Technology stocks drag markets lower

Click the chart for more stock market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) U.S. stocks fell Thursday, with technology stocks weighing on the broader market following lackluster earnings from Oracle.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.6%, with Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500) and IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) among the biggest laggards. The S&P 500 declined 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1%.

Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) was the biggest drag on both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100. Shares of the software giant tumbled nearly 10% after its third-quarter sales fell short of forecasts.

Investors are using high-profile earnings disappointments like Oracle's as an "excuse" to step back following a significant advance in stocks, said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group.

The Dow and S&P have gained 10% since November, when stocks first began their big advance. During the past couple of weeks, the blue chip index has soared to record highs, while the S&P has remained less than 1% below its all-time high.

Given that the market has climbed so high so quickly, Sheldon said it would be "no surprise" to see a pullback of 3% to 5%. But he suspects that will be short-lived, as investors use the retreat to add to their stock positions.

Related: 5 reasons the bull market has room to run

The uncertainty in Cyprus has also been giving investors reason to take a breather.

While Cyprus hasn't spurred a huge sell-off in financial markets, Sheldon said investors still want to see that all the major players in Europe can work together to resolve the country's debt burden.

Early Thursday, the European Central Bank told the troubled nation it had until Monday to sort itself out or face the consequences of a potential financial collapse and/or exit from the euro.

"If this drags out and causes more infighting among countries in Europe, that could lead to further instability in a part of the world that badly needs continued coordination," said Sheldon.

Related: Google vs. Apple. Which is your favorite?

Meanwhile, investors mulled several reports on the health of the U.S. economy.

Jobless claims totaled 336,000 last week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That's up 2,000 from the prior week, but less than the 345,000 forecast by Briefing.com consensus.

The National Association of Realtors said existing home sales in February edged up 0.8% to an annual rate of 4.98 million, a 3-year high but slightly lower than expectations.

The Philly Fed's index rose to 2 in March from -12.5 the prior month. Readings lower than zero signal contraction in the area covering eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. Economists were expecting a reading of -3 for March.

Just days after recalling see-through yoga pants, lululemon athletica (LULU) reported earnings and sales that squeaked past estimates and said it was working closely with manufacturers to resolve the yoga pant issue. The company also said its current quarter and full-year earnings would come in below analysts' forecasts.

KB Home (KBH) shares edged higher after the homebuilder reported that sales surged 59% in the first quarter, as more homes were delivered and prices increased.

Shares of Scholastic (SCHL) sank after the the children's book publisher lowered its forecast for the year a second time as sales of the Hunger Games books remained below last year's levels.

Related: Fear & Greed Index edges into extreme greed

European markets ended sharply lower, while Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite added 0.3% and the Nikkei increased 1.3%, while the Hang Seng declined 0.1%.

A report on Chinese manufacturing showed activity expanded at a faster clip than expected by many economists, which may quell worries about the country's economy slowing down.

The dollar rose against the euro, but fell versus the British pound and the Japanese yen.

Oil prices edged lower, and gold prices gained.

The price on the 10-year Treasury rose, pushing the yield down to 1.92% from 1.94% late Wednesday.

View the Original article

Louisville tops NCAA dollar rankings too

Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino doesn't have much to be unhappy about. His school is the top ranked in the NCAA tournament, as well as in profits and revenue.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) The University of Louisville heads into the NCAA tournament at the top of the rankings in more ways than one. It's the college basketball king of revenue and profits.

The school, which also has the No. 1 ranking in the March Madness tournament, earned a profit of $26.9 million from its men's basketball program last year, according to figures that schools have to file with the Department of Education and analyzed by CNNMoney. That's about 60% more than the $16.9 million profit at the University of North Carolina, whose men's hoops team had the second largest profit.

Louisville turned that profit on revenue of $42.4 million. Syracuse came in second with $25.9 million in revenue.

Louisville's profit margin is a whopping 63% -- enough to make any NBA owner green with envy. The pros pay just over half of their revenue to the players.

But Louisville's profit margin is only the fourth fattest. North Carolina rules on that measure with a 70% margin. The basketball programs at Minnesota and Ohio State also have higher margins than Louisville.

Watch NCAA games live

Of course, not every school is churning out cash from their basketball teams. Three dozen schools out of the 345 Division 1 programs that reported figures to the DOE posted losses. But all told the Division 1 schools reported a combined profit margin of 25% on $1.3 billion in men's basketball revenue.

Louisville and Syracuse are both members of the soon-to-be gutted Big East conference. Conferences are the major source of money for the various schools, because each school's share of the $700 million pie the NCAA gets from TV broadcast partners CBS (CBS, Fortune 500) and Turner Sports each year is based on the success of all the teams in its conference over a number of years, not an individual school's record that season. (Turner Sports is owned by CNNMoney parent Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500).)

Read Bleacher Report's NCAA Tournament coverage

But Louisville and Syracuse are likely to stay near the top of the basketball revenue rankings next year even as they leave the Big East. That's because they are moving to the ACC, the powerhouse conference that is home to North Carolina and Duke.

The conferences also split the football bowl game payouts each year evenly between their members. The chase for dollars has so many schools changing conferences in recent years that keeping track of who's going where has become as difficult as hitting a half-court shot.

Related: Notre Dame football tops Alabama - in dollars

So even winning the NCAA title is not a guarantee of a financial whirlwind.

The University of Kentucky, a member of the SEC and last year's NCAA men's champion, brought home only about half the revenue as its in-state rival Louisville.

The SEC, while a football powerhouse, has not done as well in March Madness as some of the other major conferences. So Kentucky finished only 21st in the ranking of the most profitable basketball programs, just behind Big 10 member Northwestern University, which has never made it into the basketball tournament but benefits from the success of other Big 10 schools.

View the Original article

Home sales hit highest rate in 3 years

Home sales shares post best month since November 2009 as rising prices brought both buyers and sellers back to the market.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Sales of previously owned homes reached an annual rate of nearly 5 million in February, the strongest pace in more than three years.

The report Thursday from the National Association of Realtors was the latest sign of a housing recovery that has become a major positive force for the economy.

The February rate of 4.98 million homes was up 10% from a year earlier, although it was only 1% higher than the revised January pace.

It was the best month since November of 2009. But that early spike in sales was caused by a temporary $5,000 tax credit for home buyers in place at that time. The current strength is due to improved fundamentals, including a drop in foreclosures and near record low mortgage rates. A decline in the nation's unemployment rate is also helping.

The median sales price in the month was $173,600, up nearly 12% from a year ago and in keeping with the trend of rising home prices. The rising prices may have prompted some more people to put their homes on the market as the supply of homes for sale rose for the first time since July. But the supply was still very tight -- only about a 4.7 month supply at the current sales pace.

"The real news is the rise in the inventory," said Paul Diggle, property economist with Capital Economics in a note Thursday. "This is the first increase in supply of any real significance for more than two years. It's too early to say if the trough in supply is behind us, but we get the sense that it's close."

Distressed home sales, which include foreclosures and short sales sold for less than is owed on the mortgage -- accounted for 25% of February sales, up slightly from January but well below the 34% share of the market a year ago.

View the Original article

Office supplies, grocery stores among government cuts

Pentagon-run groceries are slated to be closed one day a week starting in late April thanks to forced federal budget cuts.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) Government grocery stores on U.S. military bases around the world will close one day each week starting in May.

The Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have already started buying fewer office supplies. And at the Department of Interior, employees have had to cancel previously-approved conferences they were planning to attend.

These are just some of choices federal agencies are making on the edges to tighten their belts. By doing so, they hope to minimize harsher measures, including layoffs and furloughs, triggered by the $85 billion worth of forced budget cuts that took effect on March 1, also known as the sequester.

In a small effort to cushion the cuts, the Senate on Wednesday agreed to prevent furloughs of food inspectors and to fund a program that paid some tuition for service members in a bill that would fund the government through the end of September.

Many federal agencies are already working under hiring freezes, no bonuses and curtailed overtime, according to a memo compiled by a union group.

Anticipating the cuts, the White House budget office last month ordered "increased scrutiny" for all new hires, bonuses and travel, even for those who don't work directly for the government.

Related: Defense worker furlough notices hit Friday

Whether the hiring freezes and travel cuts really prevent furloughs of other workers depends on the agency.

Patrick Lester, director of federal fiscal policy at the watchdog group Center for Effective Government, said some larger agencies, such as the Government Accountability Office, have been able to prevent furloughs just by enacting a hiring freeze.

Agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration have been able to absorb the cuts better than other agencies just by reducing overtime.

"So TSA can cut overtime and that's one way they can avoid furloughs," Lester said. "It really depends on how agencies are structured. In some cases, a hiring freeze just isn't going to get the job done."

In the last five months, the Food Safety and Inspection Service cut travel and conferences for employees, and even closed five district offices to prepare for budget cuts, said Michael Young, a budget director at the Department of Agriculture, during a Tuesday House hearing.

Despite the cuts, the agency couldn't stop food inspectors from facing a furlough for 11 days between April and September. But a congressional funding measure, which the House sent to President Obama on Thursday, will prevent the food inspector furloughs.

View the Original article

Cyprus is sitting on a natural gas gold mine

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) "Cyprus" and "luck" haven't exactly been synonyms lately, but at the end of 2011, American firm Noble Energy (NBL) made a find that was very lucky indeed: A giant natural gas field off the country's southern coast.

The field is modest by international standards. Noble estimates it could yield between 5 trillion and 8 trillion cubic feet of gas. For comparison, fields being developed off the Israeli coast have four times as much gas. Qatar, one of the world's largest gas holders, has nearly 900 trillion cubic feet.

