FCC eyes lifting ban on cell calls on planes

The Federal Communications Commission is reviewing its 22-year ban against in-flight cellphone calls, igniting concerns among frequent fliers about plane cabins becoming much noisier.

At its meeting Dec. 12, the FCC will consider changing its rules to allow passengers access to mobile wireless services. The 1991 ban began because of concerns about jamming ground stations.

"Modern technologies can deliver mobile services in the air safely and reliably, and the time is right to review our outdated and restrictive rules," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said. "I look forward to working closely with my colleagues, the FAA and the airline industry on this review of new mobile opportunities for consumers."

The FCC will collect public comment if the proposal moves forward, but opposition erupted immediately.

"My answer is quite simple: Absolutely no way. Never," said Diane Johnson of Fort Worth, a publications executive. "With all the stress of travel, silence on a plane is like music to my ears."

The FCC proposal would give airlines the option to allow voice calls, according to two FCC sources who were not authorized to speak publicly.

Phones are used widely on airlines in other countries, for calls and data, by linking essentially to a communication tower aboard the plane. This would satisfy FCC concerns about interference with ground stations, according to the two agency sources.

"On the technical side of things, there have been changes that do allow wireless services on planes that prevent interference with ground service," one source said. "We think there is some benefit to giving airlines the choice of improving consumer choice and access, and let them to decide whether or not they're going to allow voice."

A spokeswoman for the airline industry said it hasn't seen the proposal and declined comment. "We will want to analyze any proposal to understand the impact," said Victoria Day of the group Airlines for America.

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA ! strongly opposed the move. The group warned that calls would be disruptive, loud and divisive and possibly go beyond a mere nuisance to hurt safety by drowning out announcements.

The FCC considered relaxing its ban in 2004 but decided against a change after a flood of opposition and because of lingering technical questions.

"Passengers overwhelmingly reject cellphone use in the aircraft cabin," the attendants union said. "The FCC should not proceed with this proposal."

Capt. Patrick Smith, a 20-year pilot who writes the blog askthepilot.com, said cell calls wouldn't be allowed if safety issues remained, so it's just a social question.

"Just imagine 250 passengers all making calls at once," Smith said. "I shudder to imagine how awful that would be."

Passengers, including frequent business travelers, have long opposed allowing calls because of the noise from other calls.

"I am very much opposed to allowing voice calls aboard flights," said Bill Clegg, a hotel executive in Huntersville, N.C. "The cacophony of babies crying, children screaming and adults carrying on conversations does not need the addition of business travelers closing deals or leisure travelers yakking about travel plans, romances or what they had for dinner last night."

Some travelers shrugged off the problem.

Kim Hunter of Los Angeles, head of a marketing company who travels more than 150,000 miles per year, said calls are fine so long as "there is no disruption on both the flight deck and the cabin."

If that's the case, "I support allowing voice calls aboard all flights, both domestic and international," Hunter said.

James Morrow, an information technology consultant from Overland Park, Kan., said opponents may be overreacting because he thinks the airlines will charge dearly for the calls.

"While it might be annoying to be sitting next to someone who is on the phone, I think people are overestimating how frequently this will actually be used," Morrow said. "The airline! s will ch! arge dearly for the privilege, and sound quality of the call will almost certainly suffer if only due to the background noise of an airplane."

The reconsideration of voice calls followed the Federal Aviation Administration recent move to allow passengers to use their gadgets such as games and e-readers while taking off and landing. The FAA has prohibited the use of electronics when the plane was less than 10,000 feet in the air.

The Telecommunications Industry Association, which represents manufacturers and suppliers of communication equipment, praised the FCC for considering the change.

"TIA supports initiatives to make mobile broadband services, including Internet access, available to passengers and flight crews aboard commercial airliners and private aircraft," TIA President Grant Seiffert said. "We look forward to examining the specific proposals of the commission in this matter."

Australian stocks hit fresh five-year high

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Australian stocks rallied in early Monday trade, with the S&P/ASX 200 (AU:XJO) adding 0.9% to 5,433.50 to hit another five-year high after Wall Street booked gains Friday. Miners were a strong spot, with Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (AU:FMG) (FSUMF) up 2.3%, BHP Billiton Ltd. (AU:BHP) (BHP) gaining 0.9%, Evolution Mining Ltd. (AU:EVN) (CAHPF) ahead by 2.6%, and Rio Tinto Ltd. (AU:RIO) (RIO) rising 1.1% after selling its interest in eastern Australia's Clermont coal mine for about $1 billion. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (AU:ANZ) (ANEWF) improved by 1.4%, the best performer among the major banks, after an Australian Financial Review reported David Gonski, executive chairman of the Australian government's Future Fund, was being sought to run the lender.

Top 5 Penny Stocks For 2015

Read the full story:
Asia stocks higher after recent declines

Fi360 Acquires Flagship Fiduciary Tool IPSAdvisorPro

Fiduciary die-hards will tell you that at the heart of the financial planning process—which has many steps—is the critical step and client deliverable of the investment policy statement.

The IPS, as it’s referred to by advisors, records how client monies will be managed, along with guidelines and constraints affecting investment decisions and responsibilities.

CFPs Norman Boone and Linda Lubitz literally wrote the book (“Creating an Investment Policy Statement,” FPA Press 2004) on the topic, and their IPSAdvisorPro has been the flagship software product in the financial planning field.

Now, that product may soon reach a much larger array of financial advisors with its acquisition by fi360, a leading fiduciary tools and training organization, which certifies fiduciary advisors through its AIF and AIFA designations.

Fi360 announced its purchase of IPSAdvisorPro on Thursday, without disclosing terms of the sale, and ThinkAdvisor reached out to Norm Boone to find out what the sale of his flagship product and life’s work means for the industry.

“We’ve been thinking and writing about this this for a long time,” says Boone, head of San Francisco-based Mosaic Financial Partners — "we" being him and his wife and business partner, Linda Lubitz Boone, head of Miami-based Lubitz Financial Group.

Boone wrote an article on the topic for the Journal of Financial Planning in 1992 and developed a product for Ibbotson in 1996 — “It was on an 8¼-inch floppy disk,” he says — before he and Lubitz published their 2004 book and then launched IPSAdvisorPro in 2006.

“I’ve been doing this for 26 years, and Linda for a little over 20,” Boone says. “And in our work with our clients, transparency became an increasingly important issue for us.

“We really believe that having a document that reports all of the agreements that we’ve made with the client about how we’ll invest the money helps their level of trust with us and eliminates the possibility of unhappy clients because they’ll get exactly what was expected.”

