Obama: Get corporate cash ‘off the sidelines’
Really man. It’s about time businesses get to gettin!
As the economy continues to show positive signs of mederate growth, some companies are still delaying hiring and growing.
This is great article.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — President Obama met with 20 prominent CEOs Wednesday, saying the session focused on jobs and how to get companies to pump the billions of dollars they’re holding into the economy.
“We focused on jobs and investment, and they [the CEOs] feel optimistic that, by working together, we can get some of that cash off the sidelines,” Obama said as he walked back to the White House from the meeting.
Read more at CNNMoney.com
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- Economy getting better, but still ‘a long way to go’
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Dow on track for the best September since 1939
I knew it! I had figured that September was shaping up nicely but I didn’t think the market would be so good. This means that earnings might look pretty good.
By Hibah Yousuf, staff reporterSeptember, CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The summer has come to an end, and so has the market slump that came with it. With little on tap to challenge the recent rally, stocks are on track to close September with the biggest monthly gains in over a year.
Though September is typically down month on Wall Street and the economic recovery remains sluggish, investors have taken cues from recent upbeat economic news to propel major indexes sharply higher during the month after a sell-off in August.
“We’ve been seeing modestly favorable economic numbers lately, which has allowed markets to keep moving up,” said Stephen Carl, head equity trader at Williams Capital Group.
So far, the Dow has rallied 8.4%, which would be the best monthly gain since July 2009, when the blue-chip index added 8.6%. The latest lift also puts the Dow on track for its best September since 1939, when it rose 13.5%.
The S&P has rallied 9.5%, the largest increase since April 2009, and the Nasdaq has surged 12.6%, the biggest jump since October 2002.
Read more at CNNMoney.com
- Home sales rise as unemployment claims fall
- Stocks rally to 4-month highs
- Stocks rise on more signs of growth; Dow tops 11K
- Is the housing report good news?
- After blah week, stocks to get in gear. No, really
Recession May Be Over, but Joblessness Remains
Great article. Yes, the recession has been over for quite sometime BUT “some” media outlets would have you believe it’s the end of the world. Ugh. As much as consumer spending is up a hair, unemployment seems to be lagging. Unemployment will be relative from now on – it’s simple math. Read this article.
By CATHERINE RAMPELL
The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The downturn officially ended, and the recovery officially began, in June 2009, according to an announcement Monday by the official arbiter of economic turning points. Since that point, total output — the amount of goods and services produced by the United States — has increased, as have many other measures of economic activity.
But nonfarm payrolls are still down 329,000 from their level at the recession’s official end 15 months ago, and the slow growth in recent months means that the unemployed still have a long slog ahead.
Read more at NYTimes.com
- Unemployment Fell in Nine U.S. States as Michigan Made Headway
- Stocks rally to 4-month highs
- Market Turmoil
- U.S. Economy: Trade Gap Widens More Than Anticipated on Imports
- Was 2011 a good year for your business?
Stocks rally to 4-month highs
Great news! And it’s earnings season!
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — A U.S. stock rally continued to pick up speed through Monday afternoon, with all three major indexes closing at four-month highs after a key group of economists called an official end to the recession.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) gained 146 points, or 1.4%, to end at 10,753, its highest close since mid-May. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (COMP) rallied 40 points, or 1.7%, to finish at 2,355.
Read more at CNNMoney.com
- Market Turmoil
- Dow on track for the best September since 1939
- Here come the profit reports
- Wall Street lifted by jobs report
- Recession May Be Over, but Joblessness Remains
After blah week, stocks to get in gear. No, really
In the coming weeks the latest readings on retail sales, industrial production and both producer and consumer prices. Stocks are coming off an exceptionally light trading week. U.S. markets were closed Monday for Labor Day and trading desks were short-staffed later in the week for Jewish New Year.
After one big leap back and three baby steps forward, stocks ended up going practically nowhere last week.
But don’t fear. Analysts have been saying all summer that they’re waiting until mid-September for stocks to take direction, and now mid-September is here. As traders regroup after the shortened holiday week, the upcoming economic calendar offers several potential market-movers that could take the lead.
Read more at CNNMoney.com
- Dow on track for the best September since 1939
- Market Turmoil
- Here come the profit reports
- National News on The U.S. Economy
- Stocks rise on more signs of growth; Dow tops 11K
4 Surprise Bright Spots in the Economy
Interesting article on manufacturing growth
American manufacturing has generally been in decline for decades, but the nation’s factories have been key to the current economic recovery.
Many analysts predicted manufacturing would fall last month on signs that the global recovery would slow down later this year, but the opposite was true. U.S. manufacturing expanded faster than expected as factories added workers and raised production to restock inventory and respond to demands form markets overseas. The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index rose to a three-month high of 56.3 from 55.5 in July. Most economists predicted it would fall to 52.8 or worse. A reading of more than 50 generally signals growth.