But for a country roughly as large as Connecticut, with about the same population as Manhattan, that's a lot of gas.

"It was the third largest conventional discovery in 2011," said Michael Stoppard, chief strategist for global gas at the consultancy IHS. "It dwarfs local demand for the next 50 years."

That means Cyprus, currently trying to secure a European bailout to cover huge budget deficits and bad bank holdings, could start exporting the gas to raise money. There's also the possibility that some energy companies might offer the country cash upfront in return for a share of the gas.

Related: Europe gives Cyprus until Monday to agree to bailout

So how much can Cyprus make off its gas? That's hard to say.

Some of it would likely be used for local consumption. Cyprus currently gets most of its energy from burning oil -- an expensive proposition. The rest of the gas would probably be liquified, loaded onto to tankers, and sent to markets in Western Europe and Asia.

That's all pretty pricey. Wells need to be drilled, and pipelines have to be built from the gas field itself -- some 100 miles offshore -- to the Cyprus mainland. A liquefaction plant costs billions to construct. Ultimately, it would probably take $10 billion in investment and seven or eight years to get the gas flowing, according to Laszlo Varro, the head of gas, coal and power at the International Energy Agency, a research organization funded by energy importing countries.

By 2020, under the most optimistic conditions, Varro said Cyprus' natural gas could be injecting $3 billion a year into the economy and generating perhaps $1 billion in tax revenue. The country's current economic output is around $24 billion a year, with $11 billion in government spending.

"It will be a great help," said Varro. "But can Cyprus sit back and rely on this? No. This isn't Qatar."

Varro stressed that those revenue projections are optimistic. In addition to the financial hurdles to developing Cyprus' gas, there are political obstacles. Turkey, engaged in a decades-long territorial dispute with Cyprus, is loathe to see the fields developed as purely Cypriot property. It dispatched warships to monitor Cyprus' recent exploration attempts.

Given its current financial woes, Cyprus may be tempted to cash in on the gas early. Russian energy giant Gazprom has offered the county assistance in exchange for some of the gas rights, according to the New York Times. That might make the Europeans nervous, given Russia's already large influence over Europe's gas market and its propensity to use energy for geopolitical leverage. Varro said there are probably plenty of other cash-flush organizations -- everything from oil companies to banks to pension funds -- that might offer a similar deal.

But Cyprus should be cautious about auctioning off its future wealth. If structured properly, a cash-for-gas deal could be beneficial for the country, Varro said. But there are examples from recent history -- Venezuela and Mexico included -- where countries have mortgaged their energy wealth only to find themselves, years later, on the losing end of the deal.

View the Original article

Miami Heat's winning streak sparks sales rush

Fans are snapping up Miami Heat uniforms and other merchandise during the team's current winning streak.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) The Miami Heat's extraordinary winning streak has captured the attention of basketball fans across the country, and the team's merchandise is flying off shelves.

Sales of Heat items are up 30% year-to-date compared to 2012, according to SportsOneSource, a research service that tracks sales of licensed sports merchandise. Sales of Heat items at the NBAstore.com are up 40% since the start of the streak, according to league spokeswoman Amanda Thorn.

The Heat won its 24th straight game Wednesday, coming back from a 27-point deficit in the second half to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers. If the team keeps winning through its April 9 game, it would break the league's record of 33 straight wins, which was set by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1971-72 season.

Related: LeBron to pitch Dunkin Donuts in Asia

The Heat's sales spike far outpaced the sales of the rest of the league. The NBA says its domestic league merchandise sales are up less than 10% year to date. SportsOneSource's independent reading on NBA sales shows a 25% decrease so far this year. It attributes that drop to the "Linsanity" phenomenon during the year ago period. The sudden emergence of then New York Knicks player Jeremy Lin sparked a huge but short-lived spike in sales.

Related: Heat owner loud about his team, quiet about his troubled company Carnival

Thorn said that the surge in sales has moved Heat items into the No. 2 position at the league's flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York, behind only the hometown Knicks.

However the Heat's growing sales mean relatively little to the team's own bottom line. Proceeds of all licensed NBA merchandise is split evenly among all 30 teams.

View the Original article

Rajaratnam's brother faces insider trading charges

Raj Rajaratnam, Rengan's older brother, leaves court after he was sentenced to 11 years in jail in October 2011.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Rengan Rajaratnam may be following in his brother's footsteps.

Federal officials announced Thursday that Rajaratnam, 42, has been charged with insider trading in connection with his work at his older brother Raj's now infamous hedge fund, Galleon Group.

Raj Rajaratnam, 55, was convicted on 14 counts of insider trading in May 2011, accused of reaping $64 million in ill-gotten gains. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison, a record for insider trading, and fined nearly $93 million.

Prosecutors allege that while Rengan was working as a portfolio manager at Galleon, Raj shared insider tips with him in 2008 about tech firms Clearwire (CLWR) and AMD (AMD, Fortune 500). The brothers allegedly earned nearly $1.2 million from their subsequent trades.

Rengan's attorney, David Tobin, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Related: SEC charges state of Illinois with securities fraud

The government has targeted Galleon over the past few years in a sprawling investigation that has ensnared a number of the now-defunct firm's former employees as well as co-conspirators from well-known companies.

"Along with his brother Raj, Rengan Rajaratnam was allegedly at the heart of an insider trading scheme that swept up an unprecedented number of people in its web of corruption," Manhattan U.S. attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

The inside information about Clearwire allegedly came from former Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) employee Rajiv Goel, while the AMD tips allegedly originated with Anil Kumar, a former partner at the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. Both Goel and Kumar pleaded guilty to insider trading and received probation sentences last year.

In the highest-profile Galleon case thus far, former McKinsey head and Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) board member Rajat Gupta received a two-year prison sentence last year for allegedly providing insider tips to Raj Rajaratnam. Gupta has appealed the conviction.

View the Original article

Saturday mail delivery should stay - U.S.

The U.S. Postal Service must deliver the mail six days a week.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) The U.S. Postal Service must deliver the mail six days a week, said Congress' watchdog arm in a Thursday legal opinion.

The legal opinion from the nonpartisan agency throws new questions on the Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe's plans to stop delivering first-class mail, but keep delivering packages and express mail on Saturdays.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office stopped short of saying the U.S. Postal Service's August plan to end most Saturday mail service violates current law.

The U.S. Postal Service says it's not ending six-day delivery, only changing it, since it'll still deliver packages on Saturdays.

However, GAO's report could make it easier to file a lawsuit to stop the U.S. Postal Service, if it decides to continue with service cuts as previously announced.

"We fully expect the Postal Service's board of governors and the postmaster general to follow the law and the expressed will of Congress about maintaining six-day delivery," said Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers. "We do not expect to have a legal fight."

When the U.S. Postal Service announced last month it planned to stop delivering and collecting letters and other first-class mail on Saturdays beginning Aug. 5, several lawmakers accused the agency of overstepping its legal authority.

"The GAO legal opinion clearly rejects the Postal Service's attempt to circumvent the law," said Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia who asked GAO to review postal service's legal authority.

In the past, the agency had said it needed Congress to change current law to cut Saturday service. After more than two years of waiting for Congress to help, the Postal Service decided to cut Saturday mail, saying the current temporary funding measures gave them a loophole to pursue the changes.

The GAO report said that loophole isn't there and that current law requires the agency to continue 6-day delivery.

U.S. Postal Service spokesman David Partenheimer said the agency disagrees with the GAO opinion. He also said it doesn't address their plan to move to "5-day mail delivery, with 6-day package delivery, during the week of August 5."

That plan would save $2 billion a year, not much compared to the $16 billion loss the organization reported for 2012.

The key culprit for the Postal Service's woes has been a 2006 congressional mandate, under which it has to pre-fund healthcare benefits for future retirees. The USPS has been borrowing billions of dollars from taxpayers to make up for the shortfalls.

At the same time, technological advances have led to a decline in first-class mail, which most consumers use to pay bills and stay in touch.

The situation turned particularly dire last year -- the agency twice defaulted on payments totaling $11 billion, and it exhausted a $15 billion line of credit from the U.S. Treasury.

View the Original article

Google's Eric Schmidt makes rare visit to Myanmar

Eric Schmidt is making a visit to Myanmar, one of the world's largest untapped tech markets.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney) Google Chairman Eric Schmidt advocated for a free and open Internet Friday during a rare visit by a top-level American executive to Myanmar, a former pariah state that is among the world's least wired.

The country, emerging from decades of military rule and harsh international sanctions, is one of the world's largest untapped markets for tech companies. Internet access is extremely rare, and only a tiny sliver of the country's 50 million residents have access to cell phones.

The trip, part of a longer swing through Asia, comes just two months after Schmidt made a controversial journey to North Korea over the objections of the U.S. State Department.

While in the Myanmar, also known as Burma, Schmidt visited a technology park in Yangon, the country's most populous city.

Schmidt has in the past written at length about the Internet's ability to empower citizens oppressed by autocratic governments, and is now producing a book on the subject. He returned to the theme Friday during a question-and-answer session, saying that "something extraordinary is going to happen in Myanmar."

"By far the best formula

View the Original article

Russia bails on Cyprus as deadline looms

Cyprus was hoping close business ties with Russia could lead to more financial aid

LONDON (CNNMoney) It looks like a Russian rescue of Cyprus is off the table, at least for now.

Talks between Russian officials and the government of Cyprus broke up early Friday, with no agreement on a cash infusion that could have helped the tiny island nation to secure an EU bailout.

