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Posted
Oct 27 2009, 10:08 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Would you spend $6 on a Big Mac? I wouldn't, and neither will people in Iceland.
That's why McDonald's (MCD) is closing its three restaurants in Iceland and has no plans to return, according to the Financial Times. The move says more about Iceland than it does McDonald's. Until recently, Iceland was one of the wealthiest countries in the world. But its financial system imploded in the global credit crisis, and its three biggest banks were ruined by high debt. Its currency went into a tailspin and its capital markets shut down. The departure of McDonald's is perhaps a tacit acknowledgement that the country isn't coming back.
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Posted
Oct 21 2009, 10:49 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 A second stimulus won't fly with some Americans, despite the fact that Warren Buffett, Joseph Stiglitz and other experts have called for one.
That's why, even though the White House will likely push something that walks and talks like a stimulus, no one will call it the "S" word. Lawmakers are set to extend some stimulus measures and create some new ones as well, CNNMoney.com reports. Here's a quick rundown: Unemployment. One move being considered is extending unemployment benefits after they run out. An estimated 1.3 million unemployed workers will have exhausted their benefits by the end of the year,
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Posted
Oct 20 2009, 09:46 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Could banks have any less respect for their customers?
Citibank (C) has begun closing customers' accounts without telling them. That's a bitter surprise for some people who pull out their cards to make a purchase, only to learn that the card has been denied. This isn't anything new, but it's a trend that's starting to involve more banks and affect more customers who least expect it. Pay your bill on time and keep a low balance? Doesn't matter. All types of accounts are getting hit. One woman tried to pay for gas, according to the Associated Press. Citibank said it was because of something that appeared on her credit report. But when the woman accessed her credit report, it only said, "Closed at credit grantor's request."
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Posted
Oct 20 2009, 07:45 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 The salary of banking executives is a sore point with, well, everyone, but the perks are just getting better.
Financial firms that received taxpayer bailout money boosted their executive perks about 4% on average last year, the Washington Post reports. Bosses that didn't quite get the bonus or salary they wanted had their ruffled feathers smoothed over with a nice country club membership.
Ken Lewis of Bank of America (BAC) and Jeffrey Peek of CIT Group (CIT), for example, each got an extra $100,000 in personal jet use over the year.
And Comerica (CMA) chief Ralph Babb Jr. got a slick new country club membership that would normally have cost him $200,000.
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Posted
Oct 20 2009, 07:08 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Investors should take a long, hard look at Apple (AAPL) shares before jumping into the stock, writes Brett Arends of The Wall Street Journal.
A better investment in smartphones might be in network operators, which are cheap, he writes. Those include Verizon Communications (VZ), AT&T (T) and Vodafone (VOD), which have dividend yields in the 5% to 6% range. Arends lists a number of reasons why, even after Apple's impressive earnings report this week, investors should tread carefully. "The case for or against investing in Apple has little to do with whether it's a good company (it is) or whether it makes good products (it does)," he writes. "It isn't even about whether the company can beat expectations. It's about whether the shares, priced at these levels, make for a sound investment."
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Posted
Oct 19 2009, 11:33 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
If you own shares of Fannie Mae (FNM) or Freddie Mac (FRE), you're sitting on a whole lot of nothing, according to analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. The analysts cut the price target on both stocks to zero and downgraded them to underperform. In order for these mortgage giants to survive, the analysts said, they need to be recapitalized from the banking industry. But even if that happens, their common and preferred stocks will be worthless. The government has funneled $98 billion in capital into Fannie and Freddie, according to MarketWatch.
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Posted
Oct 19 2009, 10:43 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Animal care can be outrageously expensive. I've probably spent enough money on my cat's ailing kidneys to buy a small car.
Should the government be helping out? One Republican congressman thinks so, and has introduced a bill that allows pet owners to deduct the cost of animal care from their taxes. The bill would let you deduct as much as $3,500 a year, according to NPR. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan said he's heard that economic hard times are causing some people to give up their pets.
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Posted
Oct 19 2009, 09:53 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Layaway, gone from most stores for years, is back this season as stores get creative in wringing every dollar they can from shoppers.
Toys R Us announced Monday it will launch a layaway program for its more expensive items. Chief executive Gerald Storch said customers were requesting the service. Toy sales don't suffer as much as other retail categories in recessions. That's because, when your daughter looks at you with big eyes and says how much she would love the Fur Real Friends Lulu My Cuddlin Kiddy Cat, well, it's hard to say no. And now, Toys R Us and other stores are making it that much harder to say no.
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Posted
Oct 16 2009, 10:18 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Turns out that hedge fund managers are, well, a little loose with the facts. I'm sure you're completely shocked by this revelation. Researchers at New York University compared hedge fund manager claims to the actual data in hundreds of due diligence reports between 2003 and 2008, writes Larry Swedroe of CBS MoneyWatch.com. They found that managers lied about the amount of money in the funds, the performance of the funds and other details. One manager overstated the fund's assets under management by $300 million, Swedroe writes. It gets worse.
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Posted
Oct 16 2009, 09:48 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Here's one of the more discouraging facts I've come across in a while: At the end of August there were fewer than 2.4 million job openings in the country.
To put this in perspective, that equals only 1.8% of all the filled and unfilled positions in the U.S. That's a new record low, according to the Atlanta Fed. For every job opening, there were more than six unemployed people. That's a very bleak scenario, particularly when you compare it to 2007, when the ratio was less than 1.5. The underlying message here is pretty obvious.
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