Those benefits of the IPS clearly resonated with fiduciary advisors. Today, IPSAdvisorPro has some 700 to 800 users — investment advisory firms whose advisor head count totals close to 2,000 or 3000, Boone says. He adds that the number of individual or institutional clients using the IPS through the software is now close to 50,000.

But there is plenty of room for expansion, Boone says.

“Our greatest competition is 1) people not writing investment policy statements and 2) advisors using basically a word document, creating a template and filling in the blanks later on.”

Boone says that latter approach has lots of drawbacks, including the likelihood of office mates (there are 19 staffers at his firm) not updating or messing up the template and the huge time and trouble it takes to input broad policy changes across all investment policy statements within the firm.

“If you buy new portfolio rebalancing [software] and you’ve got 150 clients, you need to go into each account and change each one of them,” he says.

Apart from the time savings, consistency and efficiency, the IPSAdvisorPro keeps advisors’ compliance officers happy.

“It relieves them of concern that [advisors] are making unwanted changes to the document.”

Boone says compliance officers will have even more reason to be happy with fi360’s acquisition, since the fiduciary firm has its own IPS tool, and Boone and Lubitz, who will serve fi360 as consultants, intend to combine the best features of both products.

“They have testing back end that allows the compliance officer to say, “You said you’d do X, now how has your performance been?’”

But perhaps the biggest benefit of the merger is fi360’s prominent position in the fiduciary marketplace.

“They have a greater presence than Linda and I had,” he says. Besides the untapped U.S. advisor marketplace, Boone says there is demand from the fiduciary communities in Canada, Australia, Japan, the U.K. and New Zealand, which fi360 is better positioned to meet.

The fiduciary training firm has been on an acquisitions roll, having acquired Ann Schleck & Co. and Financial Services Standards earlier this year.

“Most advisors haven’t known what should go into an IPS. [IPSAdvisorPro] has given them a starting point,” Boone says, adding that he is excited about where fi360 will now take it.

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Check out Dalbar: Advisors Should Sell Goals, Not Funds on ThinkAdvisor.

Schorsch isn't done after Investors Capital

Fresh off Wednesday morning’s announcement of one broker-dealer acquisition, Nicholas Schorsch said that he will continue to pursue potential deals to expand and diversify his group of business.

RCS Capital Corp., one of Mr. Schorsch’s companies, agreed to acquire Investors Capital Holdings Ltd., which controls an independent broker-dealer with 550 reps and advisers. The deal marks the second independent-broker-dealer acquisition of the year for Mr. Schorsch, who is executive chairman of the board of RCS Capital.

Although he would not name specific targets, Mr. Schorsch said RCS Capital remains in the hunt for deals.

“I can’t tell you we’re done,” Mr. Schorsch said in an interview. “We’d love to look at insurance and other platform sponsors that are producing product.”

As with other recent acquisitions, Mr. Schorsch is keeping the management team of Investors Capital in place. He said that Tim Murphy will remain as chief executive.

RCS Capital is paying a significant premium for Investors Capital. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, RCS Capital said it expects to acquire the publicly traded Investors Capital Holdings for about $52.2 million, or $7.35 per share. Many holders of Investor Capital stock bought shares from its founder, Ted Charles, in 2011 for $4.25, when he retired and sold his stake. The expected offering price by RCS Capital represents a 73% premium over that price.

Mr. Schorsch noted that the sale of Mr. Charles’ shares represented less than half the company and that RCS Capital is buying the entire company.

“We paid what the company is worth in today’s market,” he said. Investors Capital “has grown its earnings and assets under management. The company has changed dramatically in the last three years.”

One immediate benefit to RCS Capital, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RCAP, will be savings from Investors Capital when it no longer has the expense of meeting regulatory guidelines as a public company, Mr. Schorsch said.

Speculation regarding the sale of Investors Capital, which sports 550 affiliated registered representatives and advisers, has been building for the past month. Early in September, Investors Capital Holdings, the holding company for the broker-dealer, saw a sizable spike in trading and in one day saw trading volume top 430,000 shares. The microcap stock typically trades closer to 13,000 shares per day.

Wednesday morning, trading in Investors Capital shares was heavy, with more than 100,000 shares changing hands before noon. The share price ! ranged between $5.60 and $6.80, still below Mr. Schorsch's expected acquisition price.

Mr. Schorsch, already a dynamo in the nontraded-REIT business, on an acquisition tear.

On Tuesday, he announced his first foray into mutual funds, which will gain him the potential to widen the distribution of his array of investment products. Hatteras Funds, a boutique alternative investments mutual fund firm with $2 billion in assets and six funds will be acquired by a subsidiary of RCS Capital.

Mr. Schorsch is CEO of American Realty Capital, which currently sponsors close to 12 illiquid nontraded-investment programs. Those are predominantly nontraded real estate investment trusts.

Among other deals, RCAP Holdings LLC, which is controlled by Mr. Schorsch, in June announced that it would acquire First Allied Holdings Inc., which included First Allied Securities Inc. and The Legend Group.

Combined, First Allied and Investors Capital have more than 2,000 affiliated financial advisers and registered reps. That makes Realty Capital one of the largest networks of such reps and advisers in the financial advice industry.

The Deal: Rules and Derivatives Moves Helped Do In Summers

NEW YORK (The Deal) -- Critics of Lawrence Summers raised lots of issues with his candidacy to lead the Federal Reserve.

However, noise from the liberal wing of the Democratic Party about his role in a series of deregulatory efforts during the Clinton Administration's waning days were a key factor in pushing the former Treasury secretary to pull his name from consideration to run the central bank Sunday. Republican reservations didn't help Summers' cause either.

Summers appeared to be President Barack Obama's main choice for the job. However, repeated criticism of his actions in the late 1990s, first as deputy Treasury secretary and then later as Treasury secretary, all contributed to the end of his candidacy.

