Stocks close flat after six-week advance

By NBC News wire reports

Updated at 4:02 p.m. ET: Stocks closed Monday flat, having traded in a tight range for most of the day, after posting six weeks of gains.

The European Central Bank sought to quash speculation about the shape of its planned bond-buying program, saying it was misleading to talk about decisions that had not yet been taken. That looked set to pressure the market somewhat as investors anticipate concrete action from the ECB.

Coventry shares jumped after Aetna said it will pay a total value of $41.10 per share for the company, putting the deal at a 20.4 percent premium to the stock's Friday closing price. The deal is the latest in a string of multibillion-dollar acquisitions in the U.S. healthcare sector.

The S&P 500 closed its sixth week of gains on Friday, closing in on four-year highs, as investors wait for the European Central Bank to take steps to control the euro crisis in September. Last week the index broke away from the 1,400 level where it had stalled for much of August.

"You can basically see the light at the end of the tunnel," said Jack de Gan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory Corp in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. "We have room ... for the market to trade to 1,500 by the end of the year on the S&P."

The latest edition of Der Spiegel said the ECB is discussing interest rate thresholds for individual euro zone countries with a view to intervening if the premium over German bonds is exceeded. In its latest comments the ECB stopped short of ruling out the report outright.

"There is a better feeling out there that there is a sense of more unity growing within the EU, and it is being backed by the ECB," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York. "Over the next week or so we are looking at 1,435 to 1,450 on the S&P."

CME Group Inc, the biggest U.S. futures exchange operator, said on Monday it was applying to the British Financial Services Authority for approval to open in the middle of next year a London-based market trading currency futures.

Lowe's Cos Inc reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results and cut its profit outlook for the fiscal year as the world's second-largest home improvement chain lost market share to larger rival Home Depot Inc.

Struggling retailer Best Buy Co Inc said its founder, Richard Schulze, has turned down an offer from the board to conduct due diligence in connection with his proposal to take the company private at a valuation of more than $8 billion.

The global economic outlook is more uncertain now than at the start of the financial crisis in late 2008, Doug Oberhelman, chief executive of Caterpillar , the world's largest maker of construction equipment, said on Monday.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Discussing how to trade during periods of low market volume, with Tom Essaye, Kinsale Trading president.

Source: http://marketday.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/20/13375631-stocks-close-flat-after-six-week-advance?lite

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'Dog' Chapman denied UK visa because of conviction

HONOLULU (AP) ? Duane "Dog" Chapman has his bags packed for London, but a murder conviction from the late 1970s is keeping him out of the United Kingdom.

The reality television star from the show "Dog the Bounty Hunter" was to appear on another reality show, "Celebrity Big Brother," but he has been denied a visa.

"It's something that follows you the rest of your life, no matter who you become or who you are," Chapman, 59, said Monday from Honolulu, where he lives. "I'm not proud of it."

He was 23 in Pampa, Texas, in 1976 when he was in a car outside a house where a friend had gone inside to buy marijuana, he explained. The friend got into an argument with the dealer and shot him.

"In Texas in the '70s, if you were present, you were just as guilty," Chapman said. He and the others in the group were all found guilty of murder. Chapman was sentenced to five years in prison and was paroled after 18 months.

"I shouldn't have went and I shouldn't have been the person I was back then," he said. But he's frustrated that it's keeping him from visiting his fans in the UK. "It feels terrible. I'm dumbfounded. I can't believe it, after all these years, especially when we've been on television for the past nine years."

While he's been denied a visa to visit the UK in the past, his temporary worker visa application notes he has traveled outside the United States, including to Mexico, where he went to capture serial rapist and fugitive Andrew Luster in 2003.

Former Pampa Police Department Officer Charles Love, who was the responding officer in 1976, submitted a declaration saying that "Chapman's role in the crime was minor," and that he was a model inmate until he was granted early release.

Regardless of whether it will sway the UK government, Chapman said he has waited three decades for that statement, which he sees as vindication. "I'm so grateful for it," he said, getting emotional. "I have been telling the truth."

Britain's Home Office said in a statement Tuesday it doesn't comment on individual cases: "All visa applicants are required to declare any criminal convictions when applying to come to the UK. The UK Border Agency subjects all applications for visas to the same rigorous checks."

According to the UK Border Agency's refusal notice provided by the Chapmans, the visa was denied because of the conviction and because his application didn't include enough information about his visit.

Production company Endemol UK Limited submitted a letter saying it is sponsoring Chapman's trip and that he was selected for the show "due to his public interest in his lifestyle and celebrity personality."

Chapman is appealing the visa denial and hoping for a last-minute decision, even though the show was to start to this week.

His wife, Beth Chapman, called the denial "insulting" in light of his charity work. "For 30 years he's lived with the X on his back," she said. "Society just doesn't let it go."

