Bank of England votes 9-0 to extend their money-printing plan by 50B pounds.Home construction fell 12.8% in April, led by large decline in apartment groundbreakings.U.S. said to consider stripping SEC of power in regulatory reorganization.Fed expands TALF to 'legacy' assets for first time, including older CMBS.AIG investors to get $843 million; AIG names 6 new directors.Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines will set up a joint venture on trans-Atlantic routes with estimated annual sales of $12 billion.Allstate announces qtrly dividend of $0.20/sh, will not participate in TARP.Analog Devices' Q2 net falls 61% to $51.8M; revs down 26.8% to $474.7M.Bank of America raises $13.5B in sale of stock after stress tests.Daimler buys 10% stake in California electric carmaker Tesla Motors[More...]

It may come as a surprise to you—as it did to me—that NASCAR is the second most popular televised sport in America. There is big money in auto racing—it brings in more advertising revenue from Fortune 500 brands than any other sport. Race fans don gear emblazoned with their favorite driver’s affiliated brands just as [...]

It may come as a surprise to you—as it did to me—that NASCAR is the second most popular televised sport in America. There is big money in auto racing—it brings in more advertising revenue from Fortune 500 brands than any other sport. Race fans don gear emblazoned with their favorite driver’s affiliated brands just as an NFL fan would wear their favorite team’s jersey and such advertising is both unique and effective. It is clear that NASCAR’s popularity has moved beyond its rural roots and its growth continues to surpass expectations. So, we turn our attention now to a company that is poised to reap the benefits of the increased popularity of stock car racing, Speedway Motorsports (TRK). Speedway describes itself as, “a leading marketer and promoter of motorsports[More...]

The markets ended September with a big decline in the major indexes. Last week the volatility of the past month continued as stocks traded like a yo-yo – falling 777 points after congress failed to approve the 700 billion dollar bailout, and then rising 500 points before hitting new 52 week lows by the end of the week after the bailout was approved.There was some negative dividend news from S&P that there were 138 dividend cuts or suspensions in the third quarter while 346 issues increased their payments to shareholders. Most of the dividend cuts were in the financial sector. Standard and poors reported the following:“It was the worst September for dividends since[More...]