Business Feeds

Claims for employment discrimination filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2009 declined slightly from the previous year, but still were at the second-highest level in the agency’s nearly 45-year history, as reported by the AP. The year in which the most claims were filed was 2008.

The total number of disability discrimination claims received by the EEOC last year was 93,000. As with most years, discrimination claims based on race (36 percent), sex and retaliation were the most prevalent.

Perhaps the most disturbing trend was last year’s 10 percent spike in employment discrimination claims based on disability (21,451 total), the largest bump of any category. Much of that

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The hottest news off the presses in regard to credit card use is that if you don’t use it you run the risk of losing it. That’s because many major credit card companies have changed their policies about those people who are cardholders but do not use their cards very much. While experts used to recommend keeping cards instead of cutting them up and canceling the accounts – but not using them – as a strategy to build better credit, they have changed their advice. Now they are warning that people who have cards that are not actively used may incur an “inactivity charge.” In other words if you have a card that you have not used for years, your card company may decide to hit you with a penalty.
 
The reason that people often hold on to cards they do not use – or keep dormant accounts open and inactive – is that FICO, the biggest credit score company on the planet, views open lines of credit that are not used as a plus. In other words i Read more…

Barron’s

INVESTORS THINKING OF TAKING the plunge and buying cruise-line operator  Carnival Corp. (ticker: CCL) should get on board.

This morning, JPMorgan analyst Kevin Milota upgraded shares of Carnival and its smaller peer  Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) from Neutral to Overweight.

Milota wrote that the move was prompted by a recovery in fundamentals for the cruise industry as well as in consumer confidence and the macroeconomic environment.

Milota also noted that shares are trading at discounts to historical valuations despite recent gains. H

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For most investors, the 2000s will be known as the lost decade ? and for technology investors, it was even worse.

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), EMC (NYSE: EMC) and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) were the biggest stock market gainers in the roaring 1990s, with gains of around 80,000 percent each, and AOL wasn’t far behind.

A decade later, the picture couldn’t be more dramatically different. The top stocks of the 2000s have been names like Green Mountain Coffee (NASDAQ: GMCR), Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS) and Terra Nitrogen (NYSE: TNH) ? representing coffee, energy drinks and fertilizer ? and other top names were in energy, slot machines, environmental services, healthcare and apparel, according to Time magazine.

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Who’s Foursquare Mayor of your local business?  If you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, but would like to join the hottest, hippest new social networking tool for promoting a local business, read on. I’ll e

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CNBC Feature Program

AT&T had to do a mad scramble on Monday to recover from a public relations fiasco. Over the weekend, a few sites noticed that AT&T’s online store would not sell the iPhone to certain parts of New York. This led to all kinds of conspiracy theories and nasty accusations hurled at AT&T.

Since then, the company came out with its own explanation, and has retreated even further, allowing the iPhone to be sold to those targeted areas of New York. So what happened? Enterprise Mobile Today gets the details.

AT&T is again selling the Apple iPhone to online shoppers in New York City, following a brief period over the weekend and Monday when the popular device had been unavailable.

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The “Jobs for Main Street Act” Of 2010 is legislation passed by the House that promises to deliver some hope to small business owners. It aims to create jobs for small business by slowly thawing the frozen lines of credit for small businesses.

This proposed piece of legislation is intended to help Americans directly affected by the recession. Congressman William Clay (Dem-MO) was quoted by the American Chronicle as saying, “I voted against the Wall Street bailout in 2008 because it lacked accountability and did very little to help my constituents. In contrast, this legislation directs Federal dollars to those who need it most… families on Main Street. Th

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Business Week

Ford Motor Co. agreed with China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. on most terms for a sale of the U.S. automaker’s Volvo Car Corp. unit in the second quarter.

A definitive agreement probably will be signed by March 31, with a sale completed by June 30, the companies said in statements today. No financial details were provided. Ford has made progress to resolve issues such as protecting intellectual property, a person familiar with the talks has said.

Ford named Geely its preferred bidder for Volvo on Oct. 28 after putting the Swedish automaker on the block a year ago to finish unloading overseas luxury brands and focus on its namesake division.

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