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US housing starts at record low The number of new homes built in the US fell to a record low in April, according to official statistics. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 19 May 2009 | 1:12 pm Stock futures come off highs on April home data (AP) AP - Wall Street signaled a flat open Tuesday after an unexpected drop in home construction stirred worries about the economy. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 19 May 2009 | 1:10 pm Stock futures come off highs on April home data (AP) AP - Wall Street signaled a flat open Tuesday after an unexpected drop in home construction stirred worries about the economy. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 19 May 2009 | 1:10 pm AmEx climbs after trimming 4,000 jobs American Express shares gain on details of a previously announced cost saving plan, including 4,000 job cuts. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 1:08 pm New home building hits record low Initial construction of U.S. homes sank to a record low in April, according to a government report released Tuesday, as increased unemployment and skyrocketing foreclosures of existing homes deterred new builders. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 19 May 2009 | 1:07 pm US housing starts plunge to record low New US residential building fell to the lowest level since 1959 last month, signalling that the stricken housing market could have further to fall. Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 19 May 2009 | 1:07 pm U.S. housing starts, permits hit record lows in April (Reuters) Reuters - New U.S. housing starts and permits unexpectedly fell to record lows in April, a government report showed on Tuesday, denting hopes that stability in the housing market was imminent. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 19 May 2009 | 1:06 pm Buffett & Berkshire’s MidAmerican Against Waxman-Markey Bill (BRK-A) MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), has issued a statement objecting to the proposed American Clean Energy and Security Act, also known as the Waxman-Markey bill. MidAmerican said that it plans to “oppose the bill in the House of Representatives.” The company’s objections are based on what [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 19 May 2009 | 1:02 pm Housing data dim mood on Wall Street US stocks were set to struggle after a surprisingly low number of housing starts in April eroded confidence on results from Home Depot that the housing market could be nearing a bottom. Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 19 May 2009 | 1:02 pm Earnings Watch: Updates, advisories and surprises A roundup of the latest corporate earnings reports and what companies are saying about future quarters. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 1:01 pm NewsWatch: Housing starts hit record low in April WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Optimism that the housing slump had hit bottom was damaged Tuesday when the government reported that construction on new housing projects slowed to a record low pace in April. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 1:00 pm Saks posts smaller 1st-quarter loss than expected (AP) AP - Luxury retailer Saks Inc. reported a loss for the first quarter Tuesday as it struggles with the pullback in spending by its wealthy customers. Still, the results exceeded analysts' expectations as the chain benefited from cost-cutting measures. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 19 May 2009 | 12:58 pm Wall Street slated for weak open U.S. stocks were set for a lackluster open Tuesday, as investor sentiment suffered a blow from dismal housing reports. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 19 May 2009 | 12:55 pm Opening Bell: 05.19.09 MS, JPM, and GS Looking To Repay TARP (Bloomberg) The big three are looking to return the loot, and have filed to do so with proper authorities (they're seeking the permission of the Federal Reserve, which is not only necessary but important). The combined hand back would total about $45B, which should leave taxpayers elated. "The refunds would be the first by the biggest banks that participated in the program. As of May 15, 14 of the smaller banks that received capital under the program had already repaid it, according to data compiled by Bloomberg." US Home Starts Up In April (Reuters) Home starts should hit 520,000 in April, up from 510,000 in March. "Although starts may have found a bottom, a strong rebound in construction is unlikely," Moody's Economy.com wrote in its weekly outlook. "The glut of homes is so large that a typical early-cycle rebound in homebuilding looks far out of reach." Google Uses Algorithm To Prevent "Brain Drain" (WSJ) "The Internet search giant recently began crunching data from employee reviews and promotion and pay histories in a mathematical formula Google says can identify which of its 20,000 employees are most likely to quit. Google officials are reluctant to share details of the formula, which is still being tested. The inputs include information from surveys and peer reviews, and Google says the algorithm already has identified employees who felt underused, a key complaint among those who contemplate leaving." BlackRock Draws Attention On Advising US (NYT) "It makes sense for the government to turn to financial experts for help, but BlackRock has become so ubiquitous that some lawmakers, federal auditors and watchdog groups are now asking if the firm does too much, and if its roles as government adviser, giant federal contractor and private money manager will inevitably collide." Local Banks Face Big Losses (WSJ) Commercial real-estate loans could generate losses of $100 billion by the end of next year at more than 900 small and midsize U.S. banks if the economy's woes deepen, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal. Related: Google - Wall Street Journal - Troubled Asset Relief Program - United States - Federal Reserve System Source: Dealbreaker | 19 May 2009 | 12:55 pm Sprint to sell Palm Pre for $200 after rebate NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp will sell Palm Inc's long-awaited Pre smartphone starting on June 6 for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and after a $100 mail-in rebate, the phone company said on Tuesday. Source: Reuters: Business News | 19 May 2009 | 12:54 pm Palm, Sprint to start selling Pre on June 6 Smartphone maker Palm Inc., badly in need of a big hit, plans to start selling its highly anticipated Pre on June 6. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 12:53 pm U.S. housing starts, permits hit record lows in April WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New U.S. housing starts and permits unexpectedly fell to record lows in April, a government report showed on Tuesday, denting hopes that stability in the housing market was imminent. Source: Reuters: Business News | 19 May 2009 | 12:51 pm Obama wants 35.5 mpg by 2016 The Obama administration on Tuesday is set to propose stricter fuel economy standards in an effort to cut down vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 19 May 2009 | 12:50 pm Water leak halts isotope output at Canada reactor TORONTO, May 19 (Reuters) - Canada's energy authorities have closed a reactor that produces much of the world's medical isotopes after a heavy water leak and warned that there could be a shortage of the... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 12:47 pm European court rules against pharmacy deregulation European Court of Justice blocks deregulation of European pharmacy market, frustrating retailers and pharmacy chains trying to break into the business. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 12:47 pm Stock futures pare gains after housing data (Reuters) Reuters - The S&P 500 and Dow industrial stock index futures pared gains on Tuesday, while Nasdaq futures turned negative after a report showed new U.S. housing starts and permits unexpectedly fell to record lows in April, tempering hopes of economic stabilization. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 19 May 2009 | 12:44 pm Stock futures pare gains after housing data NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Dow industrial stock index futures pared gains on Tuesday, while Nasdaq futures turned negative after a report showed new U.S. housing starts and permits unexpectedly fell to record lows in April, tempering hopes of economic stabilization. Source: Reuters: Business News | 19 May 2009 | 12:44 pm Stock futures pare gains after housing data (Reuters) Reuters - The S&P 500 and Dow industrial stock index futures pared gains on Tuesday, while Nasdaq futures turned negative after a report showed new U.S. housing starts and permits unexpectedly fell to record lows in April, tempering hopes of economic stabilization. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 19 May 2009 | 12:44 pm Before the Bell: Home Depot, Goldman Sachs, housing starts in focus U.S. stock market futures pulled back from early gains to trade broadly flat Tuesday after data showed new construction of U.S. houses retreated to a new record low in April. See full Indications. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 12:44 pm JA Solar, Another Big Solar Miss (JASO, SOLR, SPWRA) JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ:JASO) reported first quarter 2009 results this morning, and the news was not so hot. The company posted a diluted EPS loss of -$0.18 on revenue of $33.9 million. In the year-ago quarter, JA Solar posted revenue of $164.2 million and a diluted EPS of $0.99. Estimates averaged an EPS [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 19 May 2009 | 12:41 pm Indications: U.S. stock futures trade flat after housing data U.S. stock futures on Tuesday saw gains dissipate after data showed construction of houses retreating to a record low. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 12:40 pm A Twist of Fate in Housing Starts April Housing Starts just came in 458,000 on an annualized basis, which represents a drop of 12.8%.  The March data was also revised from 510,000 to 525,000 annualized.  What is interesting is the multi-family housing projects was where the big decrease was. For single family homes, the starts were up 2.8% to 368,000 annualized.  The drop [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 19 May 2009 | 12:36 pm Housing construction plunges to record low in April Economists had expected a modest increase Housing construction plunged to a record low in April as a steep drop in apartment building offset a rebound in single-family construction. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 19 May 2009 | 12:35 pm World markets up as US German sentiment improves World stocks rose on Tuesday as upbeat news about US housing and banks and a sharp improvement in German investor sentiment suggested the world economy was headed for recovery. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 19 May 2009 | 12:34 pm Housing construction drops 12.8 percent in April Housing construction plunged to a record low in April as a steep drop in apartment building offset a rebound in single-family construction. The Commerce Department says construction of... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 12:34 pm Movers & Shakers: Tuesday's biggest gaining and declining stocks Stocks expected to move significantly in trading on Tuesday include American Express, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Wyeth Labs. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 12:34 pm Big banks apply to repay TARP: sources NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley and other banks have applied to repay billions of dollars they borrowed under the U.S. government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, sources familiar with the situation said on Monday. Source: Reuters: Business News | 19 May 2009 | 12:33 pm Home Depot profit rises a better-than-expected 44% Home Depot's first-quarter profit rises 44%, excluding store-closing costs, and the Atlanta home-improvement chain sticks to its outlook for the year. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 12:33 pm Economic Report: Housing starts hit record low in April WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Optimism that the housing slump had hit bottom was damaged Tuesday when the government reported that construction on new housing projects slowed to a record low pace in April. Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 19 May 2009 | 12:33 pm Saks shares jump after loss smaller than expected NEW YORK (Reuters) - Saks Inc posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss on Tuesday as the upscale retailer worked to cut inventory and costs to offset a steep drop in sales, sending its shares up more than 10 percent. Source: Reuters: Business News | 19 May 2009 | 12:32 pm UPDATE 2-Medtronic net falls, but results meet Wall St view * Medtronic adj Q4 EPS 82 cents/shr, in line with Wall St Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 12:31 pm Saks posts smaller loss in 1st quarter Saks Inc. is reporting a loss for the first quarter as the luxury retailer continues to struggle with a pullback in spending from its wealthy customers. Still, the financial results are... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 12:25 pm China expands subsidy scheme China is to expand a programme which subsidises the purchases of new cars and home appliances in an effort to boost the economy. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 19 May 2009 | 12:20 pm Home Depot profits soar 44% Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer, said its first quarter profits jumped by 44 per cent as it successfully slashed costs in the face of weak consumer demand. Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 19 May 2009 | 12:19 pm Sunoco Marcus Hook assessment could take at least a week For refinery outages in the new Reuters Oil Fundamentals Database see http://bond.views.session.rservices.com/CE/ or go to <OFD/INFO>. Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 12:17 pm Lloyds bank to axe 625 positions Lloyds Banking Group has announced it is cutting 625 jobs in the UK, as it merges two lending units together. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 19 May 2009 | 12:16 pm Vodafone to speed up cost cuts The world's largest mobile phone operator will speed up its cost-cutting plans after taking a further £5.9bn impairment charge, primarily against its operations in Spain. Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 19 May 2009 | 12:12 pm China signs $10 bln loan-for-oil Petrobras deal BEIJING, May 19 (Reuters) - China on Tuesday agreed to lend $10 billion to Brazil's Petrobas in exchange for a guaranteed oil supply over the next decade, as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 12:10 pm World stocks rally on hopes for economic recovery (AP) AP - World stocks rose Tuesday as upbeat news about U.S. housing and banks and a sharp improvement in German investor sentiment suggested the world economy was headed for recovery. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 19 May 2009 | 12:09 pm World stocks rally on hopes for economic recovery World stocks rose Tuesday as upbeat news about U.S. housing and banks and a sharp improvement in German investor sentiment suggested the world economy was headed for recovery. Financial... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 12:09 pm ABN Amro axes 6,500 jobs in Fortis integration ABN Amro announced plans to cut up to 6,500 jobs, or 10 per cent of its workforce, as the Dutch bank looks to reduce costs as part of its integration with Fortis Bank Nederland. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 19 May 2009 | 12:07 pm Inflation: if prices are falling why aren't consumers cleaning up? Sales of cleaning products have fallen sharply as consumers try to save money - raising doubts that falls in the official rate of inflation reflect shoppers' real experience. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 19 May 2009 | 11:54 am Medtronic 4Q profit falls on charges, sales dip Medtronic says its fiscal fourth-quarter profit plunged sa sales slipped and it absorbed restructuring and other charges. Its adjusted earnings match Wall Street expectations. The... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 11:53 am Sprint to sell Palm Pre for $200 after rebate NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp said on Tuesday it would begin selling the long-awaited Palm Pre smartphone on June 6 for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and after a $100 Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 11:53 am 1948: the last time inflation was this low Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 19 May 2009 | 11:53 am Medtronic quarterly net earnings fall CHICAGO (Reuters) - Medtronic Inc said on Tuesday its quarterly net earnings fell on a series of special items related to several recent acquisitions. Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 11:53 am Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (WTR, DL, EHTH, GYMB, MEOH, SHW, STT) It is looking pretty thin in new great research calls from Wall Street today.  Here are the top analyst calls seen as of 7:30 AM EST this Tuesday morning: Aqua America (WTR) Raised to Buy at Janney Montgomery Scott. China Distance Learning (DL) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer. eHealth (EHTH)  Cut to Underperform at Oppenheimer. Gymboree (GYMB) Raised to [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 19 May 2009 | 11:52 am HP looks to stay steady in tough economy SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Corp , due to report results after the market close today, will be looking to showcase its steadiness amid weak corporate spending and a competitive landscape in a state of flux. Source: Reuters: Business News | 19 May 2009 | 11:44 am MPs defend failure to track 7/7 plotters The decision by MI5 and the police not to investigate two of the July 7 bombers more than a year before they launched their attacks has been defended as 'reasonable and understandable' by MPs Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 19 May 2009 | 11:41 am Loan alert: top personal loan and credit card deals As banks are expected to charge higher rates on borrowing to recoup profits lost on payment protection insurance PPI here are some of the cheapest loans and credit cards available. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 19 May 2009 | 11:39 am Home Depot profit rises on cost cuts (Reuters) Reuters - Home Depot Inc's quarterly profit beat Wall Street estimates on Tuesday as the world's largest home improvement chain reined in expenses. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 19 May 2009 | 11:36 am Home Depot profit rises on cost cuts NEW YORK (Reuters) - Home Depot Inc's quarterly profit beat Wall Street estimates on Tuesday as the world's largest home improvement chain reined in expenses. Source: Reuters: Business News | 19 May 2009 | 11:36 am Antitrust crackdowns - who wins, who loses Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 19 May 2009 | 11:36 am Daimler, Tesla charge ahead on electric car Daimler AG and Tesla Motors announced Tuesday that they will partner to manufacture electric cars. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 19 May 2009 | 11:21 am What steroids and the economy have in common As a writer and an economics professor at Cornell University, Robert Frank has been trying for years to bridge the gap between the classroom and the real world. Though he has proved his command of the essentials of his profession - he wrote a textbook with Federal Reserve Board chief Ben Bernanke back in 2000 - his vision of economics is broader and more thought-provoking than most. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 19 May 2009 | 11:17 am German confidence continues rise Confidence among analysts and investors in Germany's economy has risen for the seventh month in a row, a survey says. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 19 May 2009 | 11:17 am Oil hits six-month high above $60 on supply, equities LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose to a new six-month high above $60 a barrel on Tuesday as unrest in key producer Nigeria and a U.S. refinery outage kindled concerns over oil fundamentals after weeks of equity-led rallies. Source: Reuters: Business News | 19 May 2009 | 11:16 am Why Companies Like Complicated Wording Source: Business Pundit | 19 May 2009 | 11:16 am Did US parents anticipate tough times by having fewer babies? Newly-released US census figures show a strong slowdown in the birth-rate that began before the economic crisis hit. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 19 May 2009 | 11:13 am Global stocks rally on recovery hopes (AFP) AFP - World stock markets posted fresh gains on Tuesday on hopes that the global economy is through the worst of its slump, setting the stage for a pick-up in corporate earnings, dealers said. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 19 May 2009 | 11:01 am Home Depot earnings jump 44% Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 19 May 2009 | 10:59 am Marks ? Spencer's Sir Stuart Rose defends dividend cut as profit drops Sir Stuart rose defends 'prudent' move to cut dividend for the first time since 2000. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 19 May 2009 | 10:57 am Expect a 10% hit to your paycheck for insurance More employers are citing the recession for shifting a bigger portion of their health care costs to employees in 2009, an industry report said Monday. Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 19 May 2009 | 10:56 am Credit card backlash bill comes due in Senate WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill to curb sharp practices in the credit card business was on track for approval by the U.S. Senate as early as Tuesday, with President Barack Obama expected to sign it into law before the end of the month. Source: Reuters: Business News | 19 May 2009 | 10:56 am SSL to raise earnings 50% on Russian growth SSL International, the Durex condoms and Scholl footwear group, this morning promised to increase earnings aggressively during the next three years as a result of its expansion into Russia. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 19 May 2009 | 10:50 am Banks: Take the money back ... please! Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 19 May 2009 | 10:50 am Burberry plunges into annual loss Luxury clothing brand Burberry reports an annual loss, mainly due to charges at its Spanish operations. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 19 May 2009 | 10:48 am Lehman brokerage sold to Barclays 'undervalued' filing claims Lawyers winding up the former Wall Street bank have questioned the 1.75bn £1.14bn Barclays paid for the bulk of Lehman's US business. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 19 May 2009 | 10:40 am Russia US restart nuclear arsenal talks Russia and the US began talks in Moscow aimed at limiting their respective nuclear arsenals, which may provide the first breakthrough in an effort by both sides to 'reset' a badly frayed relationship beset by mistrust Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 19 May 2009 | 10:39 am Big banks apply to repay TARP: sources (Reuters) Reuters - Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley and other banks have applied to repay billions of dollars they borrowed under the U.S. government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, sources familiar with the situation said on Monday. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 19 May 2009 | 10:29 am Share tips: hold Carluccio's buy Vectura Charles Stanley the stockbroker offers its advice on shares. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 19 May 2009 | 10:28 am Despite Economic Concerns, Oil Keeps Rising Oil is back up to $60 and it does not show any signs of retreating. Most experts say that crude prices cannot hold their gains. The economy is too weak and supplies are abundant. OPEC’s attempts to cut supply may finally take hold because the lengthy period when oil prices were down cut into production [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 19 May 2009 | 10:21 am A report card for your 401(k) Question: Is there a listing that would allow me to see how my 401(k) plan compares with other companies' 401(k)s? --Debbie W., Mount Laurel, New Jersey Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 19 May 2009 | 10:15 am Google’s (GOOG) “Big Brother” Act: Screen Employee Behavior, And It Could Be The Company’s Next Blockbuster Product Google (GOOG) wants to know which of its employees will quit. That is natural since a number of its senior staff have left for positions at other online companies. For the first time since the company started, an exodus of people is including the firm’s best and brightest. Google thinks it has come up with a [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 19 May 2009 | 10:09 am US oil prices regain $60 a barrel level US crude oil prices regained the $60 a barrel level while base metals, agricultural and soft commodities all made gains on hopes for a more rapid recovery in the global economy Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 19 May 2009 | 10:09 am Britain sinks into deepest deflation since 1948 Tumbling house prices leave UK with sharpest inflation since London hosted the Olympics. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 19 May 2009 | 9:58 am Starbucks (SBUX) To Twitter For Dollars Starbucks (SBUX) will try to revive its flagging fortunes with an assault on Web 2.0. Sales at the coffee chain have been falling, to some extent because it charges $5 a cup for its most fancy drinks. American are also brewing more coffee at home to save money during the recession. As a result of the [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 19 May 2009 | 9:58 am Tate & Lyle names Reckitt director as new chief Tate & Lyle, the sugars group, has turned to Reckitt Benckiser, the consumer products giant, for its new chief executive. Javed Ahmed, 49, is to replace Iain Ferguson by November. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 19 May 2009 | 9:52 am Further slowdown in UK inflation UK annual inflation slowed again in April as consumers' energy and food bills continued to drop, figures show. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 19 May 2009 | 9:51 am GM bankruptcy seen as all but inevitable (Reuters) Reuters - After 100 years in business and 10 months of frenzied but failed restructuring, General Motors Corp is weeks from the bankruptcy filing experts say will be required to complete the Obama administration's bid to reshape a fallen icon of American industry. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 19 May 2009 | 9:48 am GM bankruptcy seen as all but inevitable DETROIT (Reuters) - After 100 years in business and 10 months of frenzied but failed restructuring, General Motors Corp is weeks from the bankruptcy filing experts say will be required to complete the Obama administration's bid to reshape a fallen icon of American industry. Source: Reuters: Business News | 19 May 2009 | 9:48 am Obama to curb vehicle emissions US President Barack Obama is to announce strict limits on vehicle pollution that will set national standards for the first time. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 19 May 2009 | 9:45 am 'Sharp drop' in US tech start-ups The number of new technology start-ups in Silicon Valley fell 65% in the first three months of 2009, figures suggest. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 19 May 2009 | 9:41 am Will The Government Reject TARP Payments From Goldman And Morgan Stanley It is no secret that several large banks want to pay back the TARP money that they took from the government, in some cases against their will. Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), and JPMorgan (JPM) seem to have the balance sheet strength to send their TARP funds back. The question is whether the government will [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 19 May 2009 | 9:38 am Japanese bank hit by credit costs Japan's biggest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ, reports an annual loss of 256.9bn yen after being hit by large credit costs. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 19 May 2009 | 9:32 am Twitter Uber Alles: Business Applications From The Web’s New Phenom Twitter, the short texting web success, adds millions of new users every month. No one has been able to figure out how to make money on the service, at least no one at the company. Twitter will launch applications aimed at helping it bring in revenue by providing services related to its product According to Reuters, these tools [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 19 May 2009 | 9:25 am UK inflation: analysts' reaction Analysts react to official figures as the Retail Prices Index slide from minus 0.4pc in March to minus 1.2pc in April. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 19 May 2009 | 9:13 am GE (GE) Gets Its Pride Back, But Not Its Stock Price GE’s financial business was supposed to be worth zero, or worse.  Deutsche Bank analysts said it had a negative valuation of $50 billion. Some publicity-seeking stock commentators said the entire company was worthless. GE tried to calm the markets by making reassuring statements about the quality of its financial assets. It did not do much [...] [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Source: 24/7 Wall Street | 19 May 2009 | 9:01 am UK economy slides deeper into deflation The UK economy slid further into deflation last month as the worst recession in decades helped keep a lid on prices. Source: Finance and Business. Latest breaking news stocks and shares from the UK and world | 19 May 2009 | 8:53 am British economy sinks further into deflation Britain sank deeper into deflation this morning as the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation shrank to -1.2 per cent in April. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 19 May 2009 | 8:46 am Banks lead stocks higher; oil hits six-month peak (Reuters) Reuters - World stocks rose for a third day running on Tuesday with banking stocks leading the gains in Europe, while oil hit a six-month peak. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 19 May 2009 | 8:22 am London stocks rise at open (AFP) AFP - Stocks in London advanced at the open on Tuesday as oil prices rose and investors remained optimistic about a global economic recovery. Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 19 May 2009 | 8:20 am Miners rally as economic mood brightens Miners fought back in the leading share index this morning, taking the FTSE 100 up 1 per cent on the back of higher commodity prices while sterling hit a four-month high. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 19 May 2009 | 7:30 am Shell and Next face investor ire over pay The rumbling outcry over executive remuneration will break out again at two annual meetings today, when the boards of Royal Dutch Shell, the oil group, and Next, the retail group, come under fire from angry shareholders over alleged overly generous bonus packages. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 19 May 2009 | 7:21 am Australia stocks: Market closes over 2pc higher MELBOURNE - The Australian share market closed more than two per cent higher following a strong lead from overseas and gains by major resource stocks. At 1615 AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 81.7 points, or 2.19 per cent,... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 19 May 2009 | 7:18 am Vodafone in £6 billion hit as Spain struggles Problems at Vodafone's Spanish and Turkish businesses contributed to a £6 billion writedown which sent full-year profits at the world's biggest mobile phone company tumbling. