone or a television, Samsung is now probably one of the first brands you’d think of. But most people forget that this is also a company that has been producing affordable computes since 1983. Having strongly... More of this article »
US FDA Proposes New Food Safety Rules
US regulators proposed new food safety rules Friday that would make food processors and farms more accountable for decreasing foodborne illnesses that kill thousands of Americans per year. The new regulations are required by the Food... More of this article »
Wind Energy Tax Credit Gets Extended for One Year
Senator Mark Udall of Colorado praised the one year extension of the wind production tax credit. He said that it was vital for the state’s wind power industry. He added that extending the wind production tax credit is long overdue.... More of this article »
Dollar Up, Euro Down
The dollar reached a high on Thursday of three weeks against many different currencies, while the euro fell to levels of mid-December on concerns more fighting over the budget in the U.S. would be taking place. The initial optimism... More of this article »
2 Best Buy Directors Resign
Best Buy announced that two of its board directors resigned, one of whom was its former chief executive. It happened almost seven months after its founder left the board. The Best Buy board will now have four vacancies. The company’s... More of this article »
Congress Reaches Compromise on Milk Prices
Congress can’t seem to reach an agreement with regards to the fiscal cliff but the leadership of the agriculture committee said that they have a compromise on the farm bill Sunday. The deal would keep milk prices from increasing... More of this article »
SeaWorld Files for IPO
SeaWorld Entertainment is the operator of aquatic amusement parks owned by buyout firm Blackstone Group LP. It filed for an initial public offering last December 27. It hoped to raise $100 million from the IPO, which is the placeholder... More of this article »
Amazon Records Best Holiday Season
Amazon has a lot to thanks about in 2012. It recently announced that the Kindle Fire HD was the top selling, most gifted, and most wished for product on Amazon. It also said that the company topped in customer satisfaction during the... More of this article »
Target (NYSE: TGT), Home Depot (NYSE: HD), and Lowes (NYSE: LOW) Brace for East Coast Port Strike
Strikes at the docks are something often not on the national conscience, but for retailers, any rumbling at the ports is significant enough to send shockwaves through stocking plans. For the Minneapolis based discount giant Target... More of this article »
MasterCard (NYSE: MA) Report Dims Holiday Retail Expectations
The holiday season is now over, and retailers are left to count the receipts as the market eagerly awaits the results. Overall, the numbers are mixed, and it is difficult to get a clear picture of the fourth quarter performance. National... More of this article »
Citigroup (NYSE: C), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) Lead Financial Sector Higher in 2012
Despite a year plagued by lawsuits and fretting over the cost of regulation, financial firms have performed solidly in the stock market during 2012. In fact, the sector as a whole has rebounded from being the worst industry to invest... More of this article »
Shares in Citigroup (NYSE: C), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) Fall As Fiscal Cliff Looms
The fiscal cliff appears to be an impending calamity, and financial markets seem to be responding now, even if they largely ignored it during the previous twelve months. If a deal is not reached, within the next few days the United... More of this article »
Fines Top $10Bn for Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), Barclays (NYSE: BCS), and Competitors
When we look back at the year 2012, we may one day consider it the year of bank lawsuits. There have been literally thousands of lawsuits filed against the nation’s largest banks. That lawsuits have stemmed from a myriad of issues... More of this article »
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Closing Branches in Massachusetts
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), the Charlotte based banking giant, continues its reorganization plan to cut costs heading into 2013. Part of that plan is the closure of branches, in an effort to consolidate and raise profits in their... More of this article »
Citigroup (NYSE: C) Website Plagued By Denial of Service Errors
Bank websites have been plagued by outages in recent months, with waves of hackers seemingly targeting the sites and causing DNS errors to sprout up again and again. While the denial of service attacks haven’t actually resulted in... More of this article »
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Others Taking SeaWorld Public
SeaWorld is going public. Earlier today, the Orlando based SeaWorld Entertainment filed for an initial public offering, paving the way for an offering in 2013. SeaWorld, owned by Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX), has long been rumored... More of this article »
Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Wins in Appeal
Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), the San Francisco based banking giant, has been plagued by lawsuits for most of the past four years, along with its rivals. While many judgments have gone against them, some reprieve is coming. After getting... More of this article »
