| News from: Progressive Asset Management
(CSRwire) OAKLAND, CA - April 3, 2007 - Good news for current … and would be … socially responsible investors! The one-year performance numbers are in for Progressive Asset Management's "Progressive Track Investments™" (PTI), the first comprehensive portfolio suite that is both socially screened and tracks existing benchmark indexes for most major asset classes. For the full year ended March 31, 2007, the data show that an equal-weighted allocation among the seven model portfolios would have missed their blended benchmark by only 31 basis points.* Progressive Asset Management (PAM) Director of Business Development Phil Kirshman, CFA, CFP, said: "In my opinion, these first-year performance tracking numbers tell a powerful story: It is possible to do robust social screening, track major benchmarks and still deliver the kind of solid performance that fiduciary-level investors need to see.
Venezuela to take full control of CANTV
Government officials announced Tuesday that Venezuela would gain total control over the country's largest telecommunications company, or CANTV, prior to June 4 by purchasing at least 70 percent of company shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon also told a press conference that Venezuela would invest roughly US$500 million (euro372 million) in CANTV, formally known as CA Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela, over the next few years as part of a government plan to expand the company's services. "The intention is to delist CANTV from the New York Stock Exchange," Chacon said. If CANTV is removed from the NYSE, Venezuelans will no longer be able to trade company shares as a means of skirting foreign exchange controls limiting the amount of U.S.
Japan's Bonds Gain as Six-Week High Yields Attract Investors
April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's government bonds rose as 10- year yields near the highest in more than six weeks fueled demand. The spread between yields on two- and 10-year securities stayed near the widest since Feb. 21 after Bank of Japan policy makers voted unanimously to hold the key overnight lending rate at 0.5 percent, the lowest among major economies. BOJ Governor Toshihiko Fukui said today the core consumer price index may hover near zero percent in coming months. ``Bonds look attractive as yields approached a significant level,'' said Satoshi Yamada, who helps oversee the equivalent of $6.7 billion at Japan Investment Trust Management Co. in Tokyo. ``Yields near 1.7 percent are appealing.'' The yield on the benchmark 1.7 percent bond due March 2017 slid 1 basis point to 1.68 percent as of 4:15 p.m.
So you want to be a real estate agent?
Real Estate instructor Tom Campbell talks with Roselyn Gonzalez before the start of orientation at Tri County Real Estate School. (Photo: Richard Burkhart) Students take notes during orientation atTri County Real Estate School. About 20 students attended the class. (Photo: Richard Burkhart) Realtor Sharon Miller talks with a new class during orientation as fellow instructor Tom Campbell looks on at Tri County Real Estate School. (Photo: Richard Burkhart) Realtor Liz Sestili Giddens replaces a "For Sale" sign with an "Under Contract" sign on the Aliotta family's Bacon Park home. (Photo: Richard Burkhart) (Photo:) (Photo:) .
AQUA Continues To Expand Professional Team - John Silvestri Joins ...
Aqua, the new alternative trading system (ATS) offering block liquidity to the global equity markets, announced that John Silvestri, an experienced electronic trading professional, has been appointed Senior Vice President with responsibilities that include sales, brokerage operations and business development. He reports to Andrew Fishkind, Global Head of Sales. Mr. Foley, CEO of Aqua, said, “Aqua has been formed to respond to the demand from equity traders for ways to access new pools of liquidity. We are responding to our clients' needs with a commitment to excellence in client service, hiring talented people with a breadth of experience in the electronic trading marketplace. John's valuable expertise in business and product development, his broad project management abilities, and his strong analytical skills will be vital to Aqua as we focus on building block liquidity." Mr.
Consumer Reports: Beware of hazardous Easter eggs
Consumer Reports is advising shoppers to avoid dangerous and illegal chocolate Easter eggs that it found on sale at numerous food stores in New York City and Westchester County. The Kinder Surprise Eggs, hollow chocolate with small toys inside, have been banned in the United States for 10 years by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. On its Web site, the commission said that the toys hidden in the eggs can cause choking hazards to children younger than 3. Despite the ban, Yonkers-based Consumer Reports said that its staff members found the eggs for sale at many smaller shops in Westchester, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Consumer Reports also found widespread sales of the eggs in the Washington area. "A lot of the stores just don't know" that the product is banned, said Heather Joy Thompson, communications counsel for Consumer Reports.
Preliminary 2006 Provident Financial plc Earnings Presentation - Final
JOHN VAN KUFFELER, CEO, PROVIDENT FINANCIAL PLC: Right, welcome everybody to our presentation on the 2006 preliminary results. As one of you remarked to me, I gather we've got a marathon session this morning and that is true. It is a fairly full presentation and that is because we've not just got the results, but also details of the de-merger and so on. And also we want to set the scene so that particularly all of you as analysts start off with the right sets of figures and so on, for looking forward as opposed to looking back. This just gives the order of play for today that I'm just giving a quick overview to start off with, followed by a financial review by Andrew Fisher here on my right, our Finance Director. That's followed by the UK business, UK home credit, Vanquis Bank and Provident Insurance being given by Peter Crook, on the far right who you know.
'Soaring' gas prices are getting old
The stories always give various reasons why supplies are tight -- more often, why prices include a risk premium based on fears that supplies might become tight -- or why demand is higher than it "should" be, given supposedly high prices. Today, as the price of a gallon of regular ($2.70 nationally on Monday) "soars" almost to where it was (measured in constant dollars) in 1982, the "news" is: "Drivers Offer a Collective Ho-Hum as Gasoline Prices Soar" (The New York Times, March 30). People are not changing their behavior because the real, inflation-adjusted cost of that behavior has not changed significantly, and neither has the cost of the commodity in question, relative to disposable income. The next wave of stories about "soaring" gas prices will predictably trigger some politicians' indignation about oil companies' profits.
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