By Kiara Withers on 23-01-2012
from World Economic Forum
Davos – the annual get-together of top economic movers and shakers – starts on Wednesday. But will the event move and shake financial markets?
Davos – the annual get-together of top economic movers and shakers – starts on Wednesday. The ski resort meeting, more properly known as the World Economic Forum, now into its fifth decade, is set to attract over 2,500 delegates. But will the event move and shake financial markets?
As well as captains of industry, cabinet ministers and international investment bankers, Davos attracts a regiment of lobbyists, an army of journalists, and protesters (plus up to 10,000 police, Swiss Army and security guards).
And there are more than 100 corporate sponsors or “partners”, lawyers, accountants, bankers, management consultants, insurers and fizzy drink makers but no charities or development organisations – you can see a list here.
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By Seth De Rougemont on 22-01-2012
The California State Board of Equalization (BOE or SBE) announced almost one year ago that medical marijuana dispensaries are not exempt from collecting and paying California sales tax. The announcement resulted from a hearing before the BOE involving Berkeley Patients Group. In that case the BOE decided that medical marijuana was not exempt from sales tax as a medicine. The decision was not surprising in light of a previous notice issued by the BOE that medical marijuana dispensaries were not exempt from collecting and paying sales tax.
Fast forward one year later. Our tax attorneys are fielding inquiries from a number of medical marijuana dispensaries who are undergoing sales tax audits by the BOE. The M.O. of the BOE seems to be to stand at a discrete location outside of the clinic, and count the number of people coming in the door per hour.
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By Seth De Rougemont on 17-01-2012
by Laura Adams
One of the most common topics that Money Girl readers and podcast listeners ask me about is credit. So I decided to do a roundup of the most frequently asked credit questions. I’ll cover 5 questions here and 20 more in a video over at SmartMovesToGrowRich.com. Today’s Sponsor: MozyPro Online Backup: Simple, Automatic & Secure Backup
Question #1: Will Paying Off a Balance in Collections Increase My Credit Score?
Collection agencies specialize in pursuing delinquent debts either as agents for creditors or by purchasing debt and then attempting to collect it. Never ignore a debt so long that it gets turned over to a collections agency because that will definitely cause your credit score to plummet. Kay asks: I checked my credit score and saw that it dropped over 120 points due to a small balance that just went to collections. If I Read more…
By Riley Evans on 16-01-2012
Vittorio Hernandez – AHN News
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The U.S. Federal Reserve promised on Tuesday that it would hold interest rates at record lows for at least two years. The Fed had held on to the record-low key lending rate since December 2008 to help boost the American economy.
The decision was based on a 7-3 vote, which was the first time in 20 years that three Fed members dissented. The three members who dissented were Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota and Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser.
Besides holding the interest rate until the middle of 2013, the Fed said it would consider additional measures to support the weak American economy, worsened by Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the country’s credit rating last week to AA+ due to the impasse on the debt limit issue.
The stock market, which dipped following the S&P downgrade, made a dramatic rebound on Tuesday after the Fed announcement. The Dow
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By Kiara Withers on 15-01-2012
Oil prices didn’t do much during last week after they had sharply inclined in the first week of the year. From the supply side, there are still growing concerns of the rising tension between Iran and the West but it has yet to reflect in the oil prices. From the demand side, the slowdown in the EU may have been among the factors in curbing the rally of oil prices. What is up ahead for oil markets in the third week of January? Let’s analyze the oil market and the main news items and events that may affect oil.
For the complete outlook of the oil market for the week of January 16-20 see here in Trading NRG
On Friday, January 13th oil price (WTI) slightly declined by 0.40% to $98.70/b; Brent also slipped by 0.15% to $110.87/b; during last week, WTI decreased by 2.82% and Brent by 1.94%.
The chart below shows the development of WTI and Brent during January (prices are normalized to December 30th). It s
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Millions of consumers in the US rely on payday loan to manage their short term expenses at the middle of the month. They frequently take out a payday loan to tackle their emergency expenses. In order to avoid the exigent repayment terms the consumer often take out a loan and fail to come out from the vicious cycle of debts. When you apply for a payday loan then the primary eligibility criterion is to open an account in the bank. The payday lender deposits the loan amount in the account and on the next payday it deducts the amount it has given as loan from the account. But if you are defaulting on your payment as a result of missed payments then payday loan debt consolidation will be ideal for you to eliminate your financial woes. Many of the debt stricken consumers think that it will be beneficial for them if their payday loans are consolidated by their own bank. Read more…
