The European Central Bank is likely to refuse to show its hand on how it will help cut Greece
A online cash advance is a service provided by most credit card and charge card issuers.
Prime Minister Mario Monti
Payday loans no faxing fall on the less risky side simply because the money loaned to you is a percentage of your next paycheck.
For the first time, Indian prosecutors are taking Google, Yahoo, Facebook and other networking sites to court for refusing to remove material considered insulting to Indian leaders and major religious figures.
Government officials are upset about material insulting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ruling Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi and major religious figures. Some illustrations have shown Singh and Gandhi in compromising positions and pigs running through Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.
On Friday, the federal government told a New Delhi court that there was sufficient material to proceed against 21 social networking sites for offenses of “promoting enmity between classes and causing prejudice to national integration,” according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
The cases, which PTI said name companies including Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft, represent a new risk of doing business in the nation of more than 1 billion people, which is looking to technology to boost its economy and standard of living. The dispute highlights India’s difficulty in balancing the Internet culture of freewheeling discourse with its homegrown religious and political sensitivities.
Convictions could bring fines and up to five years’ imprisonment, through prosecutors have named only the companies involved rather than any executives. Metropolitan Magistrate Sudesh Kumar on Friday asked India’s External Affairs Ministry to serve summons to officials of foreign-based companies for court appearances March 13 my credit score.
In December, Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal said he had spoken repeatedly with officials from major Internet companies over the past three months and asked them to come up with a voluntary framework to keep offensive material off the Internet. He said that the companies told him there was nothing they could do.
There was no immediate comment by the networking sites after Friday’s court proceedings.
However, Facebook said last month that it would remove content that “is hateful, threatening, incites violence or contains nudity.”
Google said in a December statement that it removes content that violates local law and its own standards.
“But when content is legal and doesn’t violate our policies, we won’t remove it just because it’s controversial, as we believe that people’s differing views, so long as they’re legal, should be respected and protected,” Google said in a statement in December.
Sibal had shown reporters Web illustrations showing Singh and Gandhi in compromising positions as well as a site showing pigs running through Islam’s holy city of Mecca, a clear insult to Muslims.
Sibal said the Internet companies had told him that they were applying U.S. standards to their sites, and he objected, saying that they needed to be sensitive to Indian sensibilities.
The editor of a British tabloid has outlined a culture where reporters exaggerate headlines, dramatize stories, and occasionally go too far.
Daily Star Editor Dawn Neesom was speaking at the judge-led inquiry into British media ethics set up in the wake of the phone hacking scandal centered on the now-defunct News of the World tabloid
She shied away from claims that her paper played fast and loose with the truth, but acknowledged that the paper’s mission was “to put a smile on people’s faces payday loans.”
Neesom said Thursday: “Occasionally, I admit, we do cross lines. But we do have standards.”
The Star is owned by media magnate Richard Desmond, who is also to give evidence at the inquiry.
Desmond also publishes the Daily Express and celebrity magazines OK! and New!
Imagine this: You open your eyes, and find yourself standing in front of a tall, lean fellow. He has a long white beard, and wears a long white robe.
Big Pearly Gates loom up behind him. It’s St. Peter, and he looks ticked off.
He’s sitting at a desk with a big book open to a page with your name on it. It’s time for your final performance appraisal.
Pete is a sourpuss. “Well,” he says, fingering a page. “I see you cheated on your eighth-grade English test. And that was a very nasty thing you did to Mary Murphy’s pigtail.”
“Uh, I was just a kid and …”
“Ahem! That’s enough out of you,” gruffs Pete. “Now moving on to your adulthood. I see you were in church all of twice last year. Couldn’t drag your sorry carcass out of bed, huh? And you were chintzy on the United Way contribution.”
You’re sweating. It’s getting warm.
“Now, let us review your investment portfolio,” says old Pete. “What’s this? Altria? Isn’t that a tobacco stock? And here’s a whiskey stock. And Playboy Enterprises! Great balls of fire!”
St. Peter raises his eyebrows and pins you with a stare.
“Well, just how much money did you make from sin?” asks the saint.
At this point, you’re doing a little dance. The ground under your toes is getting very, very hot.
OK, wake up now.
A dream like that might get you thinking about socially responsible investing. There are about 250 mutual funds that promise to ally you with the angels. They screen out companies engaged in vices, war, pollution and workplace meanness while investing in companies that are green, peaceful, socially sensitive and sweet to employees. If you need some quick salve for your guilty conscience, there you go.
The nice thing is that you can feel all smug and socially superior without losing investment return. There have been lots of studies on socially sensitive fund performance, and they’ve generally concluded that social screens have little effect on investment return over the long haul, says David Kathman, analyst for Morningstar, the investment analysis firm.
