After a boom year for bonds in 2009, experts say investors this year will need to keep a closer eye on their fixed-income investments to bring home the highest returns. Several concerns include growing fears of inflation and worries that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates. Continue reading Investing in Bonds Will Be Much Trickier in 2010 Investing in Bonds Will Be Much Trickier in 2010 originally appeared on DailyFinance on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:57:00. Filed Under: Investing Permalink | Tweet this! | Comments

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Investing in Bonds Will Be Much Trickier in 2010

TD Ameritrade ( AMTD ) reported earnings below expectations on Tuesday, largely due to declining trade income and a low interest rate environment. Continue reading TD Ameritrade’s Profit Falls; Cites Fewer Trades, Low Interest Rates TD Ameritrade’s Profit Falls; Cites Fewer Trades, Low Interest Rates originally appeared on DailyFinance on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:50:00. Filed Under: Investing , Earnings , Smucker Permalink | Tweet this! | Comments

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Last year, a new law went into effect that’s intended to improve the lives of everyone who uses credit cards. The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (the Credit CARD Act) limits the rate that credit card companies can charge you in fees and penalties, and restricts the ways in which they can raise interest rates. But the Act is having unintended — if unsurprising — consequences: According to The Wall Street Journal , it is driving those companies to find new fees to charge you to offset the $50 billion in revenues they’ll lose due to the consumer-friendly restrictions. Continue reading $50 Billion in New Credit Card Fees? Lenders React to CARD Act $50 Billion in New Credit Card Fees? Lenders React to CARD Act originally appeared on DailyFinance on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:23:00. Filed Under: Economy Permalink | Tweet this! | Comments

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$50 Billion in New Credit Card Fees? Lenders React to CARD Act

Filed under: Economy The frugal consumer era continued in October, but belt-tightening lessened somewhat, as outstanding U.S. consumer credit balances fell by $3.51 billion or at a 1.7% annual rate in October to $2.482 trillion — the ninth straight monthly credit decline, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced Monday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected October consumer credit to contract by $8.80 billion. Consumer credit is down 3.6% to compared to a year ago. Also, this month the Fed revised monthly consumer credit data back through March. September’s total debt outstanding was revised higher by $30.6 billion, to $2.486 trillion from the previously-released $2.456 trillion. Continue reading Consumers’ credit debt falls for ninth straight month Consumers’ credit debt falls for ninth straight month originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Economy , Investing , IBM , Pfizer One trading rule that has held sway for much of 2009 is that a weak dollar is good for corporate profits and commodities like gold and oil. And for much of this year, with the record levels of U.S. borrowing, traders bet that the dollar would keep getting weaker. But with November’s better-than-expected employment report, traders are now thinking about reversing those positions. Gold has tumbled in the last few trading sessions, falling $26, or 2.22%, to $1,143.50 an ounce early Monday according to CNNMoney . (As of 4 p.m. Monday, it had bounced back a bit, to $1,155.10.) Meanwhile, the dollar hit a five-week high against a basket of currencies Monday and also rose against the euro. Since gold is often thought of as a hedge against an inflation-led economic meltdown, it may be time for gold bugs to lighten up, as I have hinted . Continue reading The rising dollar is a signal to sell gold and stocks The rising dollar is a signal to sell gold and stocks originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Company News , Technology , People , Media The World Wide Web may be a recent invention, but the reason two pioneering Internet sites are facing off in a legal battle is as old as commerce itself — a business deal gone sour. How much power eBay has on Craiglist’s board of directors is the issue being hammered out in a Delaware courtroom in a trial that began Monday. The conflict centers on whether executives at privately held Craigslist improperly reduced eBay’s ( EBAY ) significant interest in their company through a series of secret deals . The case dates back to 2004 when eBay bought a stake in Craigslist. Ebay has since sought to gain a seat on the board for its 28.4% share, only to learn it has been diluted to just 25%, a level that doesn’t entitle eBay to representation. Continue reading Craigslist vs. eBay: Internet giants take each other on in Delaware courtroom Craigslist vs. eBay: Internet giants take each other on in Delaware courtroom originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Economy , Investing Investors may be forgiven if they had deja vu all over again when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a luncheon speech at The Economic Club of Washington, D.C. on Monday. After all, the Fed chairman said pretty much the same thing three weeks ago in a luncheon speech at The Economic Club of New York. The recovery remains fragile and will be moderate at best. Unemployment will stay depressingly high. And as for inflation, well, it’s nowhere to be seen. So is a bubble-busting short-term rate hike coming sooner than expected, as Wall Street freaked out about Friday? The answer is still No, despite November’s unemployment report coming in shockingly better than expected . Continue reading Bernanke: We’ll raise rates when necessary (which won’t be anytime soon) Bernanke: We’ll raise rates when necessary (which won’t be anytime soon) originally appeared on DailyFinance on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Economy Newsweek’s current cover story puts forth a provocative thesis for those who own gold. It suggests the U.S. might have to raise interest rates dramatically to attract investors to its government bonds, which would make gold less attractive. And given the huge rise in U.S. indebtedness that began in 2001, such a boost in interest rates would squeeze so much cash from the U.S. Treasury that we wouldn’t have enough money to pay for our military — thus marking the end of our global empire. The author of this piece, Niall Ferguson, is a Harvard professor — but not all Harvard professors are right, to say the least. Witness former Harvard president Larry Summers, who The Boston Globe blames for a $1.8 billion plunge in Harvard’s endowment. Continue reading Will higher interest payments cost the U.S. its empire? Will higher interest payments cost the U.S. its empire? originally appeared on DailyFinance on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: JP Morgan Chase JP Morgan ( JPM ), RBS ( RBS ), Credit Suisse ( CS ) and several other large firms with financial research arms have put out educated guesses as to which banks are most exposed to Dubai debt. Coming up with these numbers has turned out to be an inexact science. And, Dubai may make good on its payments, so the concern about large bank write-offs could turn out to be academic. Credit Suisse reports that European banks may have as much as $40 billion in exposure in Dubai. RBS says that getting correct numbers on Dubai is not possible but that European banks have almost $84 billion in exposure in the United Arab Emirates. According to The Wall Street Journal, RBS derived its data by “using data compiled by the Bank for International Settlements. U.K. banks have by far the largest exposure at $49.5 billion, while French and German banks top the euro-zone list with $11.3 billion and $10.2 billion respectively.” Continue reading European banks have large exposure to Dubai debt European banks have large exposure to Dubai debt originally appeared on DailyFinance on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Filed under: Economy If the credit crisis is over — and it most certainly is as measured by tighter credit spreads — why aren’t banks making loans to the people who need them most, American taxpayers? You don’t have to be the chairman of the Federal Reserve to know that banks are behaving worse than Scrooge when it comes to extending credit to small businesses and consumers. Ben Bernanke admitted as much in a recent speech , which is perplexing since a zero-interest-rate policy (ZIRP) is supposed to stimulate economic growth, most of which is generated by those very same small businesses and consumers. Continue reading Need a loan? Why the banks (and Fed) are saying ‘Scrooge you’ Need a loan? Why the banks (and Fed) are saying ‘Scrooge you’ originally appeared on DailyFinance on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Need a loan? Why the banks (and Fed) are saying ‘Scrooge you’