Russian investors were ultimately not interested in the plans proposed by the Cypriot finance minister during a trip to Moscow, Russia's finance minister said Friday, according to state run news agency RIA Novosti.

One proposal was for Russian investors to develop the country's natural gas reserves. But the Russians will stand aside while Cyprus tries to find a way to recapitalize its insolvent banks with help from the so-called troika of European Central Bank, European Commission and International Monetary Fund.

Another way Russia could contribute is by relaxing the terms of an existing

View the Original article

Stocks: Waiting for Cyprus

Click on chart for market data

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Stock futures experienced a sudden uplift Friday, after a representative of the Cyprus government said a bailout deal could be reached in the next few hours.

The announcement helped alleviate a cloud of uncertainty that's been looming over Wall Street.

"People like to have a definitive answer, rather than something lurking in the darkness," said Anthony Conroy, head trader at ConvergEx Group.

All eyes are on Cyprus, where lawmakers are discussing new proposals to raise the money the country needs to qualify for its European Union bailout.

"In a few hours, we will be called upon to take the big decisions and reply to the hard dilemmas," said Christos Stylianides, spokesman for the Cypriot government.

U.S. stock futures made gains after Stylianides' comments. Before that, they were flat.

Talks between Russian officials and the Cyprus government broke up early Friday, with no agreement on a cash infusion that could help the island nation secure a

View the Original article

Are bond funds a ticking time bomb?

If you feel you must have shelter from rising interest rates, shift into a short-term bond index fund.

(Money Magazine) "If interest rates rise, the value of my bond funds will fall. Should I take money out now?" -- Aaron Inouye, San Jose

Pundits have been warning for more than three years that the bond market is a ticking time bomb. But anyone who deserted bonds for the safety of cash back in 2010 has been sorely disappointed, as investment-grade bonds have returned nearly 20% since then, vs. 0.20% for money-market funds.

Ultimate Guide to RetirementGetting started401(k)s & company plansInvestingAnnuitiesIRAsSelf-employment plansPensions and benefit plansSocial SecurityInsuranceEstate planningLiving in retirementGetting help

While most analysts expect interest rates to climb from today's depressed levels -- they've already inched up about half a percentage point since last summer -- no one knows how far they'll rise and how long that will take.

And even though bonds could face difficult times ahead, bailing out may lead to more problems than staying put.

For one thing, you face the question of where to invest instead.

Stocks? The risk of a severe setback is far greater.

Stock prices have dropped by 50% or more twice during the past 13 years alone. The broad bond market has yet to suffer a 12-month loss greater than 9.2%.

You could always hunker down in Treasury bills, money funds, or short-term CDs and jump back into bonds after rates rise. Do so before rates have finished climbing, though, and you could still face losses; stay in low-yielding cash too long, and you could give up a substantial return. It's the same no-win guessing game that many investors play with stocks.

Related: Don't let a fear of stocks cost you in retirement

My advice: Decide how much of your savings should be in bonds -- likely 10% to 20% if you're young, 50% or more if you're nearing or in retirement. Then stick to that percentage regardless of what prognosticators say rates may do, making a total U.S. bond market index fund (VBMFX) your core holding.

Yes, the value of such a fund will drop by roughly 5% for every percentage point that rates increase. Any initial blow, however, would be cushioned by the bonds' interest payments. Plus, your return would rise as older bonds in the portfolio mature and are replaced by higher-yielding ones.

Related: How a lifetime income annuity works

Still, if you feel you must have shelter from rising rates, shift into a short-term bond index fund (VBISX), which recently yielded just 1.4%, vs. 2.5% for its total bond market counterpart. As rates rise, such a fund should drop roughly half as much.

Finally, since interest rates in other countries don't move in lockstep with rates here, you may be able to get more protection by venturing overseas. The international bond fund on our MONEY 70 list is Templeton Global Bond (TPINX), which lately paid 5.6%. And by midyear Vanguard will introduce an international bond index fund. To be safe, limit foreign bonds to, say, 20% or so of your overall bond portfolio.

But whatever you do, don't abandon bonds altogether: Despite today's low rates, they still deserve a place in your portfolio.

View the Original article

Get more out of your closet space

To figure out the most effective solution, you need to determine the size of your challenge. Start by weeding out what you don't wear.

(Money Magazine) For those lucky enough to have a spacious walk-in closet, an organizing system is a no-brainer.

There's plenty of space for all manner of sweater shelves, lingerie drawers, shoe cubbies, and tie racks.

So what about the rest of us, who live with reach-in (or squeeze-in) closets? No storage contraption can radically expand inside-the-closet capacity, but you don't necessarily have to install it there.

Here are two ways to create organized and tidy wardrobe cargo space for practically any closet-challenged house.

Thin and restructure

Before you buy any closet gizmo, force yourself to weed out what you don't wear.

"About 70% to 80% of what's in most closets never gets taken off the hanger," says Newton, Mass., professional organizer MJ Rosenthal.

An organizing system will make what remains easier to access.

"The standard pole-and-shelf setup leaves loads of wasted vertical space," says Chesapeake, Va., cabinetmaker David Alderman, who tricks out about 35 closets a year. He typically lowers the pole to four feet high and, above it, installs either a second pole or numerous adjustable shelves designed to keep piles of folded clothing to at most five items tall. When he's working with closets that are deeper than they are wide, he may hang everything from one of the sidewalls.

Related: Find the best handyman for the job

Know that a custom system won't come cheap: You'll pay $800 to $1,200 for a one-door closet, and $1,500 to $2,500 for a double-door.

Almost all are made from melamine -- a waterproof plastic board -- which you can get either in white or a faux-wood finish. Somewhat handy? You can save about 20% with a modular do-it-yourself kit from easyclosets.com or containerstore.com/elfa.

Either way, invest only if you're staying in your home; realtors say this typically isn't an improvement that impresses buyers.

Think outside the closet

Closets that are outrageously undersized require you to look beyond their walls for a solution, says California Closets' chief design officer, Ginny Snook Scott.

If you want something that can move with you, pick up an armoire (for as little as $100 at Ikea).

Related: 4 tips from a serial home remodeler

Alternatively, a closet company or cabinetmaker can craft a built-in wall cabinet for your master bedroom and fill it with hanger poles, shelves, and cubbies. You'll pay about $2,000 to $4,000 for an eight-foot-wide wall of doors and drawers. (You can add a spot to hang your flat-screen TV.)

Because it's useful, attractive, and permanent, it may even yield some payback when it's time to sell -- not bad for something that you'll reap dividends from at least two times a day.

View the Original article

Meat industry rescues federal workers

The meat and poultry industry came to the rescue of food inspectors who faced 11 days of furloughs this year.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) At least one type of government worker has a friend in big business.

Over 9,000 federal food inspectors won't face furloughs after top companies from the meat and poultry industries spoke out in support of them.

In a bill passed by both houses of Congress and sent to President Obama on Thursday, food safety and inspection workers avoided 11 days of furlough, or one day a week from July through September.

So far, they are the only federal workers that Congress has agreed to deliver from furloughs. Close to a million federal workers will be forced to stay home without pay from 3 to 22 days, depending on the agency, thanks to $85 billion in forced budget cuts that took effect March 1.

Meat and poultry heavyweights, including Arkansas-based Tyson Foods (TSN, Fortune 500) and the cattle industry's powerful lobby group, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, wooed lawmakers -- especially Republicans, some of whom were in no mood to mitigate any part of the sequester, according to congressional aides.

Last week, the National Chicken Council flew in chicken processors from several states, including Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas and California, who met face-to-face with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The groups argued that, unlike other industries that would face only minor disruption, furloughs would lead to a complete shutdown of meat and poultry packing plants on days that the government inspectors stayed home.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture had estimated that 15 days of furloughs for meat inspectors would lead to a loss of $10 billion and cut production by 2 billion pounds of meat, 3 billion pounds of chicken, and 200 million pounds of eggs. People expected it to cause food shortages and possibly price spikes at the grocery store.

"This was a perfect storm, because it would have shut down the food supply and would have affected everyone who eats," said Chase Adams, spokesman for the cattlemen's group, which urged members to write their lawmakers and USDA to keep inspectors on the job.

Sen. Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat, sponsored the amendment saving food inspectors. It was added to a bill that would keep government running through Sept. 30.

Related: 5 federal workers: What job cuts mean to me

One reason why Republicans agreed to save food inspectors was that the measure didn't spend new money, congressional aides say. It came from a $55 million funding shift -- $30 million cut from a program to maintain USDA buildings and $25 million from a new USDA program to upgrade school kitchen equipment.

Pryor and his co-sponsor on the amendment, Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, represent areas with big meat processing plants. Arkansas, alone, has 91 meat slaughter and poultry processing plants that employ 44,000 workers.

The meat and poultry industry is no stranger to winning big on Capitol Hill. Meat and poultry processors have spent more than $28 million on lobbying each year since 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Tyson Foods spokesman Gary Mickelson confirmed the company was among those pushing for funding for food inspectors. He called the bill's passage "good news for consumers, farmers, grocery stores, restaurants and meat companies."

Tony Corbo, a senior lobbyist at Washington consumer group Food and Water Watch, said the meat and poultry industry worked the funding bill pretty hard. Though his group is usually on the other side of the industry on issues, he supported saving food inspectors from furloughs.

"You're talking about food safety, and this is going to get everybody's attention, because everybody's got to eat," Corbo said.

View the Original article

The wedding is off! Who gets the engagement ring?

