Financial News Headlines

From aerospace engineer to horse healer

July 21st, 2010

SecondAct contributor David Ferrell is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times and the author of the comic baseball novel “Screwball”. This article originally appeared on SecondAct.com. Top photo courtesy of Gail Snyder.

As an aerospace engineer, Gail Snyder labored on the frontiers of science, devising experiments for the Space Shuttle and later designing flight-simulation software for the X-31 high-maneuverability fighter jet. She spent her final years in the corporate world at Boeing Aircraft, in Southern California, doing flight simulations for satellites.

Two bad breaks, however, knocked her life into a wholly different orbit. One

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US stocks down ahead of tests

July 20th, 2010

NEW YORK – US STOCKS are falling modestly as investors sorted through the latest batch of earnings and prepared for results from the European bank stress tests.

The latest round on Friday were more mixed than a day earlier when strong profit reports sent stocks sharply higher.

Microsoft, American Express and Ford all reported upbeat earnings, but Amazon and Kimberly-Clark disappointed.

The European bank stress test results could remove some uncertainty about how mounting government debt in many European countries could affect the continent’s financial sector.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 26.11, or 0.3 per cent, to 10,347.27.

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Best Deals At Publix – 07/14

July 19th, 2010

Here are the best deals at Publix for this week. Thanks to A Proverb’s Wife for sharing them. You can see the entire list of deals for Publix for this week here. <

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Review: Power of 2

July 17th, 2010

Every Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal finance book or other book of interest.

One of the most powerful things you can do in the path towards building the career you want, the social connections you want, and the financial path you want is simply work on improving your ability to build and sustain relationships with other people. Time and time again, people who have a connection with you are there to help you along on your path, from job opportunities to social engagements and from romantic possibilities to solving home improvement problems.

That’s the entire focus of this book, Power of 2 by Rodd Wagner and Gale Muller. S

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Kumba seeks other iron ore buyers

July 17th, 2010

Kumba Iron Ore may look for other domestic buyers to take extra ore if ArcelorMittal’s South African unit shuts down one of its plants, Business Report newspaper said on Monday.

The South African arm of the world’s largest steel maker said on Friday it may close its 1,2-million-tonne Saldhana plant and cut all exports after it failed to reach a deal with Kumba over ore prices.

Kumba, a unit of of global miner Anglo American, is the world’s tenth-largest producer of iron ore.

In February it terminated a long-term deal under which it sold ore to ArcelorMittal at a discount, saying it would sell at market rates from March. Read more…

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Practice of Consumer Profiling Widely Used

July 16th, 2010

Credit card companies have long been in the practice of collecting data on cardholders for the purposes of determining credit risk for each current and future cardholders.  The Federal Reserve Board is one of the major oversight and regulatory agencies for these card issuers. The Board frequently does research and issues reports about the industry. One recent report indicates that credit card lenders profile cardholders using merchant category codes.  Collecting data on cardholders is known as “consumer profiling“.  Profiling is a method that is used by card companies to collect data on cardholders and make changes and decisions about rules and regulations that govern the use of the card.

What is Profiling?
The practice of profiling initially was thought to only be used by a small handful of lenders and used simply to collect data. It was

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