Discover Motiva: intro 0 percent APRs
March 17, 2012 by Charlie Stedman · Leave a Comment
Currently, the Discover Motiva Card offers new members a combination deal: 0 percent APR on both purchases and balance transfers. This interest-free period extends for 15 months from account opening for purchases and 15 months from your first transfer for balance transfers.
You also can expect ongoing cash back rewards, a cash back bonus for paying your bill on time and no annual fee.
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American Express Overtakes MasterCard in Credit Card Volume
March 7, 2012 by Charlie Stedman · Leave a Comment
It used to be an article of faith among both consumers and industry observers that Visa and MasterCard were the “big two” payment networks. At least in the United States, they are both accepted equally, while customers still occasionally encounter retailers that will not accept American Express cards. Nevertheless, 2011 became the first year in which American Express exceeded MasterCard in terms of total charge volume.
According to the Nilson Report on General Purpose Cards, American Express succeeding in capturing 26.3% of the market for credit card charges, second only to Visa at 43.3%. At the same time, MasterCard fell to third place with 24.8% of the total credit card charges, while Discover brought up the rear at 5.7%. When both debit and credit cards were considered, MasterCard still retained 25.1% of the market, behind dominant Visa at 56.7%, but still way ahead of American Express and Discover which held on to 15% and 3.2% respectively.
MasterCard as a brand is clearly slipping behind American Express. This i
Shopping for Stocks
March 6, 2012 by Hudson Watts · Leave a Comment
Online brokers just keep pushing the envelope.
TD Ameritrade () has just added a feature called Snapstock to its mobile application, intended to give you financial information about items you see when you’re at the grocery store or the mall. Snapstock lets you use your iPhone or Android phone’s camera to scan a barcode off a retail product, and then get a quote on the producing company’s stock, if it’s publicly traded. You’ll find the Snapstock function in the quotes section of the mobile app; click on the camera icon and point it at a barcode.
Nicole Sherrod, managing director of TD Ameritrade’s trader group, notes, “Investors tend to use our mobile-trading platforms more for opening transactions than for closing ones. Because of this fact, we sought to integrate innovative new features while helping support our investors’ desire to always be on the lookout for opportunities no matter where they are — the drugstore, the mall, or the market.”
We’ve seen mobile apps use the built-in smartphone camera for depositing checks; now the camera can also be used to help generate trading ideas.
DGBAS drops predicted growth to 3.85%
March 5, 2012 by Laura Reveley · Leave a Comment
Private investment in 2012 was adjusted from 2.57 percent to minus 1.16 percent, stated the DGBAS. “This is mainly because the information technology industry decided to invest less due to the slowing down of the growth of export demand, too much production capacity and less revenue,” said the DGBAS.
The growth rate in 2011 was also adjusted to 4.04 percent, which is 0.01 percent higher than previously expected.
Prospects of 2012
Although global economic growth is slowing down and competition in the IT industry is more severe, other factors are still sustaining the momentum of export growth. Global demand of smartphones, flat panels, and cloud computing technology products is growing. The economic cooperation framework agreement still creates huge profits for Taiwan, and demand from China is strong as a result of industrial upgrades. Exports are estimated to contribute 2.76 percent to economic growth in 2012.
Private consumption is expected to grow because of better labor market conditions. In
Dry weather to keep India’s cardamom prices high
February 27, 2012 by Laura Reveley · Leave a Comment
KOCHI (Commodity Online): India’s cardamom prices are likely to remain higher on shortfall in production due to dry weather in the key growing areas in India.
Kerala accounts for 60% of the country’s total production and due to absence of winter rain has affected the production of the cardamom. Almost 20% of the plants have been damaged during the past six weeks in the region.
On the other hand, the high labour cost and shortage of skilled labours is also troubling the farmers.
Meanwhile, according to the farmers, the cardamom price is down compared to last year.