Over shorter periods, the screens can both help and hurt. For instance, take the Amana Income fund. It invests according to Islamic principles, which means avoiding banks that charge interest. That helped the fund a lot in 2008, when the banking system nearly collapsed. It hurt in 2009 and 2010 when banks bounced back somewhat.
The Domini Social Equity fund screens for environmental behavior and good treatment of workers overnight pay day loans. During the 1990s, that moved its investments away from dirty industries toward technology companies where workers brought dogs to work and played foosball in the office.
That helped Domini shine in the late 1990s, while the tech bubble was inflating, and pulled down returns when the bubble popped.
“It tends to even out,” says Kathman.
That gets us to another thing about such funds. They vary in what they consider responsible. Some lean toward religious principles, others favor the environment. Some ban alcohol stocks. Others will tipple away. Defense stocks? Nuclear power? OK with one fund, not another.
You can find a handy guide to such funds, with performance returns and social screens, at ussif.org/resources/mfpc.
It’s harder to determine whether social investing does anything to change society. In theory, the movement would switch capital away from disfavored companies and toward favored ones. As the shunned companies’ stock price falls, management would change its behavior. Rewarded companies would get even nicer.
But are there enough bleeding hearts to swing a stock price? The U.S. Social Investment Forum, the movement’s trade group, claims heavy clout: $3.07 trillion out of $25.2 trillion in the U.S. investment marketplace is run in a socially conscious way, the group says.
Of course, its definition is pretty broad. It includes mutual funds that are perfectly happy to own a sin stock or a polluter, as long as they can hector management through shareholder proposals and the like. Investors qualify if they deposit money in banks with good community lending records.
With so many different social agendas, influence gets diluted. In fact, there’s some academic evidence that socially shunned stocks do a little better than others. Socially blessed stocks do a little better, too.
Perhaps the answer lies in observing St. Louis. The movement has been around for a couple of decades now, and you can still buy a pack of Camels. Boeing keeps churning out fighter jets. Ameren keeps burning coal, and we’re still a town that loves beer.
Socially conscious investing may get you points with St. Peter. But the CEOs of the world don’t seem to care much.
The holiday shopping season turned out to be two seasons: the Black Friday binge and a last-minute surge.
Together, they added up to decent sales gains for retailers. And the doldrums in between showed how shoppers have learned to wait for the discounts they know will come.
“The days that the American consumer gets excited about 25 percent off are over,” said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group. “Shoppers are keeping their eye on the ball for the big sales events.”
In November, spending rose 4.1 percent. And from Dec. 1 to Dec. 24, it rose 4.7 percent compared with the same period last year, according to research firm ShopperTrak. A 4 percent increase is considered a healthy season.
The higher sales are good news for the economy, because they show shoppers were willing to fund a holiday splurge despite high unemployment and other lingering economic woes. Consumer spending, including major items such as health care, accounts for 70 percent of the economy.
Still, plenty of people are pinched for cash in the slow economic recovery, and they were seeking the best deals, which could squeeze stores’ profits for the fourth quarter, says Hana Ben-Shabat, a partner in the retail practice of A.T. Kearney, a management consulting firm.
Stores have trained even shoppers who are primed to spend to look for a discount.
Heading into the season, stores were nervous that shoppers would be tight-fisted. Many officially opened the season with discounts on TVs and toys that started as early as Thanksgiving Day. Consumers came out in droves, resulting in record spending.
Then the frenzy tapered off. A mild winter and the fact that Christmas fell on a Sunday encouraged people to wait until the last minute and accentuated the peaks and valleys of spending.
Stores started to push more discounts to get shoppers to spend in the finale. In fact, retailers’ promotional e-mails from Sunday, Dec. 18, to Thursday, Dec. 22, spiked 34 percent, compared with the same period a year ago, according to Responsys, which tracks e-mail activity from more than 100 merchants.
According to Beemer’s consumer surveys, 60 percent of shoppers polled were looking for discounts of more than 50 percent to get them to buy. That’s up from last year’s 51 percent of shoppers polled.
Tracey Spears of Locust Grove, Ga., who was shopping Wednesday at Atlanta’s Lenox Square Mall, said she got 75 percent of her holiday shopping done on Black Friday or the day after Thanksgiving. She took advantage of deals, including a Keurig coffee pot from Target and clothes from Hollister on sale.
“I had more money because I got a better bonus this year, but sales are important. You always want to buy stuff cheaper,” she said.
Spears and others helped to create pronounced waves in spending.
“The downs and ups were much more accentuated,” said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers. “It just shows how cautious the consumer is. Consumers are bargain hunters more today than ever before.”
In the week before Christmas, last-minute shoppers gave retailers a 4.5 percent increase in revenue over the same week last year at stores open at least a year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index. The index estimates sales at 24 major chain stores including Macy’s Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp.