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 19 May 2009 | 7:08 am 3-D movie projects get a push at Cannes Indie filmmakers are using the technology on films, some with tiny budgets, and trying to sell others on their ideas. Also showing off 3-D movies are such industry giants as Disney and Pixar. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am Pepperdine's entrepreneur program will focus on creativity The revamped graduate program, rolling out in the fall, aims to teach students how to come up with bankable ideas before they learn how to set up, finance and market new ventures. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am The fight against erectile dysfunction ads Having largely sorted out the economy and foreign wars, Rep. James P. Moran (D-Va.) moved on to other pressing matters of state last month when he introduced the Families for ED Advertising Decency Act... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am California eyes Stanley Chais' role in Madoff debacle Investigators from Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown's office are said to be looking into the former Beverly Hills money manager's relationship with the disgraced financier. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am Auto emissions deal a win for California The state is the model for a compromise with U.S. carmakers and the federal government to curb greenhouse gases. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am The fight against erectile dysfunction ads Having largely sorted out the economy and foreign wars, Rep. James P. Moran (D-Va.) moved on to other pressing matters of state last month when he introduced the Families for ED Advertising Decency Act (H.R. 2175), a bill that calls for the Federal Communications Commission to "treat as indecent" ads for erectile dysfunction cures between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am Pacific Ethanol units file for bankruptcy protection ENERGY Source: L.A. Times - Business | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am Stocks jump on renewed optimism on housing, banks The Dow surges 235.44 points to 8,504.08 on a day of thin trading. Broader indexes mostly score bigger gains. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am California eyes Stanley Chais' role in Madoff debacle Investigators from Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown's office are said to be looking into the former Beverly Hills money manager's relationship with the disgraced financier. The California attorney general's office has launched a preliminary investigation into the role that former Beverly Hills money manager Stanley Chais played in funneling millions of dollars into the giant Ponzi scheme run by convicted felon Bernard L. Madoff, said people familiar with the matter. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am Stocks jump on renewed optimism on housing, banks The Dow surges 235.44 points to 8,504.08 on a day of thin trading. Broader indexes mostly score bigger gains. Wall Street followed last week's pullback with a sharp advance Monday as bulls regained control. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am Wolfram Alpha: A new kind of search engine The online 'computational knowledge engine' calculates answers, unlike Google, which searches for information that already exists. How long does it take to get to Saturn at, say, the speed of light? Source: L.A. Times - Business | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am Wolfram Alpha: A new kind of search engine The online 'computational knowledge engine' calculates answers, unlike Google, which searches for information that already exists. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am Court to review anti-fraud law WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court said today that it will rule on the constitutionality of the anti-fraud law that grew out of accounting scandals at Enron Corp. and other companies. Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am 3-D movie projects get a push at Cannes Indie filmmakers are using the technology on films, some with tiny budgets, and trying to sell others on their ideas. Also showing off 3-D movies are such industry giants as Disney and Pixar. The Cannes Film Festival has no shortage of big-budget 3-D spectacles: It opened with Pixar's 3-D animated film "Up," and Disney on Monday showed footage from its upcoming 3-D holiday movie "A Christmas Carol," while fake snow decorated the landmark Carlton Hotel in the 80-degree Cannes weather. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am Conrad Black's anti-fraud case will go to Supreme Court Justices have agreed to hear an appeal by the former newspaper executive, who says he was wrongly convicted of failing to provide 'honest services.' ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am Auto emissions deal a win for California The state is the model for a compromise with U.S. carmakers and the federal government to curb greenhouse gases. The agreement that the Obama administration will announce today forcing dramatic reductions in vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and improvements in auto mileage marks a potentially pivotal shift in the battle over global warming -- and a vindication of California's long battle to toughen standards. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 19 May 2009 | 7:00 am M&S profits fall 40% in battle with cheap rivals Marks & Spencer (M&S) this morning heavily reduced its dividend after a 40 per cent fall in annual profits. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 19 May 2009 | 6:35 am NZ stocks: Market enjoys slight rise The sharemarket closed nearly half a per cent higher, but declines in two of the top three stocks pegged back its gains compared with markets offshore. Following rises of around 3 per cent on Wall Street, and a more than 2 per... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 19 May 2009 | 6:19 am Currency: Surging equities boost NZ dollar A returning appetite for risk helped buoy the New Zealand dollar today. By 5pm, the kiwi was at US59.71c, up from US58.60c late yesterday afternoon and near the top of its range today. Against the Australian dollar, the kiwi... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 19 May 2009 | 5:38 am Memorial Day weekend travel forecast to fall 2.3% fewer Southern Californians will be heading out of town this year compared with a year earlier amid concern over unemployment and gasoline prices. Worries over higher gasoline prices and double-digit unemployment rates will drive down Memorial Day weekend travel among Southern Californians. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 19 May 2009 | 5:22 am Pepperdine's entrepreneur program will focus on creativity The revamped graduate program, rolling out in the fall, will aim to teach students how to come up with bankable ideas before they learn how to set up, finance and market new ventures. While earning her business degree at Pepperdine University , Sara Dakarmen used her new know-how to persuade her husband, Todd, to turn his hobby selling salvaged Porsche parts into a full-time business. Source: L.A. Times - Business | 19 May 2009 | 5:22 am Memorial Day weekend travel forecast to fall 2.3% fewer Southern Californians will be heading out of town this year compared with a year earlier amid concern over unemployment and gasoline prices. ... Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 19 May 2009 | 5:22 am ING Property slides to annual loss as property values hit ING Property Trust slid to an annual after-tax loss of $63.1 million, reversing the previous year's $72 million profit, as the slowing economy hit property values. The result included independent property devaluations of $89.9m. Operating... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 19 May 2009 | 4:38 am SmartMoney 2009 Broker Survey EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is part of SmartMoney's annual broker survey special report. For more coverage, see "Ranking the Full-Service Brokers," "Give Your Broker This 5-Part Test," and "Should You Dump Your Broker." What do you want from your brokerage firm? Sorry, they can't make the market march back to its old highs. But what about commissions, research, investment products and customer service? To find the best—and worst—discount brokers in these and other categories, our 17th annual broker survey relied on our own tests, consulting-firm analysis and surveys of the brokerages themselves. No detail was too small. We noticed, for example, that WellsTrade and Banc of America charge $75 to close a retirement account—a service provided for free by some of their competitors. OptionsXpress left us on hold for nearly four minutes when we requested its interest rate on cash balances. (The company later said it shouldn't have taken that long.) But when we contacted Fidelity with a query on interest rates, the rep gave us a quick answer and even a compliment: "Good question." Yes, it's a lot of work, but our efforts haven't gone unnoticed. For two years now, the Web site ConsumerSearch has said SmartMoney has the best broker survey among magazines and newspapers. Our category-by-category-findings:   Commissions & Fees Best: Just2Trade Worst: WellsTrade The winner in this category, Just2Trade, is new to our survey this year. Launched in 2007 and geared toward experienced investors, the firm took top honors with the price of $2.50 for both equity and mutual fund trades. It also boasted some of the lowest rates on margin interest. Just2Trade edged out Zecco, which got its start just a few years ago by pitching 40 free trades each month to any customer holding a $2,500 balance. Zecco has angered some customers by lowering the number of free trades to 10 and increasing the required balance to $25,000. Fall short and the cost is $4.50 a trade. The firm also set new fees for paper statements and trade confirmations. "It's a recession," says Gabriel Dalporto, Zecco's chief strategy officer. "Our margins are down." WellsTrade, the discount-brokerage unit of Wells Fargo, doles out up to 100 free trades a year. But it rounds out the bottom of this category because customers qualify only if they link their brokerage account to a Wells Fargo bank account. Without that link and $25,000 in combined assets, commissions start at a pricey $19.95 and run as high as $60 for some broker-assisted trades.   Investment Products & Mutual Funds Best: Fidelity Worst: SogoTrade This year's race came down to Fidelity, Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade. Together the trio has more than double the number of customers of the remaining firms in our survey combined, and each has a smorgasbord of offerings, including municipal bonds, certificates of deposit and access to initial public offerings. In the end, Fidelity led the pack with its impressive mix of more than 16,000 mutual funds, many of which don't carry transaction fees. The firms with the fewest mutual funds generally had the slimmest pickings when it came to the other investment products. Just2Trade and ShareBuilder, for example, offered fewer mutual funds than the competition, and both lacked corporate, municipal and U.S. Treasury bonds. Zecco and SogoTrade carried exchange-traded funds but not much else on our wish list. SogoTrade scored the lowest overall because it was the only firm without a single mutual fund offering. The company says it's focused on active traders who come to the firm for its low commissions on stock trades.   Customer Service Best: Muriel Siebert Worst: WallStreet*E Discount brokerage customers don't typically count on their firm for extra hand-holding. But in today's turbulent market, they want to know that their brokerage will be there to answer questions, whether it's in a phone call, e-mail or online chat. After months of market swings, financial crises and industry scandals, experts say quality customer service is more important than ever. That's why we were surprised when WallStreet*E, for the second year in a row, didn't reply to our e-mail as a prospective customer, while Banc of America and WellsTrade had no e-mail address at all for prospective customers to get in touch. (WallStreet*E says it mistakenly thought it had answered our e-mail.) WallStreet*E was one of the fastest to the phone, answering our calls in 20 seconds on average and offering bucketfuls of extras: a free "valet account" with access to a Visa debit card, check writing and customized statements. But the firm didn't offer 24/7 phone help, access to our account through a mobile phone, or an online summary about our tax gains or losses (it says it's working on the latter two). Muriel Siebert, which inched past TradeKing for the best overall customer service, answered our phone calls and e-mails promptly with thorough and cordial responses.   Trading Tools Best: TD Ameritrade Worst: ShareBuilder Last October the Dow swung more than 1,000 points within a single day—the first time that had happened in its 112-year history. And as we all know, things didn't exactly quiet down after that. In today's fast-moving market, investors need to be able to place trades wherever they are and as quickly as possible. TD Ameritrade offered the 13 trading tools on our wish list. Premarket and aftermarket trading? Check. News alerts about our stocks sent directly to our in-box? Yep. And what about the technology that lets us make trades over our smartphone? TD Ameritrade was one of 10 firms with this convenience. Of course, nifty tools aren't worth much if it takes too long to make a trade. Once again we teamed up with Gomez, a Web site–monitoring company that timed how long it took to sign in to brokerage accounts, fill out a trade and preview the order at different points in 2008. TD Ameritrade and E*Trade tied with an average of just over five seconds for the year. Yet they weren't the fastest of the bunch. That distinction went to Scottrade, which clocked in at a mere four seconds. WellsTrade managed to improve from the 21 seconds it took in last year's survey, but it was still sluggish compared with the rest of the group—17 seconds. The only trading tool ShareBuilder offered from our list was a dividend-reinvestment program, landing it in last place in this category. ShareBuilder President Dan Greenshields says the firm likes to keep things simple.   Banking Services Best: Fidelity, E*Trade and WellsTrade Worst: SogoTrade and Scottrade Banc of America (the discount-brokerage arm of Bank of America) offers many of the services on our wish list, and Fidelity and E*Trade earned top scores by providing virtually everything we were looking for—without added charges. That includes the ability to pay bills online, make instant cash transfers and have fees for ATM withdrawals automatically rebated to our account. WellsTrade also offers many free banking services and even a place to store precious metals. This helped the firm garner its only five-star category rating in this year's survey. Some competitors beefed up their own services and inched higher in this category. ShareBuilder, taking advantage of its acquisition by the online bank ING Direct, took the biggest leap, adding a debit card, plus a tool to pay bills online. Scottrade and SogoTrade tied for last, with the fewest banking services. A spokesperson for Scottrade says the company is planning to roll out new banking products such as checking accounts or credit cards. But at SogoTrade, President Dave Whitmore says he's "not looking to attract people for their banking money."   