"The enemy of Larry Summers was Larry Summers," said Cornelius Hurley, professor at Boston University's School of Law. "While he had the progressive passionately against him over deregulation during the Clinton administration, he didn't have a lot of fans on the right either." Opponents on the left repeatedly pointed with disdain to his support for a statute approved in 1999 that eliminated the 1933 Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, which for more than 60 years kept commercial banks out of the investment banking business. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., an opponent of Summers on the key Senate Banking Committee, is pushing bipartisan legislation she introduced recently to reinstate the measure, which would force some big banks, such as Citigroup (C) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) to break in two. The bill is unlikely to be approved anytime soon, barring another major bank meltdown. Her public support for Glass-Steagall in conferences and on Capitol Hill, however, helped fuel resistance to Summers. Critics on the left also point to concerns over Summers' role in squashing an effort by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the late 1990s to regulate derivatives. The CFTC eventually lost that battle and instead Congress and the Clinton administration approved the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which was later criticized for contributing to the 2008 financial crisis. "If you believe that repeal of Glass-Steagall was a great idea, and if you believe the Commodity Futures Modernization Act was a great idea ... then Larry Summers is your guy," former Democratic Delaware Sen. Ted Kaufman said at a conference last week at George Washington University Law School that was co-hosted by left-leaning advocacy group Better Markets. The conference featured a keynote address by Warren and a few high-profile Summers opponents. "The fact that there aren't riots in the streets over the idea of Larry Summers being head of the Fed is an indication of how deep our problem is," Kaufman added.

More recently, opponents on the left have raised concern with Summers' role as director of the Obama administration's National Economic Council in the period immediately after the height of the financial crisis. Donald Lamson, partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP in Washington, said Summers' "perceived friendliness" to banks during the crisis contributed to criticism about him.

As the prospect of the Obama administration nominating Summers increased in recent weeks, opposition on Capitol Hill surged as well. At least four Democrats on the all-important Senate Banking Committee indicated they would oppose him. Summers would have had to survive a contentious nomination hearing and vote of the Senate Banking Committee. Had he survived that, the next step would have been to obtain the filibuster-proof 60 votes needed to be approved by the full Senate, a prospect that also required some Republican support, especially with a handful of Democrats in opposition.

Sen. Jon Tester, a moderate Democrat on the banking panel, indicated that he was opposed late last week, adding his name to three other more left-leaning Democratic opponents. The opposition by Tester may have been a tipping point, Boston University's Hurley noted. "That had to hurt," he added.

Another key factor in Summers unraveling was the backing by a number of Democratic lawmakers of Janet Yellen, the Fed's current vice chairman, for the top Fed job. A group of senators, including Sen. Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and a member of banking panel, recently signed a letter pushing for Yellen to take the job, according to a person familiar with the letter. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether Obama will ultimately pick Yellen. Many believe that she will likely be nominated. Brian Gardner, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., notes that many of the activist groups that opposed Summers support Yellen, indicating to him that she "is the likely nominee." However, some observers contend that Obama may not want to appear as if he has caved in to congressional Democrats and therefore he will try to find someone else. Other possible candidates include former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; Donald Kohn, who was the central bank's vice chairman until 2010; and Roger Ferguson, also a former Fed vice chairman and now chief executive of the public pension fund TIAA-Cref. Other names bandied about include former White House adviser Christina Romer and Stanley Fischer, who previously was chief of the Bank of Israel. Current Fed chairman Ben Bernanke could also stay on for another term. -- Written by Ronald D. Orol in Washington

Investors brace for more pain after ugly week

The idea of a full-blown stock market correction is looking less far-fetched, as fears about a slowdown in China are sending investors scurrying.

Sitting on big stock gains, investors were on the lookout for any signs of a correction and took the opportunity to sell. The Dow Jones industrial average Friday fell 318.24 points, or 2.0%, to 15,879. Added to Thursday's 217-point loss in the Dow, the much-watched measure of the stock market is now down 4% from its recent high notched at the end of last year.

Stocks suffered their worst two-day sell-off since June 20, 2013. Measured by the broad Wilshire 5000, stocks fell 3.2% during the week, their biggest weekly percentage loss since June 1, 2012.

MORE: Dow plunges 318 points; drops 3.5% for the week

Investors are now wondering if this is just the start of what could turn into a full-blown correction, unofficially defined as a fall of 10% or more. Given the suddenness of the move and the fact stocks soared so much last year, Hugh Johnson of Hugh Johnson Advisors says there's more pain to come. "Do we have further to go down? Yes," he says.

Investors are getting increasingly concerned about the stock market's action because of the:

• Bad history of Asian contagion. Investors' concern of a slowdown of the economy in China is a primary millstone for the market. Investors have some bad memories of how problems in Asia can spread, says Robert Maltbie of Millennium Asset Management. The so-called Asian Contagion of 1997 started in Thailand, but quickly rippled beyond. "Can these little countries tip the world into oblivion? No," says Maltbie. "But, they can cause volatility."

• Negative and sudden downward trajectory. Investors have swiftly shifted from being over-excited about stocks to starting to have major reservations. One measure of investors' nervousness, the Chicago Board Options Exchange's Market Volatility index, soared 30% Friday as investors hunkered down. It's very possible for the market to test its aver! age level over the past 200 days, which for the Standard & Poor's 500, would be another 5.6% decline, says Ken Winans of Winans Investments.

• Importance of Januaries. Traders like to look at January as an early-warning system for how the year for stocks will do. So far, the S&P 500 is down 3.1%, hardly a rip-roaring start. When stocks fell in January, since 1936 on average, stocks have fallen as much as 18% during the year, Winans says. "We should be taking this seriously," he says.

Top 5 Oil Stocks For 2015

• Disappointing earnings. According to S&P Capital IQ, 100 companies have provided earnings guidance for the fourth quarter of 2013. Of those, 80 are negative, 10 positive and 10 in line for a higher negative-to-positive ratio than the 15-year average.

Despite all the fear and concerns stocks could fall more, investors should stand ready to jump on buying opportunities, says Doug Sandler of RiverFront Investment Group. Much of the selling is simply a normal correction some forgot is a normal part of investing, he says. The fundamentals of the economy, including loan growth and corporate earnings remain sound, he says. "We knew a pullback was coming, we got ahead of ourselves," he says. "The bones of the market are in pretty good shape."

Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Friday at 15,879.11

This week: down 579.45 points or 3.52% and 318.24 points, 1.96%, for the day

Largest one-week point decline since the week ending Sept. 23, 2011. Largest one-week percentage decline since the week ending Nov. 25, 2011. Down three of the past four weeks

--Largest one-day point and percentage decline since June 20, 2013
--Down four consecutive trading days.
--Down 579.45 points or 3.52% over the last four trading days
--Largest four-day points and percentage decline since June 24, 2013.
--Longest losing streak since Jan. 13. 2014 — when the market fell four ! consecuti! ve trading days.
--Three of the 30 component stocks rose, 27 fell.
--Dow is off 4.21% from its record high of 16,576.66 on Dec. 31, 2013
--Up 142.54% from its "bear market" low of 6547.05 on March 9, 2009.
--Lowest closing value since Dec. 17, 2013.

Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices

Are These Small Cap Natural Products Stocks Natural Winners for Investors? CDXC & XXII

Small cap stocks Chromadex Corp (OTCMKTS: CDXC) and 22nd Century Group Inc (OTCBB: XXII) are, one way or the other, focused on natural products and have been getting some extra attention lately. Moreover, one of these stocks have been the subject of a disclosed investor awareness campaign. Keeping that in mind, are these two small cap stocks natural winners for investors? Here is a quick look:

Chromadex Corp (OTCMKTS: CDXC) Goes On an Investor Relations Offense

Small cap Chromadex Corp is an innovative natural products company that discovers, acquires, develops and commercializes proprietary-based ingredient technologies through its unique business model that utilizes its wholly owned synergistic business units, including ingredient technologies, natural product fine chemicals (known as "phytochemicals"), chemistry and analytical testing services, and product regulatory and safety consulting (as Spherix Consulting). On Friday, Chromadex Corp rose 3.41% to $1.82 for a market cap of $190.83 million plus CDXC is up 180% over the past year and up 51.7% over the past five years according to Google Finance.

What's the Catch With Chromadex Corp? According to various disclosures, Chromadex Corp has agreed to pay on promoter a monthly cash fee and 100,000 shares of common stock under Rule 144 for twelve (12) months of RedChip investor awareness services. Last Friday, Chromadex Corp announced that its CEO, Frank Jaksch, will present at "TEN," Noble Financial Capital Markets' Tenth Annual Equity Conference at Club Med in Sandpiper Bay, Florida in Room 2 on Wednesday, January 22, 2014 at 8:30 am EST while a week earlier, he was interviewed by Michal Yorba on Clear Channel Business Talk Radio's "The Traders Network." Otherwise, the most important news dates from early January when Chromadex Corp announced it had entered into a four year ingredient supply and brand licensing agreement valued at approximately $62 million, with 5LINX, one of the largest and fastest-growing direct marketing companies in the world. Under the terms of the agreement, 5LINX must purchase $2.1 million worth of NIAGEN™ in 2014 plus an aggregate of $46 million of NIAGEN™ from 2015 through 2017. A quick look at Chromadex Corp's financials reveals revenues of $2,718k (most recent reported quarter), $2,707k, $2,335k and $3,523k for the past four reported quarters along with net losses of $1,250k (most recent reported quarter), $1,021k, $1,424k and $1,699k. At the end of September, Chromadex Corp had $1,087k in cash and $1,026k in receivables to cover $3,281k in payables, $4,111k in current liabilities and $4,510k in total liabilities. This means the deal with 5LINX could be a game changer to at least help out the top line and close the gap with the bottom line.

22nd Century Group Inc (OTCBB: XXII) Recently Cleaned Up Its Balance Sheet

Small cap 22nd Century Group is a plant biotechnology company whose proprietary technology allows for the levels of nicotine and other nicotinic alkaloids (e.g., nornicotine, anatabine and anabasine) in the tobacco plant to be decreased or increased through genetic engineering and plant breeding. 22nd Century owns or is the exclusive licensee of 114 issued patents in 78 countries plus an additional 36 pending patent applications. On Friday, 22nd Century Group fell 3.48% to $2.22 for a market cap of $110.38 million plus XXII is up 122% over the past year and up 70.8% over the past five years according to Google Finance.

What's the Catch With 22nd Century Group? According to various disclosures, no transactions have occurred to mention 22nd Century Group in various investment newsletters. 22nd Century Group has been quiet since December 16th when they issued a press release to announce that the company's recently concluded warrant exchange was a "huge success greatly exceeding management's expectations." The warrant exchange reduced 22nd Century Group's "derivative warrant liability" by 93% and generated gross proceeds of approximately $3.6 million. The press release stated that as of December 13, 2013, 22nd Century Group had total assets of approximately $12 million, including around $6.2 million in cash and only $700 thousand in current liabilities while the only long-term liability (the "derivative warrant liability") was reduced from $18.6 million to approximately $1.2 million. Otherwise and in early December, 22nd Century Group announced that it had purchased all of the equipment at a cigarette manufacturing facility in Mocksville, North Carolina as up until then, subsidiary Goodrich Tobacco Company had produced all of its products through contract manufacturers. A quick look at 22nd Century Group's income statement reveals revenues of $53k (most recent reported quarter ending Sept 30, 2013), zero, zero and $3k for the past four reported quarters along with net losses of $15,373k (most recent reported quarter), $446k, $2,513k and $4,305k (most recent reported quarter ending Sept 30, 2013). So while 22nd Century Group has taken important steps to clean up its balance sheet, the income statement is still a mess.

Nu Skin: Time to Throw in the Towel?

Shares of Nu Skin (NUS) continue to plunge after the Wall Street Journal reported that China would investigate allegations that the multi-level marketer is a pyramid scheme.

Reuters

Yesterday, the People’s Daily ran a story accusing the company of using sales techniques that bordered on brainwashing. While the story can be easily dismissed–and was–the fact that China is investigating cannot.

So says Canaccord Genuity’s Scott Van Winkle and Mark Sigal, who downgraded Nu Skin to Hold from Buy today. They write:

While we found yesterday's article to be the type of complaint multi-level marketers often face, we believe that any government investigation in China opens questions that we can't forecast. Even with laws to provide a path, we don't believe that anyone can predict the Chinese government in this instance.

Lowering rating to HOLD from Buy to reflect a new level of risk in China, which at roughly one-third of our 2013 revenue forecast is a large enough market to significantly impact not only the financial results but also the valuation.

Nu Skin has plunged 20% to $92.52 today at 10:51 a.m., and has dragged down other multi-level marketers with it. Herbalife (HLF) has dropped 5.9% to $74.74, while Usana Health Sciences (USNA) has fallen 9.1% to $59.77.

Maybe it’s because China is a heck of a lot bigger than Belgium? Remember, back in December, a Beligian court ruled that Herbalife was not a pyramid scheme, which had some bulls acting as if the debate was decided. China, however, is a much bigger beast, and if it come to the conclusion that Nu Skin is indeed a pyramid scheme, it’s not impossible that the issue will become front and center for other multi-level markers again.

I’ll leave you with a piece of a Citron Research report on Nu Skin from Oct 2013, that reminded investors that China’s newspapers were already looking into the case of Nu Skin even as the company was in the midst of a 275% rally. It warned:

…the government is aware of the Nu Skin issue and more importantly aware that it is a problem in Chinese society that will eventually be addressed. In the case of Nu Skin, this could easily be sooner rather than later, as it is a foreign company corrupting its citizens while its U.S. management has no direct accountability to the Chinese Government.

