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| Good golly, Google. Search giant steals share from Microsoft's Bing and Yahoo
December 9, 2009 at 8:50 pm
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| Filed under: Technology, Google , Microsoft, Yahoo  The three major search-engine companies have all flooded the media with news of product enhancements and big developments in the past two weeks. Both Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) had big show-and-tell days to highlight some impressive new tricks their tech teams have put together. Microsoft's Bing rolled out enhanced visual search results. Google, meantime, unveiled jaw-dropping automated language translation and voice-activated search features. Then there was Google Goggles, a feature that allows people to snap images and use that as a cue to pull up relevant search results. (Google is not the first to do that but its version is impressive).
All of that said, in the core search market, the month of November was all about Google, as the Mountain View, Calif. market leader grew its U.S. search share by a full percentage point to 71.6%, according to Web traffic tracker Hitwise.Continue reading Good golly, Google. Search giant steals share from Microsoft's Bing and Yahoo Good golly, Google. Search giant steals share from Microsoft's Bing and Yahoo originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| The view from PIMCO: The dollar keeps falling, and that's a good thing
December 9, 2009 at 7:15 pm
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| Filed under: Economy, Investing  What economist or investment managing director isn't advocating a strong dollar policy? A healthy currency usually means a nation's fiscal and monetary policies are solid, it's living within its means and its economy is growing, with goods/services that are competitive in global markets.
Well, put PIMCO Managing Director Scott Mather in the contrarian camp. Mather says additional dollar weakening for the already beaten-down buck, which he called "inevitable," will not only benefit the U.S. but will also help rebalance the global economy. The dollar has weakened about 5% versus the euro and 10% versus the British pound so far in 2009.Continue reading The view from PIMCO: The dollar keeps falling, and that's a good thing The view from PIMCO: The dollar keeps falling, and that's a good thing originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Volkswagen buys a piece of Suzuki, eyes world's largest automaker crown
December 9, 2009 at 7:00 pm
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| Filed under: Economy, Toyota, General Motors  Volkswagen AG (VLKAY) is on its way to becoming the world's largest automaker.
On Wednesday, the maker of the popular Beetle and Jetta models agreed to purchase a 20 percent stake in Suzuki Motor Corp. for $2.5 billion, which will help it gain a foothold in emerging markets like China and India. If the vehicles produced by Suzuki are counted, third-place Volkswagen would be in a neck-and-neck race with first place Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Edmunds.com senior analyst Michelle Krebs tells DailyFinance. General Motors Corp. (GRM) is currently in second place.Continue reading Volkswagen buys a piece of Suzuki, eyes world's largest automaker crown Volkswagen buys a piece of Suzuki, eyes world's largest automaker crown originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Susan Boyle dreams another dream week for Sony, cracks 2009's top sellers
December 9, 2009 at 6:30 pm
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| Filed under: Company News, Media, Sony Last week,  British sensation Susan Boyle set the record for the highest single-sales week of 2009. This week, Boyle continued to lure consumers where they'd resisted going all year: the music aisle.
I Dreamed A Dream, Boyle's debut for Sony's (SNE) Sony Music Entertainment, sold 527,000 copies in the week ending December 6, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Combined with the 702,000 copies Dream sold in its first week, its cumulative sales of 1.2 million and counting are impressive -- for 2009, at any rate. In fact, it's now officially one of this year's top 10 bestselling albums.Continue reading Susan Boyle dreams another dream week for Sony, cracks 2009's top sellers Susan Boyle dreams another dream week for Sony, cracks 2009's top sellers originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Tim Armstrong: No more dial-up welfare at AOL
December 9, 2009 at 4:30 pm
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| Filed under: Technology, Media  As you may have heard by now, this is the week that AOL decouples from Time Warner and spins off as an independent venture. CEO Tim Armstrong marked the occasion with a keynote Q&A session at the UBS Global Media & Communications Conference, where he delivered answers polished to a high gloss by his recent investor road show.
