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Buy oil stocks now. Really.It was only a year ago that commodity investments were all the rage. Oil prices were on their way up to $145 a barrel, from as little as $50 in 2007. With red-hot numbers like that, the financial services industry cranked up the marketing machine. Advisers touted commodities as an essential new asset class, right up there with stocks and bonds. New exchange-traded products let you track the price of oil and other commodities. In the first six months of 2008 a record $2.7 billion flowed into commodity-based funds, according to Morningstar.Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 1 Apr 2009 | 4:00 am Opening Bell: 03.23.09
That said, there's always an idiot in the crowd. I'm worried about the long term affects of bad managers stepping up to the plate on this one, though - if their interaction with the government goes bad (and or they draw public ire) this could lead to further regulation of the hedge fund industry "in the name of the public good." My Plan for Bad Bank Assets, By Timothy Geithner (WSJ) US Attorney mistakes 419 letter for a submission from a Madoff victim (Boing Boing) AIG Faces Long Term Credibility Issues (Bloomberg) "Mouat said he is seeking to convince commercial clients that the unit providing property and liability coverage that he oversees in Southeast Asia is separate from the problems at AIG. The firm's business in the region is "still exceptionally profitable" after revenue of $1.3 billion in 2008, he said." Also, they're taking the AIG name off the building: 
Source: Dealbreaker | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:39 pm World markets surge ahead of US bank assets plan (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:07 pm Tax trap looms for the selfemployedEven if the recession means less income or none at all you will still need to pay your tax. Start planning now to ease the pain.Source: Telegraph Finance | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:07 pm Analysts Start Mead Johnson Coverage (MJNMead Johnson Nutrition Company (NYSE: MJN) has reached the end of its analyst quiet period where the firms who underwrote the deal can now begin their ratings coverage. This was the Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) spin off. If you will recall, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley were the joint book-runners on the deal. Banc of America, Credit Suisse, J.P.Morgan, RBC, UBS, and Lazard were the co-managers of the underwriting. These are the calls we have seen far for New analyst coverage initiations:
This is still up about 10% since its IPO in early February. JON C. OGG       Source: 247 Wall Street | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:06 pm World's cheapest car is launchedIndia's Tata Motors is due to launch the 100,000 rupees Nano car on Monday as it seeks to boost its own fortunes.Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:04 pm US details $500bn toxic asset planUS Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner gives details of a $500bn plan to encourage private investors to buy up toxic assets.Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:00 pm U.S. offers financing to woo buyers of toxic assetsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States offered on Monday financing for private investors to help cleanse banks of up to $1 trillion in toxic assets which are blocking lending and worsening a deep U.S. recession.Source: Reuters: Business News | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:56 am Stock futures rise on toxic asset plan hopes (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:55 am Stock futures rise on toxic asset plan hopesNEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a sharply higher open on Monday after the U.S. government released details of a plan to clean up toxic assets from banks' balance sheets, a crucial component of efforts to stabilize the recession-hit economy.Source: Reuters: Business News | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:55 am Stock futures rise on toxic asset plan hopes (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:55 am U.S. offers financing to woo buyers of toxic assets (Reuters)Reuters - The United States offered on Monday financing for private investors to help cleanse banks of up to $1 trillion in toxic assets which are blocking lending and worsening a deep U.S. recession.Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:54 am Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (A, CRA, CNQR, GLW, AZO, BHP, CERN, GOL, ORLY)These are the top pre-market analyst upgrades and downgrades we have seen with just about two hours until the market opens this Monday morning: Agilent (A) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse. JON C. OGG       Source: 247 Wall Street | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:50 am Lord Myners' critics need a sense of proportion over RBS and Sir Fred GoodwinIt's a Friday night in London in early October. There is mayhem in the markets on both sides of the Atlantic. The latest bank to be sucked into the vortex is Royal Bank of Scotland. If you don't nail down a rescue plan by Monday morning panic could break out.Source: Telegraph Finance | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:48 am AIG rivals met Bernanke to complain: reportNEW YORK (Reuters) - Some of American International Group Inc's biggest rivals have urged U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to prevent the insurance giant from using the government rescue to win an advantage, particularly by cutting prices, The Wall Street Journal reported.Source: Reuters: Business News | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:48 am UPDATE 1-Endologix raises 2009 rev viewMarch 23 (Reuters) - Medical device maker Endologix Inc raised its 2009 revenue view and forecast first-quarter revenue above market estimates on better-than-expected adoption of its recently approved...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:47 am Suncor to buy Petro-Canada for $15 billionCALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Suncor Energy Inc, Canada's No.2 oil company, agreed to buy rival Petro-Canada for about C$18.43 billion ($14.86 billion) to expand its oil sand reserves and create the country's biggest energy group.Source: Reuters: Business News | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:47 am IBM China consulting unit to add four new officesBEIJING, March 23 (Reuters) - IBM expects its China business consulting unit to almost double in size within a year to cater for increasing demands from local firms despite the economic slowdown, a senior...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:41 am 10 things to love - and hate - about Kindle 2Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:39 am Opening the Applebee's of haute cuisineWatching Jean-Georges Vongerichten working out the kinks on the afternoon before he opens his latest restaurant, you might think Market by Jean-Georges was his first. As the chef walks through the kitchen, perched above Vancouver, British Columbia, in the new Shangri-La tower, his team is stirring sauces and filleting whole fish. The restaurant's manager swings by to report on the servers' uniforms. "I had to send them back," he says. "The shirts were too translucent."Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:38 am ING seeks some 2008 employee bonuses back: reportAMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch financial group ING is asking some company managers to give back their bonus payments for 2008, its chief executive said in an interview with a Dutch newspaper on Monday.Source: Reuters: Business News | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:36 am UPDATE 1-Lilly's Zyprexa-Prozac combo wins expanded useNEW YORK, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators have expanded the approval of Eli Lilly and Co's Symbyax, which combines the active ingredients of its Zyprexa antipsychotic and Prozac antidepressant, for...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:34 am Tiffany 4Q earnings drop more than 75 percentJewelry retailer Tiffany says its profit tumbled more than 75 percent in the fourth quarter following a steep drop in sales over the key holiday season. Its adjusted results beat Wall...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:30 am Tiffany 4Q earnings drop more than 75 percent (AP)AP - Jewelry retailer Tiffany says its profit tumbled more than 75 percent in the fourth quarter following a steep drop in sales over the key holiday season.Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:30 am Stocks look to surge on bank planU.S. stocks were expected to open higher Monday as investors expressed optimism about the Obama administration's plan to seek the help of private investors in an effprt to rid banks of possibly as much as $1 trillion in bad assets.Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:28 am Tiffany posts lower quarterly profitNEW YORK (Reuters) - Tiffany & Co posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Monday but was stung in the period by lower sales and said it has not seen any signs of a turnaround.Source: Reuters: Business News | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:26 am Global drought will only end when 'banks are fixed'The recession gripping the world will not end until the banks are cleaned up, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said today.Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:23 am China hits out at protectionismChina hit out at trade protectionism on Monday, a day after stressing its veto of Coca-Cola's bid for a local company does not mean it is hostile to foreign investment. Vice Finance...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:17 am Chicken in the basket of UK goodsRotisserie chicken, rose wine and portable video players are added to a typical basket of goods used to calculate UK inflation.Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:17 am Bank heads renounce stock optionsTop bosses at French bank Societe Generale hand back stock options, after public criticism and government pressure.Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:16 am Chinese stockpiling spurs copper price rallyStockpiling by a secretive Chinese state organisation has helped trigger an impressive rally of 28 per cent in the price of copper the metalSource: Financial Times - US homepage | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:14 am Obama: Anger isn't governing strategyPresident Barack Obama says he cannot "govern out of anger" just because of public outrage over bonuses paid at financial institutions kept afloat by taxpayer dollars. Obama's...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:08 am Suncor buys rival Petro-Canada for C$17bnThe all-share deal, which creates Canada's biggest energy company, could trigger a wave of consolidation in Alberta's oil sands, where Suncor is the second-biggest producerSource: Financial Times - US homepage | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:07 am World stocks rally before launch of US asset planGlobal stock markets surged Monday as investor optimism grew ahead of the official launch of a 500-billion-dollar (366-billion-euro) US government plan to purge banks of toxic assets. InSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:07 am World stocks rally before launch of US asset plan (AFP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:06 am Intel seeks to overhaul compensationNEW YORK (Reuters) - Intel Corp , a bellwether of the technology industry, announced an overhaul its employee compensation plan, including a freeze on top salaries and an exchange of...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:03 am Intel seeks to overhaul compensationNEW YORK (Reuters) - Intel Corp , a bellwether of the technology industry, announced an overhaul its employee compensation plan, including a freeze on top salaries and an exchange of "underwater" stock options.Source: Reuters: Business News | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:03 am Intel seeks to overhaul compensation (Reuters)Reuters - Intel Corp , a bellwether of the technology industry, announced an overhaul its employee compensation plan, including a freeze on top salaries and an exchange of "underwater" stock options.Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:03 am Tiffany profit down 76% on higher costs, faltering demandTiffany & Co. says Monday that its fourth-quarter profit plunged 76%, hurt by job cuts, store-closing costs and faltering demand in the face of global recession.Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 23 Mar 2009 | 11:00 am Stocks point sharply higher ahead of bank plan (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:59 am UPDATE 1-Intel seeks to overhaul compensation* Sees significant savings from compensation reductionsSource: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:57 am Stocks point sharply higher ahead of bank planStocks are pointing to a sharply higher open as investors await details of a government plan to help banks remove as much as $1 trillion in bad assets from their books. Treasury...Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:55 am Daimler shares rise on Abu Dhabi firm's $2.7 bln investmentLONDON (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Daimler climbed as much as 8% Monday after Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments agreed over the weekend to invest 1.95 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in the luxury-car maker.Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:50 am Netflix defends its streaming serviceSource: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:48 am Indications: U.S. stock futures leap on Geithner's new bad bank planU.S. stock futures rally on Monday ahead of the formal unveiling of a plan designed to get private investors to take some of the toxic debt off bank balance sheets.Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:47 am Suncor to buy Petro-Canada for $18.4 billionRead full story for latest details.Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:44 am Soros urges G20 to support developing nations: reportLONDON (Reuters) - Financier George Soros said the G20 summit next month must support developing nations to prevent further market turmoil.Source: Reuters: Business News | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:36 am Talkback: What's wrong with health care?Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:35 am Agent Provocateur says sales upLuxury lingerie firm Agent Provocateur says its sales for the year to March are up 8% so far, but profits have declined.Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:34 am Asian markets surge ahead of U.S. bank planTokyo's Nikkei 225 stock average surges 3.4%; Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumps 4.8%. HONG KONG — World stock...Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:31 am Movers & Shakers: Monday's biggest gaining and declining stocksStocks expected to move significantly in trading on Monday include autos and consumer products in Europe, as well as H&R Block, Cox Radio, Ericsson, Petro-Canada, Suncor and Tiffany.Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:31 am Stimulus sprouts doctors in QueensEveryone's heard about the road building, the tax cuts, the education money. But in New York City, the stimulus plan is giving one community more doctors, more nurses, and greater access to healthcare. And they're getting it in just a couple weeks.Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:13 am Futures Surge on Toxic Asset Plan (Market Update)News at a Glance
The LowdownA new Treasury plan to facilitate the removal of up to $1 trillion in toxic assets from bank's portfolios triggered a fresh wave of optimism on Wall Street. Stocks looked to start the week sharply higher, as traders cheered the plan and held out hope that it would spur lending and grease the wheels of the economy. Shortly after 7 a.m., Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures were trading well above fair value. Under the plan, which is scheduled to be formally unveiled later today, a new organization called the Public-Private Investment Program would recruit investors to buy up banks' assets, matching their outlays dollar-for-dollar. Auctioning of the assets would be handled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which would also offer investors guarantees against further losses. Separately, the Federal Reserve would draw $200 billion from the $700 bailout fund already approved by Congress to back up to $1 trillion in loans to private investors looking to buy up the troubled assets. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner disclosed the main pieces of the plan in an opinion piece published Monday in The Wall Street Journal. "We cannot solve this crisis without making it possible for investors to take risks," he wrote. "While this crisis was caused by banks taking too much risk, the danger now is that they will take too little." The plan drew early criticism from economists, the Associated Press reported. Some investors and economists questioned whether the action would be sufficient to stimulate lending and whether it would ultimately leave banks in a better position. Separately, the retail sector got some bad news. A new survey suggests that saving habits learned by consumers during the economic crisis are likely to remain with them after the recession has ended. Roughly three fourths of the 4,000 respondants said they had changed their shopping behavior since the onset of the economic downturn, according to the report published by the retail consultancy Retail Forward. In energy, oil futures got a boost ahead of the bell. By 7:04 a.m., crude traded up 23 cents at $52.30 a barrel. World markets were mostly higher on the Treasury's plan. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei finished up 3.4%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng picked up 4.8%. In Europe, the major indexes of London, Frankfurt and Paris carried gains of more than 1.0% each into afternoon trading. Corporate News