Revenue at stores open at least a year is an important measure of a retailer’s performance because it excludes stores that open or close during the year.
Total retail revenue for the week that ended Saturday reached $44 billion, 14.8 percent higher than a year earlier, ShopperTrak estimates.
For the week that ended Nov. 26, which included the traditional start of holiday shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, stores had the biggest sales surge from the week before since 1993, according to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs index.
The post-Black Friday lull was deeper than usual. The two weeks after Thanksgiving weekend showed the biggest percentage sales decline since 2000.
Then, during the final two weeks before Christmas, sales surged again, by the highest rate since 2005, Niemira said.
The season “was good but uneven,” he said.
Stores are expected to benefit when shoppers come back to spend gift cards, because people often spend more than the cards’ value. In addition, gift card sales are recorded only when shoppers redeem them.
People have more money on their cards to spend. According to an ICSC-Goldman Sachs survey of shoppers conducted Sunday, 18 percent of holiday spending went toward gift cards, up from 14.6 percent last year.
A total sales figure for the whole season won’t be available until after Dec. 31. And a fuller holiday spending picture will come Jan. 5, when stores including Target Corp. and Macy’s release December sales figures. Government retail sales data will be released in mid-January.
ICSC said it expects holiday sales for November and December to rise in line with its forecast of 3.5 percent. The National Retail Federation expects total retail sales for November and December combined to increase by 3.8 percent, up from its earlier forecast of 2.8 percent issued back in October. That’s still below the 5.2 percent holiday sales increase in 2010 from the previous year.
As proof that consumers are timing their spending to seek the best bargains, Black Friday was the biggest sales day, as expected, generating sales of $11.4 billion, up 6.6 percent from a year ago, according to ShopperTrak.
But the day after Christmas ranked fourth, behind Black Friday, Friday, Dec. 23, and Saturday, Dec. 17, according to final figures from ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin. Christmas Eve was strong too.
ShopperTrak measures foot traffic in 25,000 stores in the U.S. and blends those figures with economic data and proprietary sales figures from merchants. The data exclude sales from auto dealers, gas stations, restaurants and grocery stores.
“Shoppers are willing to spend when they know the biggest discounts are available,” Martin said.
Brooks Brothers, the upscale men’s and women’s clothier that doesn’t discount before Christmas, learned that this year. The Monday after Christmas, when the company offered discounts up to 40 percent, was a record spending day at its stores and its website.
“The first three weeks leading up to holiday were soft,” Lou Amendola, chief merchandising officer, wrote in an email. “But customers really partook in the after-Christmas sales.”
Best Buy has alerted some customers that it will not be able to fill their online orders, just days before Christmas.
The largest U.S. specialty electronics retailer said late Wednesday that “overwhelming demand for some products from Bestbuy.com has led to a problem redeeming online orders made in November and December.
The Minneapolis company declined Thursday to specify how many orders are affected or which products are out of stock.
The shortages are a black eye for Best Buy, which has beefed up its online campaign to fight off intense competition from online retailers and discount stores. And the holiday season is crucial for retailers like Best Buy because it can make up to 40 percent of annual sales.
Some glitches should not be a surprise with such a massive surge in online shopping this year, analysts said, but there is a risk of a backlash.
“It is a hiccup for the company,” said Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy. “They were kind of behind the curve building out their online channel. They’ve done a good job investing in it, but if you make a lot of rapid changes, inevitably there are going to be growing pains.”
The canceled orders probably won’t make a big difference for Best Buy’s holiday sales this year, but it may lead to more customers looking elsewhere in the future, he said.
“The risk is any consumers affected by canceled orders will be willing to explore other alternatives for online shopping in years to come,” Hottovy said.
Online sales are up 15 percent to $32 billion so far this holiday season, while total sales are up just 2.5 percent.
Even though online sales are a huge boon for retailer, the shift has already created some problems. Discount retailer Target Corp’s site crashed in September because of overwhelming demand for Missoni for Target, a limited designer line of clothing, home goods and accessories.
Best Buy benefitted when its now-defunct rival Circuit City went out of business more than a year ago, but its suffering as Americans hold off on big ticket items and search for deals online and at discounters.
In order to compete, Best Buy has expanded its online offerings, cut back on square footage in the U.S. by closing stores and sought to expand internationally. In its most recent third quarter ending Nov. 26, Best Buy said its net income fell 29 percent as it cut prices in popular categories such as tablets and TVs to drive sales and traffic during the holiday season.
Best Buy shares rose 8 cents to $22.96 in midday trading.