Armstrong was gentle but unequivocal in his criticism of the company's pre-2009 strategy and management. In particular, he said, the cash generated by the highly profitable but fast-shrinking dial-up access business has too long served to paper over, or even enable, inefficiency across AOL (which, for the record, owns DailyFinance). "The other part of the company got loose in terms of how it was using assets," he said.Continue reading Tim Armstrong: No more dial-up welfare at AOL Tim Armstrong: No more dial-up welfare at AOL originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Kroger plunges after earnings. Time to buy on weakness?
December 9, 2009 at 3:45 pm
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| Filed under: Investing, Stock Picks, AMD  Shares in Kroger (KR) have tumbled more than 15% since the supermarket giant said Tuesday its third-quarter earnings missed Wall Street's forecast by massive 10 cents a share, prompting the company to cut its outlook.
How can Kroger, a company that should be benefiting from cash-strapped consumers eating more meals at home, be faring so poorly? Price deflation. Yes, traffic to grocery stores is up, but frugal shoppers are increasingly going for stuff that's on sale (which hurts margins). And, of course, there's intense price competition from Wal-Mart (WMT), Supervalu (SVU) and Safeway (SWY). The result was a lousy quarter, with more headwinds to come.Continue reading Kroger plunges after earnings. Time to buy on weakness? Kroger plunges after earnings. Time to buy on weakness? originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| The oil market's conflicting signals complicate OPEC's output choices
December 9, 2009 at 3:00 pm
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| Filed under: Energy, Economy  OPEC is facing a bit of a dilemma as it prepares for a production meeting later this month: Does it evaluate the oil market based on supply and demand fundamentals -- or on the current price? Oil traded late Wednesday afternoon down sharply, to around $70.75 per barrel, after falling on Tuesday. However, it's still up about 100% since this time last year.
The consensus is that OPEC nations, which produce about 40% of the world's oil, won't cut production during a meeting in Luanda, Angola, later this month where the cartel will discuss production policy and output quotas. Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi signaled as much when he told Bloomberg News oil prices are in "the right range" and there is no need to reduce production.Continue reading The oil market's conflicting signals complicate OPEC's output choices The oil market's conflicting signals complicate OPEC's output choices originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Major buzzkill: Study finds caffeine won't sober you up
December 9, 2009 at 2:45 pm
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| Filed under: Healthcare  With the holiday season upon us, a familiar end-of-party ritual is coming under fire. It turns out that drinking coffee after an evening of imbibing your favorite holiday cocktails doesn't actually sober you up, new research finds. In fact, caffeine may make matters worse: it can give you a false sense of your sobriety and your ability to, say, drive a car -- even though you're still just as intoxicated.
"Caffeine will make you less sleepy and maybe you are less likely to fall asleep behind the wheel, but it won't make you any less drunk," says the study's co-author Thomas Gould, an associate professor of psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia. "If you need to stop quickly, you are not going to have the braking time you normally have when you're sober. You are not going to be able to quickly and properly make choices."Continue reading Major buzzkill: Study finds caffeine won't sober you up Major buzzkill: Study finds caffeine won't sober you up originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Holiday jobs highlight underemployment crisis
December 9, 2009 at 2:30 pm
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| Filed under: Economy  First the good news: According to the U..S Department of Labor Statistics, the November jobless rate fell to 10%, a 0.2% improvement over October, when unemployment hit its highest level since 1983. Better yet, according to the Kronos Retail Labor Index, 3.87% percent of job applications currently lead to a hiring. This is the highest percentage in over a year.
The trouble is, those numbers translate into an economy in which 1 in 10 people is still out of work and 96.13% of job applications end up in the trash. What's more, even the healthy economic bounce that Kronos is reporting is likely the result of the roughly 600,000 seasonal jobs that The Wall Street Journal has predicted for this year. The retail sector has shed 850,000 jobs since 2007, which means that this temporary jump still represents a net loss of a quarter million paychecks.Continue reading Holiday jobs highlight underemployment crisis Holiday jobs highlight underemployment crisis originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Massucci's Take: Can a fat tax fix our health care system?
December 9, 2009 at 2:15 pm
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| Filed under: Columns, Economy, People, Healthcare  How much does your illness cost you and your insurer? According to a recent study by General Electric (GE) and the U.S. Department of Health's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a 50-year old with diabetes will rack up more than $6,600 in medical bills over the course of a year; someone who has acid reflux will incur $5,500 in annual costs.
