Insurers in the USA, Germany and Switzerland say a pledge announced last week at a meeting of the world’s biggest polluters to limit global temperatures is essential to controlling the cost of protecting property. Munich Re, the biggest reinsurer, and Zurich Financial Services AG back the target set by the European Union, the USA and 15 more nations to hold the planet to within 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) of pre-industrial times.
Popularity: 2% [?]
As US health care costs rise, so do insurance premiums and the amount of money employers spend on them, from 1996 to 2005, the average contribution rose by 5 % a year in real terms, to $5,068. Some employers are rescinding health care benefits altogether, while others are limiting the number of eligible employees, so enrollment in employer-paid schemes is stagnating or declining, according to a McKinsey Global Institute study. This research also reveals growing disparities in the % of employees at different income levels receiving employer-paid health benefits: only 22 % of employees in the lowest income group (earning an average of US$14,800 a year), but 56 %, 81 %, and 89 % of those in the lower-middle, upper-middle, and top income groups, respectively.
Popularity: 4% [?]
A US House of Representatives panel got a pledge late last Thursday night from the Robert Hertz, Chairman of the independent Financial Accounting Standards Board to issue guidelines within three weeks that will ease the Mark to Market (MTM) rules that force US banks to value assets at current prices. The head of the US House panel, Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), held out the threat of legislation to pressure the standard setting board and the Securities and Exchange Commission to take steps that would give relief to battered US banks and US insurance companies. The current MTM rule has forced US banks to take steep write-downs on some financial assets, especially securities linked to mortgages, even as they have suffered from the housing slump. As the financial crisis grinds on and world banks large and small founder and fail, the banking industry has pushed for the accounting relief.
Popularity: 6% [?]
This is what happened last week…
Last Tuesday began what the world community views as a major event in US history, the inauguration of Barack H. Obama as its 44th President and its 1st Black American President.
Some of President Obama’s executive orders on his 1st day in office:
1. A freeze on salaries for White House staff earning $100,000 or more, about 100 people in all.
2. New Freedom of Information Act rules, making it harder to keep the workings of government secret.
3. Tighter ethics rules governing when administration officials can work on issues on which they previously lobbied governmental agencies, and banning them from lobbying the Obama administration after leaving government service.
The week in the markets, however, continued to be bathed in the glow of uncertainty within the financial sector and coupled with Qs about the timing of the economic recovery.
Couple that with headlines announcing that China’s Y 2008 Q 4 GDP contracted from 9% to 6.8%, the UK reporting a GDP decline of 1.5%, the largest since 1980, US housing starts fell to their lowest level on record, and initial jobless claims returned to Christmas levels, matching the 26 yr. high of 589,000 set in December 2008.
Though Microsoft disappointed, IBM and AAPL rang the bell with GOOG beating too, and coming in better than expected.
Read more
Popularity: 25% [?]
For Tom, it was 10% which is probably a good rule for most beginning investors. But when you use charts to time your purchase more accurately, I recommend cutting all losses at 7% or 8% below your purchase price. By doing this, you are taking out little insurance policies to protect yourself from possible substantial losses.
If you let a stock go down 50% from where you bought it, you must make 100% on the next stock just to break even. Now, how often do you buy stock that double in price? It is only by using our Stock Alert on by signing up our newsletter above.
Popularity: 1% [?]
