iflove Archive for December, 2009

The House voted Wednesday to slap higher taxes on Wall Street investment managers to help pay to extend $31 billion in tax breaks for a wide range of Americans, including popular deductions for local and state sales and property taxes. The tax breaks include a sales tax deduction that mainly helps people in the nine states without local income taxes, a property tax deduction for people who don’t itemize and lucrative credits that help businesses finance research and development.

Treasury decides not to sell its Citigroup stock too cheaply. In a striking reversal of its attempts to unwind the government’s financial stakes in big banks, the Treasury Department is backing out of plans to sell its stake in Citigroup.

Benjamin Franklin’s maxim that “nothing is certain but death and taxes” remains true. But a congressional stalemate has left the federal estate tax, the levy on assets left to heirs, in doubt for at least part of 2010. The tax is poised to expire Thursday, though the House and Senate are expected to pass a reauthorization, possibly retroactive to Jan. 1, next year.

Hacker pleads guilty in credit card theft case. A computer hacker who helped orchestrate the theft of tens of millions of credit and debit card numbers from major retailers in one of the largest such thefts in U.S. history pleaded guilty Tuesday in the last of three cases brought by federal prosecutors.

Stocks ended the next-to-last day of 2009 little changed as welcome news on manufacturing helped offset a drop in commodities prices. Stocks little changed as dollar strengthens.

European shares slipped as commodities weigh in thin early trading on Wednesday. By 0914 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index was down 0.2 percent at 1,045.25 points, with volumes on the index about 5 percent of the 90-day daily average.

Shares of JAL tumbled to a record low on growing investor worries that the carrier will be restructured in a bankruptcy court as part of a state bailout. Asian stocks faded on Wednesday as year-end trade dwindled, with profit-taking pulling down shares and bankruptcy worries about Japan Airlines weighing on the Nikkei, while the dollar rose broadly.

Mutual funds see the year off with growth of assets. Net value of the assets managed by Bulgarian collective investment schemes marks an uptake of 5% to BGN 353,6 million. A year ago mutual funds erased 57% of their assets, the Pari Daily informed.

Crisis brings new players to quick loans market. The economic headwinds clogged up lending and lifted the share and volume of defaults but also brought new players to the quick loan market. Terra Credit, Feratum Bulgaria and Cash Credit came into being to capitalize on traditional lenders’ reluctance to provide funding.

According to the latest statistics of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), banks issued loans to companies at record low interest in November – 7, 76%. This is the lowest level of interest on corporate credits registered by the central banks since 1994.