Research Best: Charles Schwab and E*Trade Worst: Zecco and WallStreet*E As investors increasingly worry about the safety and appropriateness of the financial products they buy, they're looking for much more than standard research reports from Wall Street analysts. That might explain why Scottrade's investor education podcasts have ranked in the 20 most-popular investment-related podcasts on iTunes. The St. Louis–based firm, which jumped up a notch in this category, doubled its video podcasts last year to meet the "tremendous demand for investor education," says Kevin Dodson, director of online financial services. Fidelity, another iTunes regular, bulked up its research with ratings of how companies perform on environmental, social and governance issues. "More customers want help on how to do it themselves," says Jim Burton, president of Fidelity's retail brokerage. Charles Schwab and E*Trade tied for first by adding their own new offerings. Schwab introduced a new, easier to navigate Web site, while E*Trade upped its menu of Web-based seminars by 50 percent. The Web sites of Zecco and WallStreet*E took the longest to navigate, and the firms earned some of the lowest marks on research. WallStreet*E says the firm is hoping to correct its "research problem" with a planned partnership with Zacks Investment Research. Zecco says it has beefed up in this area by adding Standard & Poor's research reports and a mutual fund center. Of course, not every firm aims to be the best in each category. SogoTrade, for example, wants to be known as a great place for active traders seeking low commissions, and ShareBuilder touts its system for automatic investments in stocks and mutual funds. ShareBuilder says its customers don't really want a lot of bells and whistles, and if they did, it would add to the cost of the product. When it comes to investing, says ShareBuilder President Greenshields, "there's no free lunch."   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 | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am Ranking the Full-Service Brokers EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is part of SmartMoney's annual broker survey special report. For more coverage, see "The SmartMoney 2009 Broker Survey," "Give Your Broker This 5-Part Test," and "Should You Dump Your Broker." Talk about a tough year. Whether they’re getting help from the government, linking up with longtime rivals or fighting over account executives, full-service brokerage firms are battling for survival. But what they may need most is loyal clients, and to entice customers, they’re paying special attention to the basics, from spiffed-up account statements and flashy Web sites to decent stock picking in a lousy market. For our ranking of full-service brokerage firms, we supplemented SmartMoney research with research from outside experts: Zack’s Investment Research for stock picking, J.D. Power for customer service and account statements, Forrester Research for trust, Dalbar for account statements and Corporate Insight for Web sites. The results:   7. Morgan Stanley www.morganstanley.com Number of brokers: 8,400 Number of branches: 500 High marks: Web site Low marks: Trust Is bigger better? After the planned linkup with Citigroup’s Smith Barney, the combined joint venture will have more brokers than any competitor, even Merrill Lynch. But combining brokerage teams comes as Morgan Stanley confronts other big challenges. The firm posted its second straight quarterly loss in the first quarter and slashed its dividend to preserve cash. What’s more, Morgan Stanley ranks near the bottom in most categories in our survey. Clients are “disappointed that their wealth is declining,” says head of national sales Andy Saperstein, adding that the company is doing its best to help clients navigate the turmoil. The Web site earned better marks, helped by a top-notch design.   6. Merrill Lynch www.ml.com Number of brokers: 15,700 Number of branches: 790 High marks: Statements Low marks: Trust Analysts are still pondering the fate of Merrill Lynch and its “thundering herd” of brokers, following the firm’s rescue by Bank of America and the departure of top Merrill execs. The turmoil certainly didn’t help the firm’s overall ranking in this year’s survey; it fell three notches, from third place last year. Only 34 percent of Merrill’s clients surveyed by Forrester Research think the firm did what was best for them, down from 47 percent in the previous survey. A Merrill spokesperson says the company’s own surveys show that clients are “very happy” with their brokers. The firm earns kudos from the researchers at Dalbar for account statements, including an “easy-to-understand” chart showing how clients’ portfolios are faring.   5. Wachovia www.wachovia.com Number of brokers: 14,400 Number of branches: 1,460 High marks: Stock picking Low marks: Web site Clients of this firm might be developing a case of whiplash. Wachovia had only just begun merging its back offices with recently acquired A.G. Edwards when Wells Fargo snapped up Wachovia late last year. All those changes make some investors nervous, but Jim Hays, president of Wachovia’s retail brokerage unit, says brokers like the new link-up with the San Francisco–based Wells. Wachovia (recently renamed Wells Fargo Advisors) improved in two categories this year: statements, which Wachovia revamped last year, and stock picking. Its Web site, on the other hand, ranked the lowest in the group, with a clunky search tool and dowdy layout. A redesign is in the works.   4. Smith Barney www.smithbarney.com Number of brokers: 13,000 Number of branches: 800 High marks: Web site Low marks: Customer satisfaction This Citigroup unit—soon to be Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, after its combination with Morgan Stanley—climbs in our rankings from last place last year. The firm earns high marks for trust, according to Forrester Research. James Tracy, Smith Barney’s director of business development, says that amid the financial crisis, the firm boosted its contact with clients by adding educational seminars, research papers on its Web site and more-frequent phone calls from brokers. As for the merger, the firm says it doesn’t plan to shed brokers, despite losing billions of dollars more in client assets in the fourth quarter than it brought in. Departing investors are “looking for second opinions,” says Tracy.   3. UBS www.ubs.com Number of brokers: 13,900 Number of branches: 720 High marks: Customer satisfaction Low marks: Web site What else can go wrong? The brokerage firm’s parent bank has been hit by the largest annual loss ever for a Swiss company, thousands of layoffs, and a U.S. government probe into how it helped wealthy clients cheat on taxes. UBS is suffering from “concerns about financial strength,” says William Blair analyst Mark Lane. Still, the brokerage firm got a boost in our survey from high scores in customer satisfaction and account statements. The firm’s Web site didn’t fare as well. Research firm Corporate Insight found its pages hard to navigate and the search tool inefficient. A UBS spokesperson says clients have found the site easy to use and that more improvements are on the way.   2. Edward Jones www.edwardjones.com Number of brokers: 12,100 Number of branches: 10,880 High marks: Stock picking Low marks: Web site Call it a bear-market bounce. Edward Jones hired more than 900 new brokers last year, making it one of many regional brokers capitalizing on the misfortunes of Wall Street giants like Merrill Lynch. The St. Louis–based firm, with a reputation for at-your-doorstep service, also managed to lead the pack in stock picking. Its picks were down, but not nearly as much as the competition’s. “We don’t pick exciting names,” says James Weddle, managing partner. “We’re just looking for solid companies that increase their dividends.” On the down side, Corporate Insight found the firm’s Web site hard to navigate. Edward Jones says its goal is to educate site visitors in clear language and connect them with a financial adviser.   1. Raymond James www.raymondjames.com Number of brokers: 5,000 Number of branches: 2,280 High marks: Customer satisfaction Low marks: Stock picking A repeat winner from last year, St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Raymond James knocks out the competition in two categories: customer satisfaction and brokerage statements. The 47-year-old Raymond James, which took on more than 300 new brokers last year, says it’s also scooping up new customers from full-service outfits with riskier balance sheets and uncertain futures. “There are just fewer firms to compete with,” says Chet Helck, the firm’s chief operating officer. One weak spot: Stock picking ranked third-to-last. “I’d attribute that to a tough market,” says Helck. 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 | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am Futures Rise With Optimism Over Housing (Market Update) News at a Glance Hopeful on Housing: Consensus estimates suggest a stabilizing market. Rebound Continues: Major indexes headed toward a higher open. TARP Return: Big banks moving to pay back TARP funds, dodge scrutiny. Don't Leave Home: 4,000 AmEx workers to be let go to cut costs. The Lowdown A growing sense that the housing market may have reached its nadir has Wall Street buzzing. Stocks looked to open higher Tuesday, as traders awaited the latest government data on the housing sector and expected rosy results. Shortly before 8 a.m., Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures were trading above fair value. Traders appeared to be looking forward to the release of the Commerce Department's April report on housing starts and building permits. Each is expected to have risen last month, suggesting the market may have bottomed out. The nation's attitude about the housing sector appears to have improved, as well. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose to 16 in May, up from 14 in April and in line with economists' estimates. Corporate earnings support the idea of a turnaround in housing. Home Depot (HD) reported a 44% jump in first-quarter earnings, largely on a decline in one-time charges, but the firm still topped analysts' estimates, which typically exclude such items. The results came a day after rival Lowe's (LOW) beat the Street. In finance, several of the country's largest financial institutions are preparing to return money borrowed from the government through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Reuters reported, citing anonymous sources. The banks include Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS) and several others. World markets were mostly higher. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei picked up 2.8%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 3.1%. In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE stood up 0.8% in afternoon trading. On the Nymex, energy prices continued to rise, suggesting renewed faith in the economy. By 7:30 a.m., crude traded up 87 cents at $59.90 a barrel. Corporate News General Motors (GM) is weeks away from filing for bankruptcy, Reuters reported, citing several industry experts. The firm is unlikely to meet a June 1 deadline to restructure, leaving it with little choice but to file for bankruptcy protection. American Express (AXP) plans to cut 4,000 jobs, roughly 6% of its workforce, in order to trim $800 million from its labor outlays in 2009, the firm said. "While we have remained solidly profitable at a time when some parts of the card industry were incurring substantial losses, we continue to be very cautious about the economic outlook and are therefore moving forward with additional reengineering efforts to help further reduce our operating costs," Chairman and CEO Kenneth I. Chenault said. Sony Ericsson will try to raise at least $135.5 million by March in an effort to shore up its balance sheet. Whether the firm decides to draw on funds from its parent companies or from loans from financial institutions remains to be seen. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) predicts it will swing into the black by the end of the year, Reuters reported. Chief Executive Dirk Meyer said demand for personal computers could rebound in H2, effectively lifting demand for his firm's chips. The Economy The April report on housing starts and building permits is scheduled to be released at 8:30 a.m. by the Commerce Department. In March, housing starts stood at annual rate of 510,000 units, and economists predict a rise in April to annual rate of 527,000. Building permits, a leading indicator for the housing market, stood at an annual rate of 516,000 in March, and economists predict the rate will have edged up to 530,000 in April. 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 | 19 May 2009 | 4:00 am 5 Small Companies Boosting Dividends (Screens) Plenty of company announcements can cause stock prices to rise: big contract wins, important drug approvals and so on. But most good news is priced into shares as quickly as professional investors can do the math. For ordinary investors to profit from news, they need something that pushes stock prices more gradually. They need what researchers call drift. Drift is a market-beating rise in share prices that occurs gradually over several months or even years after the public learns of new information. A handful of mostly mundane phenomena have been shown to reliably produce it. Upside earnings surprises are probably the most-cited example (“post-earnings announcement drift”), and one that this column has covered several times. But dividend increases cause drift, too. The results are especially strong for small-company stocks. One study, published in 2003 in Applied Economics, looked at 27 years of dividend changes. It found that companies that increased payments showed evidence of drift for four years afterward, outperforming the broad market by a total of 8.6 percentage points. Only about 30% of the drift was concentrated in the first year. Small and midsize companies showed much greater drift, beating the market by 11.5 and 8.8 percentage points, respectively, over four years. (Shares of companies that cut dividends reacted negatively and more strongly, which is no surprise given that cuts tend to be more than three times as large as increases.) At the moment, dividend increases should be especially prized. Standard and Poor’s reports that the first quarter of 2009 was the worst for dividends since its record-keeping began in 1955. Within the broad market, there were 367 decreases versus 83 the year before and 17 the year before that. Against such a bleak background, a payment increase signals financial strength, confidence and an ability to weather an economic downturn—in addition to the likelihood of handsome returns to come. Below are listed five companies selected from the S&P MidCap 400 and SmallCap 600 indexes. Each has increased its dividend payments for at least 10 years running, and has a modest stock valuation and growing or stable earnings. Church & Dwight (CHD) stock, long recommended by this column, has gained 44% over the past three years, while the broad stock market has lost about 30%. The company’s products include Arm & Hammer baking soda, Orange Glo cleaners, First Response pregnancy tests and Trojan condoms—household and personal items that aren’t especially sensitive to economic lulls. Sales and profits for the company are seen rising this year and next. Management should be a little more generous with dividends, though. Payments have increased regularly, but they’ve lagged well behind profits and the share price, so the company will likely pay out just 11% or so of profits this year, and shares now yield less than 1%. Ross Stores (ROST) is a rarity among clothing chains in that its sales and profits are increasing. This column recommended the stock in January 2007. It’s up 15% since then, which means it has beaten the broad market by more than 50 percentage points. Ross’s motto is Dress for Less; like TJ Maxx, it uses opportunistic merchandising, scooping up overstocks from other chains or cancelled orders from manufacturers, and scoring deep discounts in the process. A plunge in consumer spending has left plenty of excess clothing for Ross to choose from, while a shift in shopper preference toward discount chains has kept traffic strong.
COMPANY	TICKER	Industry	Share Price ($)	Forward P/E	Yield (%)
Data as of May 18, 2009
Ross Stores	ROST	Clothing Stores	35.19	14	1.3
Owens & Minor	OMI	Healthcare Supplies	34.07	13	2.7
Beckman Coulter	BEC	Healthcare Equipment	52.43	14	1.3
Church & Dwight	CHD	Household Products	52.8	16	0.7
Vectren	VVC	Utilities	21.74	12	6.2

