General Finance News

Major indices were up around half a percent today, as jobless benefits last week held steady at their relatively low level. Strong German lfo business confidence data sent up the euro today. In corporate news, Apple will cave to investor demands to make the selection of board members stockholder majority-vote based, and also discussed the possibility of issuing dividends for the first time since 1995. Hewlett-Packards Q1 revenue slipped 7 percent and investors punished them in the markets for it today.

Word on the Street

• The U.S. Postal Service is forecasting an annual loss of over $18 billion by 2015.
• Apple in picking members of the board of directors.
• Hewlett-Packard shares fell on abysmal earnings.
• Proctor & Gamble plans to cut 5,700 jobs by the end of 2016.

Interesting Tidbits

Green Dot, provider of prepaid debit cards and reloading services, may be making an unlikely move in to traditional banking. According to financial-news site MainStreet, which spoke with Green Dots CEO, Steve Streit, the card provider will roll out a checking account this summer. The move is likely a result of Green Dots acquisition of Utahs Bonneville Bank, last fall.

From MainStreet:

Just as with the company’s prepaid products, the checking accounts would be marketed to consumers who make less than $75,000 a year. Streit didn’t offer any other details, but did say the goal was to design a checking account that diverges from the ones currently being offered by major financial institutions.

Green Dot suggested to MainStreet that the checking plan was contingent on successful market testing.

The company declined to confirm the news to MyBankTracker. Rat

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Consumers who switch energy suppliers via pushy salespeople in supermarkets and shopping centres could actually end up paying more for their gas and electricity, according to a study by Which?.

Instead of saving money, researchers from the consumer group found they would have been worse off by up to £311 if they had taken the duff advice of badgering fuel peddlers in and around shops and grocery stores.

Only two out of the 13 energy salespeople approached admitted there might be better deals from other energy companies available when questioned. All of them assumed the researchers were on a standard tariff and advised that switching could save them between £20 and £142. Any

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The much-anticipated – and much-criticized – foreclosure settlement worth $25 billion between five major lenders and the states was finally signed this week, but even though over 40 states put their names on the dotted line, there are still a handful of states that refuse to sign.

A review of these holdout states does not reveal anything surprising. New York, California, Florida, Nevada, and Massachusetts all balked at ratifying the agreement, and all five have repeatedly criticized the process and the settlement for being far too lenient and offering too much immunity and leeway for the major lenders accused of widespread foreclosure fraud.

Coincidentally, these five states also have some of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation.

The highest rate of the bunch – as well as the highest foreclosure rate in the nation – belongs to Nevada, which has over 6% of its homes in some stage of the foreclosure process in 2011. Califor

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Markets were slightly down today, as the Greek debt negotiations dragged on without an end in sight. The Commerce Department also released a batch of economic data; including the fact that consumer spending were basically unchanged in December from November. Income, however, increased 0.5 percent, meaning that the savings rate of the nation went up. In corporate news, Wendy’s saw a 29.5 percent decline in net income last quarter, despite the fact that revenue rose 5.6 percent. Pep Boys announced that it had agreed to be acquired by Gores Group for $15 a share, almost 25 percent higher than the price the stock opened at this morning.

Word on the Street

• Rumor that the Greek debt deal will be delayed has investors nervous.
• Consumer spending stalled in December while income grew.
• Wendy’s revenue is up, but profits fell by almost one third.
• Pep Boys will be purchased by Gores Group.

Interesting Tidbits

• Blogging Declines Across the Inc. 500

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Barack Obama will deliver his third State of the Union address tonight, with the Republican presidential primaries steadily gaining speed in the background.

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Car insurance premiums could be radically reduced if the government took action to reduce spurious whiplash claims and personal injury referral fees, according to an influential panel of MPs.

The Transport Select Committee said insurers should be forced to demand more proof that claimants has suffered a whiplash injury in a car accident and not be allowed to sell on customer details to solicitors and claims management firms.

Whiplash claims currently cost the insurance industry some £2 billion a year, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). This equates to an extra £90 being added to every driver’s annual insurance premium. The number of car passengers claiming for whiplash injuries has risen by 32% over the last three years to 570,000 annually.

There has been a 70% rise in car insurance claims in the past six years, despite a 23% fall in the number of casualties in road accidents. A g

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Nothing catches the attention of inquiring minds better than stories of doom and gloom. And for those who have been keeping a watchful eye on the ever increasing hype over how real estate social marketing will completely overtake SEO may relate to what I’m about to say

Shenanigans! That’s right, I’m totally calling their bluff. In fact, this whole movement has an eerie resemblance to the hoards of doomsday posts that I see on a continual basis whenever a new Google algorithm is launched.

So now the new theme focused around social media is that traditional keyword based search queries will at some point be obsolete. Yet when you consider the immense impact that websites like Google continue to have on our overall business, doesn’t this sound somewhat ludicrous?

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