July 2009

10 CEO Mega-Yachts (PHOTOS, POLL)

July 29, 2009

With the economy mired in a historic recession, now is certainly not the time to flaunt your world-class mega-yacht (assuming you actually own one). Yet, as Vanity Fair’s Vicky Ward pointed out on the HuffPost recently, Andres Piedrahita, the main shareholder of the Fairfield Greenwich Group, recently took possession of a $30 million yacht . This, of course, was after Fairfield Greenwich had siphoned billions into Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

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Grant Cardone: Consumer Confidence Will Be Restored When Abilities Are!

July 29, 2009

The lack of confidence in the marketplace today is not because of a failing economy but because individuals lack confidence in their own abilities to produce without artificial stimulus. Confidence and security come only as a result of a person’s confidence in their own abilities and skills. The Government, the economy, the banks, the stock market, or the company where you work is able to make you feel confident if you lack the skill set to produce. From the consumer confidence press releases

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Real Estate Roundtable elects new board

July 29, 2009

The Real Estate Roundtable has appointed a new board of directors and committee leaders and has vowed to address a variety of national policy issues such as the credit crisis, environmental sustainability

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M&A Property Investors hires Travis Callahan as chief executive officer

July 29, 2009

M&A Property Investors, the real estate and renewable energy unit of M&A Investors, has appointed Travis Callahan as chief executive officer, based in the firm's new offices in Geneva.

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Fed Survey: Economy Has "Begun To Stabilize, Albeit At A Low Level."

July 29, 2009

WASHINGTON — The economy is finally showing signs of stabilizing in some regions of the country – especially in parts of the Northeast and Midwest – bolstering hopes of a broader-based recovery this year. A Federal Reserve snapshot of economic conditions issued Wednesday found that most of the Fed’s 12 regions indicated either that the recession was easing or that economic activity had “begun to stabilize, albeit at a low level.” The economy remains fragile. But the fact that some Fed regions reported signs of activity beginning to level out raises hope that the recession, which started in December 2007, is drawing to a close. Four Fed regions – New York, Cleveland, Kansas City and San Francisco – pointed to “signs of stabilization,” the survey said.

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Faith Hope Consolo: The Faithful Shopper: NYC Bounces Back

July 29, 2009

Is the retail funk finally ending at the high end? With the Dow topping 9,000 last week, Goldman Sachs publicizing – for better or worse — record bonus payouts this year and the Luxury Consumption Index climbing 18.6 points, the stars are starting to align. In particular, the news bodes well for retail businesses that cater to affluent consumers. According to Unity Marketing’s July 2009 Luxury Tracking survey, some 48 percent of consumers of luxury products believe the worst is over

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Bank of America May Cut Branches as Customers Use Internet, Mobile Phones

July 29, 2009

By David Mildenberg July 29 (Bloomberg) — Bank of America Corp. , the largest U.S. bank, may cut branches over the next three years because customers increasingly rely on the Internet and mobile phones to manage their accounts, an executive said. “We’re seeing a strong acceleration in our customers using our virtual channels,” Liam McGee , president of consumer and small-business banking, said yesterday in a telephone interview

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Bank of America May Cut Branches as Customers Use Internet, Mobile Phones

July 29, 2009

By David Mildenberg July 29 (Bloomberg) — Bank of America Corp. , the largest U.S. bank, may cut branches over the next three years because customers increasingly rely on the Internet and mobile phones to manage their accounts, an executive said. “We’re seeing a strong acceleration in our customers using our virtual channels,” Liam McGee , president of consumer and small-business banking, said yesterday in a telephone interview.

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Obama to Hoist Bud Light With Harvard’s Gates, Officer Who Arrested Him

July 29, 2009

By Hans Nichols and Nicholas Johnston July 29 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama will have Bud Light tomorrow when he hosts an old friend and the police officer who arrested him.

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Obama to Hoist Bud Light With Harvard’s Gates, Officer Who Arrested Him

July 29, 2009

By Hans Nichols and Nicholas Johnston July 29 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama will have Bud Light tomorrow when he hosts an old friend and the police officer who arrested him. Obama, 47, has picked America’s top-selling beer for his get-together at the White House with Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr

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Dow Average Sends Buy Signal That’s Worked Since 1921: Chart of the Day

July 29, 2009

By Eric Martin and Michael Patterson July 29 (Bloomberg) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average is sending a buy signal that has foreshadowed gains of 18 percent during the past nine decades. The 30-stock gauge climbed to more than 10 percent above its mean level from the previous 200 days, rebounding from 34 percent below the so-called 200-day moving average in November, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Eighteen of the last 21 times the Dow rallied from at least 10 percent below the 200-day level to 10 percent above, it posted gains during the next 12 months, Bloomberg data since 1921 show.

