By Mike Caggeso Staff writer Two key U.S. industries – the unlikeliest of opponents – are now squaring off in Congress, where bipartisan support for patent reform may drastically change the way U.S. patents are rewarded and patent infringement is punished. “The Patent Reform Act of 2007” seeks to award patents on a first-to-file basis, […]
Archives for September 2007
September 2007 - Page 11 of 12 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From
Canada's Unchanged Interest Rate Signals its Concern for U.S. Credit Crunch
By Mike Caggeso Staff writer The Bank of Canada announced Wednesday that it will keep its target for its overnight lending rate at 4.5%, and indicated that previous hints at a rate increase are economically rational, but premature. The economy of our northern neighbor is growing at a faster clip than expected. Its total and […]
Hold your noses and profit
By Martin HutchinsonDirector of Global Investing Research Emerging-markets investing can be a strange business. Most of the time, the process is fairly simple, and profitable. All one must do is to: Identify the two or three best prospective countries. Examine the economic and political prospects of each one (as well as the prospects of the […]
Online Shopping to Slow Over Next 10 Years
From Staff Reports More than a decade after Internet pioneer Amazon.com (AMZN) burst upon the scene and revolutionized online retailing, experts are projecting that Internet-based shopping is destined to fall out of favor. In the next five to 10 years, those who are already comfortable shopping online are likely to grow even more so. But […]
Pending Home Sales Drop Driving the Market Down
By Jason Simpkins Staff Writer The number of pending home sales nationwide dropped to its lowest level in nearly six years in July, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday (Wednesday). The NAR’s index of signed purchase agreements dropped by 12.2% in July after advancing 5% in the month previous. The index is down 16.1% […]
It Was a 'Wonderful Life' Before Wall Street Hijacked the Home Mortgage Market
By Martin Hutchinson Director of Global Investing Research If we travel back in time to the period from 1972 to 1978, we would find that the average "spread" between conventional 30-year home mortgages and long-term Treasury bonds was 1.09%. From that distant point, let's fast-forward to the stretch from 2000 to 2006. The "spread," then, […]
Fed's Bernanke is Pushing the Right Buttons
By William Patalon III And Mike Caggeso Money Morning News Analysis Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has taken a lot of heat for his apparent unwillingness to launch a pre-emptive strike on an economic downturn by slashing short-term interest rates – and the sooner the better. In fact, Bernanke has probably gotten more advice this […]
China Faces Challenges In Both R&D Policy, Information Technology Competitiveness
By Jason Simpkins Staff Writer For all of its repeatedly reported strengths as it continues to flex its global muscles, China faces a very significant obstacle in its bid to become a major international power: A serious short-sightedness when it comes to its information-technology sector. Although China wants to become a global leader in high-technology […]
Chinese Banks Go Public to Satisfy Bull Market Demand
By Jason Simpkins Staff Writer China Construction Bank Corp. is gearing up for what is likely to be the world's second biggest public stock offering this year. The amount the bank expects to raise was not disclosed in the preliminary prospectus released Tuesday. But based on current share prices it's estimated that the stock offering […]
Argentina's Werthein Family Interested in Boosting Telecom Argentina Holdings
From Staff Reports The Werthein Family, an Argentina family known for its investment holdings, would be interested in increasing its stake in No. 2 telephone company, Telecom Argentina SA, by purchasing the shares of that company that are currently held by Telecom Italia SpA. However, Telecom Italia has not said it wants to sell its […]