The high cost of illness, insurance and treatments is one of the key factors driving the U.S. health care reform debate in Washington. The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which was published last week, allows people to see just how much certain illnesses will cost them and their insurer based on age and, of course, the condition. After looking at these charts you'll pray you never get diagnosed with diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis or emphysema.Continue reading Massucci's Take: Can a fat tax fix our health care system? Massucci's Take: Can a fat tax fix our health care system? originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Media World: Should parents wage war on video games?
December 9, 2009 at 1:30 pm
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| Filed under: Technology, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo  When I grew up in the '70s and '80s, my parents needed a crowbar to pry me away from the TV set. But these days, parents are increasingly waging a similar battle against video gaming systems, and losing.
More than 80% of U.S. kids between 2 and 17 regularly play video games, according to market research firm NPD Group. NPD estimates that 55.7 million children under 18 are "current gamers," 9.7 million of them under 5. And kids between 12 and 14 play video games for 10.6 hours a week.Continue reading Media World: Should parents wage war on video games? Media World: Should parents wage war on video games? originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Random House cleans house again, splitting Crown for digital future
December 9, 2009 at 12:30 pm
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| Filed under: Company News, People, Media, News Corp.  Just three years ago, the Crown Publishing Group was the most profitable division of Random House, the largest U.S. trade publisher of the media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Boldface names -- Barack Obama, Rachael Ray, Deepak Chopra, Ann Coulter -- produced a string of hits. And narrative non-fiction and thrillers, like Erik Larson's Devil in the White City and Max Brooks's World War Z, were selling big, too.Continue reading Random House cleans house again, splitting Crown for digital future Random House cleans house again, splitting Crown for digital future originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Gatorade drops Tiger Woods-endorsed drink
December 9, 2009 at 12:00 pm
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| Filed under: Company News, People, Pepsico  It's hard to ignore the timing of Pepsico (PEP) brand Gatorade's announcement Tuesday that it would discontinue Gatorade Tiger (R) Focus sports drink (just like regular Gatorade, but in special Tiger Woods flavors and with 25% more electrolytes). On the Gatorade press site, several recent releases still announce excitement over the drink's launch; the golf star is quoted as saying, "I've experienced a lot of amazing moments in my golf career, but Gatorade Tiger is taking me someplace I never imagined with this campaign."
Where it has taken him, specifically, is to December 2009, the month in which, thus far, the number of Woods' rumored mistresses continues to exceed the date. (Writing on December 9, we're at 10, according to gossip site TMZ.) In this week's special at local Kroger (KR) Fred Meyer stores --10 32-ounce containers of Gatorade Tiger for $10 --Tiger's eyes stare out from bottles of Cool Fusion citrus blend and Quiet Storm grape blend with the famous steely gaze that now seems a little creepy.Continue reading Gatorade drops Tiger Woods-endorsed drink Gatorade drops Tiger Woods-endorsed drink originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Madoff victims may recover more cash via new tax rules than from clawbacks
December 9, 2009 at 11:30 am
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| Filed under: Economy, People, Investing  Bernard Madoff's victims may recover more of their lost funds by filing tax claims than they could hope to get from trustee Irving Picard's recovery efforts. So far, he's recovered only about $1.5 billion in assets to be split among customers with estimated losses of $19.4 billion. Picard has also filed lawsuits to recover another $15 billion from some of the Madoff firm's institutional clients and individuals, but how much of that will be clawed back -- if any -- remains to be see.
While some investors have received insurance payouts of $500,000 each from the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, certain victims are finding that the fastest way to recover some of their losses is by filing for tax refunds. As victims of a Ponzi scheme, they can generally deduct nearly all their qualified loses, including any "phantom income" (income reported, but never taken out of the account) in the year the fraud was discovered. This speeds up the process because victims normally would have to wait for years to deduct their losses.Continue reading Madoff victims may recover more cash via new tax rules than from clawbacks Madoff victims may recover more cash via new tax rules than from clawbacks originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Goldman Sachs' favorite emerging-market bet for 2010
December 9, 2009 at 11:00 am
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| Filed under: Energy, Investing, Goldman Sachs , ETFs  The growth stories in the BRIC countries appear in sharp contrast to the view in developed markets, which are struggling to stabilize and reignite wide swaths of their economies; leading indices in Brazil, Russia, India, and China have all handily outperformed the S&P 500 ($SPX) in 2009. But only one country was singled out by Goldman Sachs (GS) macroeconomic and commodity analysts in a note to clients highlighting the group's "Top Trades for 2010" -- and that is the low organic growth, commodity-driven economy of Russia.