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.

4 Ways to Cut Summer Camp Costs (Deal of the Day)

Many of the kids who would normally be packing their favorite swimsuit and flashlight in anticipation of the first day of camp are keeping their trunks stowed away this summer. The prohibitive cost of camp -- on average, anywhere from $90 to $1,200 a week depending on the length of stay and type of program, according to Peg Smith, CEO of American Camp Association -- has many parents keeping their kids at home.

But some parents who’ve held out may be in luck. At this time last year, enrollment at many summer camps across the country had reached full capacity. But now, an average of 10% of summer camp slots are still available, says Sean Nienow, director of the National Camp Association, a Pomona, N.Y.-based nonprofit that offers families free assistance in finding a camp. To fill those empty bunk beds, camps are offering discounts, payment plans and even financial aid, he says.

Before you make the leap, however, assess your current situation and check the camp's refund policy. (If the policy is not on the application form, then speak with someone at the camp directly.) Find out what recourse you have if you lose your job or your company reduces your salary before summer camp begins. While policies vary, most camps offer prorated refunds, giving you less of your money back the longer you wait to cancel, says Smith.

Here are four ways you can cut your child's summer camp costs, without denying them the summer camp experience.

Discounts (they're still available if you act fast)

Early-bird discounts typically would have expired months ago, but some camps are still offering them through the end of this month, says Nienow. Lake Greeley Camp, a privately-owned co-ed sleepaway camp in Greeley, Pa., is slashing between $400 and $1,300 off of its tuition for children who register through the end of this month. (Tuition for eight weeks before the discount is $7,400; a two-week stay typically costs $2,400.)

Many camps also offer discounts for first-time campers. At Camp Woodmont, a privately-owned camp in northwest Georgia, first-time campers pay $575 ($175 off the full price) for a one-week session, which includes horseback riding (usually an extra $80 per week).

Get on a payment plan

Many camps now offer payment plans that allow parents to pay tuition over a few weeks or even months, says Smith. Lake of the Woods Camp for Girls and Greenwoods Camp for Boys, privately-owned sleepaway camps in Decatur, Mich., allow parents to pay for tuition over several weeks or months prior to their child’s camp session. The camps offer two-, four- and eight-week programs.

Ask for assistance

Scholarships and financial aid aren’t just for college students. The ACA, in conjunction with the camps that it accredits (accreditation involves passing rigorous health and safety programs, and it needs to be renewed every three years), generate $39 million in scholarships each year, says Smith. The agency camps -- those run by organizations like the Girl Scouts, YMCA and religiously-affiliated groups -- tend to be the most generous with aid.

The New York YMCA Camp in Huguenot, N.Y., offers one- and two-week sessions that cost $738 and $1,378, respectively. Families can receive aid and pay just $538 and $978, respectively, without showing any financial documents. Or, financially-strapped parents may qualify for scholarships that can cover up to half of tuition. However, they'll have to provide their tax returns.

Take advantage of tax credits

Uncle Sam can help you pay for camp costs as well. Children younger than 13 and attend day camp can help their parents qualify for the Child and Dependent Care Credit, says Smith. The credit allows working parents (or parents looking for work) to qualify for a credit of 20% to 35% on expenses of up to $3,000 for one child and $6,000 for two or more children. This translates into a maximum credit of $1,050 for one child and $2,100 for two or more kids, says Eric Smith, a spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service.

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.

Medtronic's Rx for Recovery

MEDTRONIC, A MAKER of cardiac and other medical devices, once was considered a pioneer in health-care technology, with a must-own growth stock to match. Today, it looks like an also-ran on both counts. Competitors like Boston Scientific and Abbott Laboratories have gotten a jump on the company's innovative products, stealing market share, while Medtronic's stock, at a recent $33.50, has been beaten down to a 10-year low.

Wall Street's got it right — and wrong. The Medtronic of old may be gone, but investors are giving scant credit to the more muscular company that is emerging from the turf wars of recent years.

Armed with cash and ambition, today's Medtronic (MDT) is looking to create and acquire new products and technologies to bolster its core cardiac, spinal, diabetes and neuroscience treatments in the U.S. and overseas. Management also is developing strategies to counter the likely impact of health-care reform, which could pressure sales and profits. In addition, the company has applied a laser-like focus to cost controls, which could deliver more than $1 billion in savings by 2012.

Not least, Medtronic is looking to reward its battered shareholders, and has committed to paying out more than 40% of its cash flow in the form of dividends and stock buybacks. That's a lot of dough, considering it aims to generate $20 billion in cash in the next five years. Shareholders could return the favor, driving the stock up 25% to 30% in 12 months.

Investors should get a good glimpse of the future when Minneapolis-based Medtronic reports fiscal 2009 results Tuesday. Earnings are likely to come in a penny or two above the consensus estimate of $2.93 a share, on sales of $14.6 billion — up from earnings per share of $2.60 and sales of $13.5 billion in the fiscal year ended April 2008.

More important, the rate of decline in the company's critical cardiac-rhythm-disease business, hit hard by a product recall in fiscal '08, may well show signs of improvement amid greater global acceptance of replacement models. The cardiac-stent business is starting to stabilize, as well, especially overseas, while companywide cost-cutting efforts could keep gross margins elevated at a hefty 76%.

Admirable as these developments are, the outlook could brighten further in fiscal 2010. Shareholders hanging on management's forecast are likely to hear good news about Medtronic's plans to stem market-share losses, reduce operating expenses and even increase the dividend, now 75 cents a share (the stock yields 2.2%). Analysts expect the company to net $3.20 a share in the 12 months ending next April — about 9% above fiscal '09 estimates.

"Hopefully, there will be no surprises on the call," says To Levy, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities, referring to negative news. Levy rates the stock a Buy, with a 12-month price target of 41.

Good news or bad, Medtronic's stock is cheap. The shares are trading for 11.4 times fiscal '09 estimates, and 10.5 times fiscal '10 projections of $3.20 a share. That's well below the 13 price/earnings multiple on the Standard & Poor's 500 Health Care Equipment and Services index, and a P/E of 15 on the broader S&P. Medtronic itself hasn't had such a low P/E in at least 10 years.

Analyst Rick Wise at Leerink Swann rates the stock Market Perform, but hails the ability of management, led by Chief Executive Officer William Hawkins, to set "achievable growth targets" resulting in 5% to 7% organic top-line growth. "Longer term, for investors who have the patience to watch this scenario unfold, Medtronic is one of the least expensive stocks in the health-care universe," he says.

Medtronic was founded 60 years ago last month by two brothers-in-law who repaired medical devices in their Minneapolis garage. The company invented the first battery-operated pacemaker, along with thousands of other devices to treat heart failure, artery disease, spinal fractures, movement disorders, diabetes and related conditions. Today, it serves patients in more than 120 countries and claims that a Medtronic product is used about every five seconds to save or substantially improve a life somewhere in the world.

Medtronic is organized into seven business units, led by Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management, which specializes in pacemakers, implantable defibrillators and related products. CRDM, as it's known, contributed 37% of fiscal 2008's revenue. The Spinal and Biologics unit, which sells medical devices and bone-growth substitutes, chipped in 22%, and CardioVascular, which markets stents, accounted for 16%.

Other units are organized around neuromodulation, diabetes and surgical technologies, while the smallest, Physio-Control, sells external defibrillators.

Bill Frels, manager of the Mairs & Power Growth Fund (MPGFX), based in neighboring St. Paul, lauds the diversity of Medtronic's revenue stream, as well as the company's cash flow. He says Medtronic's work in fields such as depression, obesity, epilepsy and diabetes could help the company increase its earnings by 11% annually over the long term: "Management knows it needs to grow in a disciplined way that allows for profitability," he says. "That will result in better margins and better returns in the years ahead."

Frels thinks the stock could climb to 60 in the next three years.

Medtronic has been beleaguered by problems in its CRDM unit, whose annual sales growth fell to 2% in the latest fiscal year, from 23% in fiscal 2003.

A key culprit was the voluntary recall, in October 2007, of the company's Sprint Fidelis defibrillation leads — wires that connect an implantable defibrillator to a patient's heart, and that may have been responsible for 13 deaths. The recall shrank the company's market share in implantable cardiac devices to 46% from 53%, says Wise of Leerink Swann, even as Medtronic's cardiac-stent business was slammed by competition, chiefly from Abbott Laboratories' (ABT) new Xience drug-eluting product.

Medtronic has replaced most of its Fidelis products worldwide with newer versions, including a recently approved model incorporating insulation material developed by NASA. The company also won a court victory in February, when a federal judge dismissed dozens of suits related to the recall.

The relatively low number of deaths and the "robustness" of sales of new leads "give us comfort [as to] the limited impact [of the recall] on Medtronic's forward financial performance," Deutsche Bank's Levy says. A lean and mean Medtronic looks set to bounce back. It should report upbeat results that could spur the stock, says Barron's Neil Martin.

The problems in CRDM, and, to a lesser degree, the stent business, help explain why management is beefing up its neuromodulation business. The company expects the unit's revenue to grow 13% to 15% annually in the next five years, compared with a projected growth rate of 5% to 7% for the CRDM unit, and has had recent success in treatments for Parkinson's disease.

Diabetes and neuromodulation "are the two areas where we see the most opportunity for near-, mid- and long-term growth," CEO Hawkins told Barron's before the company entered a "quiet" period surrounding the coming earnings release. "Diabetes is a pandemic, and in neuromodulation we are just beginning to understand the brain. We started with Parkinson's and depression, but are moving into psychic disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and epilepsy."

Hawkins, 55, who became CEO in 2007, notes that the company is investing heavily in information technology and biomedical engineering, including the use of electronic monitoring and sensors. It continues to expand its CareLink system, a remote-monitoring system used by 350,000 patients worldwide to transmit data to their physicians via the Internet. Advances in microelectronics, meanwhile, are allowing for greater miniaturization of pacemakers, drug pumps and other devices.

Medtronic's woes aren't over, and the company has much to do to convince skeptical shareholders its outlook is rosy, after the disappointments of recent years. "Investors would like to see market-share losses slow and stabilize sequentially [quarter to quarter] as the company moves into the new fiscal year," says Deutsche Bank's Levy.

If Medtronic can achieve that much, you won't need a defibrillator to jump-start its shares.

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.

10 Things Contractors Won't Tell You (10 Things)

1. “My license is laughable.”

When you hire a general contractor to come build an addition onto your house, you probably assume you’re getting someone who has spent years learning his craft, giving him the proper credentials to saw a hole in the side of your den. In reality you could be getting a madman with a toolbox who answers to no one. That’s because only 27 states have any state-licensing requirements—and where regulations do exist, they vary. In California, one of the stricter states, aspiring contractors must have four years’ experience, prove their financial solvency, and pass a written exam to become licensed, whereas in South Carolina, they need only two years’ experience along with an exam and submission of financials. Maybe the disparity helps in part to explain why the Better Business Bureau received 1.1 million inquiries in 2006 from people seeking “reliability reports” on specific contractors—to ensure they were trustworthy enough to hire—ranking them third among industries for that request, according to the Council of BBBs.

So how should you shop for a contractor? Ask for and check references, of course. One good resource is Handyman Online (www.handymanonline.com), a referral service that can connect you with contractors in your area who are legitimately licensed, carry liability insurance, and have at least three references. And Tom Pendleton, owner of McLean, Va.–based consulting firm The House Inspector, offers this advice: “Close to 95 percent of home-improvement contractors go out of business or change their name within three years” due to consumer complaints or mismanagement, he says, “so you want a contractor who’s been in business under the same name for more than three years.”

2. “Our contract favors me . . .”

When it’s time to sign on the dotted line, most contractors will present you with a boilerplate agreement based on one created by the American Institute of Architects. It lays out the job’s details, including its scope, materials to be used, and a payment schedule. Not surprisingly, according to Mark Levine, coauthor of The Big Fix-Up, a consumer guide to home remodeling, some contractors will set up a schedule that puts your payments ahead of the work. “When [a contractor] has received 50 percent of the money for 25 percent of the work, that’s when he stops showing up as often,” he says.

Levine suggests a plan such as paying 10 percent down, 25 percent when plumbing and electrical work are done, 25 percent after cabinets and windows are finished, and 25 percent for flooring and painting. “And don’t hand him the last 15 percent on his final day,” Levine says. “It’s called ‘retainage,’ and you should keep it for 30 extra days just to make sure everything is working the way it should.” In addition, if the job is big enough— say, $50,000 or more—Levine suggests investing in four hours of attorney fees to devise a contract that includes a fair payment plan, with retainage, and stipulates that disputes will be settled through arbitration (the quick and easy way to do it).

3. “. . . so I can take your money and run.”

Mark Zarrilli decided to enhance his Wall, N.J., home by putting a new cobblestonelike path around his swimming pool. It was an $11,000 job, and he paid $7,000 up front to the contractors—supposedly for materials. “They brought somebody in to do the preliminary brickwork, then played a duck-and-run game for three months,” says Zarrilli. “They’d tell me the truck broke down, the wife was sick, the cement company couldn’t deliver. I’ll never get my money back.” Zarrilli took the dispute to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office, who charged the contractor with theft by deception. (The contractor eventually pleaded guilty.)