Many courts have ruled that the ring is a "conditional gift" that must be returned to the person who bought it.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) While breaking off an engagement may help a couple dodge a messy divorce, it doesn't always keep them out of the courtroom.

More than $5,000 is spent on the average engagement ring. And deciding who gets to keep the ring when the big day gets called off is such a hotly-contested issue that most states have laws governing its ownership.

Some bitter lovers even take the case to court.

Colette DiPierro, 31, thought her broken engagement was behind her when she learned that her ex-fiancé Christopher Reinhold was suing, demanding the return of her $17,500 diamond engagement ring.

They had dated for almost two years when Reinhold proposed in May 2009. But the couple began to fight, often about money, and they split four months later, said DiPierro, a physician assistant in Staten Island, N.Y. The following spring, he filed a lawsuit. Reinhold and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment.

Poll: Who do you think should keep the ring?

According to DiPierro, she held onto the ring because he hadn't repaid her for his share of $40,000 worth of living expenses. Their deal: she had paid for rent, food, car payments and other bills while Reinhold saved for the ring.

"I helped him save so I felt that I was holding onto the ring for collateral," she said.

Laws vary by state, but many consider the ring a "conditional gift" until the couple says "I do," -- meaning that regardless of who gets cold feet, the ring must be returned to the person who bought it, said Alton Abramowitz, a New York-based attorney and president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

But it's not always that simple.

A New York judge ruled in 2006 that a woman could keep her 3.4-carat diamond engagement ring because her ex had not yet been divorced from his previous wife when he proposed. The Montana Supreme Court, meanwhile, has shot down the conditional gift theory entirely, ruling that the ring is the rightful property of its recipient.

In certain states, determining who gets the ring rests on who called off the wedding. And, to complicate matters further, some states treat an engagement ring given on a holiday differently than one given on a non-holiday.

In DiPierro's case, because the ring was given to her on her birthday, she argued that it should be hers to keep.

Related: How to ask a friend to pay you back

New York State law was on her side, said George Muscato, a Lockport, N.Y.-based attorney who recently represented a female client in an engagement ring-related suit. He did not represent DiPierro.

"If you give her that ring on a holiday like Christmas or Valentine's Day or her birthday, then you are making a gift to her as a present

View the Original article

Stocks rise on Cyprus hopes

Click for more market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) U.S. stocks rose Friday on optimism that officials in Cyprus will reach a deal this weekend to rescue the nation's troubled banks.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 90 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both gained 0.7%. The Dow is back above 14,500 and the S&P 500 is once again less than 1% away from the record high it set in October 2007.

Despite Friday's advance, the major gauges all ended the week down a little less than 0.5%. All three indexes are up between 7% and 11% so far in 2013.

Officials in Cyprus could make decisions on "the hard dilemmas" facing the country later Friday, according to a government spokesman.

"This is being interpreted as a step towards a solution," said Frank Davis, director of sales and trading at LEK Securities. "We don't know what that solution will be, but there seems to be something in the works."

Cyprus is facing a Monday deadline to come up with

View the Original article

Fortune Brainstorm podcast: Sheryl Sandberg

NEW YORK (Fortune) Each Fortune conference -- from Brainstorm Green, Brainstorm Tech, to the Most Powerful Women Summit, and the Global Forum -- yields fascinating conversations with the best and brightest minds in business.

Fortune wants to make it even easier for you to eavesdrop. The Fortune Brainstorm podcast is a weekly show that features recorded conversations from Fortune's live events.

In this week's installment, Facebook's (FB) Sheryl Sandberg sits down with Fortune's Pattie Sellers to talk about her new book and the most pressing challenges facing women in business today. You'll also learn the No. 1 bad word in the Sandberg household ...

Subscribe to and download the podcast from iTunes.

Or stick the podcast's RSS feed into your favorite podcast app: http://fortunebrainstormpodcast.libsyn.com/rss

View the Original article

Google Keep is a note-taking app with great potential

Google Keep has a lot of potential.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Google Keep is a wonderful scratchpad with the potential to be so much more.

Before the arrival of Keep, which Google launched this week, there was no default note-taking app for Android. It was a glaring hole, considering that Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPhone has built-in Notes and Reminders apps that can be powered by Siri.

Instead of settling for a bare bones app to fill the void, the search giant took things one step further. Keep isn't simply just a place to bank whatever random half-thoughts come to mind: Users can construct to-do lists, stash photos, and color code your notes -- all in one well-designed and easy-to-use interface.

The second you log anything into your phone, it is also accessible from a PC Web browser via Google Drive. Alternatively, you can save things while working on your computer, and it will instantly appear on your phone, ready for use while on the go.

The design may not be as progressive as the to-do app Clear, but Keep makes up for that in its simplicity and efficiency.

Everything in Keep is presented like a Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) Windows Phone-esque stream of tiles. Swiping left or right will archive those notes you no longer need (but don't want to erase entirely). At the top of the app is a text entry field that serves as your main point of entry for all new notes. And when viewing any specific note, tapping any part of that note (title, body, etc.) will allow you to edit it. The entire experience is frictionless.

That said, it's not going to conquer the world quite yet. Organization options are limited -- color coding is your only choice, and you can't re-order your notes. Sharing with others is mostly limited to email and Google

View the Original article

Cyprus bailout: Bank tax plan still unresolved

CNNMoney March 23, 2013: 11:43 AM ET LONDON (CNNMoney) Cyprus has passed a series of laws to restructure its banks but has yet to address what might be the most controversial element of a plan to clinch a European Union bailout and stave off collapse -- a tax on big bank deposits.

The tiny island nation needs to find a way to raise nearly

View the Original article

Cyprus endgame: What happens if its banks collapse?

A banking collapse would likely lead to Cyprus' exit from the eurozone. The ramifications of that are unknown.

LONDON (CNNMoney) The clock is ticking on Cyprus.

The European Union wants the beleaguered country to find nearly

View the Original article

Strippers v. clubs in fight over labor rights

CNNMoney March 21, 2013: 6:17 AM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Sonja worked as a stripper in three states for 15 years.

Like any employee, Sonja had set hours, had to be on stage at a certain time and dress a certain way. She was penalized if she missed a shift.

But like most strippers, Sonja wasn't considered an employee. That's because club owners typically classify strippers as independent contractors.

It lets bosses get away with not paying employment taxes, not complying with discrimination laws and not offering benefits such as health care or retirement plans, according to Robert Woods, a tax lawyer in San Francisco. In turn, workers do not qualify for unemployment benefits, Medicare or Social Security.

It's a situation that Sonja and other strippers are increasingly challenging in court. The 37-year-old from Brockton, Mass., has won two court settlements in the last two years. And she is awaiting the outcome of two more.

Related: I work 70 hours a week

As independent contractors, strippers' income comes solely from tips, and often, club owners' long list of fees take a big bite out of that too.

Take, for example, Hima B., a former stripper in San Francisco who is working on a documentary about strippers' labor rights.

Hima B. paid a $5 "stage fee" for a six-hour shift when she started working in 1992. Within months, the fee jumped to $25, and by the time she stopped working in 1999, she was paying $200 per shift. It's commonplace for club owners to levy such a fee.

"You should be paid to work. You shouldn't pay to work," said Hima B., who like Sonja and the other strippers in this article, asked that she be identified by her stage name.

Sonja also paid stage fees, and more -- $80 for showing up late, $25 to dance one song and $60 for a half hour in a private room. Some strippers also have to pay DJs and other overhead costs like rent.

"They're making tons of cash charging girls to work," Sonja said.

Cases like Sonja's are picking up steam. Just last month, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that dancers at Club Orleans in Topeka were employees rather than contractual talent. It granted them the right to collect unemployment insurance.

This followed another ruling in November, when strippers at the Spearmint Rhino chain in California won a $13 million settlement in a federal court class action case that granted them employee status. The settlement amount will be divided among strippers across six states.

"We've seen a lot of great rulings like these," said Shannon Liss-Riordan, an attorney who specializes in labor cases.

In the last 10 years, Liss-Riordan has been involved in a dozen cases like Sonja's, who she represents. She has either won or reached settlements in favor of the strippers in all of them.

There are other professions where employees work for tips or have to pay for a spot -- like waiters and hairdressers. The difference is that these workers also earn wages.

"Strippers, on the other hand, are buying a job," said Liss-Riordan. "To have money taken away from them is a sad state of affairs."

Related: Fast food workers protest for labor rights

Some strippers have organized to fight back. Workers at The Lusty Lady, a San Francisco peep show, formed the Exotic Dancers Union in 1997. Soon after that, The Lusty Lady became fully owned and operated by its employees, who continue to vote on all business decisions.

"I get paid a little bit more than minimum wage hourly on top of my tips" said Victoria Privates, a dancer who started working at The Lusty Lady last year.

Hima B. hopes her film will inspire strippers to stand up for the kinds of rights dancers have at The Lusty Lady.

"Stripping is legal," she said. "This is a group of workers and they deserve rights."

View the Original article

FedEx raises red flags about global economy

FedEx posted disappointing earnings and guidance Wednesday.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) FedEx raised red flags about global economic weakness, as it reported a steep drop in earnings and issued weak guidance.

The Memphis-based express delivery company said shipments to and from Asia fell, and that customers are shifting more of their business to slower shipping methods in an effort to save money. FedEx is often considered to be a bellwether of the global economy due to both its size and worldwide presence. The lower earnings and outlook is considered a discouraging symptom of a global weakness.