Citing a "still bullish long-term view on energy and the broader commodity complex," Goldman is targeting a 25% return from a U.S. dollar-denominated index known as the Russian Depository Index (RDX), of which three stocks -- Gazprom (OGZPY), Lukoil (LUKOY) and the oil company Rosneft -- comprise more than 50% of the weighting. In addition to oil and natural gas, the index also has companies exposed to steel, gold and nickel. Goldman estimates that oil prices will average $90 per barrel in 2010, which will allow a quick and healthy rebound in profits for Russian energy companies, leading to the stocks trading at a mere seven times forward earnings. Continue reading Goldman Sachs' favorite emerging-market bet for 2010 Goldman Sachs' favorite emerging-market bet for 2010 originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Coming to your mall: New stores, European fashion, supermarkets
December 9, 2009 at 10:30 am
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| Filed under: Economy, JC Penney, Sears Holdings Corp., TJX  Your local mall may look less like a ghost town this time next year. Expect to see more stores opening in 2010 to replace those lost during the recession. And some of the shopping centers will take on an increasingly international flavor, as a variety of European chains are expanding rapidly into the U.S.
Throughout the year, recession-wary merchants have been going through their real-estate holdings like Santa parsing naughty and nice children, according to shopping mall developers. And having survived 2009 with less carnage than feared, retailers are expected to open stores next year carefully, but steadily.Continue reading Coming to your mall: New stores, European fashion, supermarkets Coming to your mall: New stores, European fashion, supermarkets originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| AOL reboots 10 years after Time Warner merger, with a bold bet on content
December 9, 2009 at 10:00 am
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| Filed under: Company News, Technology, Media, Google , Time Warner  The AOL Time Warner merger of 2000 created a $160 billion colossus that fused America Online, the dominant Internet-access business of the 1990s, with Time Warner, the traditional media mammoth. But in a decade rocked by two recessions, Web access gave way to messaging, search and advertising -- and upstart Google (GOOG) overtook the merged company as the world's biggest Internet giant.Continue reading AOL reboots 10 years after Time Warner merger, with a bold bet on content AOL reboots 10 years after Time Warner merger, with a bold bet on content originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Stocks in the news: Texas Instruments, PepsiCo, Apple
December 9, 2009 at 9:15 am
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| Filed under: Company News, Investing Texas Instruments (TXN) lifted its fourth-quarter outlook, but the sales forecast disappointed investors. Sales will be between $2.9 billion and $3.02 billion this quarter, compared with a previous forecast of $2.78 billion to $3.02 billion. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast $2.93 billion on average. Shares declined 2% in pre-market trading.
PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) lowered the top end of its revenue and earnings outlooks for fiscal 2009 below Wall Street estimates, but reiterated its 2010 guidance on Tuesday. The reason is it stepping up investments in projects aimed at increasing its growth and profitability amid falling North American soft drink sales. PepsiCo also said it had reached a distribution agreement for certain Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (DPS) brands. Shares fell 1.5% ahead of the bell.Continue reading Stocks in the news: Texas Instruments, PepsiCo, Apple Stocks in the news: Texas Instruments, PepsiCo, Apple originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| With little time to waste, CEO Ed Whitacre accelerates changes at GM
December 9, 2009 at 9:00 am
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| Filed under: Ford Motor Co., Apple, General Motors  In fashioning a new way forward for General Motors, Chairman and interim CEO Ed Whitacre has a formidable task ahead of him. In addition to find new leadership to help reverse GM's decades-long slide, Whitacre must focus on getting new products to market, repairing the venerable automaker's image with skeptical consumers and improving relationships with dealers angered over the recent shuttering of hundreds of showrooms across the country.