Mark Herr, former director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, calls this alleged scam “spiking the job,” and it’s one of the worst possible outcomes when you’ve signed a contract that includes a front-loaded payment schedule. “By completing a little bit of the work, they can face only civil rather than criminal charges,” Herr says. You might get sucked into such a scenario if your contractor tells you—like Zarrilli’s did— that the up-front cash is for materials. “Typically,” says Herr, “that happens because the guy needs to pay up front for goods since he has no credit, probably because he screwed up somewhere else.” Your preemptive strategy: Offer to have the materials delivered to your house and to pay for them C.O.D.

4. “Bargains don’t exist in my world.”

Before hiring a contractor, you’ll probably solicit various bids. If one comes in much lower than the others, it’s natural to think you’ve lucked out, but that’s not necessarily the case, says Lisa Curtis, former director of consumer services for the Denver district attorney’s office. Because of the fixed costs of materials and labor, a stunningly low bid is a red flag.

Common tactics include starting a job based on a bargain-basement price, then telling the customer that the work is more complicated (and more costly) than originally thought. Then there’s the contractor who quotes a price that includes windows he knows are subquality; once the job is under way, he’ll present his client with what is clearly a better window and talk him into upgrading. “Ultimately,” Curtis says, “you may pay more than you would have with a reputable person who started off at a reasonably higher price.”

5. “I’ll be back when I damn well feel like it.”

So you found yourself a good contractor. Terrific—but here’s the bad news. When contractors are busy with multiple jobs, as the best in the business inevitably are, you can pretty much expect the schedule for completing your job will go out the window. “If the contractor’s got too many jobs going,” says Pendleton, “the workers might only be in your house for two hours when they should have been there all day.”

One way to guarantee that your job won’t stretch to Wagnerian lengths, he says, is to hire a contractor with a lead person or project manager, “a working supervisor who is on the job from beginning to end.” If the job drags, the contractor still has to pay that person, so it “becomes in the contractor’s interest to finish the job,” Pendleton says.

6. “Your last-minute changes are my retirement fund.”

Steve Velasco, now a project manager for a Southern California civil engineering firm, once worked as a carpenter on a residential job in which the homeowner, just after the house had been fully framed, pointed to a peak in the roof and casually asked, “Wouldn’t a window be nice there?” As Velasco recalls, “The architect told us to go ahead and do it, and suddenly, he had spent $10,000 of the homeowner’s money.” Why so much? Because making changes in the middle of construction is the most expensive way to proceed, since work has to be undone and redone to accommodate the new plan. Indeed, Baker has described “while you’re at it” as “the four most expensive words in the English language.”

Architect Richard Hornberger advises that you spend time on the front end devising a plan, then commit yourself to living with it. And if you need to make a change, do it the way architects do: “Give the contractor a proposal request, in writing,” he says. “Then, in writing, you get back a change order that lays out what will be done, how much it will cost, and how much additional time it will take.”

7. “If it looks good, I don’t care if it’s done right.”

Unless you have X-ray vision or the time to spend days watching your contractors in action, all you may ever know about your job is whether it looks good in the end. Evelyn Yancoskie, director of consumer affairs for Delaware County, Pa., knows of at least one family in her area who got a new roof that, indeed, looked just fine. But the roof was lacking a key element: an ice shield, a threefoot- wide rubber lining that’s crucial for a roof in this part of the country. “The contractor figures that nobody will miss it anyway,” says Yancoskie. “But if you get a cold winter, any water that gets into the gutters will freeze, back up onto the roof, and go underneath the shingles. Without a shield, the ice under the shingles melts and leaks into your house.”

Contractors may also cut corners by skimping on insulation, but packing it with care so that it looks filled in; leaving out plumbing lines and pumps that give you hot water fast; and using low-quality wood, but laying it beautifully so that you don’t notice. “Guys will use substandard plywood, shingles, siding,” says Mark Herr. “In situations where homeowners aren’t likely to ask what’s going on, contractors use subpar materials.” Or just do a subpar job.

What can you do to prevent this sort of behavior? Check with your state’s department of consumer affairs to see if, like New Jersey, it requires its contractors to be registered—meaning they’re insured, must use certain approved language in contracts, agree to list specifics about materials being used, provide start and end dates for a project, and generally operate with full disclosure about their practices. “Registration [with a state board] is really key legal protection for consumers,” says Jeff Lamm, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. Otherwise, you should always get multiple estimates on a project, and never settle on a contractor without checking references carefully.

8. “I delegate to novices.”

Mark Herr recounts the tale of a family that wanted their kitchen redone in time for Easter. One night before the holiday, a subcontractor was sweating to install the garbage disposal. When asked why the job was giving him so much trouble, the worker replied, “When they showed me this morning at Home Depot, I thought I understood.” The story points out a big problem: It’s not just your contractor you have to worry about but also the subcontractors whom he hires to do the actual work. “You need to know in advance who the subcontractors are,” says Herr. “You can’t let the contractor sub anything out without your permission.”

Mark Levine suggests taking things a step further: Visit homes in which your contractor’s carpenter has done the finishing work, and if you like what you see, get it in writing that that particular guy will be hired. “Look to see if there are tight joints in the molding, if cabinets are screwed into the walls rather than nailed, if margins between doors and frames are even all around,” advises Levine. “Those are signs of a good finish carpenter, and they serve as a litmus test. A general contractor who has a real pro doing his finish carpentry is probably hiring real pros to do other stuff as well.”

9. “If I come knocking, you’re better off not answering.”

Courtney Yelle was in his Bucks County, Pa., yard raking leaves when a gleaming pickup truck pulled into his driveway. Yelle says that a clean-cut workman emerged and told him it looked as if his driveway needed to be repaved—which, Yelle admits, was the case. But before he would commit, Yelle, former director of Bucks County Consumer Protection, said he’d need a written estimate along with the worker’s phone number and address. The guy said he’d leave it in the mailbox, according to Yelle, then backed out of the driveway and disappeared forever.

Yelle says that the “worker” was a seasoned scam artist who approaches people’s homes offering to do jobs at bargain-basement prices, often on the premise that he has leftover materials from a nearby project. In reality, if he does the job at all, he’ll do shoddy work with low-grade materials, says Wendy Weinberg, former executive director of the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators. While it sounds like common sense to be suspicious of solicitors, clearly these curbside con artists can be convincing: Lisa Curtis estimates they bilk homeowners out of $20 million per year in Colorado alone.

10. “I’m an environmental disaster.”

Say you have a contractor in your home, replacing those ugly acoustic tiles that have covered the rec room ceiling for 20 years. Early into the job he realizes that the tiles contain asbestos. If he’s responsible, he’ll insist that the poisonous materials be taken out by a licensed asbestos-removal contractor. This will take time and could cost you thousands of dollars; if he’s less than honest, he’ll ask for an extra few hundred bucks to do the job himself.

The problem with the latter solution: Even if the contractor doesn’t make a mistake and release particles of cancercausing dust into the air in or around your home, the long-term repercussions are serious and may have legal consequences—for you. Contractors who aren’t licensed to deal with such materials can’t dispose of them at licensed (and, thus, safe) facilities, says Ross Edward, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. If hazardous materials aren’t disposed of properly, they could leach into soil and ground water. And if your contractor gets caught dumping toxic materials this way, you may be liable, since the pollution came from your property. “These days,” says Edward, “the homeowner has just as much responsibility for the environment as any factory owner.”

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.

Give Your Broker This 5-Part Test

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is part of SmartMoney's annual broker survey special report. For more coverage, see "The SmartMoney 2009 Broker Survey," "Ranking the Full-Service Brokers," and "Should You Dump Your Broker."

The market’s recent swings have many investors raising a crucial question: Does their broker have what it takes to help them get through perilous times, whether it’s the quality of the advice or the clarity of their account statements? We asked analysts and consultants who follow the industry for the best ways to tell if your broker is right for you.

Keeping in Touch

It’s not enough that top executives at big brokerage firms have been reaching out to investors with “Dear Client” letters. Some customers are demanding to hear directly from their broker — with good news or bad — at least once a month and even weekly during painful periods like last fall. When your broker does call, says David Lo of J.D. Power, he or she should spend enough time addressing three crucial points: your portfolio’s recent performance, its current asset allocation and a future investment strategy that works for you. For many investors, hearing from their broker during tough times is far more important than getting the easy call when everything is going right.

State of the Statement

If you think your account statements are confusing, join the club. More than one-fifth of investors say their brokerage statements are difficult to understand — even more challenging than cell phone guides, according to a recent survey by consultants Siegel & Gale. Analysts say the best account statements include a simple summary with a snapshot of how the investor fared during the statement period, plus the total value of the account. The bigger and bolder the type, the better, according to Dalbar, a firm that analyzes brokerage statements. Raymond James added larger fonts and easier-to-read charts and graphs just over a year ago, and that helped the brokerage nail high marks in two recent studies comparing account statements.

Sound Advice

Some customers say that when they wanted to pare back their stock holdings amid last fall’s market crash so they could move to less-risky investments, their brokers dragged their feet or even refused to shift strategies. While experts say a good broker is supposed to push back when he or she thinks a client is being rash, brokers ultimately need to know when to back down and follow directions from the person whose assets are at stake. Brokers may not like it, but these days many clients are more risk-averse than ever. If your broker seems keen on using a particular strategy, but you’re on the fence, try asking what he’s doing with his own investments.

Pushing Products

When SmartMoney recently surveyed full-service clients to see what they valued most about their firm, they ranked professional guidance about investments at the top of their list — even above reasonable commissions and fees. Of course, good brokers ensure that their investors know exactly how a product works by using plain language and clarifying without any jargon. But they should also be able to invest their clients’ money in any number of products, “and not just the house brand,” says Bill Doyle, an industry analyst at Forrester Research. Sometimes that house brand comes with hefty sales charges.

Paying the Price

Will your broker help you save a buck? When it comes to so-called managed accounts, it pays to negotiate. The difference between 1 percent and 1.25 percent may not seem like much, but cutting the annual fee by just a quarter of a percentage point can lead to big savings: $12,500 over the course of a decade on a $500,000 account. And while paying a set fee is typically a better choice in an account with frequent stock trading, buy-and-hold investors might save more money by paying a commission for each trade.

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.

Dymocks in Wellington closes - 12 jobs lost

More fallout from the Madoff scandal

Nuplex confirms full year forecast

Lazard man gets shake-up post at Treasury

APN launches $A99m rights issue to strengthen balance sheet

Obama to unveil tough fuel rules for cars

Lehman seeks probe into sale to Barclays

Hilton picks Taupo for its second NZ hotel

$60b wiped from house values

Congress gives final OK to mortgage fraud bill (Reuters)

Google backs local newspaper mergers in the UK

Bank of England makes £1bn profit from bailouts after riding to rescue of high street lenders

Write-Offs: 05.18.09

$$$ Building A Ponzi Scheme Is Fun and Educational [Daily Intel]

$$$ Do you have a scam-proof personality [Telegraph]

$$$ Man-Skirts For Sale [Racked]

$$$ AMEX to cut 4,000 [WSJ]

$$$ Madoff trustee is suing Fairfield Greenwich Funds, seeking $3.5 billion [WSJ]

Hear: Your Future Mortgage

In Chicago, who's telling whom? katherine_of_chicago/Planet Money Flickr pool

 

On today's Planet Money:

-- Three months ago, Jeff Neilsen sat in his Salt Lake City living room and listened to President Obama announce a new program for homeowners who need to rework their mortgages. He applied to his lender, Wells Fargo, and heard almost nothing. Julia Gordon of the Center for Responsible Lending says his experience is all too typical. She suggests the system is plainly broken.

-- In the U.S., 6 million homeowners are flirting with foreclosure. NPR's Chris Arnold reports that in half those cases, foreclosure appears to benefit no one involved -- not the families and not the banks. With Alex Blumberg, he visits one loan servicer, Ocwen, that reworks 75 percent of its troubled mortgages, as opposed to the industry average of 10 percent. (Chris and Alex produced a segment about this for This American Life.)

-- Firefighter Bob Greiner works at a station in the Chicago suburb of Niles, where he reports a remarkable change since the recession began.

Bonus: You've been approved!

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Intro music: Suicidal Tendencies' "Institutionalized." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

Jessie Sackett writes from Durham, N.C.:

My economic indicator this week is 2: That's the number of new credit card offers I got in the mail this week, the first I've received in probably a year. I don't know if it's because credit is loosening, or if it's because I've been saving more and working hard to pay down my balances, and have therefore improved my credit score and become a more attractive borrower...but either way it felt like 2005 again!

