| RetailWire's Retail Stock Portfolio Challenge: 1Q08
It's a new year, a new financial quarter and time to launch a new Retail Stock Portfolio Challenge. For this coming period, we've recruited a couple of fresh challengers for Mark Lilien (who is hoping to redeem himself after surrendering the lead midway through the last quarter to David Livingston). Which of the three portfolios do you think will show the greatest return on investment at the end of the first quarter '08? REGISTRATION ONLY TAKES A MINUTE!
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Beware - the black holes are back in your pension
Last week's turmoil on the stock markets may seem irrelevant unless you buy shares directly. But you should be under no illusions: if you invest in a pension, the slump in share prices could be very bad news indeed. Just as pension funds were finally starting to recover from the technology-inspired crash at the start of the decade, the plunge in share prices since the start of the year has caused deficits to rise again. According to pension experts Aon Consulting, Monday's fall alone cost the pension funds of the top 200 companies £15bn; add in the decline in the previous week and the fall rises to more than £40bn. That wipes out the gains of 2007, which had put the funds very close to being in surplus again. Of course, a bad week on the stock market has no immediate impact either on the amount being paid to pensioners or on payments into pension schemes.
Weighing the odds for Maryland
Right now, 26 days before the end of the session, we don't have a complete piece of legislation. We don't have the language on the new proposed revenue splits. We don't have any understanding of the revised revenue projections.
Had Governor Ehrlich presented a detailed plan in January, would you have supported it?
Look, I'm a pragmatist -- as well as someone who tries to get as much information before I make a decision. That's just the way I am since I've been in the legislature.
The more questions he could have answered, the more favorable it would be viewed by the legislature. I actually think I am in the minority -- as far as the issues surrounding the legislation are concerned.
Really?
Yes. There's lot of people who came here, both Democrats and Republicans, who wanted to support the bill -- and the state's economic times drive it to make it even more appealing.
McCain, Huckabee Assail Romney
As six candidates offered their closing messages on the morning talk shows, Obama acknowledged that the criticism about lack of experience in Washington might be taking a toll. "That may have some effect, but ultimately I'm putting my faith in the people of Iowa and the people of America that they want something better," Obama told NBC's "Meet the Press." Playing the experience card, Clinton told ABC's "This Week" that as first lady from 1993-2001 she was "intimately involved in so much that went on in the White House, here at home and around the world." While she was one of the most influential first ladies in history, Clinton had her limits. She did not attend National Security Council meetings, did not receive the presidential daily briefing on terrorism and other threats and did not have a top level security clearance.
Nuclear security tightened as attacks surge
Mr Kidwai's comments come one day after the chief of Pakistan's powerful army, General Ashfaq Kiyani, dismissed fears that al-Qaeda could seize the country's nuclear weapons. The normally reclusive Mr Kiyani rejected speculation that Pakistan's warheads could be at risk amid the turmoil sparked by the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto in December. Share this article What is this? .
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