But if there is one thing Whitacre "gets," it's something that his predecessor, Frederick "Fritz" Henderson, who suddenly resigned last week, seemingly didn't -- that Detroit-based GM needs to accelerate its turnaround. Just within the few last days, Whitacre has named new management in key posts and has narrowed his search for a new chief financial officer, which he hopes to name within the next few weeks.Continue reading With little time to waste, CEO Ed Whitacre accelerates changes at GM With little time to waste, CEO Ed Whitacre accelerates changes at GM originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Daily Blogwatch: Top 10 turnaround stocks, top six tech stocks, top 10 tech failures
December 9, 2009 at 8:30 am
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| Filed under: Company News, Columns, Economy, Earnings The top 10 tech failures of 2009. ____________ Phew! Coffee can reduce prostate cancer risk. Good to know since I drink eight cups of coffee a day and I'm over 40 years old. ____________ Doom, Gloom, Boom guy Marc Faber questions whether Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke can stop the next bubble. I, on the other hand, am praying Bernanke can't stop the next bubble. Bring it on, Ben! ____________ Continue reading Daily Blogwatch: Top 10 turnaround stocks, top six tech stocks, top 10 tech failures Daily Blogwatch: Top 10 turnaround stocks, top six tech stocks, top 10 tech failures originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Chinese carmakers surge as sales top 12 million, Suzuki gets a boost from VW
December 9, 2009 at 7:00 am
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| Filed under: Economy, Investing  In Asia Wednesday, major indexes closed lower. In Japan, the Nikkei Index fell 1.3% to 10,005 and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index was down 1.4% to close at 21,742. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.7%, ending the day at 3,240.
Cars were the talk of the town today as the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced that this year's car sales have topped 12 million units so far, up more than 30 percent from last year, and that November sales for all vehicles were up 98%. Bloomberg reports that more than 20% of the cars sold have a price tag of around $5,000, putting pressure on carmakers to develop inexpensive, small cars to cater to the Asian market as opposed to the enormous, gas-guzzling SUVs still popular in the U.S.Continue reading Chinese carmakers surge as sales top 12 million, Suzuki gets a boost from VW Chinese carmakers surge as sales top 12 million, Suzuki gets a boost from VW originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments |
| Finally, an end to the sharp drop in home values
December 9, 2009 at 5:00 am
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| Filed under: Real Estate  Zillow, the real estate home price research company, says that the value of residential real estate ended its sickening drop in 2009. The firm's chief economist writes, "Total home values in the United States fell $489 billion in the first 11 months of 2009. A large drop, to be sure, but it marks a significant improvement from 2008, when homes lost a total of $3.6 trillion in values." Zillow says that residential real estate values actually rose in 48 of the 154 markets that it tracks.
The largest gains in home values were in Providence, Boston, and Denver. But markets including LA, Chicago, and NYC were still in trouble based on data from January through November. Zillow speculates that low mortgage rates and government assistance programs were helping real estate values. Continue reading Finally, an end to the sharp drop in home values Finally, an end to the sharp drop in home values originally appeared on DailyFinance on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments | | |  |
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"There have been long-standing concerns regarding the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) oversight of postmarket drug safety." So begins a Government Accountability Office (GOA) 
It will be a tough act, maybe tougher than winning all those golf tournaments. But Tiger Woods is a big business that used to generate $100 million a year and gave him a $1 billion net worth, as I 
Just in time for the Copenhagen climate summit, Google (
A report by the Congressional Oversight Panel credits the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program with keeping the financial system from collapsing in late 2008, according to 
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced Wednesday that the administration will extend the government's financial bailout program until next fall.
Broker Charles Schwab (
After writing BusinessWeek's widely read Inside Wall Street column for 28 years, I'm moving. From now on, you'll find Inside Wall Street only online at AOL's terrific new financial resource, DailyFinance. Though relocated, the column will maintain its particular purpose: to be an "equal opportunity" service that gives the small guy -- the individual investor -- a fair shake. 
U.S. stocks are poised to open higher Wednesday morning, with investors hoping to recoup some of Tuesday's losses. But in markets overseas today, concerns are growing that some countries may not be able to repay their debt. In the U.S., discussions of a TARP extension and the health care reform bill are also in focus this morning.