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Warren Buffett Will Not Eat Raw Fish (Of Any Variety)

Michael Lewis has a billion word review of out (actual count: around 4,700) on Alice Schroeder's Warren Buffett biography, Snowball. As is our wont, we've taken the liberty of excerpting the most juvenile parts, which we think dovetail together nicely, and give larger meaning to the whole.

He confines himself to the diet of an eight-year-old, refusing to eat anything much beyond spaghetti, hamburgers, and grilled cheese sandwiches. Schroeder describes a bizarre scene in which Katherine Graham escorted Buffett to dinner at the Manhattan apartment of Sony Chairman Akio Morita. Japanese chefs served plate after plate that Buffett left completely untouched. "By the end of fifteen courses, he still had not eaten a bite," writes Schroeder. "The Moritas could not have been more polite, which added to his humiliation. He was desperate to escape back to Kay's apartment, where popcorn and peanuts and strawberry ice cream awaited him. 'It was the worst,' he says about the meal he did not eat. 'I've had others like it but it was by far the worst. I will never eat Japanese food again.'"

Through it all, Buffett maintained his desire to present to the outside world a life simple and ordinary. He only ever made one public statement on his polygamous family arrangements ("[I]f you knew the people involved, you'd see that it suited all of us quite well"), though he added to Schroeder that "they both need to give, and I'm a great receiver, so it works for them."

The Master Of Money [TNR via AWL]

Study: Recession Hurts Kids

A recession lasting until 2010 is likely to "virtually undo" the progress the nation has made in the economic well-being of children since 1975, the Foundation for Child Development says in a report out today.

The philanthropy's report, coordinated by Duke University researcher Kenneth C. Land, uses a composite index of 28 indicators of child well-being.

Among its projections are that child poverty will peak at 21 percent in 2010, and that 27 percent of children will have at least one parent out of work by then. Also, the report forecasts a drop in median family income for all types of families, most significantly for single-parent households headed by men. The foundation projects that median income for those families will drop from $38,100 in 2007 to $33,300 in 2010, in constant 2007 dollars.

Along with declines in income, the report expects that this recession's housing crisis will disrupt the social relationships of poor children as more families must move or become homeless. The report also asserts that child obesity will rise as parents increasingly turn to lower-cost fast-food.

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Bank of America, Lowe's, MGM Mirage are big movers (AP)

Treasury prices fall as stock market jumps (AP)

Treasury prices fall as stock market jumps (AP)

How the major stock indexes fared Monday (AP)

Will It Never End?

There are many models by which one recovers from public disgrace (Milken comes to mind as an excellent example). Recovery from rank hypocrisy is (or at least should be) far more difficult. Unfortunately, Spitz is still at it:

In my last column, I wrote about how the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the most powerful financial institution in America after the national Fed, has been entirely dominated by Wall Street bankers, without any meaningful public input. In this column, I want to suggest how this governance crisis could be remedied.

Unfortunately, Spitzer has a riled and willing audience and he need only continue to intone barbed breathings about the evil of it all and his audience may well give him a pass on that whole slew of prostitutes thing. Sure, it is amusing to watch Slate capitalize on the detritus of Spitzer's career. But that amusement will run thin quickly when Spitzer leverages it into his next slot- as you know he will.

How To Fix the New York Fed [Slate]

Indicator: Big Bugs

Clip art. cobalt123/Flickr

 

A listener writes from Austin, Texas:

I have such an indicator for you, 5. That is the number of live or dead cockroaches that I have seen in my workplace in the past 2 weeks. This is compared to 0, the amount I saw in the year before. This all just so happens to coincide with the announcement my company made about reducing to contract janitorial services by 30 percent to save money.

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Bank stocks gain on upbeat outlook for sector (AP)

Whalen Says Fed `Plowing Through' Credit Default Swap Mess

25 Rich Athletes Who Went Broke

Athletes may boast eye-popping sports abilities, but when it comes to money, their inner klutzes come out. 78% of former NFL players are broke or financially stressed after retirement, and 60% of former NBA players go broke five years after retiring, according to Sports Illustrated. Broke athletes are practically an epidemic. Read about the 25 athletes who went broke below, and you’ll understand why.

(Note: We estimated most athletes’ earnings. Some numbers may be low.)

25. Raghib “Rocket” Ismael

Notre Dame/Dallas Cowboys star; received the largest 3-year deal in football history
Estimated lifetime earnings: $20 Million

No jail time, drug charges or bankruptcy here, just bad business moves. Financial vultures bled Ismael’s riches by selling him their “fool-proof” investments. After bypassing the NFL as the presumptive #1 pick, Ismael went to the Canadian Football League and signed the largest deal in their history.

He played two years in Canada and 10 in the NFL, earning an estimated $18 million to $20 million in salary alone. He then started to invest in a series of ventures that went bust, including a Rock n’ Roll Café, COZ Records, a movie, cosmetics, nationwide phone-card dispensers, and caligraphy proverbs kiosks.

Today, Ismael does a sports talk show for the Dallas Cowboys—and looks very closely at any money he makes.

24. Scott Eyre

World Series champion, pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies
Estimated lifetime earnings: $10 Million

Eyre, like many of us, was taken for a fool during last year’s stock market/investment madness. His money grew tied up in the $8 billion fraud allegedly perpetrated by Texas financier Robert Allen Stanford. Eyre told the New York Post that 99% of his fortune is frozen and possibly gone. After admitting that he was broke, the Phillies agreed to advance Eyre a portion of his $2 million salary.

23. Evander Holyfield

4-time Heavyweight Champion of the World
Estimated lifetime earnings: $250 million

He had a deal with Diet Coke, a video game, the “Real deal” record label, the “Real Deal” grill, and appeared in numerous TV appearances and 3 films. Then, there was the dancing thing. One wonders how Holyfied had time to lose money. The answer: Children. Holyfield fathered 11 of them.

“I’m not broke; I’m just not liquid,” 45-year-old Holyfield claimed when he narrowly avoided charges that he was around $9,000 behind in court-ordered child support payments. The banks foreclosed on his $10 million dollar home. Even a landscaping firm says the former champ owes them $500k for yard work. Ever since Tyson bit his ear off, it seems everyone wants a piece of the Champ.

22. Jack Clark

MLB player since 1975
Estimated lifetime earnings: $20 million

When Jack Clark declared bankruptcy on listed debts of $11.4 million and assets of $4.8 million, his lawyer made a statement. “He had some expensive hobbies, and I think they got ahead of him.”

Ya think? The man owned 18 automobiles, including a 1990 Ferrari that cost $717k alone. His three customized, tricked out 1992 Mercedes Benzes cost around $125k each. All in all, he still owes money of 17 of his cars, as well as the failed drag racing course he meant to race them on. Add to that half a mil in back taxes, and you have some expensive hobbies, indeed.

21. Johnny Unitas

Hall of Fame quarterback, 3-time MVP, Superbowl champion, 10-time Pro Bowl selection
Estimated lifetime earnings: $4 million

Widely considered one the best pro football QBs of all time, Johnny Unitas set several records that may never be beaten on the football field, like 47 games with a touchdown pass in a row.

He starred in professional football before salaries were measured in millions. His yearly contracts ranged from $7,000, his first in 1956 with the Colts, to $250,000 plus a $175,000 bonus in his last one with the San Diego Chargers in 1973.

After his playing days, he made some money as a TV commentator for CBS. He also invested in tanked business ventures, including a chain of bowling establishments, a prime-rib restaurant, an air-freight company, and Florida real estate investment. He and his wife, Sandra Unitas, filed for personal bankruptcy protection in 1991 after investing in a failed Reisterstown circuit-board manufacturer. He died 11 years later with a lawsuit from his estate hanging over all of his businesses.

20. Deuce McAllister

New Orleans Saint’s all-time rusher, 2-time Pro Bowl star
Estimated lifetime earnings: $70 Million

John Elway got out of the car dealership business early, but Deuce McAllister Nissan, based in Jackson, Miss., didn’t fare as well. The business recently went bankrupt, with McAllister owing Nissan more than $6.6 million plus almost $300,000 in interest on his car dealership. Reports are that he will seek bankruptcy protection. If you want that new Deuce Pathfinder, you better pick it up in a hurry.

19. Bjorn Borg

11 Grand Slam titles; former #1 men’s tennis player in the world
Estimated earnings: $4 million + $4 million in endorsements per year

Borg’s famous Swede cool never made it off the court. After retiring from tennis, Bork overdosed on drugs. Some people speculate that it was a suicide attempt, though Borg denies it. His wife left him after that. Borg then courted a string of women, one of whom police busted on possession of cocaine. He tried launching a clothing line, but failed miserably. Years later, Borg has rebounded after starting an underwear line and a new dating site.

18. Rollie Fingers

Hall of Fame pitcher, 3-time World Series champ; last played for the Milwaukee Brewers
Estimated lifetime earnings: $8 Million

Fingers retired in 1985 and made it four years before investments in pistachio farms, Arabian horses and wind turbines took him down. He filed for bankruptcy in 1992. Creditors claimed he owed more than $4 million; he listed his assets at less than $50,000. He resolved his predicament by selling baseball cards and going back to work. In 2007, a dispute over back taxes flared up, but Fingers was able to prove he did indeed pay, and was cleared of all wrongdoing.

17. Sheryl Swoopes

3-time gold medal Olympian, 3-time MVP for the WNBA, first pro women’s basketball player
Estimated lifetime earnings: $50 Million

Swoopes, the “Michael Jordan of the WNBA,” scored her own Nike deal for the Jordan-inspired “Air Swoopes” brand. Swoopes, a marketing machine, enjoyed a stint as the face of the WNBA, but her fortunes didn’t last. She filed for bankruptcy in 2004, citing mismanagement by her agents and layers. She owed nearly $750,000.

16. Scott Harrison

First Scottish boxer to gain the World Boxing Federation featherweight title
Estimated lifetime earnings: $5 million

The pride of Scotland had problems with drinking, drugs and consequently the law. A world champion in 2003, Harrison’s life later spun out of control. In 2006, he pulled out of a fight to check into rehab.

It didn’t work. The same year, police in Spain arrested him on charges of auto theft and assault. Officials stripped him of his title and his license to box for failing to show up for a fight and weigh in. Early in 2007, police arrested Harrison for valium possession, police assault, resisting arrest, and refusing to leave a pub. A few months later he was arrested again for starting a fight in a brothel. By July 2007, the ever-classy Harrison declared bankruptcy after losing his last fight…over unpaid taxes.

15. Leon Spinks

Beat Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight title; Olympic gold medalist
Estimated lifetime earnings: $4.5 million over two fights

Before he lost his second fight with Ali, Spinks’ personal life slid downhill. Police arrested him four times for everything from driving the wrong way to cocaine possession. The WBC stripped him of the belt before the fight, but it went on for the WBA belt. Spinks’ lawyers and managers allegedly spent or took all of his money. Thieves mugged him on the street. In 1990, he found his son shot dead inside in his girlfriend’s car.

Spinks eventually worked for Mike Ditka as a Restaurant greeter. The company fired him. Most recently, he is stable and working at a gym again, only this time it is the YMCA, and he is the janitor.

14. Dorothy Hamill

Gold medalist skater; America’s first darling Olympian
Estimated earnings: $1-2 million/year in endorsements

After receiving a gold medal in the 1976 Olympics, Dorothy Hamill became America’s first Olympic darling. After that, her luck turned. A competing skater’s coach tried to run her over. She made a bad purchase in the dying Ice Capades franchise. She survived breast cancer, two divorces, and a gig as a Vioxx spokesperson. A final, failed investment in an Arizona ice skating rink pulled her into bankruptcy.

13. Lawrence Taylor

New York Giants MVP, sack leader, Hall of Famer, 2-time Superbowl champ
Estimated lifetime earnings: $50 million

After retiring from his superstar NFL career, Lawrence Taylor enjoyed his celebrity to the fullest. Known for cavorting with women, openly using cocaine and drinking late into the night, the former defensive end spiraled downwards after he left the league. Police jailed him three times for possession. The IRS caught him for filing a false tax return. Rumors claimed he was involved in a drug and gun ring. He finally declared bankruptcy in 1998. One year later, the Pro Football Hall of Fame rewarded him for cleaning up his act by inducting him.

