Detroit, January 31: Ford Motor Co. said yesterday that it had trimmed down warranty prices by $1.2 billion during the previous two years and also cut down the number of these claims by around half over the last 5 years, since 2004.
Imagine yourself as an investor more than a century ago -- before the industrialization of the United States. Would you have bet your money on the growth potential of our nation? Knowing the outcome a hundred years later, you wouldn't hesitate to answer.
As our economy alternates between growing and sputtering, some industries, such as pharmaceuticals, remain relatively steady in the face of downturns. If you have high cholesterol, you're not likely to skimp on the Lipitor you get from Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), however the latest unemployment report reads.
If you're like me, you want to build wealth for life by beating the market. You want to stay ahead of the masses that stash their money in savings accounts (gasp!), bonds, and even index funds. But you certainly don't want to lose to them. There's no feeling worse than knowing that you'd be doing better by doing nothing.
The failure last week of California bank IndyMac has many savers worried about whether their bank may be next. Images of customers standing in long lines to get their money evoked memories of the big bank runs during the Great Depression.
When it began, the financial engineering that got us into the current mortgage crisis actually made sense. On a purely mathematical basis, bundling mortgages together is a clever way for banks to reduce their risks while still earning the same expected returns on their investments.
Lately, if it comes from the ground, it's been as good as gold -- or sometimes, even better.
Oil's near its high of $135 a barrel, up from $70 less than a year ago. Precious metals have come off their highs but are still way above last year's levels. Even farm products like soybeans and corn have seen big price hikes lately.
"Well, it looks like we weathered through the bottom of this cycle pretty well." Thus said National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM) CEO Brian Halla at the start of last night's earnings call, setting the tone for a surprisingly positive report.
Indonesia is a vast nation, consisting of 17,000 islands that stretch for more than 3,000 miles. It has 235 million citizens -- the fourth-largest population in the world -- and those citizens speak more than 500 languages.