UPDATE: The day isn’t getting any better for Nu Skin. Shares have now dropped 28% to $82.61 at 2:41 p.m. and been halted numerous times. MarketWatch has the details:

Shares of Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. NUS -28.36% were halted four times Thursday after the anti-aging product company responded to pyramid-scheme allegations in China. Nu Skin shares were down 33% to $77.61 after the fourth halt was lifted…In a statement, Nu Skin said it will communicate and cooperate with Chinese regulators and conduct its own business review in China.

5 Best Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014

U.S. stock futures rose Thursday morning.

Dow Jones industrial average index futures and the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures were up 0.3% and Nasdaq index futures advanced 0.2%.

A survey Wednesday that showed U.S. employment increased in December prompted concern the Federal Reserve might accelerate the process of winding down bond buying that has supported stock prices. The Fed has been buying $85 billion of bonds a month in a strategy dubbed quantitative easing, or QE, but said in December it will trim that by $10 billion to $75 billion beginning this month.

"The bet is on QE wind-down sooner rather than later," said Mizuho Bank in a report.

MARKETS: Wall Street takes taper talk in stride

Benchmark crude for February delivery was up 30 cents to $92.63 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract plunged $1.34 to close at $92.33 on Wednesday after government data showed U.S. demand for gasoline last week fell to its lowest level in a year.

5 Best Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014: Signature Bank (SBNY)

Signature Bank (the Bank) is a full-service commercial bank with 25 private client offices located in the New York metropolitan area serving the needs of privately owned business clients and their owners and senior managers. The Bank offers a variety of business and personal banking products and services through the Bank, as well as investment, brokerage, asset management and insurance products and services through its wholly owned subsidiary, Signature Securities Group Corporation (Signature Securities), a licensed broker-dealer and investment adviser. Through Signature Securities, it also purchases, securitizes and sells the guaranteed portions of the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) loans. The Bank offers a variety of deposit, escrow deposit, credit, cash management, investment and insurance products and services to its clients. As of December 31, 2011, the Bank maintained approximately 78,000 deposit accounts, 6,900 investment accounts, 8,600 loan accounts and 14,300 client relationships. In April 2012, it formed a new subsidiary, Signature Financial, LLC.

The Bank offers a range of products and services oriented to the needs of its business clients, including deposit products, such as non-interest-bearing checking accounts, money market accounts and time deposits; escrow deposit services; cash management services; commercial loans and lines of credit for working capital and to finance internal growth, acquisitions and leveraged buyouts; permanent real estate loans; letters of credit; investment products to help better manage idle cash balances, including money market mutual funds and short-term money market instruments; business retirement accounts, such as 401(k) plans, and business insurance products, including group health and group life products. It offers a range of products and services oriented to the needs of its high net worth personal clients, including interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing checking accounts, with optional features, such as debit/ autom! ated teller machine (ATM) cards and overdraft protection and, for its clients, rebates of certain charges, including ATM fees; money market accounts and money market mutual funds; time deposits; personal loans, both secured and unsecured; mortgages, home equity loans and credit card accounts; investment and asset management services, and personal insurance products, including health, life and disability.

Lending Activities

The Bank�� commercial and industrial (C&I) loan portfolio is consisted of lines of credit for working capital and term loans to finance equipment, company owned real estate and other business assets, along with commercial overdrafts. Its lines of credit for working capital are generally renewed on an annual basis and its term loans generally have terms of 2 to 5 years. The Bank�� lines of credit and term loans typically have floating interest rates, and as of December 31, 2011, approximately 61% of its outstanding C&I loans were variable rate loans. As of December 31, 2011, funded C&I loans totaled approximately 15% of its total funded loans. The Bank�� real estate loan portfolio includes loans secured by commercial and residential properties. It also provides temporary financing for commercial and residential property. As of December 31, 2011, funded real estate loans totaled approximately $5.74 billion, representing approximately 80% of its total funded loans. It issues standby or performance letters of credit, and can service the international needs of its clients through correspondent banks. As of December 31, 2011, its commitments under letters of credit totaled approximately $235.7 million. Its personal loan portfolio consists of personal lines of credit and loans to acquire personal assets. As of December 31, 2011, its consumer loans totaled $11.8 million, representing less than 1% of its total funded loans.

Investment and Asset Management Products and Services

Investment and asset management products and services are ! provided ! through the Bank�� subsidiary, Signature Securities. Signature Securities is a licensed broker-dealer. Signature Securities is an introducing firm and, as such, clears its trades through National Financial Services, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Fidelity Investments. Signature Securities is also registered as an investment adviser in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida. It offers an array of asset management and investment products, including the ability to purchase and sell all types of individual securities, such as equities, options, fixed income securities, mutual funds and annuities. The Bank offers transactional, cash management type brokerage accounts with check writing and daily sweep capabilities. It also offers retirement products, such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and administrative services for retirement vehicles, such as pension, profit sharing, and 401(k) plans to its clients. Signature Securities offers wealth management services to its high net worth personal clients. Together with its client and their other professional advisors, including attorneys and certified public accountants, it develops a financial plan that can include estate planning, business succession planning, asset protection, investment management, family office advisory services, bill payment, art and collectible advisory services and concentrated stock services.

Sources of Funds

The Bank offers a variety of deposit products to its clients. Its business deposit products include commercial checking accounts, money market accounts, escrow deposit accounts, lockbox accounts, cash concentration accounts and other cash management products. Its personal deposit products include checking accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit. The Bank also allows its personal and business deposit clients to access their accounts, transfer funds, pay bills and perform other account functions over the Internet and through ATM machines. As of December 31, 2011, it main! tained ap! proximately 78,000 deposit accounts representing $11.70 billion in client deposits, excluding brokered deposits.

Insurance Services

The Bank offers its business and private clients an array of individual and group insurance products, including health, life, disability and long-term care insurance products through its subsidiary, Signature Securities. The Bank does not underwrite insurance policies. It only acts as an agent in offering insurance products and services underwritten by insurers.

5 Best Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014: National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB.AX)

National Australia Bank Limited provides products, advice and services. In Australia, it operates through National Australia Bank, MLC and UBank. In the United Kingdom, it operates through Clydesdale Bank. In New Zealand, it operates through Bank of New Zealand. In the United States, it operates through Great Western Bank. Segments include Business Banking, Personal Banking, Wholesale Banking, UK Banking and NZ Banking, MLC and NAB and Great Western Ban. As of April 5, 2012, the Company and its associated entities ceased to be a substantial holder in BlueScope Steel Limited. On May 17, 2012, it ceased to be a substantial holder in Spark Infrastructure Group and Sandfire Resources NL. As of August 24, 2012, the Company and its associated entities ceased to be holder in Tabcorp Holdings Limited. In September 2012, the Company and its associated entities have ceased to be a substantial holder in Incitec Pivot Limited, as of August 30, 2012.