The company's net income fell 31% in the period ending Feb. 28 to $361 million. This is the third straight quarter that the company has reported lower earnings.

FedEx also said it expects that earnings per share in the current quarter could fall as low as $1.90 a share, excluding realignment costs, which would be down from $1.99 a year earlier. Analysts had been forecasting EPS to rise to $2.07.

Total revenue was up 4% to $11 billion, but the company said its international revenues were about $100 million lower than it had expected.

Related: FedEx is #6 on Fortune's list of Worl'd Most Admired Companies

The company said it will cut air capacity to and from Asia starting April 1, and that as a result it may ground some of its older aircraft. It will also spend between $450 million and $550 million on a voluntary buyout program to reduce headcount that had been previously announced.

Shares of FedEx (FDX, Fortune 500) fell nearly 4% in premarket trading on the news. Shares of rival United Parcel Service (UPS, Fortune 500) were also down 1%.

View the Original article

Stocks end higher on Fed stimulus pledge

Click for more market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) U.S. stocks rose Wednesday after the Federal Reserve reiterated that its stimulus measures will remain in effect until the job market gets back on track.

The Fed said in its policy statement that it will continue buying $85 billion worth of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities to help "make broader financial conditions more accommodative."

Speaking to reporters, Fed chair Ben Bernanke acknowledged that payroll data improved in February, but he cautioned that the trend may not last. The Fed also trimmed the upper end of its forecast for economic growth in 2013.

"This was pretty much what I expected," said Doug Roberts, chief market strategist for Channel Capital Research. The statement and Bernanke's comments "eliminate any lingering doubts about his position," Roberts said.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.4%, to close at 14,511. Shortly after the Fed's announcement, the Dow hit a new intraday record high of 14,546.82. The S&P 500 gained 0.7% and the Nasdaq advanced 0.8%.

Stocks have been rallying on a combination of improving economic data and stimulus from the Fed.

So far this year, all three major U.S. indexes have gained between 9% and 11%, and the Dow recently had its longest string of gains since 1996.

Bernanke downplayed concerns about a stock market bubble.

"We don't see, at this point, anything that's out of line with historical patterns," Bernanke said, noting that the Dow was still far below its all-time high in inflation-adjusted terms.

Related: Cyprus buys some time

Meanwhile, investors continue to monitor developments out of Cyprus after lawmakers voted against a tax on bank deposits, which had been part of a

View the Original article

IMF chief Lagarde's home searched by police

A French court in 2011 said it was investigating Christine Lagarde's role in a business deal when she was the country's finance minister.

LONDON (CNNMoney) French police have searched the Paris home of International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde as part of an investigation into her role in settling a business dispute when she was finance minister, her lawyers said Wednesday.

A French court said in August 2011 that it was investigating Lagarde's role in intervening in a long-running dispute between businessman Bernard Tapie and a French bank, Credit Lyonnais.

Lagarde was accused of giving Tapie preferential treatment because of his support for former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. She has always denied any wrongdoing.

Prior to joining the IMF, Lagarde was French finance minister for four years.

"As we have said before, it would not be appropriate to comment on a case that has been and is currently before the French judiciary," said Gerry Rice, an IMF spokesman.

"Prior to its selection of the managing director, however, the IMF's executive board discussed this issue and expressed its confidence that Madame Lagarde would be able to effectively carry out her duties," Rice said.

Lagarde, 57, was appointed IMF managing director in June 2011, succeeding Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned after a New York hotel maid accused him of assaulting her in his suite. U.S. prosecutors dropped the case against him a few months later. Criminal charges against Strauss-Kahn in the United States were filed but later dropped.

-- Chris Isidore and CNN's Jim Bittermann contributed to this report.

View the Original article

Veteran unemployment dropped to 9.9% in 2012

The unemployment rate for veterans dropped last year, according to the Bureau for Labor Statistics.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) The unemployment rate for veterans dropped last year, according to a report out Wednesday from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, but vets still lag behind non-vets in the job market.

The unemployment rate for veterans who have served in the U.S. military since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 dropped by 2.2 percentage points in 2012, to 9.9%.

But that's still higher than last year's 7.9% unemployment rate for nonveterans, the report said.

Army veteran Marcel Rowley of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., who served in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, said that he had a difficult time trying to secure part-time employment while going to school on the GI Bill. He said that as soon as he mentioned the time period during which he served, the job interview would "taper off," as the interviewer realized he was a war veteran.

"With all the ski resorts out here, you would think it would be fairly simple

View the Original article

UK sticks with austerity as growth forecast cut

U.K. Finance Minister George Osborne sticks to austerity path as growth forecasts are slashed.

LONDON (CNNMoney) Britain said Wednesday it would further tighten the screws on general government spending as officials forecast weaker growth and higher borrowing than just three months ago.

Finance Minister George Osborne also announced plans to change the mandate of the Bank of England, giving incoming governor Mark Carney slightly more flexibility in hitting its 2% inflation target and potentially more scope to manage interest rate expectations.

The U.K. economy risks falling into a triple-dip recession in the first quarter of 2013 as domestic demand remains depressed by austerity measures and falling real incomes and exporters feel the impact of the eurozone crisis, despite a weaker currency.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility said it expected the U.K. would narrowly avoid recession but slashed its growth forecast for 2013 to 0.6% from 1.2%. It also said public debt would peak at nearly 86% of GDP in 2016-17, rather than 80% in 2015-16, as forecast in December.

Related: Moody's downgrades U.K. from AAA

Osborne, presenting his annual budget to lawmakers, said the government's policy of fiscal discipline and active monetary policy would eventually bear fruit.

"It is taking longer than anyone hoped, but we must hold to the right track," he said.

Government departments, with the exception of health and education, would be subject to further spending cuts, and public-sector pay caps would be extended.

The money raised will be used to increase spending on infrastructure by

View the Original article

Federal Reserve sees slow recovery for years to come

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said he has "great concern for the unemployed."

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) The Federal Reserve trimmed its forecast for economic growth in 2013, but said Wednesday that it's a bit more optimistic that the unemployment rate will decline.

The Fed expects the U.S. economy to grow between 2.3% and 2.8% this year, slightly weaker than its prior estimate.

Meanwhile, the central bank expects the unemployment rate to fall to between 7.3% to 7.5% by the end of the year. The unemployment rate was 7.7% as of February.

In a press conference later in the afternoon, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was quick to acknowledge recent data showing that job growth picked up in February. But he also cautioned that strong hiring may not be here to stay.

In the last few years, job growth accelerated in the winter, and then slowed a few months later. Bernanke calls it the "spring slump."

"We have seen periods before where we have had as many as 300,000 jobs for a couple months," he said. "Then things weakened again."

The Fed is also wary about the impact of federal spending cuts and global financial turmoil on the economy. Bernanke cautioned that the Fed alone would probably not be able to "fully offset major economic head winds" arising from those two issues.

Overall, minor tweaks to the Fed's forecasts don't signal any major changes for monetary policy. The central bank still plans to keep its stimulative policies in place, probably until 2015.

Federal Reserve policymakers voted 11-to-1 to keep short-term interest rates near zero, as the Fed has done since December 2008 in an effort to stimulate the economy.

The Fed reiterated that it intends to keep rates low until the unemployment rate falls to 6.5% or inflation exceeds 2.5% a year. Those are rough guidelines, not strict targets. Most Fed officials don't expect those levels to be met until 2015.

Related: Bernanke: There is no stock bubble

The central bank also said it will continue to buy $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities and $45 billion in Treasuries each month for the foreseeable future. The hope is that those purchases will continue to push long-term interest rates even lower.

Bernanke mentioned that the Fed may chose to adjust the volume and pace of those purchases in coming months, in response to economic data.

Esther George, president of the Kansas City Fed, was the only voting member to oppose the decision, citing concerns that the Fed's policies would increase "the risks of future economic and financial imbalances."

The Fed's next meeting is scheduled to take place April 30 to May 1.

View the Original article

China manufacturing rebounds after lull

HONG KONG (CNNMoney) China's factory activity expanded at a quicker pace in March, according to a key early gauge of the manufacturing sector's performance.

Global bank HSBC said its "flash" index of purchasing managers' sentiment rose to 51.7 in March from February's final reading of 50.4. Any reading above 50 signals expansion in the manufacturing sector.

The pace of expansion was quicker than economists had anticipated, but the index remains below levels hit in January. The report showed a quickening pace of new orders and output.

"March flash manufacturing PMI rebounded to 51.7 on the back of stronger new orders and production growth," Hongbin Qu, HSBC's chief economist for China, said in a statement. "This implies that the Chinese economy is still on track for gradual growth recovery."

The strength of manufacturing in China is considered a barometer of the global economy because of the nation's role as a powerhouse exporter. Because it makes up a large part of China's economy, manufacturing plays an important role in shaping domestic policy.

China's economy has grown at an average of around 10% a year for the past three decades, allowing the nation to rocket past competitors to become the world's second-largest economy. While the growth slowed in 2012 to 7.8%, that figure topped government targets and analyst expectations, signaling an exit to the slowdown that had worried economists.

Related story: China's top 10 brands

Qu said Thursday that the government is likely to maintain current policy.

"Inflation remains well behaved, leaving room for Beijing to keep policy relatively accommodative in a bid to sustain growth recovery," Qu said.

HSBC's final reading of March purchasing managers' sentiment is due on April 1, as is the Chinese government's reading.

View the Original article

Freddie Mac failing homeowners, watchdog says

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Freddie Mac and its regulator are not doing a good enough job bird-dogging complaints by homeowners about the companies handling their mortgages, a federal oversight official said Thursday.

