ROMEItaly’s Senate approved crucial economic reforms demanded by the European Union on Friday, the first step in paving the way for Premier Silvio Berlusconi to resign as early as this weekend and a transitional government to be formed.
The 156-12 vote took place after respected economist Mario Montiwidely expected to become the interim prime ministerwas welcomed with applause in the Senate chamber, where he was officially designated senator for life.
Italy’s president bestowed the title on Monti two days earlier to signal to roiling financial markets that he intended to ask the 68-year-old former European commissioner to try to form a transitional government after Berlusconi leaves office.
The reform legislation now passes to the lower Chamber of Deputies, which is expected to vote on it by Saturday. A Cabinet meeting has been scheduled immediately after the vote, leading to speculation that Berlusconi might tender his resignation to Italy’s president as early as Saturday night.
NEW YORK (AP) — Groupon’s stock sizzled in its public debut Friday despite concerns about its accounting practices ahead of an initial public offering and doubts about the viability of its business model.
The first-day pop for the pioneer of online group discounts was largely expected, though. Not even a gain of about $4 billion in market value – to nearly $17 billion – could erase lingering questions about its long-term prospects.
In fact, it may have added to them.
Bigger than IPOs for Internet radio company Pandora Inc. and professional network LinkedIn Corp., Groupon’s debut served as an icebreaker for a frozen IPO market.
It further sets the stage for the public debut of online game company Zynga Inc., which is expected in the next few weeks. It’ll culminate next year, with the expected IPO of Facebook, one dwarfing them all.
After pricing above its expected range on Thursday, at $20, Groupon’s stock rose $6.11, or 31 percent, to close Friday at $26.11.
IRA Financial Group, the leading provider of IRS compliant solo 401(k) plans, isn’t the only company that has noticed a growing trend of self-employment retirement investors moving from the SEP IRA to the solo 401k plan.
A study commissioned by the IRA Financial Group has shown that over an 18 month period, a growing number of self-employed individuals are choosing the solo 401(k) plan over a SEP IRA or SEP self directed IRA. The results were based off over 450 interviews of self-employed individuals examining a self-employment retirement plan solution.
“The trend is not surprising considering the solo 401(k) plan offers far more tax planning advantages than a SEP IRA,” stated Adam Bergman, a tax attorney with the IRA Financial Group. For e
NEWARK, N.J. — For one weekend a year, the ghosts and survivors of Jack Benny, Benny Goodman, Goodman Ace and hundreds of other legends of the old days of radio hold court at a hotel across the road from Newark Airport.
The annual Friends of Old-Time Radio Convention has been meeting for 36 years. But when it signed off Saturday night, it was for the last time. The reason is simple, says Jay Hickerson, a musician who has been running the show from the beginning: the march of time.
“Lack of OTR (old-time radio) guests. And the committee is getting older,” he said.
The gathering, humble as it is, used to be able to call on a constellation of stars from the early days of radio.
Now it’s down to former child stars in their 80s and 90s. Arthur Anderson, 88, who acted as a teenager with Orson Welles, is an honored guest.
General Electric’s plans to build a $300 million solar panel plant in Colorado comes as the solar industry has been rocked by a string of bankruptcies and falling prices.
On Friday, as GE executives outlined plans to build the country’s largest solar factory in Aurora, a congressional committee was holding hearings in Washington, D.C., on the bankruptcy of solar-panel maker Solyndra.
California-based Solyndra filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 6, shutting its plant and firing 1,100 workers.
The federal government was left to cover a $535 million loan guarantee and private investors lost an estimated $1 billion.
NEW YORK (AP) — Consumers’ confidence remained weak in September after dropping to a post-recession low during the month before. That’s left economists to wonder just what it’ll take to get Americans feeling good about the economy again.
A survey of consumer confidence shows that Americans who were worried in August because of a downgrade of U.S. long-term debt, wild stock markets swings and other concerns, continue to be spooked. Economists say the problem is that not much has changed to make consumers feel financially secure. The stock market is still volatile. Worries about the global economy persist. And perhaps worst of all for confidence, U.S. jobs are still scarce.
“We are well below where we should be, and that’s because the unemployment situation is so bad,” said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics. “You have to have a huge fall in the unemployment rate.”
The Conference Board, a private research group, said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index was at 45.4 in September.
ROMEItaly’s Senate approved crucial economic reforms demanded by the European Union on Friday, the first step in paving the way for Premier Silvio Berlusconi to resign as early as this weekend and a transitional government to be formed.
legislation now passes to the lower Chamber of Deputies, which is expected to vote on it by Saturday. A Cabinet meeting has been scheduled immediately after the vote, leading to speculation that Berlusconi might tender his resignation to Italy’s president as early as Saturday night.