The Economy
SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved. Source: SmartMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:13 am Some Hope For Ford (F) As Abu Dhabi Puts Cash In Daimler
But, the No.2 US car company still faces the fact that no one in America is buying new cars. Sales for some auto companies are running off over 40%. Total domestic vehicle sales could be only 10 million this year, down from 16 million three years ago. Ford may find an investor other than the US government, if it needs one as the year moves along. According to the FT, “Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments is to take a 9.1 per cent stake in Daimler in a €1.95bn (£1.84bn) move to bolster the German premium carmaker, becoming its largest shareholder as the company battles against the worst industry crisis in decades.” Even investors with a huge appetite for risk are not going to make investments in GM or Chrysler. Their prospects of going into bankruptcy are too great. But, Ford is about to bring its debt load down by half and get labor costs in line with those of Japanese production facilities in the US. When that happens, Ford stands to benefit substantially more than its competition from a move up in the US car buying market. Its restructuring has brought down its breakeven costs so much that the American market does not have to produce 16 million light vehicle sales for Ford to make money. With global banks still in enough trouble that sovereign capital will not put more money into an industry where it has already been burned, the number of places for the large investors to make bets has dropped. The Daimler deal shows that smart money thinks the strongest players in the global auto industry have good futures. That may put a lot of cash into Ford’s pocket. Douglas A. McIntyre Tagged: F, GM      Source: 247 Wall Street | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:11 am Currencies: Dollar weakens ahead of plan for toxic assetsThe U.S. dollar loses ground versus major rivals Monday as traders prepare for long-awaited details of the U.S. Treasury Department’s plan to remove hundreds of billions of dollars worth of toxic assets from bank balance sheets.Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:09 am Europe Markets: Rally in Europe stocks extends on bank-plan hopesA rally in European stocks continues on Monday as an anticipated bank-rescue plan out of the U.S. and an Abu Dhabi investment into Daimler cheers investors.Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:08 am Banks press Capmark on loans: report(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co and Deutsche Bank AG , which hold $1.2 billion of Capmark Financial Group Inc loans, are among banks demanding collateral in exchange for loosening terms that put it at risk of default, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter.Source: Reuters: Business News | 23 Mar 2009 | 10:00 am Daily Mail group cuts 1,000 jobsThe Daily Mail and General Trust is to cut 1,000 jobs at its regional arm Northcliffe Media as the advertising slump continues.Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Mar 2009 | 9:48 am Finding A Job Trumps MySpace
According to online research firm HitWise, “For the first time in three years, searches for ‘craigslist’ surpassed ‘myspace,’ highlighting the increasing popularity of online classifieds during the economic downturn.” The reason for the news is obvious. People are looking for work. The trend represented by the second part of the data may not be so plain. Social networking may hold less attraction for participants as the recession deepens. It takes up precious time. The first drawback to social networking in the current environment is that people who have lost jobs have to put that on their MySpace or Facebook pages or, alternatively, they can deceive their “friends”. The etiquette rules of social networking include that lying about one’s personal life debases the honesty that is supposed to be one of the foundations of the system’s openness. The other trouble that social networking may face is that many people view it at a hobby at best and a frivolous waste of time at worst. Being frivolous is not a part of the new recession ethos. This is serious business. Online friends are not, in most cases, hiring their pals. Its time to spend the day on Monster.com. Douglas A. McIntyre       Source: 247 Wall Street | 23 Mar 2009 | 9:45 am US Treasury toxic asset plan: factboxThe US Treasury will provide 75bn to 100bn to seed the program. The money would come from the 700 bn financial rescue fund Congress approved in October.Source: Telegraph Finance | 23 Mar 2009 | 9:44 am China reaffirms commitment to U.S. debt purchasesChina will continue to purchase U.S. Treasurys and support the dollar’s role as a global currency, according to comments Monday by a senior Chinese official in Beijing.Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 23 Mar 2009 | 9:43 am Abu Dhabi to invest $2.7 billion in Daimler; shares on the riseShares of Daimler climb as much as 8%, gaining as Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments agrees to invest 1.95 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in the luxury-car maker.Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 23 Mar 2009 | 9:32 am Skype: The Best Things In Life Are Free
Skype, the voice-over-IP product owned by Ebay (EBAY), has several hundred million registered customers. At any one time 15 million or 20 million of those people are online using the service. Since Skype does not bring in much money for a business with such a large roster of customers, it is going to try to enter the corporate phone market where paying for phone service is the norm. According to The Wall Street Journal, “Skype plans to announce a version of its Internet calling software that connects to corporate phone systems.” The product will cost about two cents a minute. The trouble with the offering is that corporations already use Skype for free. To do that requires hooking the service up on a PC, by 99% of businessmen have a PC, so using Skype on a computer is not a major hurdle. Skype also faces a market where large telephone companies offer sharp discounts to keep corporate customers from moving to other providers. Regular phone service is probably not much more expensive than the Skype product. Leaving those few things aside, Skype has a great idea. Douglas A. McIntyre Tagged: EBAY      Source: 247 Wall Street | 23 Mar 2009 | 9:29 am U.S. - with firms - to buy 'bad' assetsThe Obama administration on Monday will formally unveil a program to help banks clean up their books by subsidizing private investors' purchase of troubled assets.Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 9:25 am Abu Dhabi fund invests in DaimlerDaimler, which makes Mercedes Benz cars, sells a 9.1% stake to an Abu Dhabi state investment fund for 1.95bn euros.Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Mar 2009 | 9:22 am Asian shares soar to 2-month highRead full story for latest details.Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 9:22 am The Princes Of Anarchy