The mortgage giant's eight largest mortgage servicers resolved more than 25,500 "escalated" complaints from homeowners between October 2011 and November 2012, but failed to take care of 21% of them within the required 30-day window, according to a report from the inspector general overseeing the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

In addition, the report found that the vast majority of complaints were never reported to Freddie Mac (FMCC, Fortune 500) and that FHFA, the agency that oversees Freddie, did not have the proper procedures in place to handle some of the most serious borrower complaints -- including allegations of servicing fraud and improper foreclosures.

When such issues aren't resolved quickly, borrowers don't have adequate time to explore alternatives and, in some cases, end up losing their homes to foreclosure, said Russell Rau, deputy inspector general for audits.

Under guidelines that were put in place in 2011, servicers are supposed to observe strict protocols when a borrower lodges a complaint.

Related: 5 best places to buy a home

Complaints are often fielded by an agent manning the phones for the servicer. If the agent can't immediately resolve the problem, it gets kicked upstairs to a specialist. Once that happens, the complaint is officially an "escalated case" and the servicer must report it to Freddie and resolve the problem within 30 days.

However, the report found that four out of Freddie's eight major servicers -- Bank of America, CitiMortgage, Wells Fargo and Provident -- never reported any cases between October 2011 and November 2012, even though the group handled more than 20,000 during that time.

In addition, the inspector general said Freddie did an "inadequate" job of making sure its servicers complied with the rules and failed to establish any type penalties for servicers who failed to report escalated cases.

Related: Zombie foreclosures: Our debts won't die

Freddie Mac didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.

The watchdog also alleges that when FHFA assessed Freddie's implementation of the new guidelines, it did not even address the failure of servicers to resolve and report all cases within 30 days.

The inspector general recommended that FHFA and Freddie immediately improve the reporting of escalated cases by servicers and impose fines for servicers who don't comply.

At the end of 2012, Freddie Mac owned or backed more than 10.6 million mortgages.

View the Original article

Major Chinese solar company goes bankrupt

Suntech employees at work in China.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney) Turn out the lights.

China's Suntech Power has put its largest subsidiary into bankruptcy, a casualty of rampant oversupply in the solar industry and punishing sanctions levied on Chinese panel producers.

The bankruptcy filing, made in Jiangsu Province, marks the end of a long downward spiral for Suntech's Wuxi subsidiary, once a darling of the solar industry and one of the world's largest panel producers.

Declining prices for solar products and global trade spats have taken a toll on the nascent solar industry in recent years, leading to the failure of several firms heavily dependent on government support.

Parent company Suntech Power (STP), listed on the New York Stock Exchange, will not file for bankruptcy. But the company's share price is now trading around 60 cents, down from $50 in 2008. Wuxi accounts for about half Suntech's 20,000 employees.

A group of eight Chinese banks petitioned a court in Jiangsu Province on Wednesday in an effort to push Wuxi Suntech into bankruptcy, and the subsidiary said it would not object.

Last week, the company missed a payment on $541 million in debt, and the company's CEO said he was exploring strategic alternatives. According to state-run news agency Xinhua, the company owes nine creditor banks a total of $1.2 billion.

Suntech announced last week it was closing a manufacturing center in Goodyear, Arizona, costing 43 workers their jobs.

"These are the growing pains of a maturing industry," E.L McDaniel, managing director of Suntech America, said at the time. "Though it's a tough time to be a solar manufacturer, there's never been a better time to be a solar customer."

Related story: Solar power has record year despite bankruptcies

China's solar manufacturers maintain close ties to the state, and have been hammered in recent years as demand for solar panels has lagged far behind supply. Yet they continued to receive favorable treatment from the government in the form of bank loans.

Many of China's solar firms used the loan money to increase production, even as they haemorrhaged cash.

Related story: Why China is losing the solar war

There is still a chance that government intervention will save Wuxi Suntech, with the most likely suitor being Wuxi Guolian, a development company backed by the local government.

The U.S. Commerce Department announced stiff tariffs on Chinese-made solar panels last year, after finding that Chinese solar cell manufacturers were "dumping" their products on the American market below production costs.

The issue divided the U.S. solar industry, with some manufacturers complaining that Chinese trade practices were driving prices down artificially and smothering U.S. production.

U.S. manufacturer Solyndra became the highest-profile victim of plunging panel prices in 2011, forced to file for bankruptcy despite receiving $535 million in federal loan guarantees.

View the Original article

Stocks: Jobs data on tap

U.S. stocks rose Wednesday.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Investors head into Thursday awaiting several new economic reports and fresh developments in Cyprus.

U.S. stocks rose Wednesday as the Federal Reserve reiterated that its stimulus measures will remain in effect until the job market gets back on track.

The Fed said in its policy statement that it will continue buying $85 billion worth of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities to help "make broader financial conditions more accommodative."

U.S. stock futures were little changed ahead of the opening bell Thursday.

Fear & Greed Index

On Thursday, the government will release its weekly update on initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET. The National Association of Realtors will publish data on existing home sales for February at 10:00, while the Conference Board will release its Leading Indicators Index and the Philadelphia branch of the Federal Reserve will publish its monthly business outlook survey.

In corporate news, homebuilder KB Home (KBH) and lululemon athletica (LULU) are scheduled to release quarterly results in the morning. Nik (NKE, Fortune 500)e is up after the bell.

Shares of Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) sank in after-hours trading Wednesday after the tech giant reported quarterly earnings that missed expectations.

European markets were lower in morning trading, nervously awaiting news of a revised plan to prevent a financial collapse in Cyprus, while Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite added 0.3% and the Nikkei increased 1.3%, while the Hang Seng declined 0.1%.

View the Original article

Marissa Mayer's Yahoo strategy could soon emerge

Acquisitions like Dailymotion could be part of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's next steps in reinventing her company.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Marissa Mayer has done quite a bit for Yahoo since she became CEO last summer, but she still hasn't answered one question: "What is Yahoo's strategy?"

Out of the gate, Mayer quickly made headlines for revamping the struggling company's culture. She handed out free smartphones, encouraged employees to act more quickly and take ownership of projects, and famously banned telecommuting at Yahoo.

"The next piece of it is focus: Yahoo's core business isn't growing, so what will drive growth?" said Aaron Kessler, an analyst at Raymond James.

So far, Mayer hasn't shed much light on possible new directions for the company. The only purchases Mayer has made are a small handful of "acqui-hires" (buyouts done mainly to score the technical talent of a company's workforce). And the main product announcements under Mayer's short tenure -- a redesigned homepage and a revamped Yahoo Mail -- don't provide much insight into her thinking.

That could soon change. If Yahoo were to make an acquisition, as many analysts believe the company will in the coming months, Mayer's strategy could begin to present itself.

Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) hasn't pulled the lever on any big acquisitions since Mayer took over as CEO, despite a slew of non-stop takeover rumors. The latest report: Yahoo is in talks to buy a controlling stake in Dailymotion, dubbed "the French YouTube," according to The Wall Street Journal.

Though Dailymotion isn't a household name in the United States, the company is a more important player abroad. That existing overseas audience could be a plus for Yahoo, which at times has struggled internationally.

If the acquisition rumors are true, it's unlikely to be a "cats on skateboards" buy, said Brian Wieser, a senior analyst at Pivotal Research Group. He said Mayer's interest in the online-video site, owned by France Telecom, is likely in "less obvious" features: for example, its cloud-based streaming service for marketers or its publisher network.

Raymond James' Kessler, disagrees. He thinks Yahoo would acquire Dailymotion for the core part of its business. Dailymotion has also begun developing its own original videos, which would add more content to Yahoo's trove.

"Yahoo is still largely a media company, and Dailymotion fits into that," Kessler said. "Yahoo could promote Dailymotion content on its homepage, giving it more unique inventory and boosting Dailymotion's audience."

That kind of sharp-focused acquisition could be the type of buy Yahoo needs to secure a leadership position in tech's fastest-growing sectors: social, mobile, local and video. Analysts say Yahoo would be better served finding the right fit for its strategy -- whatever that turns out to be -- rather than making a splashy buy that turns out to be impulsive.

Yahoo, for instance, has been rumored to be interested in buying Zynga (ZNGA), OpenTable (OPEN), Yelp (YELP) and Millennial Media (MM), among others.

"Dailymotion or another media buy makes more sense

View the Original article

Cyprus rejects bank levy, bailout in doubt

Cypriots protest against EU bailout and plans for a levy on bank deposits

LONDON (CNNMoney) Lawmakers in Cyprus have rejected government plans to impose an unprecedented tax on bank deposits, throwing into doubt a

View the Original article

Will markets prevail over Cyprus?

Click on chart for market data

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) U.S. stock futures edged higher Tuesday, as investors tried to shake off concerns about Cyprus.

Investors are worried that financial turmoil stemming from the heavily indebted island nation, where the European Union is trying to impose a one-time tax on bank accounts, will spread to Russia, Europe and even Wall Street.

"We believe the

View the Original article

See-through pants problem causes Lululemon recall

A Lululemon store in New York City.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Lululemon Athletica will be hurt by a large recall of black yoga pants that were unintentionally see-through.

"The ingredients, weight and longevity qualities of the pants remain the same, but the coverage does not, resulting in a level of sheerness in some of our women's black Luon bottoms that falls short of our very high standards," the company said in a statement late Monday. "We want you to Down Dog and Crow with confidence and we felt these pants didn't measure up."