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Bud Light Obama’s Beer of Choice for White House Talks With Gates, Officer

July 29, 2009

By Hans Nichols and Nicholas Johnston July 29 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama will have Bud Light tomorrow when he hosts an old friend and the police officer who arrested him. Obama, 47, has picked America’s top-selling beer for his get-together at the White House with Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr . and Cambridge, Massachusetts, police Sergeant James Crowley according to an administration official who asked to remain anonymous

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Bud Light Obama’s Beer of Choice for White House Talks With Gates, Officer

July 29, 2009

By Hans Nichols and Nicholas Johnston July 29 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama will have Bud Light tomorrow when he hosts an old friend and the police officer who arrested him. Obama, 47, has picked America’s top-selling beer for his get-together at the White House with Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr

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Bud Light Obama’s Beer of Choice for White House Talks With Gates, Officer

July 29, 2009

By Hans Nichols and Nicholas Johnston July 29 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama will have Bud Light tomorrow when he hosts an old friend and the police officer who arrested him. Obama, 47, has picked America’s top-selling beer for his get-together at the White House with Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr

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Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal: Yahoo Shares Take A Plunge

July 29, 2009

Carol Bartz and Steve Ballmer are all smiles this morning with the signing of their long-awaited search deal, but the agreement isn’t going over so well on Wall Street. Shares of Yahoo took a plunge this morning on the announcement and are currently trading at $15.31, down 11 percent from yesterday’s close. Microsoft shares are flat.

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Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal: Yahoo Shares Take A Plunge

July 29, 2009

Carol Bartz and Steve Ballmer are all smiles this morning with the signing of their long-awaited search deal, but the agreement isn’t going over so well on Wall Street. Shares of Yahoo took a plunge this morning on the announcement and are currently trading at $15.31, down 11 percent from yesterday’s close. Microsoft shares are flat.

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Gallagher Gets Spitzer-Era Brokerage Fee Ban Reversed as Aon, Marsh Wait

July 29, 2009

By Andrew Frye July 29 (Bloomberg) — Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

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China Central Bank to Keep `Moderately Loose’ Policy Stance, Official Says

July 29, 2009

By Ye Xie July 29 (Bloomberg) — China’s central bank said it will maintain a “moderately loose monetary policy” and aims to consolidate the nation’s economic recovery. “To continue to foster the relatively smooth and fast economic development is the top priority,” the People’s Bank of China said in a statement on its Web site that cited recent remarks by Su Ning , a deputy governor, in Shanghai. The Web site posting came hours after the biggest tumble in a benchmark Chinese stock index in eight months. The comments echo those of Chinese officials who met with U.S.

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China Central Bank to Keep `Moderately Loose’ Policy Stance, Official Says

July 29, 2009

By Ye Xie July 29 (Bloomberg) — China’s central bank said it will maintain a “moderately loose monetary policy” and aims to consolidate the nation’s economic recovery. “To continue to foster the relatively smooth and fast economic development is the top priority,” the People’s Bank of China said in a statement on its Web site that cited recent remarks by Su Ning , a deputy governor, in Shanghai. The Web site posting came hours after the biggest tumble in a benchmark Chinese stock index in eight months. The comments echo those of Chinese officials who met with U.S

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Madoff Trustee Sues Con Man’s Wife Ruth for $44.8 Million in `Clawback’

July 29, 2009

By Erik Larson July 29 (Bloomberg) — The trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff ’s investment advisory business sued the imprisoned con man’s wife, Ruth, for $44.8 million, saying she profited for years from the $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Trustee Irving Picard filed the so-called clawback suit today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, arguing that Ruth Madoff’s profit from her husband’s fraud is recoverable under U.S. bankruptcy law

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Madoff Trustee Sues Con Man’s Wife Ruth for $44.8 Million in `Clawback’

July 29, 2009

By Erik Larson July 29 (Bloomberg) — The trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff ’s investment advisory business sued the imprisoned con man’s wife, Ruth, for $44.8 million, saying she profited for years from the $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Trustee Irving Picard filed the so-called clawback suit today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, arguing that Ruth Madoff’s profit from her husband’s fraud is recoverable under U.S.

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Yahoo Drops as Microsoft Search-Deal Terms Less Favorable Than Anticipated

July 29, 2009

By Brian Womack and Dina Bass July 29 (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo! Inc.

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Stocks in U.S. Drop on Decline in Chinese Equities, Treasury Debt Auction

July 29, 2009

By Lynn Thomasson July 29 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell for a second day as plunging Chinese shares and commodities stoked speculation that the surge in equities has outpaced the economy, while the Treasury sold notes at a higher-than-forecast yield. Alcoa Inc.

