"Unsung Heroes": A New Category For The BuyBack Kings

It's time to acknowledge companies with dedicated buyback programs. They have demonstrated a willingness to step up to the plate in good times and bad. They have bought shares practically every quarter, reducing market timing risk.

To be included in the "Unsung Heroes," companies must have purchased at least 20% of their shares during the last decade and bought back shares during the "Great Recession" (Hey, it's my category, so I get to make the rules).

By the way, Exxon Mobil (XOM) actually took down 10% of its shares smack in the middle of the recession when most companies halted their buyback programs. Incredibly, Wal-Mart, Exxon, Intel, and IBM all reduced share count significantly during the "Great Recession." That took a strong resolve. With the collapse of equity prices, those buybacks were well-timed.

Viral ad campaign hits #FirstWorldProblems

In the 60-second video, the group WATERisLife has impoverished residents in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, recite tweets from the popular hashtag #FirstWorldProblems. FULL STORY

David Copperfield's "museum of magic"

llusionist David Copperfield has become a dedicated guardian of the secrets of magicians going back more than a century.. FULL STORY

China In Talks To Buy Barrick’s Stake In Tanzania Miner

China National Gold Group Corp. is in talks about buying Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX)’s African unit as the world’s biggest commodity-consuming nation continues to snap up resources on the continent.

There’s no certainty that China National Gold will make an offer for Barrick’s 73.9 percent stake in African Barrick Gold Plc (ABG), Toronto-based Barrick said in a statement today. UBS AG is advising the Canadian company, according to the statement.

FULL STORY

Betting your hedges

The improbable must-have holding of 2012 is hedge funds. The typical fund has lost 4 percent this year through November..

Source: www.breakingviews.com

9 Fascinating Books About Steve Jobs And Apple

Even before Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs passed away at the age of 56 on October 5 of last year, the whole world was fascinated not only with the man who helped transform Silicon Valley but also by the mystery surrounding the company he helmed...

Source:http://www.huffingtonpost.com

A decade of slow growth?

By Fareed Zakaria From: Cnn.com: Every year at Davos, people like me try to get a sense of the mood of the place, take the temperature of people in this frosty mountain resort. Obviously, I will give you a highly impressionistic and personal picture, but it’s one I find useful since Davos does bring together leaders in government, business, media – even the NGO community – from all corners of the world. It is genuinely global in a way that few conferences are... FULL STORY

The FACTS: End of the World 2012 phenomenon

Guatemalan Maya natives kneel in front of a temple at the Tikal archaeological site on December 20, 2012. The exquisite site of Mayan ruins began hosting winter solstice ceremonies on Thursday as the region's indigenous people marked the end of an era.

 The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs according to which cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on 21 December 2012 . This date is regarded as the end-date of a 5125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar.

Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae have been proposed as pertaining to this date, though none has been accepted by mainstream scholarship. A New Age interpretation of this transition is that the date marks the start of time in which Earth and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 21 December 2012 may mark the beginning of a new era.

 Others suggest that the date marks the end of the world or a similar catastrophe. Scenarios suggested for the end of the world include the arrival of the next solar maximum, an interaction between Earth and the black hole at the center of the galaxy, or Earth's collision with a planet called Nibiru. Scholars from various disciplines have dismissed the idea of such cataclysmic events occurring in 2012.

Professional Mayanist scholars state that predictions of impending doom are not found in any of the extant classic Maya accounts, and that the idea that the Long Count calendar ends in 2012 misrepresents Maya history and culture, While astronomers have rejected the various proposed doomsday scenarios as pseudoscience,stating that they conflict with simple astronomical observations.

FULL STORY Source: wikipedia

Only 15 States Opt to Run Obamacare Exchanges

Only 15 states have told the federal government they plan to operate health insurance exchanges under President Barack Obama's reform law, leaving Washington with the daunting task of creating online marketplaces for two-thirds of the country. FULL STORY

Bloomberg: The Fiscal Cliff Will Drive the U.S. Into Recession

House Speaker John Boehner says he was "flabbergasted" when Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner pitched the White House plan to save the nation from the "fiscal cliff." FULL STORY

6 Ways The Fiscal Cliff Could Affect You

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke used the term "fiscal cliff," it quickly became the newest Washington buzzphrase. As the deadline to avert the cliff nears, it has overtaken the European debt crisis as the most talked-about story in the financial media. The fiscal cliff refers to the enactment of a number of laws that would, if not changed before Jan. 1, 2013, FULL STORY

The U.S. Recovery Has Been Spectacular*

We need a real recovery. That's what Mitt Romney said during the campaign, and he was right. Five years since the start of the Great Recession, unemployment is still far too high. It's not for a lack of optimism among policymakers. As Evan Soltas pointed out, the Federal Reserve keeps predicting that prosperity is just around the corner, only to find it's not. Catchup growth is the new Godot. FULL STORY *Compared to almost every other rich country and almost every other financial crisis.

Fiscal cliff would drive the U.S. economy back into recession.

Fiscal cliff would drive the U.S. economy back into recession before end of 2013, a new report from the Congressional Budget Office said. Congressional Budget Office released a report showing that the most harmful consequences of the fiscal cliff, a fully armed and operational fiscal cliff would cost us 3.4 million jobs. Obama Fiscal Cliff Deal Risks Brush With Recession

US to become world's top oil producer by 2017

The United States will become the world’s top oil producer by 2017, according to the annual long-term report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The US will surpass both Saudi Arabia and Russia, and will come close to achieving self-sufficiency... FULL STORY

Barack Obama wins election for second term as president

President Barack Obama handily defeated Gov. Mitt Romney and won himself a second term Tuesday after a bitter and historically expensive race that was primarily fought in just a handful of battleground states. Networks project that Obama beat Romney after nabbing the crucial state of Ohio. FULL STORY

Romney Distorts Facts on Jeep, Auto Bailout

Mitt Romney falsely claimed in a recent speech that “Jeep, now owned by the Italians, is thinking of moving all production to China.” Chrysler says it is considering adding Jeep production sites in China to address rising demand in that market. FULL STORY

Postal Service barred from borrowing more

The U.S. Postal Service has hit its $15 billion debt limit and can't borrow anymore from the U.S. Treasury. Luckily, the USPS has enough cash to make ends meet over the next few months. FULL STORY

China's Super Rich Flock Into U.S. Property Market

A young Chinese couple threw $34.5 million into a luxury mansion in Hollywood, making themselves a new neighbor of David Beckham, Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney.

News of the purchase sparked a flurry of speculation on the Internet that the young millionaire could be the son of Ning Gaoning, the former chairman of a state-owned Chinese conglomerate COFCO, as Ning is an uncommon family name among China’s bigwigs.

FULL STORY

CNOOC to buy Nexen for $15.1 billion in China's largest foreign deal

State-controlled CNOOC Ltd launched China's richest foreign takeover bid yet on Monday by agreeing to buy Canadian oil producer Nexen Inc for $15.1 billion, forcing Ottawa to decide whether security concerns outweigh its desire for foreign investment in its energy resources.

FULL STORY

'The Hunger Games' Catch Fire

From Deadline Hollywood...

Lionsgate just revised upwards its worldwide total to a massive $214.25 million for The Hunger Games which was projected to be the No. 1 title in virtually every single market globally...

Source: www.deadline.com
Nikki Finke