What’s more, the surge in manufacturing has translated to jobs, though growth has been concentrated to mostly temporary employment, Tig Gilliam, Adecco CEO for North America told Fortune last week. Though the latest Labor Department report released last Friday suggested that manufacturing jobs fell more than expected in August, temporary jobs rose 17,000. And Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT – News), the Peoria, Ill.-based maker of construction and mining equipment, has announced it may add up to 9,000 workers globally this year.
Manufacturing, which accounts for about 11% of the U.S. economy, helped pull the nation out of the recession. For the U.S. recovery to continue, it will need to hold up.
Read more at YahooFinance.com
- Could the economy be at risk of a double dip?
- Economy adds jobs at fastest pace in three years
- Unemployment Fell in Nine U.S. States as Michigan Made Headway
- March jobs report shows growth
- India’s economy grows at fastest pace in 2 years
Double dip recession: What are the odds?
Is a double dip recession on the horizon? No. But if the media continues to present such doom and gloom then maybe, just maybe, consumers might hold back their spending. This last quarter of better than expected earnings reports from retailers and food establishments proved that not only are we out of the recession but that Americans are spending money. Americans are spending cash as opposed to credit. This is a great sign. This is an interesting article.
By Annalyn Censky, staff reporter at CNN Money.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Europe’s debt crisis. Companies still not hiring. The Gulf oil spill. These are uncertain times to say the least. But while you might think economists would be running for the hills and looking ahead to a so-called “double dip recession,” that’s not necessarily the case.
In fact, some economists think a double dip is even less likely than it was earlier this year.
David Wyss, chief economist with Standard & Poor’s, said that even though he thinks slower U.S. growth is practically a sure thing, the odds of a double-dip actually have shrunk to 20%, from 25% earlier this year.
Same goes for Derek Hoffman, founder and editor of The Wall Street Cheat Sheet, who also puts the odds of a double dip at 20%, when just a few months earlier he saw them at 50-50.
The term “double dip” refers to a recession followed by a short-lived recovery that then slides back into a second recession. It can be measured by fluctuations in gross domestic product, or GDP — one of the broadest measures of economic activity.
Read more at CNNMoney.com
- Economy getting better, but still ‘a long way to go’
- SBA small biz lending doubles
- U.S. Economy: Consumer Spending Increases as Incomes Stagnate
- Consumer behavior shows recession is over
- After blah week, stocks to get in gear. No, really
Accounting v Finance, it’s an apple and an orange
This particular post relates to qualifying the support we need and get for our businesses especially when it comes to areas of our businesses we truly do not understand. The accounting side of business comes to mind as this aspect of business is truly one of the areas that most business owners shy away from. After helping hundreds of businesses and teaching graduate level accounting at a major university, I’ve come to the conclusion that most humans would rather take a stick in the eye than try to understand accounting.
We need to understand the accounting side of our businesses so we can at least respect what it can and cannot do for our businesses. In other words, if we don’t understand what accounting is and how that non-understanding of accounting impacts our ability to manage our businesses, we could be in for a truly disappointing shock related to why our businesses are failing.
Sure, most of us have a CPA or an accountant that guides our business well enough. Some of us might even have an employee who is an accountant that manages our books. But, as I have preached for years, there is a huge and distinct difference between tax accounting (CPA, Accountant) and operational accounting. I have written numerous articles on the topic over the years and I still stand firm on the fact that I can prove that there is a huge difference between taxes and operations.
Unfortunately I have come across yet another example of how not understanding the accounting side of our business related to operations negatively affects the ability to keep the business afloat. Out of respect and confidentiality I cannot name names nor mention where exactly this example comes from but I will tell you that I am currently working with an electrical contractor in the mid-west.
Long story short, because the owners of this business “believed” their accountant and their employee managing QuickBooks for them were doing a good job – and the owners not knowing enough about accounting to “manage” the process, this business may now have to consider taking on yet another loan to survive. Simply put, these owners trusted their accounting firm to guide them accordingly as it relates to QuickBooks and they trusted their employee who is managing the daily inputs of Quickbooks to be doing as she should.
When I took a closer look at their books, I found numerous errors on top of the fact that the employee managing QuickBooks truly does not know enough about accounting to be in that role. Her response to many of my questions was, “well, that’s what I did at my other job”. Well, that other job (company) went out of business because it ran out of money!
My point with this story is that as business owners we need to know three basic things about business ownership:
1) Accounting and Finance are not the same
I have been saying this for years now, where accounting is an apple and finance is an orange. It just is. Most business errors occur because of erroneous financial reports. In other words, financial reports about a business are the result of the accounting process of a business where if the accounting is off, then so too is the financial report. Business owners and managers make decisions off of financial posture not accounting entries (debits/credits) where an error in entering a debit or credit will ultimately reflect on any report the inherent accounting software prints.
