When Uncle Sam comes calling, not even the jobless are exempt.
Unemployment aid is taxed as regular income for the federal government and most states, said Mark Steber, vice president of tax resources at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. If you don’t choose to withhold taxes from your check, you could have a balance due on April 15, even as you struggle to pay the bills.
"Unfortunately, it’s a surprise in many cases," Steber said.
But those on the job hunt have recourse to some tax breaks on these expenses:
— Mileage costs during trips to interviews and the unemployment office. In the first half of last year, you can claim 50.5 cents on the mile; in the second half, 58.5 cents.
— Mailing and printing costs for r
Pharmacy-benefit manager Express Scripts said Tuesday several of its customers have received letters threatening to expose patients’ records.
The announcement comes less than a week after the company disclosed it is the target of an anonymous extortion threat.
Express Scripts said the new letters were received by several clients in recent days and are similar to the letter it first received. That letter included personal information on 75 people covered by Express Scripts, including birth dates, social security numbers and prescription information. The sender demanded money from the company, under the threat of exposing records of millions of patients.
The company said it has turned the new letters over to federal investigators.
Express Scripts manages prescription benefits for roughly 50 million people through thousands of clients, including health insurers, employers and union-sponsored health plans payday advance services.
The company said Tuesday it also would pay a $1 million reward to anyone would could provide information leading to the arrest of the people making the threats.
"We are cooperating fully with the FBI to assist them in their investigation and doing what we can to protect our members," said Express Scripts Chief Executive George Paz. "We hope that establishing a reward will bring forward useful information."
Shares of Express Scripts (ESRX, Fortune 500) fell 22 cents to $60.61 in afterhours trading. The stock closed the regular session down 42 cents at $60.83.
Oil prices rose above $70 a barrel Tuesday, propelled by a slipping dollar, a stronger equities market and OPEC production cuts, as Americans went to the polls.
U.S. crude for December delivery ended the day $6.62 higher to $70.53 a barrel in New York, but not before spiking to $71.77 as thawing credit boosted stocks and eased crude investors’ worries about market risk.
The equities market rebounded, sending the Dow up by as much as 300 points, as interbank lending loosened, allowing more cash to flow through the system.
"If we continue to see improvements in the credit markets, we could see oil stabilize or gain more ground," said Rachel Ziemba, energy analyst at economic research firm RGE Monitor.
Credit and rate cuts: The London interbank lending rate (Libor), a measurement of how much banks charge to lend money to each other, has been on the decline thanks to efforts by the world’s governments and central banks.
The Federal Reserve cut its key lending rate last Wednesday to 1%, a low not seen since 2003. The Bank of Japan followed on Friday, cutting rates for the first time in 7 years.
The 3-month Libor rate had fallen to 2.71% from 2.86% on Monday. The lower the rate, the cheaper it is for banks to borrow cash, and the more dollars are available to the market.
Additionally, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank are expected to cut rates on Thursday, according to Ziemba.
Stocks: Stock markets rallied Tuesday on anticipation of rate cuts from Europe’s central banks, and after several major companies reported better than expected earnings.
Credit card giant MasterCard (MA) reported stronger than expected earnings, not including a massive legal settlement with rival Discover Financial Services (DFS), which analysts discount when trying to determine the health of the company.
Meanwhile Illinois-based food producer Archer Daniels Midland Co. said its quarterly profit more than doubled as selling prices rose.
Markets have also been buoyed by the fact that, over the past several weeks, the financial markets have not seen any of the large bank blowups that have characterized the economic crisis since Bear Stearns crumbled in March.
"You’re not getting that big heavy body blow to the market," said Tom Orr, head of research for investment brokerage Weeden & Co.
Potential collapses of global financial institutions such as UBS (UBS) and Barclays (BCS) have been averted by influxes of foreign cash, or by government action.
Stock market advances point out a "willingness by investors to take on more risk," said Ziemba.
However the bump may only be temporary, she added, since the global economy is still slow.
Over the past several months, worry about a stagnating global economy, and the corresponding decline in fuel demand, helped drive oil prices down from a record high of $147 cash advances pay day loan.27 a barrel in July.
