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Get The Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards
Posted by Robin Bal under Credit Cards
If you need to cut your debt costs, a quick and easy way is to transfer your credit card balances to an introductory rate credit cards. In other words, you can get credit cards with low interest (or better still no interest at all).
Such special offers are designed to encourage people to swap credit card companies in return for a honeymoon period in which they pay little or no interest. Of course, the purpose is to gain a lot of customers who do in fact end up paying interest.
You can get credit cards with low interest from a number of different credit card providers. Monthly credit card interest costs place such a burden on many families that they struggle to meet everyday needs as a result. You can transfer your balance again as your low or zero interest periods come to an end. By doing this, you can ensure you are always paying little or no interest on your credit card balance.
No annual fee credit cards imply no charge for annual servicing of your account. No annual fee credit products may also include a balance transfer fee card offers card.
Most people who get credit cards with low interest or no interest do not think to transfer their balance to other balance transfer credit cards to avoid interest rates. It is certainly not an advertised strategy. However, if you have a large balance which will not be paid off within the special rate period, it is in your best interest to continue to transfer your balance until you have paid off your credit card entirely.
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Billionaire Investor To Lead Fight Against Yahoo Board
Posted by Robin Bal under News
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn reportedly has decided to lead a mutiny against Yahoo Inc.'s board in an attempt to pressure the directors into reviving negotiations to sell Yahoo to Microsoft Corp.
To turn up the heat on Yahoo's board, Icahn has lined up a slate of 10 directors to nominate as replacements, The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site Wednesday, citing an unnamed person close to the matter.
Icahn hadn't returned phone messages from The Associated Press as of late Wednesday. His intentions should become clear soon, however, because Yahoo has set a Thursday deadline for submitting candidates to oppose its board at the company's July 3 annual meeting.
A representative of Sunnyvale-based Yahoo declined to comment.
Yahoo's board is on the hot seat for rejecting Microsoft's initial bid of $44.6 billion, or $31 per share, and taking measures that finally drove away the software maker.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer orally offered to raise the offer to $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, earlier this month. He withdrew the bid May 3 after Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, acting on behalf of the board, held out for $37 per share — a price that Yahoo's stock hasn't reached in more than two years.
Yahoo-Google Deal Facing Opposition
An online advertising partnership between Yahoo and Google is facing opposition from consumer and civic groups that did not wait for an official deal announcement to voice their discontent.
Top Google executives said they were interested in a partnership with their closest rival but didn't indicate how close they were to an agreement. A coalition of 16 civil rights and rural advocacy groups, including the Black Leadership Forum and the League of Rural Voters, urged federal regulators to investigate the potential combination.
The Black Leadership Forum is an umbrella group of 36 civil rights organizations, including the NAACP and the National Urban League.
The groups argued in a letter to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett, head of the Justice Department's anti-trust division, that the deal would give Google almost 90 per cent of the search advertising market and strengthen its influence over Internet users' access to information.
Separately, the Centre for Digital Democracy (CDD), a consumer advocacy group, said it will push US regulators to block any deal and is already urging European consumer groups to raise concerns with European Union officials.
The EU generally takes a tougher approach on anti-trust, fining Microsoft $1.3 billion for anti-competitive conduct earlier this year.
"You can't allow Google to operate a portion of its leading competitor out of its back pocket," said CDD executive director Jeffrey Chester.
Microsoft To Set Up Own Internet Search Business
Microsoft Corporation will focus on growing its own advertising and Internet search business after it withdrew its takeover offer for Yahoo, chairman Bill Gates said yesterday.
Microsoft has not presented an alternative strategy to compete with its dominant rival in the Internet business, Google, since withdrawing a $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo last weekend.
Analysts have been left wondering how the world's largest software maker will increase its share of that multibillion dollar market without a major tie-up.
"We have always felt we could do very well on our own and now that's the path we are focused on," Gates said.
"The standard strategy for us is to just hire great engineers and surprise people at how well we can compete, even with a company that's got a strong lead," he said.
Gates says Microsoft remained open to making acquisitions, but declined to comment on possible candidates, such as networking sites like Facebook in which Microsoft already holds a 1.6 per cent stake. "You never know if there's going to be a deal that makes sense," he said.
Fri 9 May 2008
Hillary Clinton Can't See That It's Over
Posted by Robin Bal under US Elections
Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the Democratic Presidential nomination are now anywhere between 5 per cent to 20 percent. By rights she should be on her back, declared the loser by technical knockout. But not only is she standing; she is plunging ahead with a dogged ferocity.
In spite of Barack Omaha's clear advantage in the popular vote and committed delegate tallies – a mathematical dominance unlikely to be reversed even in the remaining primary contests – Mrs. Clinton says she is being bullied by the "big boys" and vows to stay in the race until the democratic convention.
Her relentless campaign has inspired reporters variously to compare her, with a mixture of admiration and horror. Even the coughing spasms that have seizes her with alarming frequency these past few months have become an emblem of her fortitude. After she muscled her way through a foreign policy address, the New Yorker praised her ability to "suppress the coughing through sheer will.