Lululemon said the recall, which amounts to 17% of all women's pants sold in its stores, will cause shortages of this staple and have a significant impact on its financial results.

Before the recall, the company said it was on track for an 11% increase in sales at stores open at least a year, with revenue in the first quarter expected to come in between $350 million and $355 million. Now it expects only a 5% to 8% sales gain, and revenue of between $333 million and $343 million.

The company said the problem occurred despite there being no change in manufacture or the ingredients used to make the fabric.

How Lululemon quintupled its stock price

The store has been a fast-growing success story. Sales have tripled in the past three years; results for the most recent fiscal year are due Thursday. The stock is up 1,800% over the past four years.

Lululemon (LULU) shares were down about 5% Tuesday morning, and are down 17% for the year.

View the Original article

Retirement confidence at record low

CNNMoney March 19, 2013: 8:13 AM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Despite improving economic conditions, a record percentage of American workers remain worried that they won't be able to afford retirement.

They're worried about their jobs, high debt levels and rising living expenses, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Ultimate Guide to RetirementGetting started401(k)s & company plansInvestingAnnuitiesIRAsSelf-employment plansPensions and benefit plansSocial SecurityInsuranceEstate planningLiving in retirementGetting help

Only 13% of workers surveyed said they "feel very confident" that they will be able to retire comfortably

View the Original article

Home construction gains steam

Housing starts and building permits both continued to rise in February.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Home construction continued to pick up steam in February as builders filed for the most permits in nearly five years, and housing starts also climbed.

Building permits, which are seen as a barometer of builders' confidence in the housing market, jumped about 5% from January's level and 34% from a year ago, to an annual pace of 946,000. That's the best month for permits since June 2008.

Additionally, the Census Bureau reported that builders started construction at an annual pace of 917,000 homes in the month, up slightly from the pace in January, and up nearly 28% from year-ago levels.

Related: Home shopping - should you buy new?

The housing market has been helped by a number of factors in recent months, including increased sales of both new homes and previously-owned houses, a drop in foreclosures, and near record low mortgage rates. A decline in the nation's unemployment rate is also helping. And the pick up in home building and construction hiring is one of the factors helping to bring the unemployment rate down, as builders scramble to look for workers.

But a survey of members by the National Association of Home Builders released Monday showed builder's confidence taking a step back in March, as builders reported that rising costs of raw materials and labor shortages were squeezing business despite increasing demand.

Still the broader housing recovery is one of the factors economists believe will lift the overall economy in the year ahead.

View the Original article

Congress' bad budget habit

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Congress is expected to soon sign off on a bill to continue funding the federal government through the end of the fiscal year.

That's good, because if they don't, funding would run out on March 27. Unfortunately, the just-in-time save by lawmakers reflects a bigger problem: The bipartisan addiction to temporary funding bills in place of passing full-year spending bills.

Congress has resorted to the use of "continuing resolutions" in all but three of the past 30 years, according to the Government Accountability Office. Between 1999 and 2012, Congress passed 87 of them. Another two will be added to that tally for this year.

As with all bad habits, there can be negative consequences to what in Washington they call "CRs."

In any given year federal agencies may have to operate under multiple CRs of varying lengths. Since 1999, they've authorized funding anywhere from 1 day to 227 days.

The GAO highlighted several problems created for agencies operating under CRs. Among them:

Inability to move ahead: Unless Congress specifically includes permission to do so, a CR may prevent an agency from starting new activities and projects.

Delays in hiring and the issuing of contracts: That can lead to increased costs for projects, delays in services and fewer high-quality applicants.

Distorted spending: A CR may not leave enough time to spend money on high-priority needs, such as hiring new staff. So agencies could end up spending the money on lesser priorities that can be purchased or accomplished more quickly.

Lost productivity, wasted time: "

View the Original article

Stocks: Cyprus keeping investors on edge

Click the chart for more stock market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) U.S. stocks finished mixed Tuesday, after lawmakers in Cyprus voted against a tax on bank deposits. This throws into doubt a

View the Original article

America's infrastructure is finally getting a bit better

America's infrastructure -- including roads, bridges and rail -- got a bit better over the last four years thanks to increased spending, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) America's recent wave of infrastructure spending is beginning to pay off.

The condition of the nation's roads, bridges, ports, railways and other critical infrastructure got a bit better over the last four years, according to a "report card" released Tuesday by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The trade group rated America's infrastructure a D

View the Original article

Judge approves sales of Twinkies, Wonder Bread

A bankruptcy judge approved the sale of Twinkies, Wonder Bread and most of the other top products of Hostess Brands.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) A bankruptcy judge has given final approval for the sale of Twinkies, Wonder Bread and many of Hostess Brands' other assets, clearing the way for the iconic products to return to shelves.

Hostess snacks -- including Twinkies, Ho Hos, Ding Dongs and Zingers -- were sold for $410 million to a joint venture of private equity firms Apollo Global Management (APO) and Metropoulos & Co. They expect to return the product to store shelves this summer.

Wonder Bread and most of Hostess' other bread brands was purchased by baker Flowers Foods (FLO) for $360 million. The company has yet to give a date for when those breads will be back in stores. On Thursday, Judge Robert Drain also approved the $31.9 million sale of the Beefsteak bread brand to baker Grupo Bimbo (GRBMF), a Mexico-based company that is one of the largest U.S. bakers.

None of these products have been manufactured since Hostess, which was already in bankruptcy court, went out of business during a strike by members of its bakers' union. The company has been selling off its brands since then to try to raise money for creditors. Thursday's sales account for more than $800 million.

Related: An unlikely Twinkies savior?

Most of the 18,500 Hostess workers lost their jobs a result of the shutdown. But many former Hostess bakeries were included in the sales, suggesting that the buyers will need to do some hiring to restart the brands. The buyers have not commented on their hiring plans.

Flowers is buying 20 bakeries and about 38 depots with its purchase; Apollo and Metropoulos are buying five bakeries.

Metropoulos has experience turning around financially troubled food brands. The firm's food holdings include Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, and in the past have included Chef Boyardee canned pasta, Bumble Bee seafood, PAM cooking spray and Gulden's Mustard, all of which it eventually sold to ConAgra Foods Inc (CAG, Fortune 500).

Court approval is still pending for some other winning bidders, including privately held McKee Foods' purchase of the Drake's snack business for $27.5 million, and United States Bakery's $28.85 million winning bid for Hostess' Sweetheart, Eddy's, Standish Farms, and Grandma Emilie's bread brands, along with four bakeries.

View the Original article

Defense worker furlough notices to go out Friday

Department of Defense furloughs will force workers to stay at home on unpaid leave for 22 days, or one day each week, starting April 21 through Sept. 21.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) The Pentagon will start sending furlough notices to employees this Friday, a senior defense official said Tuesday.

It will force workers to stay at home on unpaid leave for 22 days, or one day each week, starting April 21 through Sept. 21. It means a 20% pay cut for five months for most of the 800,000 civilian employees working for Defense. Officials on Tuesday couldn't say exactly how many notices are going out.

It would be the first time that defense employees receive direct notices about their furloughs, which are being triggered by forced spending cuts that hit the federal government on March 1. Earlier this month, some unions representing defense workers received notices with furlough details.

It will upend the lives of many employees, who will have to give up flexible work schedules during the furlough period, besides taking a pay cut.

In a Senate hearing Tuesday, NATO's top military commander Navy Admiral James G. Stavridis, told lawmakers he's worried about retaining his civilian workforce.

"We have these marvelous civilians who do extraordinary work, stand with us every single day, and yet they're facing the possibility for furloughs and 20% pay cut," Stavridis said. "Even on the family side, the impact on our children facing school day cuts and furloughs of their teachers is significant and part of this whole challenge for us."

Defense is part of the nation's 2.1 million civilian federal workforce facing furloughs, thanks to $85 billion in spending reductions that went into effect. They're part of a larger effort to trim $1.2 trillion from federal deficits over 10 years.

At least two dozen federal agencies, including the the Department of Labor, Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigations, have already issued furlough notices.

Even the White House's budget office is not immune. Some 500 Office of Management and Budget employees have received furlough notices requiring up to 10 unpaid days off, between April 21 and Sept. 7, 2013, an OMB official confirmed.

The length of furloughs varies among agencies. Employees who work for the Federal Employee Workers Compensation Program will face no more than 3 days of furloughs.

Related: 5 federal workers: What job cuts mean to me

However, the harshest furloughs are reserved for Defense Department workers. That's because the Pentagon is the largest federal agency and has to slash the most from its budget -- $47 billion. Active military personnel aren't affected, so civilian workers get the raw end of the deal.

Employees are given between 7 and 15 days to respond to furloughs in writing and can even be represented by an attorney. But several federal workforce law experts have told CNNMoney that it would be very difficult for workers to contest a furlough.

Unions, which represent about a third of the federal workforce, say they're working with workers on figuring out their furlough days.

"We're trying to make furlough as painless as possible for the employees and not disrupt the agency mission," said Tim Kaufman, spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 650,000 federal government workers.

View the Original article

U.K. flies cash to Cyprus for soldiers

British government said it is "determined to do everything we can" to help members of U.K. military stationed in Cyprus deal with bank crisis.

LONDON (CNNMoney) The U.K. is flying

View the Original article

Americans still doubtful about stocks, economy

A CNN/ORC poll shows most Americans don't think investing in stocks at this time is a good idea.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Record-high stock prices are not enough to convince the majority of Americans to invest in stocks, according to a new CNN/ORC poll.