+%3Cp%3E+Consumer+prices+were+flat+in+November+as+Americans+paid+less+for+cars+and+gasoline%2C+a+further+sign+of+a+cooldown+in+inflation+that+could+give+the+Federal+Reserve+more+room+to+help+a+still+weak+economy.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+Labor+Department+said+on+Friday+the+Consumer+Price+Index+was+unchanged+last+month.+Economists+had+expected+an+increase+of+0.1+percent.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EPrices+spiked+earlier+in+the+year%2C+but+the+report+showed+the+trend+has+shifted.+Over+the+past+12+months%2C+prices+have+risen+3.4+percent.+That+marked+a+second+monthly+decline+from+a+three-year+high+in+September.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+report+%22leaves+the+Fed+ample+cover+for+any+additional+monetary+policy+accommodation+they+may+see+warranted+in+the+New+Year%2C%22+said+Ian+Lyngen%2C+a+bond+strategist+at+CRT+Capital+Group+in+Stamford%2C+Connecticut.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EStill%2C+some+of+the+data+could+give+pause+to+policymakers+at+the+central+bank.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EOutside+food+and+energy%2C+prices+climbed+a+faster-than-expected+0.2+percent.+These+so-called+core+prices+rose+2.2+percent+in+the+12+months+through+November%2C+up+from+2.1+percent+in+October.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3E%22Core+inflation+…+is+a+bit+more+persistent+than+what+some+people+had+expected%2C%22+said+Jeremy+Lawson%2C+an+economist+at+BNP+Paribas+in+New+York.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EEconomists+polled+by+Reuters+this+week+saw+inflation+slowing+to+2.6+percent+during+the+first+quarter+of+next+year%2C+which+could+help+convince+the+Fed+to+do+more+to+bring+down+the+country%27s+8.6+percent+unemployment+rate.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EPrices+for+U.S.+government+debt+rose+slightly+on+Friday+as+investors+saw+the+data+opening+the+door+a+bit+wider+to+Fed+stimulus.+U.S.+stocks+rose+and+the+dollar+fell+against+the+euro+as+investors+remained+on+edge+over+the+euro+zone%27s+debt+crisis.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+U.S.+recovery+has+picked+up+momentum+over+the+past+few+months%2C+but+the+Fed+on+Tuesday+warned+about+turmoil+in+financial+markets+abroad+and+it+kept+the+option+of+further+monetary+action+on+the+table+%3Ca+href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fcash-advance-nofax.com%22%3Ecash+advance+to+savings+account%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%21–+.+–%3E.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EFED+EASE+STILL+IN+PLAY%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EIn+an+appearance+before+Congress+on+Friday%2C+New+York+Federal+Reserve+Bank+President+William+Dudley+warned+that+a+worsening+of+Europe%27s+sovereign+debt+crisis+could+hit+U.S.+banks%2C+potentially+tightening+credit+for+households+and+businesses.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3E%22Europe%27s+problems+are+a+serious+risk+for+the+U.S.+economic+outlook%2C%22+he+said.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EIn+recent+months%2C+cooling+gasoline+prices+have+left+more+money+for+consumers+to+spend+on+other+things%2C+helping+the+economy+gain+some+steam.+In+November+alone%2C+gasoline+prices+fell+2.4+percent.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+effects+of+Japan%27s+earthquake+disaster+in+March%2C+which+disrupted+global+supply+chains+and+pushed+auto+prices+higher+earlier+in+the+year%2C+are+also+subsiding.+Prices+for+new+vehicles+fell+0.3+percent+in+November.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EPrices+for+food+rose+0.1+percent.+Within+the+core+index%2C+prices+for+apparel+jumped+0.6+percent+%2C+but+the+increase+in+the+department%27s+main+gauge+of+homeownership+costs+cooled+to+0.1+percent+from+0.2+percent+in+October.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EMany+economists+have+said+the+Fed+might+try+to+give+the+economy+a+bit+of+help+at+a+meeting+on+January+24-25+by+laying+out+forecasts+for+interest+rates+that+could+underscore+its+willingness+to+keep+borrowing+costs+ultra-low+for+a+prolonged+period.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+U.S.+central+bank+has+held+overnight+interest+rates+near+zero+since+December+2008+and+has+bought+%242.3+trillion+in+government+and+mortgage-related+bonds+in+a+further+attempt+to+stimulate+a+robust+recovery.%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EFed+watchers+also+think+the+U.S.+central+bank+could+step+up+bond+buying+later+in+2012.+A+Reuters+poll+on+Tuesday+found+most+Wall+Street+economists+think+the+central+bank+will+undertake+a+new+program+of+buying+mortgage-backed+securities.%3C%2Fp%3E++%3Cp%3E%3Ca+href%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Fassets%2Fprint%3Faid%3DUSTRE7BE12S20111216%27+rel%3D%27nofollow%27%3ERead+more%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E+