Filed under: Company News , Economy , Green The seeds of Monsanto Company ( MON ) are everywhere in the typical American diet; in those corn chips, corn flakes and soy milk, yes, but also in the yogurt, hamburger and sausage McMuffin; in the soda, candy bars, barbecue sauce and sandwich bread. A new investigative report by the Associated Press , based on a series of confidential licensing contracts, reveals that not only are Monsanto-patented genes in 95% of the soybeans and 80% of the corn grown in the U.S., but that the company’s control over the seed industry is so ironclad, prices are sure to rise precipitously in the next several years. Continue reading Monsanto’s ever-stronger stranglehold on the seed industry Monsanto’s ever-stronger stranglehold on the seed industry originally appeared on DailyFinance on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Economy The National Association of Home Builders said Tuesday its Housing Market Index fell again in December to 16, from November’s reading of 17 — the index’s lowest level since June. According to a Bloomberg News survey, economists had expected the index to rise to 18 in December. The index was at 20 in October, after hitting a cycle low of eight in January. The NAHB Housing Market Index measures builder perceptions of current single-family sales conditions, sales expectations for the next six months, and the traffic of prospective buyers. Readings over 50 indicate that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor. Continue reading Home builder confidence index falls to lowest level since June Home builder confidence index falls to lowest level since June originally appeared on DailyFinance on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Company News , Technology , Healthcare Acquisitions and deals are always a risky business, especially in the pharmaceuticals industry. Just today, Elan Corp. ( ELN ) and Gilead Sciences ( GILD ) discovered the price of such deals when both halted drug trials on compounds developed by other pharmaceutical firms. Due to safety concerns, Elan partially halted an Alzheimer’s drug trial in partnership with Transition Therapeutics Inc. ( TTHI ). And due to efficacy issues, Gilead halted a trial of a blood pressure drug it bought with its $2.5 billion acquisition of Myogen. In that light, it’s interesting to hear of two new deals today. Amgen Inc. ( AMGN ) has entered an agreement with Array BioPharma Inc. ( ARRY ) to develop a potential treatment for type 2 diabetes, while Abbott Laboratories ( ABT ) agreed to acquire Starlims Technologies Ltd. ( LIMS ) for about $123 million. Continue reading Abbott, Amgen are on the prowl with small deals Abbott, Amgen are on the prowl with small deals originally appeared on DailyFinance on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: People , Media A recent spate of executive turnover at health-and-fitness publisher Rodale Inc. culminated in a round of promotions and organizational-chart redrawing on Tuesday — although one person who conspicuously missed out on the fun was Men’s Health editor , who embarrassed the company last week with revelations of his cookie-cutter scheme for producing covers . Four months ago, Rodale’s CEO, Steven Murphy, stepped down , handing over his post to Maria Rodale, granddaughter of the company’s founders. Today’s changes can thus be read as Rodale putting her own management team in place. Continue reading Promotions all around at Rodale — but not for editor of Men’s Health Promotions all around at Rodale — but not for editor of Men’s Health originally appeared on DailyFinance on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Company News , People , Sony , Wal-Mart Stores Last weekend, pop singer Chris Brown spent a lot of time re-Tweeting stories from fans who were claiming that his new album Graffiti , released on Dec. 8 by Sony ( SNE ) subsidiary Jive, was being held back from store shelves. Brown’s domestic-violence incident last February with then-girlfriend Rihanna last February has polarized listeners and lit up message boards over the last few months, and Brown — and his fans — implied that his detractors were engaged in retail sabotage to take revenge against him. Continue reading Chris Brown v. Walmart: Blame poor CD sales on apathy or sabotage? Chris Brown v. Walmart: Blame poor CD sales on apathy or sabotage? originally appeared on DailyFinance on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Retirement , Investing The autumn’s juicy apples and fresh squash will soon give way to the stale processed foods of winter. And just as people like to pick what produce remains as the agricultural season ends, investors may want to “harvest” their stock market losses as the calendar year closes. Here’s the deal: Any taxpayer in any tax bracket may deduct stock market losses of up to $3,000 against his or her ordinary income. In other words, if you’ve sold stocks at a loss of $3,000 this year, that same amount of your total earnings becomes exempt from taxation. The higher your tax bracket, the more money you save by harvesting losses. Someone taxed at 33% would save $1,000 while someone taxed at 25% would save $750. Continue reading Easy money: Deducting your tax losses could save you up to $1,000 this year Easy money: Deducting your tax losses could save you up to $1,000 this year originally appeared on DailyFinance on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Company News , Technology , Healthcare , Sanofi Aventis , GlaxoSmithKline The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium , held Dec. 9-13, brought mostly good news for breast cancer patients and drugmakers. And that’s a welcome development: Aside from non-melanoma skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women and the second-leading cause of cancer death in women. Estimates for 2009 put the number of new cases at over 192,000 women and nearly 2,000 men, with over 40,000 deaths in women and 440 in men, according to the American Cancer Society. Here’s a wrapup of significant reports from the symposium. Continue reading Promising new developments on the breast cancer front Promising new developments on the breast cancer front originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Investing Exchange-traded funds have never been more popular. And no wonder: They’re passively managed, which makes them as cheap as indexed mutual funds, but they trade all day long, like stocks. And they tend to be more tax advantaged than mutual funds, given that ETFs very rarely kick off capital gains distributions. But Wall Street greed might make ETFs the next good investment vehicle to go bad. And several high-powered advisors and analysts see the table being set for investor disappointment. Continue reading ETFs: Is today’s Wall Street trend destined to disappoint? ETFs: Is today’s Wall Street trend destined to disappoint? originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Apple In our mobile world in which laptops and smartphones increasingly rule, desktops are starting to go the way of eight-track tapes and rotary-dial phones. No one, apparently, bothered to tell Apple ( AAPL ) — or its loyal customers. The company posted better-than-expected sales for its computers in October and November, thanks largely to the strength of its desktop models, says prominent analyst Gene Munster of investment bank Piper JaffrayTech. Citing figures from sales tracker NPD Group , the noted Apple bull said sales of Mac computers for the the two months are running roughly 21% over the same period last year, well ahead of Wall Street’s 14% consensus estimate for sales growth. The new iMac and Mac mini units seem to be leading the charge, with the sales of these and other Apple desktop products up 74% in unit volume year-over-year for the third quarter thus far, Munster says. Continue reading No requiem for the desktop: Apple’s designs help revive the fading platform No requiem for the desktop: Apple’s designs help revive the fading platform originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Company News , Technology U.S. productivity grew 8.1% in the third quarter, the Labor Department told us last week. In the short term, that’s great news for company profitability, but bad news for workers. In the medium term, though, higher productivity is good for both companies and workers, because if demand starts to grow, companies will still need to hire more workers to meet that demand. But where does increased productivity come from? The second post of this three-part series focuses on another company that shows its clients how to be more efficient. As I explained in my first installment of this series, application portfolio management (APM) is a consulting process that helps companies get more out of their information technology spending. Accenture ( ACN ) calls its APM process Application Portfolio Optimization and Renewal. I spoke with Adam Burden, global managing director at Accenture, who said that APOR’s theme is simple: “Companies have bloated application portfolios that collect debris from years of investment.” Continue reading Sources of Productivity: Accenture cuts the waste from clients’ IT budgets Sources of Productivity: Accenture cuts the waste from clients’ IT budgets originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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