12. Darren McCarty

Stanley Cup winner, 11-year Detroit Red Wings player
Estimated lifetime earnings: $10 million

McCarty declared bankruptcy after listing over $6 million in debts. He blamed his business partner for looting their company. One court filing states that MCCarty had a 20% stake in a company with one real asset: a truck stop. His partner took out a $3 million dollar loan on that one asset, then forged McCarty’s signature for a $650,000 salary pull. Ouch.

11. Travis Henry

Starting running back for the Buffalo Bills, Pro Bowl selection
Estimated lifetime earnings: $20 million

Henry has 9 kids by 9 different mommas. He was just indicted on charges of cocaine trafficking. He was also just jailed after trying and failing to temporarily reduce one of his nine child-support payments, stating he could no longer afford to pay $3,000/month. He also fell $16,600 behind in payments for his child in Frostproof, Fla. His estimated yearly payments for the children are roughly $170,000.

To top off his pain, he just blew a $25 million contract with Broncos because of the narcotics trafficking thing and failed drug tests.

Click Here For Rich Athletes Who Went Broke: 10-1

Newsweek: Hank Paulson Basically Bumbling Imbecile

Kidding, but seriously, they sort of seem to be hinting at that. Every single profile you've ever read of the former Treasury Secretary, under contract, must include at least one graph mentioning the fact that Bald is big, tall, could palm a basketball, and intimidates the hell out of anyone within a 200 foot radius, a skill he was born with but honed as a lineman at Dartmouth. Seriously, he actually will kill you, or at least look at you in such a way that indicates bones have the potential to be broken if things don't go his way (Ken Lewis knows what we're talkin about). But no one to this point has gone so far to suggest that the brawn vastly dwarfs the brain, or that Bald came to run Goldman in spite of not having much going on up in that dome piece. Until now.

Paulson was known as "the Hammer" as a 6-foot-1, 200-pound tackle on the Dartmouth football team because he seemed to explode at the snap of the ball. Tenacity and drive, more than brainpower, have distinguished his career. He has been a champion arm-twister and shrewd enough: when he rescued Goldman's IPO in the wake of the Russian financial crash in 1998 he made hundreds of millions for his partners and shortly thereafter became their leader. Yet Paulson can be oddly inarticulate for such a powerful man. He is not a Wall Street smoothie: no trophy wife (he remains married to his college sweetheart), and at Goldman he was known for wearing penny loafers, not handmade Italian shoes. He's an avid bird watcher. A nonsmoking, nondrinking Christian Scientist, he did not head for the Hamptons on the weekend but visited his mother in Barrington, Ill. Yet, physically imposing, radiating a confident forcefulness, he came to stand for the dominating Goldman brand. In the Wall Street hierarchy, Goldman is the smartest and most confident of them all: the firm makes bets, but only ones it feels sure to win.

Suck It, Frank, The Safecracker Was Here First

"I don't think our government should set caps on compensation," Geithner said in an appearance at the National Press Club today in Washington. Instead, the government should lay out constraints on the incentives provided by compensation plans, so that executives aren't paid to take excessive short- term risk, he said.

You tell 'em, Safecracker!

Geithner Says Government Shouldn't Cap Executive Compensation [Bloomberg]

Cliff Asness Is Waiting For An Apology From The Government, Vikram Pandit Wants To Implement "Shock Therapy" At Citi

As you're aware, having seen the promos for the last week, CNBC will air "Meeting of the Minds" tonight at 9PM, a previously taped roundtable interview with Maria Bartiromo, Jack Welch, Larry Fink, Mohamed El Elarian, Vikram Pandit, Cliff Asness and others. Many, many topics were covered (life, love, the art of making the perfect bacon, egg and cheese sandwich), including the anger and confusion the big brains at the table are currently feeling, and what they want/need moving forward. Sayeth Cliff:

You talk about trust I want to see someone in government someone who was telling us Freddie and Fannie were fine three weeks before they were incredibly not fine ever say anything sounding like a mea culpa. Jack called it a hair shirt, we're all...I apologized to my clients we are all walking around apologizing.

If he can do it, so can you, government hacks! Waiting. Just waiting. (In lieu of an apology, he'll take Barney Frank wearing a hair shirt.)

And here's Vikula on compensation, which I guess everyone at Citi should take careful note of:

I hear the president talking what America's feeling. They're feeling exactly what Mark said, a lot of things went wrong, a lot of people are involved, but the bankers and the banking systems was at the heart of this and there has to be some retribution and by the way there is a strong sense of belief that we didn't have the guardrails to control capitalism, therefore we didn't have the right governments and compensation was a big part of having the right governments in place. And if you want to shift to the right kind of compensation governance, the right kind of incentives, such as what Jack designed at GE. Sometimes you need shock therapy.

Webb Discusses U.S. Used Car Market and Dealerships

Annunziata Says Worst Is Still Ahead for Banks

Nebraska town fights to keep bank

What went on when Bear Stearns fell

Wage theft victims fight for rights

Scribd's turning a page to sell eBooks

U.K. House speaker in battle to save job

Interest-free loans to get biz on track

Can the economy support market rally?

Barney Frank Would Appreicate It If Tim Geithner Would Move His Ass On Hiring People

So far, nearly four months after the Obama administration took power, the Treasury Department is still without a deputy secretary. Two undersecretary positions -- including the vital post overseeing domestic finance -- have not been filled and many other division heads have not been named. The White House vetting of potential candidates has proven arduous, and nearly all of those individuals nominated have yet to win Senate confirmation and fill out Geithner's team.

"I've seen the effect of this, and I wish he would move quicker to put in his own people," said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

"Alternatively, please, by all means, move at a glacial pace," Frank told T. Geith with his trademark snark and knack for quoting Anne Hathaway movies.

At Geithner's Treasury, Key Decisions On Hold [Washington Post via Clusterstock]

Presented By:

Trump Marks Self To Market

A man on the move. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

 

Or maybe he marks himself to model. I'm not sure what you'd call this:

"My net worth fluctuates, and it goes up and down with markets and with attitudes and with feelings, even my own feeling," [Donald Trump] told lawyers in the December 2007 deposition.

That's from a Wall Street Journal dispatch on Trump's suit over defamation. The real estate mogul claims he was libeled in 2005 when an author put his net worth at between $150 and $200 million instead of the billions he claims to be worth.

However Trump counts up his fortune, he's itching for damages in large nominal terms. He predicted in an interview with the Journal that "the publishing company will pay me hundreds of millions of dollars." The paper says that the author, Timothy O'Brien, declined to comment on the ongoing court case.

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Guess The Dow

How could we resist? A crazy day indeed.

You know the rules. Closest without going under. Bets closed 30 before the bell. In the event of the tie we take the earlier entry.

GO!

A Personal Crisis

The New York Times Magazine had a great series of articles about debt this weekend. I really enjoyed Edmund Andrews' piece on his own "Personal Credit Crisis."

Andrews writes:

I felt like a crack addict calling up my dealer. It was April 2006, and I had just reached Bob Andrews, our once and future mortgage broker, on his cellphone.

I was surprised at how glad I was to hear his voice. In his own way, Bob knew more about my messy life than almost anybody else. He never seemed judgmental or condescending. Instead, he seemed to think that money trouble and failed marriages were natural parts of life, even for good people with decent jobs. I felt relieved to have the chance to unload my problems and ask for his advice.

Andrews' description of his interactions with his mortgage broker seemed eerily similar to the same techniques being used by credit card companies that Charles Duhigg described in his piece and on the Friday podcast.

Here is Duhigg's description of one woman talking to a credit card representative:

And then Tracey came along. She worked for a company that today is a subsidiary of Bank of America. Tracey had talked to Tiff several times and noticed that there was a mistake on her account -- an automatic payment was going to be deducted twice from her checking account. If that happened, Tiff's other checks would bounce.

"I told her, thank you so much for catching that," Tiff recalled. "And then we talked for over an hour about my problems and raising kids. She was amazing. She was so similar to me. She gave me her direct number and said that I should call her directly anytime I had any questions or just needed to talk about what was going on."

It used to be the lenders that wanted to be your friend. These days it's the collectors.

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Maureen Dowd, Plagiarism, and Laziness

This is the excerpt from Marshall’s post:

More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when we were looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq.

Below is the excerpt from Dowd’s Sunday column:

More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when the Bush crowd was looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq.
Gawker has more:

Last night, Dowd admitted to plagiarizing Marshall.

On Sunday night, in emails to “The Nytpicker,” a blog devoted to covering the goings-on at the New York Times, and the Huffington Post, Dowd admitted that the similarities weren’t accidental and that she had indeed plagiarized Marshall, though she placed the blame for the mishap squarely on one of her friends.

“josh is right. I didn’t read his blog last week, and didn’t have any idea he had made that point until you informed me just now. i was talking to a friend of mine Friday about what I was writing who suggested I make this point, expressing it in a cogent — and I assumed spontaneous — way and I wanted to weave the idea into my column. but, clearly, my friend must have read josh marshall without mentioning that to me. we’re fixing it on the web, to give josh credit, and will include a note, as well as a formal correction tomorrow.”

Having looked at this from every possible angle, would it be completely out of line to state that there’s something distinctly bullshit-y about Dowd’s explanation? Dowd, who ironically played an integral role in exposing Joe Biden’s speech plagiarizing in 1988, needs to explain the “my friend did it” excuse in more detail. Who is this mysterious friend who helps Dowd limp across the finish line of the marathon that is two 750 word columns per week for the Times? Was the conversation in question over the phone, in which Dowd would have written down her friend’s words in a note, or was it via email or instant messenger, where perhaps there’s an electronic record of the exchange? And finally, why was Dowd needing help expressing the thought contained in the passage in question, a sequence of words which, with no disrespect directed at Josh Marshall, don’t seem all that remarkable. It’s a point well made with words, for sure, but it’s not something that couldn’t have been expressed in a number of different ways.

I think Dowd’s mistake had to do with laziness. No writer wants to be accused of plagiarism–it’s a death knell. Dowd knows that as well as anyone else. But she’s an established, eminent columnist. She enjoys the privileges that come with her role, including automatic legitimacy, a built-in audience, and widespread trust. She grew comfortable in her vaunted position, then forgot to be careful.

This week’s events prove that not even the most famous, established columnists are immune from getting called out on their lazy oversights. Her very public lesson means she probably won’t do it again.

Her mistake should remind us all to review where we get lazy, and what our positions make us take for granted.

Going Into Therapy?

Hold up, computer programmers. Devin Dwyer

 

The class of 2009 is facing one of the toughest job markets in decades.

Just 19.7 percent of soon-to-be grads who have applied for jobs will actually have one at graduation, says the National Association of Colleges and Employers. And many haven't even started looking for work: Only 59 percent say they've started a job search, compared with 67 percent at this time last year.

If you're on the job hunt, recent grad or not, consider a career as a network data analyst or mental health counselor.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts those jobs and others like them will be among those posting the largest percent increase in hiring over the next 10 years.

Other occupations projected to grow by 30 percent or more in the next decade include computer software engineers, veterinarians, and personal financial advisers.

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Levitt Says Executive Pay Can't Be Controlled by Laws

Advisors' Lieberman Likes Home Depot, Lowe's

Ostwald Says Bond Markets Are `Troughing Out'

Dixon Says Worst of U.S. Recession Is `Behind Us'

Gattiker Says U.S. Economy at End of Deep Contraction

Does Doing Business Online Require More Trust?

I recently contracted a designer to redesign my websites and take care of some of the more technical aspects of site management that I just don’t care to figure out. It was a big decision, but it was time. After doing some research I settled on a designer I found online. My husband, who works 100% offline, was a little shocked that I would, with the click of a few on-screen buttons, transfer a substantial sum to a virtual stranger’s PayPal account.

Isn’t that a little risky?

I suppose it is. I guess someone could have gone to the trouble to create several websites, run ads, and spend a half hour on the phone with me only to make off with my deposit. However, I’d be taking just as big a risk if I’d met someone down at the local coffee shop and procured their services that way? No risk, no return. 

But I’d even go so far as to say in some cases it’s less risky doing business with someone you only know online. The Internet is making the world smaller. Word gets around fast online. Treat someone unfairly or fail to deliver and your name will be quickly circulated. Just like in a small town. 

It’s really interesting to me how we’re becoming more and more comfortable doing business across the virtual landscape, avatars substituting for face to face familiarity and texts taking the place of the handshake.

I’m still not ready to buy a diamond online, but I don’t trust those guys in person either. 

What do you think - does doing business online require more or less trust than doing business the old fashioned way?

Image Credit: striatic, Flickr