So what makes Clinton run, even as her win at all cost strategy threatens her party's chances against John McCain the republican candidate? The answer lies in her innately combative nature that drew Bill Clinton to her when "she was in my face from the start". She is equally famous for a preternatural focus and what one of her friends called her "tunnel vision" along with a determination so unshakeable that her husband once told a visitor to the Oval office: "I might as well lift that desk and throw it out of the window to change her mind." To reach her goals, she long ago learnt to embrace any tactic, however destructive.
New Polls Give Clinton Fresh Hope
New polls gave Hillary Clinton fresh hope yesterday, as she chased White House rival Barack Obama, on the eve of two primaries which could shape the end-game of their marathon battle.
Clinton and Obama face voting contests today in North Carolina and Indiana, the next steps in their battle for the Democratic presidential nomination to take on presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in the November election.
The Democratic rivals set off on last minute campaign swings through Indiana and North Carolina, which hold primaries today which offer Obama the chance to finally knock Clinton out, or for her to ignite a comeback.
Obama and Hillary renewed their battle over gas tax relief yesterday in a late push for support on the eve of critical presidential showdowns in North Carolina and Indiana.
The candidates, embroiled in a grueling nominating struggle that has split the party, wooed working-class voters and launched new television advertisements attacking each other ahead of today's votes.
For the first time in three months, the former first lady led her rival in the survey of national Democrats, by seven percentage points. Two weeks ago before the latest storm over Wright hit, Obama was up 10 points.
Mon 5 May 2008
The Lighter or Heavier Side Of Inflation
Posted by Robin Bal under Humor , Lighter Side
Sun 4 May 2008
Microsoft-Yahoo Bid, Sequence of Events
A chronology of events leading to Microsoft Corp.'s decision to abandon its offer for Web search and advertising competitor Yahoo Inc.:
Feb. 1, 2008: After two years of talks and speculation, Microsoft makes unsolicited offer to buy Yahoo for $31 per share, or $44.6 billion.
Feb 3: Google Inc.'s top lawyer says the buyout could hurt Web innovation.
Feb. 4: Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang tells employees that selling to Microsoft is an option.
Feb. 11: Yahoo rejects Microsoft's offer, saying it "substantially undervalues" the company's brand and worldwide assets.
Feb. 19: Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates tells The Associated Press the software maker isn't in talks with Yahoo about raising its offer. Yahoo releases details of severance plans that would take effect after a buyout, which could make the deal more expensive for Microsoft.
March 5: Yahoo extends a deadline for nominating candidates to its board, buying time to strike an alternative deal. Yahoo is said to be in talks with Google Inc., News Corp.'s MySpace.com and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL.
March 10: Senior executives meet near Yahoo's Sunnyvale, Calif., headquarters.
Sat 3 May 2008
US Jobless Rate Drops To Five Per Cent
US employers cut far fewer jobs last month than in recent months and the unemployment rate dropped to five per cent, a better-than-expected showing that nonetheless reveals strains in the nation's labor market.
For the fourth month in a row, the economy lost jobs, the Labor Department reported yesterday. But in April the losses totaled 20,000, an improvement from the 81,000 reductions in payrolls logged in March. Job losses for both February and March turned out to be a bit deeper than previously reported.
The latest snapshot of the nationwide employment conditions – while clearly still weak – was better than many economists were anticipating. They were bracing for job cuts of 75,000 and for the unemployment rate to climb to 5.2pc.
The unemployment rate, derived from a different statistical survey than the payroll figures, fell to 5pc from 5.1pc in March. That survey showed more people finding employment than those who didn't.
Businesses are handing out pink slips as they cope with an economy that is teetering on the edge of a recession, or possibly in one already. A severe housing slump, harder-to-get credit and financial turmoil have forced people and businesses to be more cautious in their spending. And that has hurt the economy.
Uncertainty in Markets: Natural Resources Well Placed
Posted by Robin Bal under Personal Finance
The upshot: despite continuing uncertainty in financial markets, commodities are well placed to overcome most obstacles. Partly because the companies which are performing strongly in the sector are still very attractively priced and also because the demands from emerging markets and supply shortages are still such key factors for the medium term.
A fresh impetus since the new year Natural resources market has received a fresh injection of attention this year with an extra US$70bn ploughed in, raising the sector's value to around US$400bn. However, in global terms this is not such a huge amount considering the amount of activity in this arena. While volatility has increased due to speculation and money market tightening there are still many longer-term opportunities due to persistent extraordinary growth stories and energy requirements.
Specifics – what to watch out for Gold and platinum are obviously very topical after recently hitting all time highs – then suffering a sharp correction which we believes was to be expected. But the immediate rationale for remaining positive on gold is justified: with inflation threatening and dollar uncertainty set to continue. Likewise, there is a bullish stance on platinum, especially with extreme energy shortages in South Africa (the largest producer) meaning it cannot even be extracted from the ground.
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