Former Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) Director Rajaratnam Settles SEC Lawsuit
Former Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) director Raj Rajaratnam has settled the civil suit pending against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The former director continues his prison sentence for insider trading, but has a litany... More of this article »
Retailers Remain Hopeful about Post-Christmas Sales
The report on the holiday retail season showed bleak results and made people wonder about the economy’s recovery. Local and national retailers are still hopeful that the next couple of days of post-Christmas shopping could bring... More of this article »
Holiday Sales Do Not Increase Like Expected
Holiday sales in the U.S. saw a growth of less than half after the Washington gridlock over the fiscal cliff helped sour consumers’ moods and shopping was disrupted due to Hurricane Sandy. Between the end of October and December... More of this article »
Drought Threatens to Shut Down Shipping on Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is still open for shipping at present but that would not be the case in January. A drought in the Midwestern has brought the water level in the river to a very low level that it threatens to shut down shipping. The... More of this article »
Europe Made Progress according to IMF
The International Monetary Fund said that the European Union has made progress in solving its financial crisis. But it also warned the member states to keep with their commitments to end the uncertainty regarding the future of the... More of this article »
FTC Updates Online Privacy Rules for Children
Parents have been given more control over data collected about their children online Wednesday when the Federal Trade Commission broadened several privacy rules regarding children’s mobile apps and web sites. The rules were updated... More of this article »
GM Offers Big Cash Incentives for Pickup Trucks to Attract Buyers
General Motors Co. found itself stuck with too many trucks in its inventory. The company now offers discounts of as much as $9,000 in order to get rid of its supply of GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks as it gets ready... More of this article »
World’s Top Cell Phone Maker is Now Samsung
South Korea based Samsung Electronics has overtaken Nokia, the Finnish phone maker, for just the time since 1998 as the world’s top maker of phones for 2012. At year’s end, Samsung will account for close to 29% of all shipments... More of this article »
Sprint Bid for Clearwire will Face Opposition from Investors
Sprint Nextel Corp offered to buy Clearwire Corp for $2.2 billion but it would likely to face opposition from Clearwire’s minority shareholders. But analysts said that investors’ best option is to accept the offer. Clearwire Chief... More of this article »
Millions to Pay Higher Taxes Soon
If the lawmakers from Congress and the White House don’t come up with a compromise soon, millions of families and businesses would have to pay bigger taxes in 2013. More than 70 tax breaks enjoyed by businesses and individuals have... More of this article »
UBS LIBOR Deal to Include Charges against Bankers
Prosecutors from the United States are planning to file charges against several bankers connected with UBS AG’s manipulation of Tokyo interbank lending rates. The charges would be the first to be brought by the US Department of Justice... More of this article »
Delta Purchase Stake in Virgin Atlantic
Delta Airlines has announced it has agreed to acquire the 49% stake Singapore Airlines has in Virgin Atlantic Airlines. The majority owner of Virgin Atlantic is Richard Branson. Delta will be paying $360 million for the 40% share of... More of this article »
Holiday Retail Hiring Reaches Record Level
Holiday hiring by retailers is approaching record level that was set 12 years ago. This was according to an analysis of government numbers made by Consultancy Company Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Retailers have added 619,700... More of this article »
Senate Fails Bob Dole and US Businesses
The US Senate turned down the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities last December 4. The Convention is already ratified by 126 countries and made to help protect people with disability from discrimination... More of this article »
Big Expansion Plan Announced by Seattle-based Starbucks
Starbucks, the biggest coffee business in the world, announced it was planning to add up to 1,500 new cafes over the next five years in the U.S. The new plan, which would increase the number of cafes in the U.S. by 13%, will be officially... More of this article »
Manufacturing in U.S. Shrinks In November
The manufacturing sector of the U.S. shrank in November and employment weakened, according to new data on Monday. The Institute of Supply Management’s purchasing managers’ index fell unexpectedly to 49.5 during November from October’s... More of this article »
Zynga Shares Drop after Privileged Status with Facebook Ends
Shares of Zynga dropped as much as 10 percent after it reached a deal with Facebook that will decrease its dependence on the social networking giant. According to the regulatory filings made by the two companies, they have reached... More of this article »