Hot Penny Companies To Buy For 2014: EverBank Financial Corp (EVER)

EverBank Financial Corp, incorporated in 2004, is an unitary savings and loan holding company. The Company provides a range of financial products and services directly to customers through multiple business channels. Its operating subsidiary is EverBank. As of December 31, 2011, EverBank had $ 10.3 billion deposits. EverBank offers a range of banking, lending and investing products to consumers and businesses. EverBank provides services to customers through Websites, over the phone, through the mail and at 14 Florida-based Financial Centers. The Company operates in two operating business segments: Banking and Wealth Management, and Mortgage Banking. Its Banking and Wealth Management segment includes earnings generated by and activities related to deposit and investment products and services and portfolio lending and leasing activities. Its Mortgage Banking segment consists of activities related to the origination and servicing of residential mortgage loans. In April 2012, the Company acquired MetLife Bank�� warehouse finance business. In October 2012, it acquired Business Property Lending, Inc.

Asset Origination and Fee Income Businesses

The Company has a range of asset origination and fee income businesses. The Company generates generate fee income from its mortgage banking activities, which consist of originating and servicing one-to-four family residential mortgage loans. It originates prime residential mortgage loans using a centrally controlled underwriting, processing and fulfillment infrastructure through financial intermediaries (including community banks, credit unions, mortgage bankers and brokers), consumer direct channels and financial centers. Its mortgage origination activities include originating, underwriting, closing, warehousing and selling to investors prime conforming and jumbo residential mortgage loans. From its mortgage origination activities, it earns fee-based income on fees charged to borrowers and other noninterest income from gains on sales from ! mortgage loans and servicing rights. During the year ended December 31, 2011, it originated six billion dollars of residential loans. It generates mortgage servicing business through the retention of servicing from its origination activities, acquisition of bulk mortgage servicing rights (MSR) and related servicing activities.

The Company�� mortgage servicing business includes collecting loan payments, remitting principal and interest payments to investors, managing escrow funds for the payment of mortgage-related expenses, such as taxes and insurance, responding to customer inquiries, counseling delinquent mortgagors, supervising foreclosures and liquidations of foreclosure properties and otherwise administering its mortgage loan servicing portfolio. It earns mortgage servicing fees and other ancillary fee-based income in connection with these activities. It services a portfolio by both product and investor, including agency and private pools of mortgages secured by properties throughout the United States. As of December 31, 2011, its mortgage servicing business, which services mortgage loans for itself and others, managed loan servicing administrative functions for loans with unpaid principal balance (UPB) of $54.8 billion.

The Company originates originate equipment leases nationwide through relationships with approximately 280 equipment vendors with networks of creditworthy borrowers and provide asset-backed loan facilities to other leasing companies. Its equipment leases and loans finance essential-use health care, office product, technology and other equipment. Its commercial financings range from approximately $25,000 to $1.0 million per transaction, with typical lease terms ranging from 36 to 60 months. Its commercial finance activities provide it with access to approximately 25,000 small business customers nationwide, which creates opportunities to cross-sell its deposit, lending and wealth management products. It focuses to offer warehouse loans, which are short-ter! m revolvi! ng facilities, primarily securitized by agency and government collateral. It provides financial advisory, planning, brokerage, trust and other wealth management services to its mass-affluent and high-net-worth customers through its registered broker dealer and recently-formed registered investment advisor subsidiaries.

Interest-Earning Asset Portfolio

As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� interest-earning assets were $11.7 billion. As of December 31, 2011, its loan and lease held for investment portfolio was $6.5 billion. As of December 31, 2011, the carrying values of its interest-earning assets are: residential, government-insured (residential), securities, commercial and commercial real estate, Bank of Florida (covered), lease financing receivables, and other.

Residential includes primarily prime loans originated and retained from its mortgage banking activities, acquired from third parties or held for sale to other investors. government-insured (residential) includes Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) pool buyouts with government insurance, sourced from its mortgage banking segment and third-party sources. Securities include non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO) purchased at significant discounts. This portfolio includes protection against credit losses from purchase discounts, subordination in the securities structures and borrower equity. Commercial and commercial real estate includes a range of commercial loans, including owner-occupied commercial real estate, commercial investment property and small business commercial loans. As of December 31, 2011, Bank of Florida (Covered) includes commercial, multi-family and commercial real estate loans with $71.3 million of purchase discounts. Lease financing receivables include covered lease financing receivables. As of December 31, 2011, the lease portfolio had $64.7 million of total discounts. Other includes home equity loans and lines ! of credit! , consumer and credit card loans and other investments.

Deposit Generation

As of December 31, 2011, the Company had approximately $10.3 billion in deposits. Its market-based deposit products, consisting of its WorldCurrency, MarketSafe and EverBank Metals Select products, provide investment capabilities for customers seeking portfolio diversification with respect to foreign currencies, commodities and other indices. Its financial portal includes online bill-pay, account aggregation, direct deposit, single sign-on for all customer accounts and other features. Its Website and mobile device applications provide information on its product offerings, financial tools and calculators, newsletters, financial reporting services and other applications for customers to interact with it and manages all of their EverBank accounts on a single integrated platform. Its new mobile applications allow customers using iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry devices to view account balances, conduct real time balance transfers between EverBank accounts, administer billpay, review account activity detail and remotely deposit checks.

The Company generates deposit customer relationships through its consumer direct, financial center and financial intermediary distribution channels. Its consumer direct channel includes Internet, e-mail, telephone and mobile device access to product and customer support offerings. Its direct distribution with a network of 14 financial centers in Florida metropolitan areas, include Jacksonville, Naples, Ft. Myers, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa Bay and Clearwater. As of December 31, 2011, its financial centers had average deposits of $130.5 million, which is approximately double the industry average. In addition, it generates noninterest-bearing escrow deposits from its mortgage servicing business.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Nicole Seghetti]

  3. Build your savings account
  Take this opportunity to bolster your savings such that you have at least three months' worth of living expenses socked away. Money market or savings accounts will provide you with the best rates. For example, American Express' (NYSE: AXP  ) high-yield savings account pays 0.85%, and Capital One Financial's (NYSE: COF  ) Capital One 360 offers a 0.75% APY. Both accounts boast no minimum balances and no fees. Meanwhile, EverBank Financial (NYSE: EVER  ) pays an attractive 1.01% money market rate but requires a $1,500 minimum opening balance. �

5 Best Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014: Banco Bradesco SA (BBD)

Banco Bradesco S.A. (the Bank), incorporated on November 5, 1943, is commercial bank. The Bank offers a range of banking and financial products and services in Brazil and abroad to individuals, large, midsized and small companies and local and international corporations and institutions. It operates in two segments: the banking, and the insurance, pension and capitalization bonds. Its products and services encompass banking operations, such as loans and advances and deposittaking, credit card issuance, purchasing consortiums, insurance, leasing, payment collection and processing, pension plans, asset management and brokerage services. The main services it offers through Bradesco Expresso are receipt and submission of account applications; receipt and submission of account applications; Social Security National Service (INSS) benefit payments; checking and savings account deposits, and receipt of consumption bills, bank charges and taxes. In May, 2011, the Bank acquired Banco do Estado do Rio de Janeiro S.A. (BERJ).