Dollar: A slipping dollar also helped support crude prices.
The U.S. dollar fell compared to the 15-nation euro as investors sought the more lucrative returns of stocks and commodities. Investors often buy the dollar as a safe investment to avoid risk in other markets.
Oil, like most commodities, is traded in U.S. dollars. So when the value of the dollar falls, oil becomes more affordable to non-U.S. investors, and its dollar-denominated price goes up.
OPEC cuts: Also pushing oil higher were reports that members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had begun implementing the cartel’s planned production cuts.
Saudi Arabia cut exports by 900,000 barrels per day, according to media reports. Iran also said it was committed to cutting 199,000 barrels a day, according to reports.
While OPEC pledged in October to cut production by a total of 1.5 million barrels a day, there was real concern among investors about whether or not members would comply with the guideline, according to Ziemba.
The production cuts, along with strength in the equities markets have led many commodity investors to re-examine oil’s supply and demand picture, according to Orr.
"People are starting to look a little more rationally about where commodity prices should be," said Orr.
However concerns remain that cuts may not be enough to give oil a bottom.
"Despite the production cuts, we’re still in a global recession, and that’s bad for oil demand," said Ziemba.
U.S. demand: A report on U.S. crude supplies from the Energy Department, a key measurement of demand for the week, is expected to show a 500,000 barrel increase for last week, according to research firm Platts.
An increase in crude supplies sometimes indicates that refineries won’t need to purchase as much oil over the next week to meet production goals.
"There’s no rush to go out and buy oil," said Orr. It may take between 5 and 8 weeks before OPEC’s supply reduction begins to have an impact, he added.
Platts also predicted refineries were operating at 85.5% of capacity last week, which is abnormally low.
The low refinery levels could be due to maintenance issues, repairs resulting from the summer hurricane season, as well as lack of demand, according to Orr.
A report of gas station credit card swipes from MasterCard showed that demand for gasoline was down 3.9% from last year for the week ended Oct. 31.
Gas demand increased by 1.3% compared to the week before, but it was the 28th straight week in which the report showed a decline in fuel demand from the prior year.
Asian and European Union leaders called for an overhaul of global financial regulation, lending support to French President Nicolas Sarkozy as he presses the U.S. to join the initiative amid the credit crisis.
The heads of more than 40 Asian and European governments “pledged to undertake effective and comprehensive reform of the international monetary and financial systems,'' according to a statement released at a two-day meeting in Beijing. Chinese President Hu Jintao, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Sarkozy are among the participants.
The summit, which ends today, is the first gathering of Asian and EU leaders since bank failures, sinking stock prices and weakening currencies stoked fears that the world is headed for a prolonged economic decline.
Sarkozy is leading the 27-nation EU's push to respond by revamping a financial system established after World War II. Leaders from around the globe will meet Nov. 15 in Washington to assess the turmoil at the urging of the EU, which has floated ideas including more bank supervision, stricter regulation of hedge funds, new rules for credit-rating companies and changes at the International Monetary Fund.
The “IMF should play a critical role in assisting countries seriously affected by the crisis, upon their request,'' the Asian and EU leaders said in their statement.
`Unanimous Consensus'
The Washington-based IMF is considering an emergency program to prevent a collapse of emerging markets by almost doubling borrowing limits for members and waiving its standard demands for economic austerity measures. Investors are pulling money out of Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe on fears vulnerable countries may also default on debt.
“There is a unanimous consensus to push forward reform,'' Kazuo Kodama, a press secretary at Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in an interview today. No agreement has been reached on the details of that reform, he said how to get a free credit report.
Sarkozy's campaign for an overhaul threatens to expose differences with the U.S. over global financial governance. That may provoke tensions and bog down talks while individual countries continue to act on their own to limit the fallout.
South Korea stressed the importance of EU-U.S. unity in taking any actions. “If Europe and the U.S. become united, it would enhance whatever countermeasures are taken,'' South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said today, according to his spokesman, Lee Dong Kwan.
