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Citi using most of TARP capital to make loans: report
On Tuesday May 12, 2009, 3:19 am EDT

(Reuters) – Citigroup Inc, the bank bailed out with $45 billion of U.S. taxpayers’ money, is using almost all of that money to make new loans, the Associated Press said citing a report scheduled for release on Tuesday morning.

A committee at the third-largest U.S. bank, which is overseeing the use of the money it received from the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), approved $44.75 billion in lending initiatives as of March 31, according to the AP story, which appeared on the New York Times website.

The loans that Citigroup makes to state and local governments, municipal agencies, universities and non-profit hospitals, were helped by TARP money, AP said.

Citigroup said it is spending an additional $2 billion to finance suppliers, $1 billion in residential mortgages, and $250 million more in auto loans, AP said.

A Citigroup spokesman in Hong Kong was not immediately available for comment.

Citigroup got a $45 billion injection from TARP and the U.S. government agreed to share losses on $300.8 billion of troubled assets. The government is keeping a close eye on the bank after more than $85 billion of writedowns and credit losses since the middle of 2007.

(Reporting by Anurag Kotoky in Bangalore; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Citi-using-most-of-TARP-rb-15211459.html?sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=

May 11, 2009, 8:34 pm
U.S. Pulls Ahead in Mobile Data Revenue, Analyst Says
By Matt Richtel
In recent years, the mobile phone industry in the United States has mourned the fact that people here were less quick to adopt text messaging and Web surfing on their phones as those in other developed countries.

But something changed in the first quarter of the year. In that period, revenue from mobile data services in the United States hit $10 billion, making it the first country to reach that mark, according to Chetan Sharma, an independent telecommunications industry researcher, who over the weekend published a wide-ranging analysis of the quarter.

According to Mr. Sharma, the four major American carriers — Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile — now respectively hold the No. 3, No. 4, No. 6 and No. 8 spots worldwide in terms of the amount of mobile data revenue they generate each quarter. (The leaders worldwide, he said, are NTT DoCoMo and China Mobile.)

Mr. Sharma said this was important in part because it could lure entrepreneurs (say, app builders) who are considering where to focus their efforts. China and India might have huge subscriber bases, Mr. Sharma said, but the money is being generated in the United States.

Mr. Sharma includes in his definition of data services both mobile messaging (SMS and MMS) and other uses (browsing, apps, video, etc). He said that the growth in the American third-generation networks, smartphones and better interoperability of messaging has allowed the United States to edge past Western Europe in data use, and to go “way past Western European countries in the actual data revenues being generated.”

He said the United States still lags Japan and Korea in use of what he called “more advanced lifestyle solutions,” like using the phone for mobile payments, biometric security or e-commerce.

Certainly the pending release of the Palm Pre, possibly a new iPhone from Apple in June and various new flavors of phones using Google’s Android operating system should push data use. The carriers are hoping so. They need to find new sources of revenue to make up for saturation in the market (most adults now own a phone), which makes it harder to make sales by simply signing up new customers.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/us-pulls-ahead-in-mobile-data-revenue-analyst-says/

May 6, 2009, 7:21 pm
10 Ways to Build Traffic to Your Site
By Azadeh Ensha

In a previous post, I offered up 10 ways to design a good Web site. Unfortunately, even the best-designed site won’t serve its purpose unless it is scoring page views. Below are some ways to help maximize your site’s traffic.

SELF-PROMOTE
To help secure readers, add a favorites or bookmarks option so visitors can add your Web site to their reading list. Along the same lines, add an “e-mail this” and “share” tab at the bottom of each post. You might also try creating a weekly newsletter that highlights your best content. Blast it out to readers who sign up.

Comment on online forums and blog posts and link to your Web site each time. Make sure your comment adds to the conversation. Do not spam. Also add your blog or Web site to your e-mail signature, Twitter, Facebook and other online accounts. Claim your blog on Technorati and look into submitting content on StumbleUpon and Delicious. Also, create a “lens” or page on Squidoo.

DON’T WAIT ON GOOGLE
Be proactive. Send your site to Google and other search engines. If you rely on them to crawl your content, you may be waiting a long time.

WRITE USEFUL, ORIGINAL CONTENT
This sounds obvious, but it bears mentioning. Attract readers by writing well and regularly. Then keep them interested by continuing to do so. When you’re building a base, try to post new, original content at regular intervals. Use blogging software that lets you set an automatic publishing time so you don’t have to physically get up early in the morning, for example, to manually post your content at that time. Also pay attention to your headlines. Use simple keywords to describe the subject of your posts.

BRING ON GUEST BLOGGERS
Another way to increase traffic is to use an established name to bring the desired traffic to you. Find someone who writes well on your topic and ask them if they’d be willing to contribute to your Web site or blog.

MAXIMIZE TECHNOLOGY
Don’t just rely on text to attract readers. Use video, podcasts, slide shows and other multimedia to create dynamic content.

LINK AND TAG
Link to other sites within your post and ask other blogs to link back to you and add your Web site to their blog rolls. Another option is to submit your site to blog directories.

Use headers, title tags and meta tags to optimize your site for search engines. Use keywords to describe what your Web site is about. Also make sure that your site’s content matches your meta data and other tag phrases. HitTail is one service that helps you home in on key words. Don’t forget about your images. Make sure they, too, are search-engine optimized.