Banking

The Banking segment includes deposit-taking with clients, including checking accounts, savings accounts and time deposits; loans and advances (individuals and companies, real estate financing, microcredit, onlending BNDES funds, rural credit, leasing, among others); credit cards, debit cards and pre-paid cards; management of receipts and payments; asset management; services related to capital markets and investment banking activities; intermediation and trading services; custody, depositary and controllership services; international banking services, and purchasing consortiums.

The Bank offers a variety of deposit products and services to our customers through its branches, including Non-interest bearing checking accounts, such as Easy Account, Click Account, Academic Account and Cell Phone Bonus Account; traditional savings accounts; time deposits, and deposits from financial institutions. As of December 31, 2011, it had 43.4 million savings a! ccounts. It offers its customers certain additional services, such as identified deposits and real-time banking transfers. Its loans and advances to customers, consumer credit, corporate and agricultural-sector loans, totaled R$263.5 billion as of December 31, 2011.

The Bank�� loan portfolio consists of short-term loans, vehicle financings and overdraft loans on checking accounts. It also provides revolving credit facilities and traditional term loans. As of December 31, 2011, it had outstanding advances, vehicle financings, consumer loans and revolving credit totaling R$58.0 billion, or 22.0% of its portfolio of loans and advances. Banco Bradesco Financiamentos (Bradesco Financiamentos) offers direct-to-consumer credit and leasing for the acquisition of vehicles and payroll-deductible loans to the public and private sectors 'in Brazil. Supported by BF Promotora de Vendas Ltda. (BF Promotora), and using the Bradesco Financiamentos brand, the Bank operates through its network of correspondents in Brazil, consisting of retailers and dealers selling light vehicles, trucks and motorcycles, to offer financing and/or leasing for vehicles. Through Bradesco Promotora brand, it offer payroll-deductible loans to social security retirees and pensioners, public-sector employees, military personnel and private-sector companies sponsoring plans, and other aggregated products (insurance, capitalization bonds, cards, purchasing consortiums, and others).

As of December 31, 2011, the Bank had 63,156 outstanding real estate loans. As of December 31, 2011, the aggregate outstanding amount of its real estate loans amounted to R$15.9 billion, representing 6% of its portfolio of loans and advances. As of December 31, 2011, it had 69,491 microcredit loans outstanding, totaling R$62.8 million. Its BNDES onlending portfolio totaled R$35.4 billion as of December 31, 2011.

The Bank provides traditional loans for the ongoing needs of its corporate customers. It had R$85.8 billion of outstand! ing other! local commercial loans, accounting for 32.5% of its portfolio of loans and advances as of December 31, 2011. It offers a range of loans to its Brazilian corporate customers, including short-term loans of 29 days or less; guaranteed checking accounts and corporate overdraft loans; discounting trade receivables, promissory notes, checks, credit card and supplier receivables, and a number of other receivables; financing for purchase and sale of goods and services; corporate real estate financing, and investment lines for acquisition of assets and machinery. As of December 31, 2011, the Bank had R$11 billion in outstanding rural loans, representing 4.2% of its portfolio of loans and advances. The Bank conducts its leasing operations through its primary leasing subsidiary, Bradesco Leasing and also through Bradesco Financiamentos.

The Bank offers electronic solutions for receipt and payment management solutions, which include collection and payment services and online resource management enabling its customers to pay suppliers, salaries, and taxes and other levies to governmental or public entities. The global cash management concept provides solutions for multinationals in Brazil and/or domestic companies operating abroad. It manages third-party assets through mutual funds; individual and corporate investment portfolios; pension funds, including assets guaranteeing the technical provisions of Bradesco Vida e Previdencia, and insurance companies, including assets guaranteeing the technical provisions of Bradesco Seguros.

The Bank�� subsidiaries Bradesco S.A. CTVM and Agora S.A. CTVM (or Bradesco Corretora and Agora Corretora, respectively) trade stocks, options, stock lending, public offerings and forwards. They also offer a range of products, such as Brazilian government securities (under the Tesouro Direto program), BM&F trading, investor clubs and investment funds.

The Bank offers a range of international services, such as foreign exchange transactions, foreign tr! ade finan! ce, lines of credit and banking. As of December 31, 2011, its international banking services included New York City, a branch and Bradesco Securities Inc., its subsidiary brokerage firm, or Bradesco Securities United States, and its subsidiary Bradesco North America LLC, or Bradesco North America; London, Bradesco Securities U.K., its subsidiary, or Bradesco Securities U.K.; Cayman Islands, two Bradesco branches and its subsidiary, Cidade Capital Markets Ltd., or Cidade Capital Markets; Argentina, Banco Bradesco Argentina S.A., its subsidiary, or Bradesco Argentina; Banco Bradesco Luxemburgo S.A. its subsidiary, or Bradesco Europe; Japan, Bradesco Services Co. Ltd., its subsidiary, or Bradesco Services Japan; in Hong Kong, its subsidiary Bradesco Trade Services Ltd, or Bradesco Trade, and in Mexico, its subsidiary Ibi Services, Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, or Ibi Mexico.

The Bank�� Brazilian foreign-trade related business consists of export and import finance. In addition to import and export finance, its customers have access to a range of services and foreign exchange products, such as purchasing and selling travelers checks and foreign currency paper money; cross border money transfers; advance payment for exports; accounts abroad in foreign currency; cash holding in other countries; collecting import and export receivables; repaid cards with foreign currency (individual), and structured foreign currency transactions through its foreign units.