Stocks Slide
The credit crisis is choking off money to companies and people, undermining business and consumer sentiment. Economists at Deutsche Bank AG expect the Group of Seven economies to contract 1.1 percent next year, the worst since the Great Depression, and global growth to be the weakest since the 1980s.
Stock markets around the world have tumbled this year amid growing concern that governments, central banks and finance ministers are powerless to counter eroding corporate earnings and job losses.
More than $10 trillion have been erased from the market value of equities so far this month, accounting for about one- third of the total value wiped off stocks this year. MSCI's index of developed and emerging stock markets plunged 48 percent in 2008 and is heading for its worst year on record as credit- related losses topped $660 billion.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index is down more than 40 percent this year, poised for its worst annual retreat since 1931. The S&P 500 has lost 26 percent since U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. declared bankruptcy on Sept. 15, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 has fallen 25 percent, Japan's Nikkei 225 has tumbled 37 percent and Germany's DAX has dropped 29 percent.
Battered housing developers are getting a bit more optimistic about their prospects for the next six months, an index of the sector’s confidence showed Tuesday.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index rose two points to 18 this month from an all-time low of 16 in July and August.
The survey was taken in the first 10 days of September, and for the most part doesn’t reflect the fall in mortgage rates since the government’s takeover of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It also doesn’t take into account this week’s Wall Street turmoil, which may push rates downward as nervous investors move into government bonds.
Immediately after the Fannie and Freddie seizure, "the positive impact on mortgage rates was probably not apparent to many builders," the trade group’s chief economist, David Seiders, said in an interview.
Average rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dipped to 5.93% last week, down from 6.35% on the Thursday before the takeover, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey. Rates had been bouncing between 6% and 6.5% since late May.
Builders have been slammed by a combination of falling home prices, soaring foreclosures and an oversupply of unsold homes languishing on the market. But the industry is growing hopeful that consumers will finally take advantage of deeply discounted prices.
Another key reason for the improving outlook: a temporary $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers passed by Congress this summer. The credit essentially works out to a 15-year, interest-free loan.
Many in the industry "are sensing that home sales are nearing a turning point," Sandy Dunn, a homebuilder from Point Pleasant, W.Va savings account payday advance. and the trade group’s president, said in a statement. New home sales likely will stabilize by year-end, Seiders predicts.
All three components of the index improved, with the largest gain in the index of builders’ sales expectations over the next six months. That gauge rose by six points to 30.
Gains in builder confidence were seen across the United States, with the largest gain in the Northeast, where confidence rose by six points.
Still, many in the industry are worried about the cancellation of popular programs that let sellers channel down payment money to cash-strapped homebuyers via charities. Those seller-financed down payment assistance programs were eliminated in the housing bill passed over the summer because homebuyers who used them had high default rates.
The latest housing market index reflects a survey of 461 residential developers nationwide, tracking builders’ perceptions of current market conditions and expectations for home sales over the next six months.
Index readings higher than 50 indicate positive sentiment about the market. The seasonally adjusted index has been below 50 since May 2006 and has been below 20 since April.
No doubt you’ve heard that 3-D has become the thing at the multiplex, and that Hollywood bigs like Jeffrey Katzenberg, Robert Zemeckis, and James Cameron are making movies that capitalize on new digital-projection technologies.
What has received far less notice is that 3-D could well turn out to be an even bigger revolution for live broadcast TV. That’s right: Journey to the Center of Your Living Room in 3-D.
The idea of sitting around your home wearing special glasses may sound cumbersome (and dorky). And right now there is a handful of 3-D sets for sale, but no programming to speak of. Plus - let’s face it - it’s hard to get jazzed about yet another new format of TV viewing while too many people still couldn’t tell you whether 1080p is some kind of high-def TV or an IRS tax form. Besides that, count me among the skeptics who have considered 3-D movies a bit of a niche, if not a gimmick.