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Stocks in U.S. Drop on Decline in Chinese Equities, Treasury Debt Auction

July 29, 2009

By Lynn Thomasson July 29 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell for a second day as plunging Chinese shares and commodities stoked speculation that the surge in equities has outpaced the economy, while the Treasury sold notes at a higher-than-forecast yield. Alcoa Inc

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Treasuries Fall as $39 Billion Five-Year Sale Yields Higher Than Expected

July 29, 2009

By Susanne Walker and Daniel Kruger July 29 (Bloomberg) — Treasury five-year notes fell as the government sold a record $39 billion of the securities , the third of four auctions totaling $115 billion that is the largest amount of so-called coupon securities sold in a single week. The notes drew a yield of 2.689 percent, compared with a forecast of 2.635 percent in a Bloomberg News survey of eight of the Federal Reserve’s primary dealers. The bid-to-cover ratio, which gauges demand by comparing total bids with amount of securities offered was 1.92, compared with an average of 2.2 at the last 10 auctions. “We’ve got $39 billion in fives here,” said Charles Comiskey, head of U.S

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Treasuries Fall as $39 Billion Five-Year Sale Yields Higher Than Expected

July 29, 2009

By Susanne Walker and Daniel Kruger July 29 (Bloomberg) — Treasury five-year notes fell as the government sold a record $39 billion of the securities , the third of four auctions totaling $115 billion that is the largest amount of so-called coupon securities sold in a single week.

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Suspected Jakarta Bombing Message Claims Attacks Targeted American Businessmen

July 29, 2009

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Police are investigating an Internet message purportedly posted on behalf of a top Southeast Asian terror suspect claiming responsibility for the hotel bombings in Indonesia’s capital nearly two weeks ago, an official said Wednesday. The message, issued in the name of Noordin Mohammed Top, says the Jakarta suicide bombings were carried out by a splinter faction of the al-Qaida-linked regional militant group Jemaah Islamiyah. It says the attacks, which killed seven people and wounded more than 50, targeted the American business community.

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Suspected Jakarta Bombing Message Claims Attacks Targeted American Businessmen

July 29, 2009

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Police are investigating an Internet message purportedly posted on behalf of a top Southeast Asian terror suspect claiming responsibility for the hotel bombings in Indonesia’s capital nearly two weeks ago, an official said Wednesday. The message, issued in the name of Noordin Mohammed Top, says the Jakarta suicide bombings were carried out by a splinter faction of the al-Qaida-linked regional militant group Jemaah Islamiyah. It says the attacks, which killed seven people and wounded more than 50, targeted the American business community. Written in Arabic and Indonesian, the message was posted Sunday on a previously unknown Web site

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Eric Dezenhall: "Corruption Shtick" in the Garden State

July 29, 2009

When last week’s sweeping FBI roundup netted a handful of venal New Jersey politicians and kidney-pilfering, Prada handbag-counterfeiting rabbis, Governor John Corzine let loose with an equally sweeping condemnation: “Any corruption is unacceptable – anywhere, anytime, by anybody. The scale of corruption we’re seeing as this unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated.” This kind of blanket judgment may be all right from a moral and civic perspective, but, to borrow from another politician’s recent gaffe, Corzine “acted stupidly” by ignoring the sensitivities of the small-but-needy constituency to which I belong: Novelists, screenwriters and satirists whose livelihoods depend upon New Jersey being faithful to its core tenets of slapstick mendacity. If Manhattan brought us “radical chic,” the Turnpike brought us “corruption shtick.” We writers need material, primarily that which validates archetypes because we prefer to traffic in existing prejudices, not baffle our audience with too much irony and nuance.

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Jen Grisanti: Your Story Is Your Key To Success In Business Presentations

July 29, 2009

Are giving presentations a part of your business model? Are you good at them or does the idea of public speaking terrify you? Have you ever been to a boring presentation

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Jen Grisanti: Your Story Is Your Key To Success In Business Presentations

July 29, 2009

Are giving presentations a part of your business model?

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Jen Grisanti: Your Story Is Your Key To Success In Business Presentations

July 29, 2009

Are giving presentations a part of your business model?

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Voyager Hires MJ Gaul as Vice President and Announces New Markets for Corporate Access Program

July 29, 2009

COLUMBUS, OH–(Marketwire – July 29, 2009) – Voyager Institutional Services has announced that they have hired MJ Gaul as Vice President, Institutional Sales. Ms. Gaul will manage Voyager’s corporate access program in the Minneapolis and Kansas City markets

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Voyager Hires MJ Gaul as Vice President and Announces New Markets for Corporate Access Program

July 29, 2009

COLUMBUS, OH–(Marketwire – July 29, 2009) – Voyager Institutional Services has announced that they have hired MJ Gaul as Vice President, Institutional Sales.