The odds are reasonable that Gregg came by his high office the same way that John Quincy Adams and George Bush did. Gregg’s father was the governor of New Hampshire in the mid-1950s. Judd held the same job little more than three decades later and then was elected to the US Senate. His own accomplishments are so modest that he lists the “Legislative Recognition Award” from the American Ambulance Association as an important milestone on his CV. Greg’s actions over the last two months, moving in and out of the Commerce job and then immediately attacking Administration economic policy, appear to be the workings of a confused mind. His record as a member of the Senate may be unspectacular. However, it says a great deal about the state of the discourse regarding the budget that his observation is one of the few, by a ranking Senator in his party, which mentions the term “bankrupt” to refer to what could become of the American government. Gregg may not be correct and his point of view may make him an outlier. But there is no denying the fact that there has been almost no time spent in the Congressional conversation about what could happen to the budget if either the revenue or expense assumptions at the core of the Administration or CBO analyses are wrong by a substantial margin. The projections of GDP growth only have to be a percent or two too low for deficits to go up by hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars over the next decade. Not a single page in the Administration or CBO documents describes how that might happen or what the financial results will be. Perhaps the reason is that no one wants to put in writing the possibility that the recession, compounded by inappropriate actions to correct it, could lead to financial mayhem. One of the reasons, and probably the critical reason, that large banks have nearly failed is that the executives who ran them apparently never looked at their rapidly rising earnings and asked “what happens if the investments we are making now start to trade in the wrong direction?” “What happens if the assumptions that led us to make ludicrous amounts of money this year turn out to be wrong next year?” It turns out that there was no “Worst Case Scenario Handbook” for running big banks. It might have saved investors and the government a trillion dollars or more. The odds that the American Treasury will not be able to sell debt are still relatively low. But, no one, except perhaps Senator Gregg, sitting in high office in the federal government has asked if there are any parachutes in the plane on the off chance that all four engines go out at the same time. That kind of question is the work of unstable or anarchistic minds. Douglas A. McIntyre       Source: 247 Wall Street | 23 Mar 2009 | 9:14 am The Recession Fighters’ Caravan Moves Back To Detroit
Currently, the Administration’s attention is on The Motor City where unemployment has hit 22 percent. Steve Rattner, a former media industry investment banker who has somehow become the Treasury’s point man for the car business, says that GM (GM) and Chrysler will need more money than had been previously forecast. His comments are those of a man driving into the future while looking into the rearview mirror. Once US light vehicle sales dropped over 30% the first two months of the year it was clear that the American auto companies would lose billions of dollars more than they forecast when they gave Congress their initial budgets late in 2008. GM and Chrysler say that they need $22 billion. Rattner calls it differently. He told Bloomberg, ‘“It could be considerably higher, I won’t deny that”’, when asked whether U.S. aid sought by the car companies could increase. ‘“Like all management teams they tend to take a reasonably, slightly perhaps, optimistic, view of their business. So it could be more, I can’t rule that out.”’ There is no “could” about it. Since most of the restructuring programs for the car companies are not in place now, and probably cannot be until the middle of the year, their losses in the first two quarters should not be terribly different than they were in the fourth quarter. Depending on which of the P&L lines financial analysts look at, it means that Detroit is going through as much as $9 billion a month. GM (GM) and Chrysler could spend the $22 billion that they are requesting in as little as 90 days. It has been said that a country should never get into a land war in Asia. This is an unfortunate but easy analogy for the government’s current predicament with the American car industry. The government says that Detroit is a “strategic” part of the economy. Saving The Big Three is as important as keeping the nation’s large banks operating to maintain the flow of credit. But, the comparison is bogus. As John McCain, a military man much of his life, liked to point out to the President during the election, there is a difference between strategy and tactics. There is nothing strategic about Detroit. Over 50% of the cars sold in the US are made by foreign companies. There is no reason that the number cannot go to 80%. It serves the national interest to save the jobs in Detroit and in related industries while the economy is in trouble. It is hard to make the case that any broader national interest will ever be served by keeping the US car industry afloat indefinitely. Washington will keep Detroit open until the government can afford for it to close. That will not happen during this recession. If the car companies can work their camel though the eye of a needle, it may not happen at all. That is to say, long term, “Made In America” will not be stamped on very many cars. Douglas A. McIntyre Tagged: GM      Source: 247 Wall Street | 23 Mar 2009 | 9:03 am Ofgem could force energy suppliers to pass on price cutsThe energy regulator Ofgem has indicated it will force suppliers to pass on price cuts to consumers more quickly.Source: Telegraph Finance | 23 Mar 2009 | 9:03 am FTSE gains on US bank rescue plans metals rallyUK stocks rallied for a third day led by banks before the Obama administration today announces details of plan to expand the 700bn rescue package.Source: Telegraph Finance | 23 Mar 2009 | 9:00 am AIG rivals met Bernanke to complain: report (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 8:57 am Daily Mail publisher to cut 1000 regional newspaper jobsThe Daily Mail and General Trust has doubled the number of job cuts to 1000 at its regional newspaper business Northcliffe Media after advertising fell by more than a third this year.Source: Telegraph Finance | 23 Mar 2009 | 8:56 am Banks, resource stocks in Asia rocket higher before Geithner planSeveral Asian stock indexes rise 3% or more Monday, with financials leading a rally as investors await U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's plan to stabilize U.S. banks.Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 23 Mar 2009 | 8:53 am Geithner to detail plan for toxic assetsU.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected Monday to provide long-awaited details of the government’s plan to help banks dispose of toxic assets.Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 23 Mar 2009 | 8:51 am Suncor to buy Petro-Canada for $15 billion (Reuters)Reuters - Suncor Energy Inc, Canada's No.2 oil company, agreed to buy rival Petro-Canada for about C$18.43 billion ($14.86 billion) to expand its oil sand reserves and create the country's biggest energy group.Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 8:45 am LDV management seeks bridging loan from governmentA management buyout team seeking to save van manufacturer LDV will call for the Government on Monday to come forward with a £5m bridging loan to see the company through the next few weeks.Source: Telegraph Finance | 23 Mar 2009 | 8:30 am Agent Provocateur says lingerie sales hold upAgent Provocateur the highend lingerie brand founded by Vivienne Westwood's son said sales increased 8pc over the last year after new store openings helped it ride out the downturn in consumer spending.Source: Telegraph Finance | 23 Mar 2009 | 8:22 am US outlines plan to buy $500bn bad bank debt$Timothy Geithner: my plan for bad bank assetsSource: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Mar 2009 | 8:15 am BG takes majority control of Pure EnergyBG Group took majority control of Pure Energy Resources raising its stake in the coal seam gas producer to 70pc under its agreed A1.03bn £478m cash offer.Source: Telegraph Finance | 23 Mar 2009 | 8:01 am Media Digest 3/23/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters reports that US shoppers are likely to remain frugal. Reuters reports that US car dealers are struggling to stay in business. Reuters writes that Ebay’s (EBAY) Skype is targeting the corporate market. Reuters reports that AIG (AIG) rivals have met with Bernanke to complain about the insurance company using government money to gain an edge. Reuters writes that GM (GM) bondholders raised concerns about their role in the bankruptcy in conversations with US officials. Reuters writes that the ECB could cut rates. Reuters reports that the global recession is hurting skyscraper construction. Reuters reports that the US Central Credit Union may form a “bad bank”. The Wall Street Journal reports that Suncor plans to acquire Petro-Canada. The Wall Street Journal writes that the Fed is looking at how to stop new programs once they begin to take hold. The Wall Street Journal reports that world financial officials are trying to address differences in how large nations save. The Wall Street Journal reports that Abu Dhabi investment bought 9.1% of Daimler. The Wall Street Journal reports that Time Warner (TWX) will begin to market its vintage films to make money. The Wall Street Journal reports that states are competing for “clean coal” money. The Wall Street Journal reports that Wal-Mart is getting deeper into the private label business. The Wall Street Journal reports that doctors are trying to make heart disease treatment advances despite a lack of new blockbuster