Yet - forgive me, literary gods - seeing is 3-lieving. A few weeks ago I found myself in a converted warehouse in Burbank, where a rig housing two cameras shot my image and transmitted it onto a flat-screen TV on the other side of the room. With the benefit of polarized glasses - the cheap clear-plastic ones you now put on when you go to a 3-D movie in a theater - I saw myself in three crisp dimensions, practically leaping out of the television at … myself. I was visiting a small company called 3ality Digital, one of a bunch of players trying to push ahead with what is called stereoscopic broadcasting. The company’s calling card is that it made the U2 3-D movie that wowed audiences last year. While it is working on other film projects, 3ality Digital is focusing on the much bigger potential market for live TV.
In fact, demos of live 3-D have been quietly gaining buzz around the TV world: Last year both the NBA All-Star game and a Dallas Mavericks game were broadcast on a closed-circuit feed using equipment from Pace, the company that Cameron helped start and whose equipment he uses to shoot in 3-D. At the International Broadcasting Conference in Amsterdam in September, Katzenberg is scheduled to deliver a keynote in 3-D live from Los Angeles via satellite and 3ality gear. "This is similar to where we were in 2003 with high-def," Chuck Pagano, executive VP of technology at ESPN, told me. "This is a big win for TV in general, because it is jaw-dropping when you see a football or basketball game in 3-D." (See correction.)
Indeed, one thing the first wave of Hollywood 3-D blockbusters clarified is that 3-D can’t make a crummy movie good, but it might make a good movie better quick payday loan. With TV - particularly live TV - it enhances already proven programming. (The porn industry is also drooling over this, for obvious reasons.) As with all newfangled gadgetry, the big question is which standards will prevail: There are already several "3-D ready" displays on the market from the likes of Samsung and JVC, requiring different types of image coding and viewing glasses. In Japan one broadcaster is airing an hour a day in 3-D, and Philips (PHG) has a 3-D monitor for sale that does not require glasses but is, for now, too pricey for mass rollout. "I think the glasses are a necessary evil for the next few years," says Wendy Aylsworth, a Warner Bros. executive who is heading an entertainment industry group’s efforts to set technical standards. Still, expect more and better 3-D TVs to be the buzz at next January’s consumer electronics show.
ESPN’s Pagano estimates the first 3-D broadcasts in the U.S. are three years away. But they might be sooner if Hollywood’s 3-D craze gathers steam. Last month Disney’s Best of Both Worlds 3-D concert film featuring Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana was aired on TV and released in DVD - but it used the old-timey 3-D format known as anaglyph, which requires those glasses with red and blue plastic lenses. That format works on current TVs - sort of: Unlike the crisp stereographic images seen on the big-screen version, the colors through anaglyph are pretty brutal. Similarly, Warner (which, like Fortune, is owned by Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500)) is planning to release its recent Journey to the Center of the Earth in DVD, but also using anaglyph. That’s the 3-D equivalent of releasing a color movie in black-and-white for home viewing. And for 3-D aficionados, that won’t do: In TV’s next big thing, the kid doesn’t stay in the picture. He’s practically sitting in your lap.
The Belmont University School of Pharmacy has launched of the school's first research study.
The project will investigate the stability of liquid forms of several drugs previously only available in solid dosage forms such as tablets, capsules.
The study is possible because of $157,000 contract grant with Galipot, the manufacturer of SyrSpend SF, the sugar-free syrup suspension agent for the drug's active ingredients.
The research project will involve Belmont pharmacy faculty members in evaluating 71 different drugs over the next two years.
Liquid forms of drugs are vital to the treatment of infants, children and patients whose illnesses prevent swallowing.
The process of testing the 71 drugs involves mixing the active ingredients into the liquid suspension agent.
"I'm excited that our first research project as a school will serve patients who are often most in need: young children and patients with cancer, stroke or other devastating conditions who have lost their ability to swallow," says Dr paydayloans.com. Phil Johnston, dean of the School of Pharmacy in a news release.
The school recently bought high-level equipment which enables the scientists to measure how much of the drug remains active in the solution over time.
It will seat its first class of 75 students in August.
The future downtown Scottsdale could encompass more high-rise office buildings and condos, pedestrian friendly walkways, bridges and crossings, more free parking and circulator trolleys that link to other regional transit systems.
Those goals are part of a draft plan being considered for Scottsdale's urban core. Scottsdale would be open to more high-rise, high-density developments in its downtown area if developers and builders offer amenities and benefits that help the city obtain other goals of the plan, officials said cash advance in one hour.