Asked if they thought it would be a good idea or bad idea to invest in stocks if they had $1,000 to spend, 55% of those surveyed said it would be a bad idea, while 43% thought it would be a good idea.

The poll of 1,021 adult Americans was conducted between March 15 and 17, a period immediately following a string of eight straight record high closes for the Dow Jones industrial average.

Continued doubts about the economy may be what's making Americans hesitant to jump into the market. Only 31% said they thought the economy was either good or very good, compared to 69% who described it as poor or very poor. That was a slight improvement from December, when 26% believed the economy was in good condition.

Besides the strong run for stocks, there has also been a drop in unemployment and further signs of a housing market recovery since December.

Related: Fear and Greed index shows less fear, more greed

Americans might also be worried that the bull market has made stocks overvalued. But even with the run-up, some experts, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, argue that stocks remain undervalued even at these levels.

The most recent figures on investing show that Americans have pulled money out of stocks in each of the two most recent weeks for which data is available, after pouring money into stocks the first seven weeks of the year.

View the Original article

Speck PixelSleeve for MacBook Air

LAPTOPS DESKTOPS TABLETS PHONES SOFTWARE CAMERAS HDTVS PRINTERS more  ANDROID APPS CAMCORDERS CONSOLES EREADERS GPS HARD DRIVES HEADPHONES IPHONE APPS MFPS MP3 PLAYERS MONITORS MOBILE APPS NETBOOKS NETWORKING PROJECTORS ROUTERS SCANNERS SECURITY SERVERS SPEAKERS STORAGE ALL REVIEWS > NEWS & OPINION BUSINESS DOWNLOADS DAILY DEALS SUBSCRIBE .pcmag-topics

View the Original article

F-Sim Shuttle

LAPTOPS DESKTOPS TABLETS PHONES SOFTWARE CAMERAS HDTVS PRINTERS more  ANDROID APPS CAMCORDERS CONSOLES EREADERS GPS HARD DRIVES HEADPHONES IPHONE APPS MFPS MP3 PLAYERS MONITORS MOBILE APPS NETBOOKS NETWORKING PROJECTORS ROUTERS SCANNERS SECURITY SERVERS SPEAKERS STORAGE ALL REVIEWS > NEWS & OPINION BUSINESS DOWNLOADS DAILY DEALS SUBSCRIBE .pcmag-topics

View the Original article

Minecraft (version 1.5)

LAPTOPS DESKTOPS TABLETS PHONES SOFTWARE CAMERAS HDTVS PRINTERS more  ANDROID APPS CAMCORDERS CONSOLES EREADERS GPS HARD DRIVES HEADPHONES IPHONE APPS MFPS MP3 PLAYERS MONITORS MOBILE APPS NETBOOKS NETWORKING PROJECTORS ROUTERS SCANNERS SECURITY SERVERS SPEAKERS STORAGE ALL REVIEWS > NEWS & OPINION BUSINESS DOWNLOADS DAILY DEALS SUBSCRIBE .pcmag-topics

View the Original article

Samsung WB250F

LAPTOPS DESKTOPS TABLETS PHONES SOFTWARE CAMERAS HDTVS PRINTERS more  ANDROID APPS CAMCORDERS CONSOLES EREADERS GPS HARD DRIVES HEADPHONES IPHONE APPS MFPS MP3 PLAYERS MONITORS MOBILE APPS NETBOOKS NETWORKING PROJECTORS ROUTERS SCANNERS SECURITY SERVERS SPEAKERS STORAGE ALL REVIEWS > NEWS & OPINION BUSINESS DOWNLOADS DAILY DEALS SUBSCRIBE .pcmag-topics

View the Original article

HP DesignJet T120 ePrinter

LAPTOPS DESKTOPS TABLETS PHONES SOFTWARE CAMERAS HDTVS PRINTERS more  ANDROID APPS CAMCORDERS CONSOLES EREADERS GPS HARD DRIVES HEADPHONES IPHONE APPS MFPS MP3 PLAYERS MONITORS MOBILE APPS NETBOOKS NETWORKING PROJECTORS ROUTERS SCANNERS SECURITY SERVERS SPEAKERS STORAGE ALL REVIEWS > NEWS & OPINION BUSINESS DOWNLOADS DAILY DEALS SUBSCRIBE .pcmag-topics

View the Original article

BlackBerry 10 OS

LAPTOPS DESKTOPS TABLETS PHONES SOFTWARE CAMERAS HDTVS PRINTERS more  ANDROID APPS CAMCORDERS CONSOLES EREADERS GPS HARD DRIVES HEADPHONES IPHONE APPS MFPS MP3 PLAYERS MONITORS MOBILE APPS NETBOOKS NETWORKING PROJECTORS ROUTERS SCANNERS SECURITY SERVERS SPEAKERS STORAGE ALL REVIEWS > NEWS & OPINION BUSINESS DOWNLOADS DAILY DEALS SUBSCRIBE .pcmag-topics

View the Original article

FeedDemon

LAPTOPS DESKTOPS TABLETS PHONES SOFTWARE CAMERAS HDTVS PRINTERS more  ANDROID APPS CAMCORDERS CONSOLES EREADERS GPS HARD DRIVES HEADPHONES IPHONE APPS MFPS MP3 PLAYERS MONITORS MOBILE APPS NETBOOKS NETWORKING PROJECTORS ROUTERS SCANNERS SECURITY SERVERS SPEAKERS STORAGE ALL REVIEWS > NEWS & OPINION BUSINESS DOWNLOADS DAILY DEALS SUBSCRIBE .pcmag-topics

View the Original article

Basis

LAPTOPS DESKTOPS TABLETS PHONES SOFTWARE CAMERAS HDTVS PRINTERS more  ANDROID APPS CAMCORDERS CONSOLES EREADERS GPS HARD DRIVES HEADPHONES IPHONE APPS MFPS MP3 PLAYERS MONITORS MOBILE APPS NETBOOKS NETWORKING PROJECTORS ROUTERS SCANNERS SECURITY SERVERS SPEAKERS STORAGE ALL REVIEWS > NEWS & OPINION BUSINESS DOWNLOADS DAILY DEALS SUBSCRIBE .pcmag-topics

View the Original article

Neiman Marcus hit for selling real fur as 'faux'

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Sometimes, retailers think fake is worth more than real.

Three retailers, including upscale department store Neiman Marcus, have settled a case with the Federal Trade Commission by admitting they were selling products improperly described as having "Faux Fur" when in fact they had real fur. The complaint from the federal agency did not detail what kind of fur was used in the products.

The consumer agency said Neiman Marcus also admitted to misrepresenting that a rabbit fur product had mink fur, and that it failed to disclose the country of origin for fur in three other products as required by law.

Related: No easy answer for Neiman Marcus IPO

The other two companies are online retailers - DrJays.com, and Revolve Clothing. Neiman and Revolve were not immediately available for comment. DrJays.com said the misrepresentation was due to a typographical error, not an effort to deceive. It said that the mistake was made in only a few cases of the 50,000 items listed on its website.

The agency did not disclose any fine that companies paid as part of the settlements. But it said that under the order they would be subject to $16,000 fines for any future misrepresentation of the fur content of their products over the next 20 years.

View the Original article

Cyprus buys time to pursue bailout options

CNNMoney March 20, 2013: 2:49 PM ET LONDON (CNNMoney) Banks in Cyprus will remain shut until early next week to prevent a catastrophic flight of capital after efforts by its leaders and European officials to come to terms on a bailout made little progress Wednesday.

The Cypriot parliament blocked a

View the Original article

Google Reader

Options 03/25/2013 is on its deathbed, slated to meet its end on July 1st. Its demise has been looming in the distance for a while, so this should come as no surprise. And while this is certainly a time of mourning, there's the unseemly business of finding a replacement. Here is a list of platform agnostic alternatives that should help make the transition as painless as possible.

complete article

How to Export Your RSS Feeds from 03/21/2013 By now, the shock that is shutting down this summer has probably sunk in. Once you get past the outrage, it's time to figure out how to export your RSS feeds from your beloved reader before it goes dark.

For the fastest, most reliable way to save your RSS feeds from the cemetery of cyberspace, use Googles Takeout service.

complete article

12 Alternatives 03/20/2013 The scramble is on. With news today that is shutting down on July 1st, its users are on the hunt for a solid RSS reader alternatives.

Here are some options you might want to consider if you are a user:

complete article

03/18/2013 is closing in July, IMO this is not a good move for Google.

Blog Posts That Get Attention 03/14/2013 Blogs are now a dime a dozen, and bloggers need to make their blog posts stand out. Developing a blog following is not as easy as it once was. Learn how to write blog posts that attract readers and retain their attention. Follow these guidelines to cultivate readers...

Blog Posts that Get Attention

10 Social Media Fears to Overcome 03/13/2013 Are any of these reasons stopping you from using social media for your business?

complete article

4 RSS News Aggregators for Android 03/12/2013 The beauty of smartphones and tablets running Android today can only be appreciated by looking at the apps it offers.  While offering many other features, one group of apps  available for tablets and smartphones are the so-called news aggregator apps that gives almost instant around the clock news access. If you are the type who wants to know whats happening around the world in an instant, news sources will be at your fingertips by getting any of the news aggregator apps that we will be discussing below.

complete

Facebook Complaints 03/11/2013 On Monday, Facebook put up a blog post saying engagement has gone up 34 percent on posts from people who have more than 10,000 followers. But Facebook did not share real numbers or metrics, leaving people guessing what 34 percent actually equals.

complete article

I Work on the Internet Cartoon 03/08/2013

View the Original article