drugs. The Wall Street Journal reports that the default by a Russian aircraft-leasing company is making the market concerned about the nation’s debt. The Wall Street Journal reports that bear market rallies have been short-lived. The Wall Street Journal reports that foreign banks in China are struggling to increase lending. The Wall Street Journal reports that mutual fund companies are raising fees to investors. The New York Times reports that a rights clash is taking some music videos off of Google’s (GOOG) YouTube. The New York Times reports that “The founders of GlobalPost.com have created a hybrid business model of free content and paid subscriptions, combined with ads, to try to cover the globe.” The New York Times reports that rivals say that IBM (IBM) is stifling the mainframe market. The New York Times reports that Sony (SNE) is trying to expand its TV content business. The New York Times reports that the recession is driving up trade protectionism. The New York Times reports that Sweden is saying “no” to saving Saab The FT reports that US banks are causing higher default rates by raising interest rates and cutting credit lines. The FT reports that China is stockpiling copper, pushing up the prices. Bloomberg reports that “This month’s record rally in U.S. financial companies is in jeopardy, according to the bond market, where concern about bank failures is growing.” Douglas A. McIntyre Tagged: AIG, EBAY, GM, GOOG, IBM, SNE, TWX, WMT      Source: 247 Wall Street | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:58 am Daily Mail owner axes 1,000 jobs as sales fallDaily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), the newspaper publisher, is to make 1,000 people redundant from its local paper operations, which have been badly hit by the advertising downturn.Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:52 am Energy watchdog to halt poor price dealsOfgem, the energy regulator, today unveiled a package of proposals to ensure that power suppliers do not discriminate against certain customers by offering them bad deals with "unjustified price differences".Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:36 am Wool spinners facing up to 80 job lossesUp to 80 people may be made redundant at Oamaru's Summit Wool Spinners after the company has had a substantial drop in local and overseas orders. The company said today it was working through a consultative process with its 315...Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:32 am Asia Markets 3/23/2009
The Nikkei rose 3.4% to 8,216. The Hang Seng was up 3.7% to 13,207. The Shanghai Composite was up 2% to 2,325. Data from Reuters. Douglas A. McIntyre       Source: 247 Wall Street | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:20 am Toxic assets plan is big White House testThe Obama administration faces its latest moment of truth when Tim Geithner unveils much awaited plans to take hundreds of billions of toxic assets off banks' balance sheetsSource: Financial Times - US homepage | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am When the right people are in the wrong jobTreating human capital systematically -- identifying where particular skills are needed, then finding and developing the right people -- is key to profits, 'The Differentiated Workforce' authors argueFor years there has been much talk about the "war for talent." The idea was that talented people were a scarce resource for which firms had to compete. But hiring talented people is only half the battle. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am RDF Media, Omnicom's Full Circle team to place productsThe TV producer and the ad agency plan to make shows on behalf of sponsors and sell to networks.Advertisers for years have sought to have their products weaved into the stories of television shows. The positive image of a well-known personality gulping a cola, tooling around in a recognized sports car, or shaking flakes from a cereal box can boost sales. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Student obesity linked to proximity to fast-food outletsLow-cost, high-calorie eateries near schools increase the odds, researchers say. Barely 300 feet separate Fullerton...Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am 'Mark to market' rule no asset to banks' healthCurrent accounting methods play a role in outsize losses, but a change would have unknown effects.Given the degree to which the angst and anger about the economy is based on the public's confusion about the financial world -- just what is a "retention bonus," anyway? -- this might be the right moment to focus on something simple. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Low-profile News Corp. executive Tony Vinciquerra given starring roleHe is put in charge of all the company's entertainment networks after proving himself a shrewd deal maker. News...Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am RDF Media, Omnicom's Full Circle team to place productsThe TV producer and the ad agency plan to make shows on behalf of sponsors and sell to networks. Advertisers for...Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Benefits of Taiwan's door to China fadeSome owners have abandoned mainland factories and returned home as economies sour. Many question whether tying their fortunes to the island's largest trading partner is the way to go.Businessman Charlie Hsu waited years for easy air travel from his native Taiwan to China. Political tensions between the island and the communist mainland made direct flights impossible. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Curious about bonds?Bookmarks www.investinginbonds.com If you're reluctant to invest in stocks these days -- and hey, you're not alone -- you may be considering bonds. But with a bewildering variety to choose from,...Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Treasury expected to unveil new entity to help buy toxic assetsThe Treasury Department is expected to introduce plans today to create a government body to finance the purchase of as much as $1 trillion in toxic assets from ailing financial institutions.Source: L.A. Times - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Video game developers graduate to kid titlesSome who once made gory games to entertain themselves have grown up and broadened their sense of fun with titles their kids can enjoy.It's no coincidence that most of the blockbuster video games of the last two decades have been gorefests and war simulations. Their creators were single guys in their teens and 20s whose all-night coding sessions were fueled by Doritos and Mountain Dew. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Treasury expected to unveil new entity to help buy toxic assetsThe Treasury Department is expected to introduce plans today to create a government body to finance the purchase of as much as $1 trillion in toxic assets from ailing financial institutions.Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am AIG brand, once golden, is now a liabilityOutrage over the bailout and bonuses is hurting insurance sales and may be making it harder to get a good price for some of the units AIG is trying to unload to raise cash.In a recent TV ad, a little boy walks into his parents' bedroom in the middle of the night, unable to sleep. But it's not bad dreams that are keeping him awake. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am When the right people are in the wrong jobTreating human capital systematically -- identifying where particular skills are needed, then finding and developing the right people -- is key to profits, 'The Differentiated Workforce' authors argue...Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Wall Street looking for good news to sustain stocks' riseMajor indexes pulled back after a week of gains, but analysts say positive news could keep the rally going. Wall...Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Low-profile News Corp. executive Tony Vinciquerra given starring roleHe is put in charge of all the company's entertainment networks after proving himself a shrewd deal maker.News Corp. executives are famous for their swagger and bravado. But not Tony Vinciquerra. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Benefits of Taiwan's door to China fadeSome owners have abandoned mainland factories and returned home as economies sour. Many question whether tying their fortunes to the island's largest trading partner is the way to go. ...Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am 'Mark to market' rule no asset to banks' healthCurrent accounting methods play a role in outsize losses, but a change would have unknown effects. Given the degree...Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Wall Street looking for good news to sustain stocks' riseMajor indexes pulled back after a week of gains, but analysts say positive news could keep the rally going.Wall Street is in need of some positive reinforcement. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Student obesity linked to proximity to fast-food outletsLow-cost, high-calorie eateries near schools increase the odds, researchers say.Barely 300 feet separate Fullerton Union High School from a McDonald's restaurant on Chapman Avenue. Researchers say that's boosting the odds that its students will be super-sized. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 7:00 am Australian stocks: Market closes over 2pc upSYDNEY- The Australian share market closed over two per cent higher on Monday driven by stronger financial stocks that benefited from expectations of a new US policy to clean up bad American bank debt. Stronger resources and energy...Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 6:57 am US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to announce new trillion dollar rescue planUS Treasury Secretary is today expected to announce new 1 trillion plan for a publicprivate effort to rid banks of toxic assets.Source: Telegraph Finance | 23 Mar 2009 | 6:52 am NZ stocks: Market suffers slight dipThe New Zealand stock market had a quiet Monday, failing to grasp the coat-tails of positive gains made in Asian markets. The benchmark NZSX-50 index opened this morning at 2599.026 and immediately headed south before struggling...Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 6:14 am Currency: Kiwi climbs over US56cThe New Zealand dollar was again carried along by last week's moves by the United States Federal Reserve, climbing against Uncle Sam's dollar woes. The kiwi was worth US56.52c at 5pm today, up from US55.78c at 8am. It also climbed...Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 5:35 am Investors banking on toxic plan (Reuters)
Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 23 Mar 2009 | 4:52 am In credit drought, U.S. car dealers battle to surviveLANSING, Michigan (Reuters) - Deep in the last stronghold of the struggling U.S. auto industry, Rosario Criscuolo says he owes the survival of his business to Toyota Motor Corp.Source: Reuters: Business News | 23 Mar 2009 | 4:49 am Tax Tips: Deduct Your Commuting Costs (Tax Tips)
To take advantage of this tax break on your 2008 return, you must have a home office that qualifies for write-offs because it was your "principal place of business." This means that your home office was used regularly and exclusively as the scene for most of your income-earning activities last year. Alternatively, it would also qualify as your principal place of business if it was used regularly and exclusively for management and administrative functions — provided you didn't make substantial use of any other fixed location for such activities last year. (Administrative and management activities are things like preparing client proposals and invoices, strategic planning, market research, keeping up with professional literature and so forth.) For example, say your home office was used regularly and exclusively for administrative and management functions mainly during evening hours. During the day, you also had a "regular office" downtown, which you used for client meetings and as your base for daily operations (but, again, not for administrative chores). Because your home office qualifies as your principal place of business, you can deduct all the costs of commuting between there and your downtown office. Regardless of whether you had another permanent office location (like the downtown office in our example), you can also always deduct the cost of commuting between your home office and any temporary work locations. These temporary work locations can include the post office, the office-supply store, the bank where you keep your business accounts, client sites and so on. If you commuted between your home office and work locations by car, you can write off the actual expenses (including depreciation) or claim the standard business mileage allowance (50.5 cents per mile for the first half of 2008; 58.5 cents per mile for the second half of the year). And if you commuted by cab or public transportation, those costs are deductible, too. Your commuting-expense deductions belong on Schedule C (if you're a sole proprietor or single-member LLC owner) or on Schedule E (if you're a partner or member of a multimember LLC). And keep in mind, write-offs claimed on those business tax schedules are double tax savers, because they reduce both your income and self-employment tax bills. Gotta love that. SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved. Source: SmartMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 4:00 am What to Do When Star Fund Managers Leave
Robert Rodriguez is one of the fund world’s rock stars — a stock and bond picker who’s trounced the market for decades as head of the FPA Capital (FPPTX) and New Income (FPNIX) funds. So it came as a bit of shock when he announced last week that he’d be taking a sabbatical in 2010 and planned to give up day-to-day management of his funds. And it raises a question: Should you bolt if your star manager quits? SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved. Source: SmartMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 4:00 am 5 Ways to Cut Household Costs (Deal of the Day)Each month, you can count on two things arriving in your mailbox: the latest round of promotional offers -- and bills. Paying all of those monthly obligations and balancing the household budget can seem like a full-time job, especially when times are tough. But there are some simple ways to cut back on expenses without making too much of a sacrifice. Here are simple ways to save hundreds of dollars each year on five major household bills: 1) ElectricityThe fix is really quite simple: Unplug devices that aren’t in use. "They’re small energy losses, but they add up quickly,” says Jennifer Thorne Amann, a senior associate with the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a nonprofit focused on energy efficiency. The average household spends more than $250 annually on standby power, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. That figure is easily reduced by plugging your cellphone, iPod and other chargers into a single power strip that can be turned off when not in use, says Amann. While you’re at it, make sure to unplug devices you don’t use frequently, like the printer in your home office and the TV in the guest bedroom. (For more tips on how to cut a gadget's power drain, see our guide.) 2) GroceriesStock up on the grocery staples that you always need -- like the kids’ favorite cereal and value packs of chicken breasts -- whenever they’re on sale, even if you’re not running low that particular week. Sale cycles are slow, with most items popping up in your supermarket’s weekly flier just once every three months. Pair it with coupons culled from the Sunday paper and online coupons and save even more. For more tips to cut your grocery bill, check our savings guide. 3) Cable and InternetBundle your services. A Comcast subscriber in New Jersey would save $458 over the course of a year by subscribing to a package of cable, phone and Internet, rather than purchasing each service separately (and presumably, from multiple providers). Even just bundling cable and Internet saves $392 a year. As an added bonus, you only have to worry about paying one bill at the end of the month. 4) Heating and CoolingSeal up your home. You’re paying good money all year for heating and air conditioning, but much of that pricey air leaks out through cracks around your doors, windows and even electrical outlets, says Ronnie Kweller, a spokeswoman for the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit consumer education group that focuses on energy efficiency. Buying caulk and weather-stripping costs less than $50 at your local hardware store, and pays for itself within a season, she says. Over the course of the year, you could see heating and cooling bills drop by up to 30%. 