The plan also looks to develop more medical facilities in the downtown area.
Mexico's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the second straight month to curb the highest inflation rate in more than three years.
The bank's five-member board, led by Governor Guillermo Ortiz, raised the key lending rate by a quarter percentage point to 8 percent today, the highest since December 2005. Policy makers said the inflation outlook has worsened and they will raise their forecasts by an average of about half a percentage point in a quarterly report this month.
The peso surged to a five-year high on speculation the central bank may further increase interest rates, which would widen the yield advantage Mexico has compared with the U.S. The Mexican peso is up 6.8 percent this year against the dollar.
“The statement is very hawkish,'' said Alfredo Thorne, head of Latin America research for JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Mexico City. “As long as inflation expectations remain high and there are risks, then they will keep on hiking.''
Thorne said he expects a rate increase to 8.25 percent in August and possibly another one in September.
Inflation in Latin America's second-biggest economy has accelerated for five straight months on rising food and energy costs.
Consumer prices rose 5.26 percent in June, the first month that inflation exceeded the bank's forecast of no more than 5 percent in the second and third quarters of this year. The central bank targets inflation of 3 percent, plus or minus one percentage point.
`Anchored' Expectations
“It is indispensable to keep inflation expectations well anchored,'' the bank said in its statement today. “Monetary policy plays a fundamental role in this.''
The decision matched the forecast of 21 of 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Seven others said the rate would stay unchanged. The bank released its report 22 minutes earlier than scheduled today because of a technical failure, according to its press office.
“The scenario is worse than expected,'' said Luis Flores, economist at IXE Grupo Financiero SA in Mexico City. “Food and energy prices will continue to exert pressure. The central bank is looking at this and decided to raise rates so inflation doesn't get out of control.''
The peso gained 0.3 percent to 10.2048 to the dollar at 12:38 p.m. New York time from 10.2354 yesterday, and earlier it reached a high of 10.1987 pay day advance. The yield on the government's benchmark 10 percent bond due December 2024 rose 14.7 basis points, or 0.147 percentage point, to 9.23 percent, according to Banco Santander SA.
Mexico's Bolsa index has gained 2.4 percent this year in dollar terms, compared with a decline of 14 percent by the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, the benchmark for U.S. stocks.
`No Choice'
Policy makers were forced to raise borrowing costs as annual inflation exceeds the bank's target of no more than 4 percent, said Bartosz Pawlowski, a strategist at TD Securities Ltd. in London.
“It had no other choice but to act,'' Pawlowski said. “The bank has to tackle inflation expectations and do something about the current situation.''
The bank surprised analysts last month by raising borrowing costs for the first time in eight months.
Gray Newman, chief Latin America economist at Morgan Stanley in New York, said the bank's statement today didn't clarify whether policy makers are likely to further increase rates. Newman said Banco de Mexico may give a clearer indication in its July 30 report, he said.
“They didn't send a signal that they're through for the time being,'' Newman said.
Economy
Mexico's government says the economy is less vulnerable to a slowdown in the U.S. than it was during the U.S. recession of 2001. Still, Mexican consumer confidence fell more than economists estimated in June to the lowest since January 2002.
The bank said today it estimates the economy expanded less in the second quarter than it did in the first. Gross domestic product grew 2.6 percent in the first quarter, or 3.7 percent when seasonally adjusted.
President Felipe Calderon on June 18 announced an accord with industry groups to freeze the price of canned tuna, coffee, beans and about 150 other items in a bid to hold down inflation. Wheat, corn and rice have risen to records this year because of shrinking global stockpiles and more demand.
Calderon has also tried to fight higher food prices by lifting import tariffs on corn, wheat, rice and beans in May. He eliminated import taxes on nitrogen-based fertilizer, and cut in half the tax on imported powdered milk.
Wildfires are threatening homes in California, while East Coast residents brace for hurricane season. Judging by recent catastrophes, people should review their homeowners' coverage to make sure dollar amounts keep pace with current construction expenses.
