US Financial News

Hello All,
We had a mixed day leading into Bernanke’s speech, and at the end of the day we didn’t receive any new data.  A third round of stimulus is to be discussed in the upcoming FOMC meeting on the 20-21st, and ultimately it will depend on whether the Euro tanks before then.  Trichet’s speech early this morning was of caution with respect to the euro zone’s economy growing more slowly than had previously been expected, stating that the central bank see’s “significant downside risks” in an environment of “particularly high uncertainty.”  Given the breakdown to my 1.3870 target i mentioned in Tuesdays report, the door is now open to test the 1.35/1.36 region within the next two weeks.  Keep in mind that we have currency option ex tomorrow, so we may get a quicker than anticipated slide or we will teeter around 1.40 until next week.  On the energy front, Crude is running into major resistance at the $90 level, and if Europe unravels at the seems I still anticipate prices to go back below $80.  DOE data reported a draw of 4 million barrels of crude, with gasoline inventories rising 200k barrels.  And ending the day with Obama’s job proposal worth $450 billion in stimulus we have yet to see how the market will react.
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| Posted October 10, 2011 by Oliver Blake under Financial News

Years ago, I found myself sitting in law school in Moot Court wearing an oversized itchy blue suit. It was a horrible experience. In a desperate attempt to avoid anything like that in the future I enrolled in a tax course. I loved it. I signed up for another. Before I knew it, in addition to my JD, I had a LL.M Taxation. I needed only to don my cape…. taxgirl® was born. Today, I live and work in Philadelphia, PA, one of the best cities in the world . I landed in the City of Brotherly Love by way of Temple University School of Law. While at law school, I interned at the estates attorney division of the IRS. At IRS, I participated in the review and audit of federal estate tax returns. I even took the lead on a successful audit. At audit, opposing counsel read my report, looked at his file and said, “Gentleman, she’s exactly right.” I nearly fainted. It was a short jump from there to practicing, teaching, writing and breathing tax.

| Posted October 10, 2011 by Hanna Silver under Global Finance

The country’s top 16 credit card underwriters have relaxed their lending standards for the first time in three years, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s recently released 17th annual Survey of Credit Underwriting Practices.

This year’s survey reported some initial indications of commercial products loosening up for the first time since the underwriting standards began being tightened in 2008. In fact, one quarter of the banks backing credit cards loosened their underwriting standards in the 12 months the survey covers, the greatest relaxation of standards since 2002.

Of course, this conversely means that the survey found that 75% of the credit card underwriters either did not change their standards at all, or, in the case of banks with poorly performing products, actually tightened their underwriting standards.

Dave Wilson, Senior Deputy Comptroller for Bank Supervision Policy and Chief National Bank Examiner, said, “Some easing of standards is normal and healthy as the economic environment stabilizes. We need to remember that overly liberal underwriting standards contributed to extremely high credit losses. The pac

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| Tags: Credit Card, Standards
Posted September 25, 2011 by John Wane under Financial Guru

We all know the old axiom, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” I hate it with a passion. It’s the only defense that most investors ever have against investment fraud. And, because everyone knows it, the vast majority of investment scamsters do not offer returns that sound too good to be true. Instead, they promise a point or two more than you can earn from a legitimate investment. Anything more is the mark of a rookie or an amateur.

But rookies and amateurs sometimes get lucky. Last week the SEC filed an enforcement action against two alleged scamsters who promised investors returns as high as 6,300 percent. According to the SEC’s press release:

The SEC alleges that Jason G. Rivera, Jr., Marc C. Harmon, and two companies controlled by Rivera raised nearly $8 million from investors in two separate schemes, one involving purported trading in gold and diamonds and the other involving purported trading in collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs). However

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| Tags: Good True, True
Posted September 25, 2011 by John Wane under Financial Guru

Share Arizona has highest single jurisdiction sales tax In a recent news release the Tax Foundation identified Tuba City, Arizona as having “the highest single jurisdiction in the U.S. for sales taxes…[with a] combined rate of 13.725%.” Broken down, the tax consists of “…a 6.6% state tax, a 1.125% Coconino county tax, and an additional 6% tax levied by the local Navajo [To'Nanees'Dizi] tribal government.” Based on a population-weighted average, the Fiscal Facts report from Tax Foundation provides visibility to the county, city and local taxes that add weight to sales tax. Four of the five states that do not charge sales tax do not allow localities to charge a local sales tax, however, Alaska does. More highly populated areas like Juneau and Kodiak charge 5 and 6 percent, respectively, but this still does not bring Alaska into the highest range for combined sales tax rates. When using weighted averages based on population, the average local tax rate in Alaska is actually 1.74%. More Statistics class, great. An interesting point in sales tax is that states, counties, cities, local jurisdictions, special districts can all levy sales taxes, but in addition to the basic jurisdictions, states can levy mandatory, statewide local add-on sales taxes. In other wo Read more…

| Tags: Sales Tax, Tax
Posted September 24, 2011 by Oliver Blake under Financial News

With nearly 500 million unique visitors per month, YouTube™ frequently ranks among the most highly trafficked websites in the world.

Many REATLORS are using YouTube™ for the same reason any other businesses do: millions of people use it every day! It’s a fantastic platform to showcase properties, introduce yourself, boost your brand and inspire people to contact you immediately.

Here are a few tips on how to use YouTube™ to your advantage:

Make quality videos

The viral nature of YouTube™ should incentivize you to make quality videos. Viewers won’t be inclined to share a video if it’s bad (unless it’s really bad and goes viral for the wrong reasons). Never put out a video that would make one question your integrity and competency.

Some Basic Considerations for Agents Using Video in Their Marketing

Create a Channel

A YouTube™ channel allows you to categorize your videos with topics and keywords that make it easier for your viewers to find what they’re looking for. You need to tag your videos with phrases commonly used by your target market in order optimize the results on both YouTube™ and Google™.  YouTube™ channels also

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| Tags: Youtube™, Youtube™ Connect
Posted September 24, 2011 by Hanna Silver under Global Finance

The U.S. dollar enjoys a certain level safety as the world’s reserve currency and its abundant use in the purchase of goods in global markets. Its status is now poised to shift into a safe haven as investors seek stability in an increasingly unstable market. U.S. Treasuries and money market funds are getting a lot of renewed attention as problems in the Eurozone and a continued lull in U.S. economic activity force people to reconsider market trends. Economists warn, however, that this increased volatility combined with China’s call to the International Monetary Fund to diversify its currency holdings can make things unpredictable even for the dollar. For more on this continue reading the following article from The Street.
Fundamental Forecast for the US Dollar: Bullish

• The Fed leaves speculators empty handed, chooses Operation Twist over QE3
• The S&P 500 and Dow suffer their biggest two-day declines in years , the dollar benefits
• USDollar marks a remarkable surge, but pullbacks before continuation are likely

Risk aversion has once against overrun the markets; but the current situation is different than what we were seeing back in July / August. Whi Read more…

| Tags: Market
Posted September 22, 2011 by Oliver Blake under Financial News

Open a Virtual Wallet at PNC Bank and you could earn a $100 reward. The offer is good through Sept. 30, 2011. You can open a Virtual Wallet online or ask to receive a coupon that can be redeemed at a local branch. To receive the reward you must make qualifying direct deposits totaling at least $750 and 10 purchases with a PNC Visa Check Card within 60 days of opening the account.

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| Tags: 100 Reward, Pnc Bank, Reward
Posted September 21, 2011 by Hanna Silver under Global Finance