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On Shaky Ground: Commercial Real Estate Faces Financial Tremors

July 29, 2009

As the global recession drags on, new concerns are rising about commercial real estate. So far, this sector — which in the past has led the economy into trouble — has been overshadowed by the crisis in the credit markets that has lead

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On Shaky Ground: Commercial Real Estate Faces Financial Tremors

July 29, 2009

As the global recession drags on, new concerns are rising about commercial real estate. So far, this sector — which in the past has led the economy into trouble — has been overshadowed by the crisis in the credit markets that has lead

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Michael Shapiro: (Un) Happy Anniversary: 45 Years Since Baseball Debuted on Pay-TV

July 29, 2009

The Los Angeles Dodgers will be in St. Louis tonight to play the Cardinals, and it is only fitting that the game will be available only to those who pay to watch

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Michael Shapiro: (Un) Happy Anniversary: 45 Years Since Baseball Debuted on Pay-TV

July 29, 2009

The Los Angeles Dodgers will be in St. Louis tonight to play the Cardinals, and it is only fitting that the game will be available only to those who pay to watch. For this month marks the 45th anniversary of baseball’s first pay-to-view major league baseball game, and with whom better to celebrate than the team that hosted that first telecast from the House that Walter O’Malley built?

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The next headache

July 29, 2009

– Regional banks can no longer ignore the elephant in the room — their exposure to the commercial real estate bust. Though housing markets remain weak, analysts expect credit problems over the next year to center on commercial real estate — mortgages

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The next headache

July 29, 2009

– Regional banks can no longer ignore the elephant in the room — their exposure to the commercial real estate bust. Though housing markets remain weak, analysts expect credit problems over the next year to center on commercial real estate — mortgages

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Andy Ostroy: How to Fix the U.S. Auto Industry

July 29, 2009

I own a marketing business.

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Unemployment In June: The Worst-Hit Cities (MAP)

July 29, 2009

Unemployment rates climbed in all U.S. metropolitan areas from last June to this June, the government announced on Wednesday. Some of the jumps were dramatic. And the unemployment rate in 18 areas now surpasses 15 percent

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BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking Strengthens Its Fixed Income Business in New York

July 29, 2009

NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwire – July 29, 2009) – BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking is pleased to announce two senior appointments within its fixed income business. First is the appointment of Patti Carlo as Managing Director covering mortgage institutions and banks for mortgage and interest rate derivatives. Second is the appointment of Sherif Elias as a Director in US interest rate sales. BNP Paribas has been successfully gaining market share across its interest rates business and Patti and Sherif’s appointments will help support and develop this growth.

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Piers Fawkes: Inside Starbucks New Stealth Store: 15th Avenue E Coffee and Tea

July 29, 2009

This article originally appeared on PSFK.com . A couple of weeks ago, there was a lot of buzz generated by the news that Starbucks was looking to explore new store layouts and designs and even considering dropping the brand name from certain locations.

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More Retailers Accept Food Stamps During Recession

July 29, 2009

More retailers are accepting food stamps, as a record number of consumers are turning to government aid to pay for groceries. Nearly 39 million people received food stamps — now known as Electronic Benefit Transfers — in April 2009, up about 20% over April 2008. Retailers ranging from some Costco (COST) stores — yes, quarts of capers do qualify — to 7-Eleven to Target (TGT) are moving quickly to cater to cash-strapped customers.

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Nadal Isn’t Sure When He’ll Return to ATP Tennis Tour After Hurting Knees

July 29, 2009
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Short-, Medium-Range Missiles Biggest Threat to U.S., Army’s O’Reilly Says

July 29, 2009

By Jeff Bliss and Tony Capaccio July 28 (Bloomberg) — The greatest threat to U.S. missile defenses are short- and medium-range weapons, the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said today.

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Sotomayor Heads for Senate Vote After Panel Approves High Court Nomination

July 29, 2009

By Christopher Stern July 29 (Bloomberg) — Judge Sonia Sotomayor ’s nomination to be the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court is on course for Senate confirmation with meager Republican support. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination yesterday, 13-6, with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina the only Republican to join the panel’s 12 Democrats in voting for her

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Stephen C. Rose: Fear of A Double Dip Recession

July 29, 2009

This does not have to be long. It was $4 gas that alerted folk to a Big Change

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Gates Says `Modest Acceleration’ in U.S. Troop Pullout From Iraq Possible

July 29, 2009

By Viola Gienger July 29 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. is considering speeding up its withdrawal of troops from Iraq because the transition to local control is going better than expected, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

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