About two-thirds of U.S. homes were underinsured in 2007 by an average 18 percent, according to data compiled by Los Angeles-based Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, which provides building-cost information for the insurance industry.
Owners often confuse the estimated resale value of their homes, which includes the value of the land, with what it costs to rebuild. The latter is determined by market prices for contractors and building materials, not the local housing market.
“Most policies used to be guaranteed replacement cost,'' said Robert Hunter, insurance director at the Consumer Federation of America in Washington. “That isn't true anymore. It puts people in a rather fragile situation.''
Insurance agents may provide a figure for coverage, but it's the responsibility of homeowners to make sure that's enough. Insurers generally pay up to a set amount, even if it's less than what it costs to restore a home. And, some homeowners mistakenly think they're covered for floods, earthquakes, mold, termites and water-line breaks, according to a 2007 survey by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in Kansas City, Missouri.
“Companies are always looking at different aspects of homeowners' policies that they may exclude,'' said Marta Arrington, director of consumer services at Florida's Department of Financial Services. “Mold is a good example.''
Hurricane Andrew
While Hurricane Katrina added to pressures on insurers, it was Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which followed wildfires and earthquakes in California, that led to an overhaul of the way the industry wrote homeowners' policies, according to Hunter, who was the Texas insurance commissioner in 1993 and 1994.
Companies turned to consulting firms such as McKinsey & Co. and computer programs with names like Colossus to pinpoint where they were losing money. Results were dramatic, Hunter told Congress in October testimony. Even after record-setting amounts of damage by hurricanes, the insurance industry made $38.5 billion in 2004 and $44.2 billion in 2005, he said.
Thousands of homeowners battled insurers in court after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 on whether damage to their property was due to wind, which is covered by private insurance, or water, which would make the federal flood insurance program liable for repairs.
Inflation Adjustments
Allstate Corp., the largest publicly traded U.S. home and auto insurer, hasn't offered unlimited replacement coverage since the Oakland Hills, California, wildfires in the early 1990s, said Rich Halberg, a company spokesman pay day loan.
The Northbrook, Illinois-based insurer paid $2 billion to victims of four Florida hurricanes in 2004. Afterward, it undertook a comprehensive review that resulted in new policy exclusions, the purchase of reinsurance to protect against catastrophic losses, and a move away from writing new policies in Florida, Halberg said.
Coverage for excluded items can sometimes be added at extra cost such as riders that automatically adjust for inflation. Customers also can add clauses covering expenses from tougher building codes following a natural disaster. For protection from floods, policies have to be backed by the federal government.
The insurance industry has moved away from a promise to rebuild to policies that stop at a set dollar amount, author Peter Gosselin wrote in his book, “High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families.'' It's part of a gradual transfer of risk from companies to individuals, he said.
Hurricanes and Earthquakes
So-called extended replacement cost policies often will cap payouts at 25 percent over reconstruction estimates. This forces homeowners to keep up with local building costs, according to Gosselin's book.
Chubb Corp., which sells policies to higher-income families, said in May it would offer “unlimited replacement coverage'' in Texas. That now makes the coverage available in 41 states and Washington, D.C., said Peter Spicer, a spokesman for the Warren, New Jersey-based company.
States where the insurer maintains a cap are the ones most susceptible to hurricanes and earthquakes: Alabama, California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming, Spicer said. Chubb, the 11th-largest U.S. property insurer, interviews contractors, architects and builders year-round to keep up with building costs.
“In a down real estate market, you may not realize you need more than the market value of your house,'' Spicer said.
Fire Hydrants
In Texas, a homeowner with a $1 million house may pay $2,000 to $2,500 in annual premiums to insure a property with Chubb, according to Spicer. The actual cost depends on location, proximity of fire hydrants and fire stations, security systems and year of construction.
Policies are written annually so insurers can add exclusions. Consumers should talk to their agents at least once a year or when major improvements are made, said Jeanne Salvatore, consumer spokeswoman at the industry-backed Insurance Information Institute in New York.
A policy “may or may not'' cover the costs of rebuilding, Salvatore said. “You don't want to find out when you are filing a claim.''
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