5) TelephoneCut back on either your landline or your cellphone. You don’t need all-encompassing plans on both, says Sam Simon, chairman of the Telecommunications Research and Action Center, a consumer advocate. Someone who has a cellphone just for emergencies should consider switching to a prepaid plan where they would pay less than $20 a month. Meanwhile, a person who uses a landline mostly for incoming calls could switch to a measured-use home phone, which offers limited local outgoing calls and unlimited incoming ones for about $10 per month, says Simon. (For more tips on how to cut phone costs, read our story here.) SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved. Source: SmartMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 4:00 am Before Your Parents Say 'I Do' AgainIt's rare that an inheritance passes from one generation to the next without leaving some scars. But smooth transitions are becoming even rarer thanks to the growing influence of a new player: the second spouse. As Americans live longer, they're more likely to move into second marriages, and legal experts and financial planners say the resulting friction with the kids is steadily mounting. In more cases grown children are going to court against their parents even while they're still alive, only to run up against a legal framework that leaves them with surprisingly few rights compared with their parents' new spouses. The once-sleepy field of trust and estates law is now brimming with hardened litigators. In Texas, personal-injury lawyers in search of big paydays have begun taking on will contests. And just as court squabbles are on the rise, so are prenups and sophisticated trusts that are designed to forestall them. Naturally, there are more than bruised feelings at stake. The generation that’s growing old now is arguably the wealthiest in history, and many of their baby boomer kids are counting on inheriting some of their dough. But that legacy is under threat. The stock market’s nosedive and the housing slump have combined to wipe out $15.5 trillion in net worth in the last two years, according to the Federal Reserve. Along with this financial tumble, a growing number of would-be heirs face the biggest threat of all: a new stepmom or stepdad. According to a 2007 study by two Wharton professors, people over 65 are now more likely to be married than ever before, in large part because of a spike in late-in-life marriages. Even as the inheritance pie is shrinking, more family members are fighting for a piece of it. In many cases children now feel that their only option is to fight for their legacies. Kids have the most leverage when Mom and Dad are alive, but some cross the line between encouraging prudent estate planning and outright harassment. "I have to tell the kids to back off," says Seattle trust attorney George Holzapfel. However, he notes that when proper planning is not done, the two sides often end up squaring off in court. When Holzapfel started his firm 35 years ago, it had no litigators that handled this type of issue-but the firm has added four in the past 10 years. And the courtroom battles are rarely pretty. "You can practically see the parent rolling around in the grave," says Brant Keller, a Naples, Fla., financial planner. Kids Have No RightsThe average American, of course, figures people should have the right to leave their property to whomever they want. But the founding fathers kept in place a tradition requiring that the surviving spouse receive some sort of financial support. That concept evolved into what's now known as the elective share, which guarantees the surviving spouse a set percentage of the estate. Most states offer a third of the estate, but some go as high as half. (Georgia is the only state that doesn't stipulate that the surviving spouse get at least some dough.) Furthermore, according to Hofstra University law professor Joanna Grossman, over the past few decades states have been awarding bigger "intestate" shares-the portion of the estate awarded to the surviving spouse when there's no will. Meanwhile, American parents can disinherit their kids entirely if they see fit. "When it comes right down to it, kids have no rights," says Ron Aucutt, a McLean, Va., attorney. The reasoning is that the spouse contributes to the growth of the family's assets, whereas the children only subtract from them by requiring food to eat, clothes to wear and college tuition to squander. These principles don't necessarily fit an era where so many second and third spouses join families long after the kids are grown up. They also don't fit the in-touch-with-your-emotions ethos of this era. Today children's financial concerns become inextricably wrapped up with issues of familial affection, to the point where the child perceives what the parent does with his or her money as a reflection of loyalty and love. In such a supercharged state of feeling, children are increasingly willing to take their chances in court. Jim Hartnett, a Dallas attorney who specializes in trust and estate litigation, says those kids often have juries' sympathy on their side, if not the law. "Most people believe in the natural order, that the money should stay in the family," he says. That's certainly how Neill Finkel assumed things would go. Neill's octogenarian father, Melvin, had shored up his sons' future by placing a big chunk of his multimillion-dollar estate into a family trust. But the Finkels' family harmony turned dissonant after Melvin married Amy, a travel companion almost 30 years his junior. The blended family feuded over Amy's spending, and it took two years of legal wrangling before they reached a settlement. Through her attorney, Amy says she would like to heal the rifts between her and the stepsons, but Neill says that's unlikely. He can "tolerate her presence" so his kids can see their grandfather, but he fears the money feud will erupt again. Holler "We Want Prenup"Couples who meet late in life can make their financial lives simpler, in theory, by simply shacking up, since staying single often makes it easier for a couple to keep their assets separate. In 2006 more than 1.8 million Americans above age 50 lived in heterosexual "unmarried partner" households, a 50 percent jump from six years earlier. When Judi Montoya of Seattle began a serious new relationship at age 57, she and her beau worried about how they might divide decades' worth of personal wealth down the road. "I'm sure he didn't want his assets to go to my daughter, and I didn't want my assets to go to his children," Montoya says. So they lived in what used to be known as sin. Only after five years did they make their commitment formal-but not before agreeing to a prenuptial agreement. Once viewed suspiciously by most courts, prenups are now generally enforced, and they're practically standard for older couples entering a second marriage. Such couples tend to be more financially experienced and "not as hormonal," explains Jim Hennenhoefer, former president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Another reason for the prenup boom: The kids demand them. Estelle Holzer of Chicago was 71 when she remarried. An insurance executive on the brink of retirement, she brought healthy savings to the union, including the proceeds from the suburban home she sold in order to move in with her new husband, attorney Jack Shore. Her daughter, Bambi Holzer, went to Estelle months before the wedding and advised her to draw up a prenuptial agreement. "I wanted to make sure his kids wouldn't kick her out if he passed away first," Bambi says. In the meantime, Shore was hearing similar sentiments-but considerably louder-from his three kids. They were worried about his downtown condo, which boasts Oprah as a neighbor, being passed to the newest member of the family. In the end, the Holzers and Shores cobbled together a prenup that allows Estelle to remain in the condo if Jack should die first; the condo then passes to Jack's kids at her death. Jack also took out life insurance policies that ensured the kids would receive some cash when he died. The process was uncomfortable, but the Holzers say everyone was ultimately satisfied. "It brings out a lot of emotions, but she needed to protect herself," Bambi says. In Trusts We TrustA prenuptial agreement is essentially a blank slate that allows a couple to apportion their assets however they choose. But many estate planners prefer a more targeted strategy called a Q-Tip trust. The Q-Tip, short for qualified terminable interest property trust, is built for blended families. The parent's assets go into a trust designated for his or her heirs, but the income earned by the trust is paid to the surviving spouse throughout the spouse's lifetime. When the spouse passes on, the remaining assets are distributed to the children as previously designated. "It sets up boundaries, so the kids aren't worried that stepmom is going to take the money and run," Holzapfel says. But Q-Tips cost a few thousand bucks to set up and administer. And they have their critics. Margorie Engel, a psychologist and former president of the Stepfamily Association of America, calls Q-Tips "the work of the devil." Her reasoning: The trust often puts the surviving spouse and the grown children in conflict. Often the spouse wants the trust to generate as much income as possible, while the children want it to grow-resulting in fights over how the assets are invested. And some trusts allow the survivor to make withdrawals from the principal for purchases, leading to squabbles over whether a Cadillac or an expensive handbag is truly necessary. Then there's the fact that the children resent the stepparent for surviving in the first place. "Can you imagine children waiting around for their stepparents to die? It's pretty morbid," says planner Keller. These conflicts are most pronounced in May-December romances, when the grown children are close to the same age as the new spouse. Most lawyers and financial planners agree that the families that get cross-ways are those that don't communicate. Adam Gaslowitz, an Atlanta attorney who represented Neill Finkel, says there is a saying in the field: "People get over the loss of a loved one sooner than the loss of an inheritance." SMARTMONEY ® Layout and look and feel of SmartMoney.com are trademarks of SmartMoney, a joint venture between Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and Hearst SM Partnership. © 1995 - 2009 SmartMoney. All Rights Reserved. Source: SmartMoney.com | 23 Mar 2009 | 4:00 am No comment from Qantas on exec job cutsQantas is keeping mum over whether it is about to slash 100 senior executive jobs. Qantas spokesman Simon Rushton said the company would not comment on the airline's potential restructuring plan. "We're not commenting at this...Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 3:40 am Unions press G20 to take new tackInternational union bodies call for co-ordinated global actions to replace previous "neo-liberal" economic policies.Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Mar 2009 | 2:47 am CBI eyes Budget confidence boostThe CBI says the government should rule out further Budget borrowing and calls for measures to back jobs and business.Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 23 Mar 2009 | 2:15 am Mortgage rates hiked at ANZ NationalANZ National Bank has bumped up its fixed interest rates for three, four and five-year mortgages and business loans. Competition for savings was putting upward pressure on term lending rates, the bank said in its Market Focus report...Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 2:07 am Montana plane crash kills 17A single-engine plane, reported to be carrying children, crashed on approach to an airport in western Montana on Sunday, killing 17 people, the Federal Aviation Administration saidSource: Financial Times - US homepage | 23 Mar 2009 | 1:15 am BNZ, Vector in bond offers worth $200mTwo leading companies are going to the market with bond offers. The BNZ has launched a retail bond issue of at least $50 million, the bank said today. The offer, which closes on Friday, will be government-guaranteed. The...Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 1:15 am Can Georgie Pie make a comeback?A North Shore baker wants to resurrect Georgie Pie and is even talking about going to court to make it happen. It has been a decade since the well known Kiwi pie became high street history, and Bakers Harvest owner Martin Gummer...Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:35 am Pitchfork-wielding mob claim over AIG bonus taxWASHINGTON - The White House said using tax law to pry bonuses from bailed-out company executives is "a dangerous way to go" and a Republican senator advised against the mob mentality that has Congress "grabbing its pitchforks and...Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:30 am NZ Post to cut weekend mail collectionsNew Zealand Post today announced it would no longer collect mail from street post boxes on weekends. At present street boxes are cleared six days a week but tough economic times and a decline in their use means services will be...Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:15 am Corporate bonds step where banks fear to treadBusinesses, frozen out by the world's biggest banks, have flocked to the corporate bond market to raise new funds, triggering a 160 per cent surge in debt issuance since the beginning of the year.Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am CBI raises alarm over 'battered' public financesBritain cannot afford any more significant fiscal stimulus programmes because of the “alarming” state of the public finances, the CBI has warned.Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am Wheel of fortune crushes fun out of Las Vegas as punters stay at home during recessionThere is trouble in gamblers' paradise. The recession in the United States has turned fun into a dirty word and nowhere is feeling the pain more than Las Vegas.Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am Need to know: M&S revolt ... L&G dividends ... Vodafone profitsView video and Need to Know interactive heatmapSource: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am Exeter City and Ted Baker shoot for the starsBusiness and football do not, at first glance, mix. One is all about making money, the other appears to be about haemorrhaging it; one is measured in terms of profit and loss, the other in points and trophies; one is the conventional working world familiar to millions, the other is altogether stranger, driven by the dynamics of the dressing room.Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am Those seeking signs of things to come should look WestFinally, we are seeing the green shoots of spring around us — and retailers are also looking for signs of life in the UK, through a rise in consumer confidence and spending.Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 23 Mar 2009 | 12:00 am MidEast fund takes 9% stake in DaimlerGerman carmaker Daimler said on Sunday it was increasing its share capital by 10 per cent to allow Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments to become a major investor in the company.Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 22 Mar 2009 | 11:50 pm UN panel calls for council to replace G20The Group of 20 should be replaced by a new Global Economic Council, an advisory panel of senior international economists has saidSource: Financial Times - US homepage | 22 Mar 2009 | 11:06 pm GM bondholders voice concerns to TreasuryBondholders of General Motors sent a letter on Sunday to members of the Obama administration voicing ongoing concern about the automaker's restructuring efforts, including frustration with the progress of talks to cut debt and doubt that GM's business plan will result in a lasting turnaroundSource: Financial Times - US homepage | 22 Mar 2009 | 10:31 pm Banker says nationality cost him jobA City banker is suing one of Canada's biggest financial institutions for making him redundant, allegedly because he is not Canadian, in one of the more unusual cases to emerge from the credit crunchSource: Financial Times - US homepage | 22 Mar 2009 | 10:25 pm SocGen cancels executives' stock optionsSociété Générale bowed to pressure over executive pay as it cancelled a plan to award discounted stock options to four directorsSource: Financial Times - US homepage | 22 Mar 2009 | 8:25 pm Investors to look for reasons to extend rally (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 22 Mar 2009 | 7:59 pm Madoff investigation is far from overUS prosecutors have signalled, with the filing of criminal charges against Bernard Madoff's long-time accountant last week, that their investigation into one of the biggest investment frauds is far from overSource: Financial Times - US homepage | 22 Mar 2009 | 7:56 pm US adviser sees hope of recoveryA top economic adviser of US President Barack Obama says the economy will be back on track by the end of the year.Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 22 Mar 2009 | 5:23 pm Correction: AIG-Countrywide Lawsuit story (AP)AP - In a story sent March 19 and March 20 about a unit of American International Group Inc. suing mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., The Associated Press erroneously reported the amount of government money received by AIG. The company received $182.5 billion, not $170 million.Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 22 Mar 2009 | 4:26 pm As Americans Make More Coffee At Home, Starbucks (SBUX) Faces Trouble
The National Coffee Association, which tracks these habits, says the move toward not buying coffee at delis, coffee shops, and places such as McDonald’s (MCD) and Starbucks (SBUX) is a significant trend. According to Reuters, an NCA poll shows “Of the people who said they had drunk coffee the previous day, 83 percent said they had made it at home — up 5 points compared with year-ago figures.” Starbucks is desperate to get people back into its stores. It has even broken with its tradition of offering high end coffee drinks using expensive ingredients at very high prices. The chain now has cheap breakfast meals and java products which cost about what they would at the local coffee shop. Less expensive coffee may not help dig Starbucks out of its earnings hole. People who do go out for coffee don’t go to Starbucks as often as they used to, and now many fewer people go out at all. Douglas A. McIntyre Tagged: MCD, SBUX      Source: 247 Wall Street | 22 Mar 2009 | 11:54 am
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