Investing and Global Finance News

Monthly Archives: December 2010

Jump in E-Commerce Spending

Retail spending on e-commerce jumped 27% this holiday season as compared to last year, to a total of $27.5 billion for the period from November through December 17th, according to comScore.

ComScore further reported that on four specific days during this period spending exceeded $900 million per day, including Green Monday on December 13th, when spending reached $954 million, and the $942 million spent on December 17th, Free Shipping Day.

Stores Competing For Your Holiday Business

As major retailers compete for the hours and dollars of customers during the last pressured days of holiday shopping, some stores are staying open 24-hours-a-day; others are trying to help you identify if the store has what you want before you even get into the car. Best Buy, which lost many potential customers by promoting… Continue Reading

New Signatories to The Giving Pledge

The Giving Pledge, a campaign initiated by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet earlier this year, had already seen Larry Ellison of Oracle and media moguls Ted Turner and Bary Diller join their group. Now, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and several other billionaires, including AOL co-founder Steve Chase, former Wall Street executive Michaele Milken, and investor… Continue Reading

Possible Changes at HBO

Time Warner Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes announced Monday the possible institution of a new business model to keep pace with the evolution of the TV industry. At an investor conference in New York City, Mr. Bewkes said, that if HBO, his company’s leading cable network, becomes “overly hindered by having it only available to… Continue Reading

Job Gains for Small Businesses

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) announced on Friday the results of a survey indicating that small U.S. businesses had seen payroll increases last month. The November gain of .01 workers per firm depicts a very small change, but it nevertheless represents the first such growth for small businesses in two-and-a-half years. This survey’s… Continue Reading

The Moment of Truth

A White House deficit-reduction commission has recommended mass layoffs of government workers – up to 200,000, or 10% of the workforce, by 2020, major cuts in military spending, and raising taxes and gasoline prices as the necessary components of a plan to reduce the U.S. national deficit. The 58-page document, termed “The Moment of Truth,”… Continue Reading