ENGAGE THE READER
Respond directly to e-mail and comments. Even a short mass e-mail message will begin to open a two-way dialogue. Showcase your personality by sharing personal anecdotes where relevant so that you can establish a rapport with your audience. Another option is to conduct a reader survey or poll so you can improve on your site based upon your readers’ preferences. Tracking and analyzing your statistics also helps. You might also try joining a syndication service such as BlogBurst.

PROVIDE AN RSS FEED
Feedburner and FeedDemon are two sites that can set you up with this.

THINK GLOBALLY
Remember, the Internet spans the globe. Even if your Web site is local in nature, it can still attract readers in another country, so don’t limit your base. If you’re able to add language options to your site, all the better.

DON’T FORGET THE OFFLINE WORLD
Sure, the Web is great for spreading the word about your site, but so is in-person communication. Use word of mouth and, if you can afford it, a well-placed print advertisement.

BE PATIENT
Building traffic takes time. Set short-term goals for yourself, but understand that this is a long term process.

http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/10-ways-to-build-traffic-to-your-site/?em

The S&P 500 is giving strong technical signals it has entered a bull market and next week could confirm whether the index has finally shaken off the bear, independent trader Bill McLaren told CNBC Friday.
By: CNBC.com | 08 May 2009 | 07:50 AM ET Text Size

“Rallies in bull trends have very specific characteristics … and this rally has started to develop some bull market characteristics,” McLaren said when looking at the S&P 500.

The index [.SPX 929.23 21.84 (+2.41%) ] is due to fall over the next three sessions, McLaren said ahead of the open Friday. But if it then continues upwards toward a new high, the bull-market signals will give the green light, he said.

If the correction only lasts for three days, which has a really high probability of happening, it will be critical to the strength of the index, according to McLaren.

Banking stocks got a boost ahead of the open Friday after the results of the government’s stress test were revealed Thursday. The results, reported over the past week by various media, offered no bad surprises regarding the top banks’ ability to withstand more financial turmoil.

Source:http://www.cnbc.com/id/30638327

Published: Friday, 8 May 2009 | 1:53 PM ET
By: JeeYeon Park CNBC

Two experts, Stephen Mauzy at S.P. Mauzy & Associates and Mike Rubino of Rubino Financial shared their outlook on the economy and where investors should put their money.

“I think it’s a matter of us taking some time off and things will work themselves out,” Mauzy told CNBC. “And they are working themselves out. We’re moving ahead.” (See below for Mauzy’s stock recommendations.)

However, Rubino said he’s not so optimistic.

“Long term, we’re in for a lot of trouble,” he said. “I think we’re going to have a nice little bounce and it will continue through the rest of the year. And then mortgages, credit cards are going to come back into the picture and create a lot of problems.”

Despite his outlook, Rubino still recommended the following:

Rubino Recommends:

iShares MSCI-Emerging Markets Fund [EEM 31.59 1.02 (+3.34%) ]

iShares S&P 600 [IJR 45.13 1.37 (+3.13%) ]

iShares DJ US Engy [IYE 30.61 1.20 (+4.08%) ]

Rubino Dislikes:

iShares Barclays 7-10 [IEF 92.53 0.11 (+0.12%) ]

iShares FTSE NAREIT MTG [REM 13.45 0.67 (+5.24%) ]

SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF [XHB 13.47 0.59 (+4.58%) ]

Mauzy Recommends:

Pearson [PSO 10.92 0.12 (+1.11%) ]

DuPont [DD 28.38 0.47 (+1.68%) ]

Leggett & Platt [LEG 15.71 0.62 (+4.11%) ]

Disclosure:

No immediate information was available for Mauzy or Rubino.

Check This out….

Arkansas says it’s the first state to release an application with the ability to search for projects.

By Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney.com contributing writer
Last Updated: May 6, 2009: 4:08 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Arkansas said Wednesday it launched the first iPhone application to track state projects funded through the federal stimulus package.

The free application, Arkansas.gov Recovery Project Search, is available through the Apple iTunes Store and can be downloaded to an iPhone or iPod Touch.

“We want transparency in the recovery process,” said Chris Masingill of the Arkansas State Recovery Office. “This is taxpayers’ money, so we want them to have the information and the tools to access it.”

Users can search keywords to find Arkansas state project names and descriptions, including location, dollar allocation, start date and percentage completed.

The location lookup feature displays projects by city or county name, and the “Near Me” button uses an iPhone’s Global Positioning System to find projects near the user’s location.

The technology was developed about three or four weeks ago, Masingill said, after state employees in the information sector suggested the idea.

“They didn’t waste any time,” he said. “We wanted Arkansans to know where their money is going, and we wanted to be the first state to do it.”

Masingill said he was unaware of any other states’ plans to develop applications, but he expects and hopes similar projects will pop up soon.

“I’m sure someone else will develop something even better that we can use, too,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s about sharing information.”

First Published: May 6, 2009: 4:05 PM ET

Now is the best time to set a lower target for value stock.
Best dividend-paying stocks
These four stocks offer better-than-average yields (3.4% for the S&P), have consistently raised their dividend for at least 25 years, and have dividends that equal about half of earnings (which means the risk of a future cut is low).
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Emerson Electric Co.
3M Company
Johnson & Johnson

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/moneymag/0904/gallery.Money100_dividend_stocks.moneymag/index.html