In a complaint filed in the Western District of Washington, Allen’s Interval Licensing LLC alleges that AOL, Apple, eBay, privately held Facebook, Google, Netflix, Office Depot,Office Max, Staples, Yahoo and Google-owned YouTube are all illegally in use of e-commerce technologies patented by a technology research firm Allen co-founded in Silicon Valley more than twenty years ago. -CNBC
"We believe this suit is completely without merit and we will fight it vigorously,'' said Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes.
Sales of existing houses plunged by a record 27 percent in July as the effects of a government tax credit waned, showing a lack of jobs threatens to undermine the U.S. economic recovery.
The Treasury sold $34 billion of three-year notes at a record-low yield of 0.844 percent Aug. 10, $24 billion of 10- year notes the next day at 2.730 percent, the lowest yield since January 2009, and $16 billion of 30-year bonds on Aug. 12 at 3.954 percent, the lowest yield since March 2009. -Bloomberg
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Federal probes of the collapsed mortgage-bond boom are shedding light on how Wall Street firms sometimes created securities and sold them to one set of investors, while advising others to bet against them.-WSJ
Deutsche says that helping investors bet either way—either for or against an asset—is part of doing business for a securities firm. -WSJ
Gross domestic product grew at a 2.4 percent annual pace, less than forecast, after a 3.7 percent first-quarter gain that was larger than previously estimated, according to Commerce Department data issued today in Washington. -Bloomberg
The U.S. economy slowed in the second quarter as a scarcity of jobs eroded consumer spending, leaving the rebound dependent on a surge in business investment. -Bloomberg
A vast majority of European banks passed a round of stress tests meant to measure the likelihood that they could survive an economic or market calamity, regulators said on Friday. -NY Times
“The U.S. Senate passed the biggest overhaul of financial-industry regulation since the Great Depression, sending the bill inspired by the 2008 credit crisis to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature.” -Bloomberg
The measure, once implemented, will touch all areas of the financial markets, affecting how consumers obtain credit cards and mortgages, dictating how the government dismantles failing financial firms and directing federal regulators' focus on potential flashpoints in the economy. - WSJ
“Two Senate Republicans said Monday they would support the Obama administration’s financial-overhaul legislation, and Democrats now believe they have the 60 votes needed to push the sweeping bill into law by the end of the week.” - WSJ
The bill would boost powers of agencies such as the Federal Reserve and Securities and Exchange Commission, create a new regulator to monitor consumer lending rules, give the government the power to break up failing companies and toughen scrutiny over exotic financial products like derivatives. -WSJ
“A government program to bail out banks at the height of the financial crisis has so far turned a profit, according to a report by investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.” -CNBC
“The unemployment rate fell to 9.5% from 9.7% in May. Economists had forecast it would climb to 9.8%. But the improvement was due mostly to many discouraged job seekers not bothering to look for work and no longer being counted as part of the labor force.” -CNN Money
The recession killed off 7.9 million jobs. It's increasingly likely that many will never come back. -CNN Money
Electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors went public on Tuesday; Tesla sold 13.3 million shares at a price above its expected range of 14 to 16 dollars a share. Wall Street Journal Bloomberg
TSLA closed at $23.89, up $6.89 from its IPO price of $17 a share
“Elevation, which bought the shares from equity owners in private transactions, has invested a total of $210 million in Facebook at an average valuation of $14 billion.”
Facebook is valued at 19.9 Billion USD according to Sharepost Inc.
Lawmakers from the House and Senate worked through the night in a 20-hour session to reach deals on a ban on proprietary trading by banks and oversight of the derivatives market. - Bloomberg
Federal Reserve officials retained a pledge to keep the benchmark interest rate at a record low for an “extended period” and signaled that European indebtedness may harm American growth. -Bloomberg
"The central bank, at a two-day meeting, left the overnight interbank lending rate target unchanged in a range of zero to 0.25 percent, where it’s been since December 2008." Bloomberg
But a growing chorus of traders and legislators believe the flash crash is symptomatic of a larger problemwith high-frequency trading and a market that lacks visibility and is susceptible to similar events in the future.”
Freedom Debt Relief
BYU business students are educated on how to succeed in business to fight through hardships, like debt relief , which many businesses have to endure when they first get started.
CPA review
Finance and accounting go hand in hand and as such BYU finance majors have been known to take online CPA review courses to further their understanding on the field of accounting.