An example here is that the business owners above knew they had union payments to make as well as truck payments but those expenses were never reflected on their income statement, where all this time the owners had believed those expenses were embedded in one of the line items in their income statement. They never knew to ask and their employee never knew to identify it. What’s worse is the accounting firm they use was never asked; therefore no one realized those expenses were not being tracked. At the end of every month the owners would ask themselves, “Where’s all the money”, “Why are we always broke”? Sound familiar?
2) Qualify your CPA/Accountant
Ask your CPA/Accountant questions like how come this number is what it is? And how did you come up with this number? Show me how you came up with this number, etc, etc. It is rare as a do-do bird that a CPA firm or an accounting firm know what operational accounting truly is. After over eleven years of doing what I do, I have never met an accountant or a CPA that does what I do and I doubt I ever will. CPAs and Accountant are great with TAXES, not operations. It’s just how it is. CPAs or Accountants cannot tell you how to set up effective job costing process, they cannot tell you how to factor marginal contributions and they cannot tell you your precise overhead rate. I know this for a fact. Do not discount CPAs or Accountants as we definitely need their expertise related to tax management but they simply cannot help you operate the day-to-day of any business and I can prove it. I’ve always believed that business should always have access to a great attorney, a great CPA and a great consultant. Qualify the people who you turn to for help with your business.
3) Test before you hire
You have the right as a business owner to test those who come to you and apply for work. You have the right to test even your suppliers and vendors to include CPA and accounting firms. You have the right to test someone if they come to you and say they know accounting by having them belly up to your computer and actually show you what they know. The accounting and finance side of a business is soooo important that you SHOULD take the time to test someone before you hire them. It’s your right. There are no rules on how to OPERATE your business where you should be testing and questioning everyone that claims to be there to help. Personally, I have my clients test me by talking to as many my references they choose to. It’s your right.
Look at it this way, your car performs relative to the type of gas and the weight of oil you put into it. Imagine you putting the wrong gas or the wrong oil into your car. How would it perform?
- Are you ready for 2012?
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India’s economy grows at fastest pace in 2 years
India economy grew 8.6 percent in Jan-Mar quarter, best in 2 years as manufacturing rebounds.
Erika Kinetz, AP Business Writer
MUMBAI, India (AP) — A rebound in manufacturing and recovering farm output drove India’s quarterly economic growth to 8.6 percent, the best in two years as Asia’s third-largest economy returns to pre-crisis levels of expansion.
Growth for the financial year ended March was 7.4 percent, beating a government forecast of 7.2 percent, officials said Monday. The acceleration in the January-March quarter is likely to add to pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates to contain inflation.
India has rebounded from the global downturn faster than expected thanks to strong domestic consumption and investment, but two uncertainties loom: Rain and Europe.
As India’s farmers wait for the monsoon, hoping last year’s drought won’t be repeated, the nation’s business elite watches Europe — which accounts for a fifth of India’s exports — hoping its sovereign debt crisis won’t dampen the investment that’s needed to drive growth.
Manufacturing surged an unsustainable 16.3 percent off a low base for the March quarter, up from 0.6 percent a year earlier and its strongest performance in at least two years. Agriculture — which remains an important source of employment — limped along at 0.7 percent, up from the prior quarter’s contraction of 1.8 percent, but worse than a year earlier, when it grew 3.3 percent.
Read more at YahooFinance.com
- Double dip recession: What are the odds?
- 4 Surprise Bright Spots in the Economy
- Slowly, Americans are regaining their lost wealth
- Ford returns to the number 1 spot
- Economy adds jobs at fastest pace in three years
Debt-induced stress continues for many Americans
In spite of brighter economic outlook, many people still feeling stress over debt, joblessness.
Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy trudges ahead yet debt dogs many Americans, stressing them out even as they firm up their own financial foundations.
There are new jobs produced but old worries persisting for people despite belt-tightening and boosted savings, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll.
About 46 percent of those surveyed say they’re suffering from debt-related stress, and half of that group described their stress as “great deal” or “quite a bit.” On the other hand, about 53 percent say they feel little or no stress at all.
That’s in line with findings from last year, even though times seem better today: The economy is growing and generating jobs, and households have made progress in repairing their financial footing, trimming debt, watching spending and saving more.
Read more at YahooFinance.com
- Slowly, Americans are regaining their lost wealth
- India’s economy grows at fastest pace in 2 years
- Stocks rise on more signs of growth; Dow tops 11K
- U.S. Economy: Consumer Spending Increases as Incomes Stagnate
- March jobs report shows growth