A&E decided not to renew Chapman's series after eight seasons. He said that while he works to get the show back on the air, he was relying on the UK show and the other gigs he lined up in London.

"I've got to make a living. It's really stunned us financially."

___

AP correspondent Raphael Satter contributed to this report from London.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dog-chapman-denied-uk-visa-because-conviction-175722191.html

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Military payday loans- Perfect financial solution to face bad financial ...

Finance | Loans | * Written by Jon Kohli | Thursday, 09 August 2012 17:57 | Word Count: 383

Military payday loans are short term loans taken only for only 2 to 4 weeks. As the name connotes, these loans are very helpful for military personnel who wish to acquire instant money before they got their monthly salary. Moreover, these loans can be taken without using lengthy formalities or paperwork etc.

Usually, these loans are granted to US military personnel who attained above 18 years of age. The borrowers should have permanent service in military force. He or she should have checking account in US. With having these formalities, it is feasible for you to avail such loan without any hassle.

Under military payday loans, you can easily acquire quick sum of money that ranges from $100 to $1500 with easy repayment option of 14-31 days. As it comes under the category of short term fiscal support, you will have to hold high interest rates. Nowadays, these loans are widely offered by online lenders to help many borrowers.

If you are military personal and seeking to avail quick funds then this is the right fiscal support for you! Once you have taken quick sum of money from this cash advance, you can utilize money for many purposes whether it may be for electricity bills, medical bills, home renovation, credit card dues, wedding expenses, telephone bills, tuition fees and lots more.

Even if you are having bad credit issues such as CCJs, IVA, default or arrears, it is feasible for you to avail military payday loans at any time. No matter what your credit ratings may be, it is quite feasible for you to avail such loan without any hassle.

Moreover, military payday loans can be availed without pledging of asset as security against the loan. It is collateral-free fiscal aid which is offering for everyone. In order to get applied for such loan, you must apply through online process. Once you get the approval of loan, you will get instant money within 24 hours. So, never miss out to grab these loans now!

Jon Kohli has been in the regular touch with the financial market. He keeps on advising people who want to have finance through loans. Get more quality information about no fax payday loans , instant payday loans visit http://www.quickpaydayloans.us

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Jon Kohli joined FAFY - Free Article For You on Wednesday, 04 January 2012.

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China may let listed firms pay staff partly with stocks

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's stock regulator is considering a scheme under which listed companies can buy back shares and use them pay up to 30 percent of wages and bonuses for staff, its latest move to help boost the country's sagging stock market.

In draft rules published over the weekend, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said the shares issued to staff would have to be bought on the secondary market, which would support stock prices, and staff must hold the shares for at least 36 months.

Shares held by staff members must not exceed 10 percent of a listed company's outstanding shares in total, and a single employee could hold no more than 1 percent, according to draft rules published on the regulator's website, www.csrc.gov.cn.

The regulator is seeking public comment on the proposed changes by August 17. Draft rules are typically brought into effect with only minor changes two weeks to a month after the deadline for comment.

The CSRC has recently taken a slew of steps to boost China's stock market, including cuts to transaction fees and encouraging China's 2,000-plus listed companies to buy back their own stock.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index <.ssec> hit a 3-1/2 year low last week amid worries over a slowdown in the pace of growth in the world's second-largest economy and a stuttering recovery elsewhere.

(Reporting by Lu Jianxin and Pete Sweeney; Editing by Richard Pullin)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-may-let-listed-firms-pay-staff-partly-011126973--finance.html

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Campbell Soup Company Partners With Food Bank Of South Jersey ...

By Hadas Kuznits

CAMDEN, Nj. (CBS) ? The Campbell Soup Company is turning New Jersey?s leftover peaches into revenue for the state?s Food Bank.

Campbell?s is partnering with the Food Bank of South Jersey to salvage peaches that New Jersey farmers find unusable.

?About 800,000 pounds of peaches, just in New Jersey, get thrown back in the landfill,? says Dave Stangis with the Campbell Soup Company. ?The farmers have to pay about $85,000 a year just to throw away that good fruit.?

Stangis says his organization is turning the peaches into salsa.

?They?ve been trying to give that away as fresh food,? he says. ?But you can only give away so much fresh food. So this was an idea that we really thought about, alright, is there a way we can extend the life of these peaches??

The Food Bank will sell ?Just Peachy? salsa online and in some local stores. They hope to raise about $100,000 for Food Bank programs.

?We?re giving them back to the Food Bank,? says Stangis. ?We?re donating things like labels, manufacturing, all the intellectual capability. ?We had two chefs that came up with the recipes.?

Source: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/08/01/campbells-teams-with-food-bank-to-salvage-unused-peaches/

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