Insurance, pension plans and capitalization bonds

The Bank offers insurance products through a number of different entities, which it refers to collectively as Grupo Bradesco Seguros. It offers life, personal accident and random events insurance through its subsidiary Bradesco Vida e Previdencia. It offers health insurance policies through Bradesco Saude and its subsidiaries for small, medium or large companies. It provides automobile, property/casualty and liability products through its subsidiary Bradesco Auto! /RE. It a! lso offers certain automobile, health, and property/casualty insurance products directly through its Website.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Charles Sizemore]

  And speaking of top dividend stocks with high capital gains potential, next on the list of are Brazilian banking groups Banco Bradesco (BBD) and Banco Itau (ITUB) — two monthly dividend stocks you must consider.

5 Best Bank Stocks To Watch For 2014: Popular Inc.(BPOP)

Popular, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides a range of retail and commercial banking products and services primarily to corporate clients, small and middle size businesses, and retail clients in Puerto Rico and Mainland United States. It offers deposit products; commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans, as well as lease finance; and finance and advisory services. The company also offers trust and asset management, brokerage and investment banking, and insurance and reinsurance services. As of December 31, 2010, it owned and occupied approximately 94 branch premises and other facilities in Puerto Rico; and 119 offices, including 20 owned and 99 leased in New York, Illinois, New Jersey, California, Florida, and Texas. Popular, Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Among multinationals, Sterne Agee recommends three banks. The first is Puerto Rico�� Popular Inc. (NASDAQ: BPOP). The mid-cap bank�� stock closed at $28.21 on Friday in a 52-week range of $20.31 to $34.34. Based on Sterne Agee�� 2014 price target of $40.00, Popular has an upside potential of nearly 42% and a 2014 EPS estimate of $2.90. The investment firm�� forward multiple is just 9.6, below the Thomson Reuters consensus multiple of 10.3. Popular received TARP funds in 2009 and could repay the loan in the first quarter of next year, which will give the stock a shot in the arm as well.

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Popular (NASDAQ: BPOP) shares tumbled 5.54 percent to $27.48 after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock from Equal-weight to Underweight.

  Pacific Coast Oil Trust (NYSE: ROYT) down, falling 7.13 percent to $16.70 after the company priced a public offering by Pacific Coast Energy Company LP and other selling unitholders of 13,500,000 trust units at a price of $17.10 per unit.

Credit Suisse to junior bankers: Lighten up (a little)

Credit Suisse wants junior bankers in the Americas to cut down on weekend working hours.

LONDON (CNNMoney) Credit Suisse has joined the ranks of investment banks attempting to lighten the load for junior staff as the industry faces scrutiny over grueling working conditions.

The internal memo sent Monday and obtained by CNNMoney said analysts and associate level staff should not be in the office from 6 p.m. Friday to 10 a.m. Sunday unless they are working on a live deal.

A live deal is one "that is actively being put together," according to the bank. The number of such deals underway at any time fluctuates.

The guidance, which applies to staff in the Americas, was issued by the global head of investment banking Jim Amine.

Amine said junior bankers should not be called in for weekend work on non-live deals without management approval.

The working policy also said that junior staff are "expected to reply to e-mails in a timely manner throughout the weekend."

Several investment banks have moved to relax working conditions for junior staff following the death of a former Bank of America intern in London last year.

An inquest into the death of the 21-year old German, Moritz Erhardt, revealed a culture of heavy workloads for junior investment bankers.

The inquest found that Erhardt, who suffered from epilepsy, died of natural causes, though fatigue could have been a factor.

  Why big banks are too big to jail

This week, Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) recommended that its junior staff take at leas! t 4 weekend days off a month. In October, Goldman Sachs (GSPRC) also encouraged its junior bankers to take weekends off.

Hot Performing Stocks To Watch Right Now

Goldman's Zurich office was investigated in 2013 by Swiss labor authorities after a complaint lodged by an employee group suggested the firm had run afoul of strict local labor laws related to tracking workers' hours.

5 Best Casino Stocks For 2014

Whether or not "sell in May and walk away" will play out this year remains to be seen as the S&P 500 rallied to a new all-time record high to begin this week. For skeptics like me, that's an opportunity to see whether companies have earned their current valuations.

Keep in mind that some companies�deserve�their current valuations. Take Waste Management (NYSE: WM  ) , for instance, which has rallied ever since reporting its first-quarter results last week. The company's internal revenue growth from yield for its collection and disposal operations came in at a two-year high, 1.4%, and the company modestly improved its adjusted year-over-year EPS. Trash disposal and recycling are necessity businesses and make Waste Management a solid long-term buy.

Still, other companies might deserve a kick in the pants. Here's a look at three companies that could be worth selling.

Time to make the switch
If I could name a sector that I'd certainly tread lightly around considering that consumers are tightening their wallets, it would be the casino sector. Casino companies rely on loose wallets and vacations to drive profits. This is why I feel it could be the time to say goodbye to casino and race track operator Pinnacle Entertainment (NYSE: PNK  ) near its 52-week high.

5 Best Casino Stocks For 2014: Nevada Gold & Casinos Inc (UWN)

Nevada Gold & Casinos, Inc., incorporated on April 7, 1977, is primarily a gaming company involved in financing, developing, owning and operating gaming projects. Through the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Gold Mountain Development, LLC, the Company owns approximately 268 acres of undeveloped land in the vicinity of Black Hawk, Colorado. On January 27, 2012, through the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, NG South Dakota, LLC, the Company acquired A.G. Trucano, Son & Grandsons, Inc. (South Dakota Gol). On July 18, 2011, through the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, NG Washington III, LLC, the Company acquired Red Dragon mini-casino in Mountlake Terrace, Washington (Washington III). On May 25, 2012, the Company sold all of the assets, including rights in the Colorado Grande name and gaming-related liabilities, of the Colorado Grande Casino to G Investments, LLC (GI).

Commercial Gaming Projects

The Company owns and operates 10 gaming facilities in Washington, and a slot machine route operation in South Dakota. These properties are wholly owned and operated by the Company: the Crazy Moose Casinos in Pasco and Mountlake Terrace, Washington, the Coyote Bob�� Casino in Kennewick, Washington, the Silver Dollar Casinos in SeaTac, Bothell and Renton, Washington, the Club Hollywood Casino in Shoreline, Washington, the Royal Casino in Everett, Washington, the Golden Nugget Casino in Tukwila, Washington, and the Red Dragon Casino in Mountlake Terrace, Washington (Washington Gold), and the South Dakota Gold slot route operation in Deadwood, South Dakota.

Commercial Casino Projects

The Company own two mini-casinos operating in Mountlake Terrace. The Red Dragon mini-casino, located in western Washington State, has a total of 15 table games, including Player Banked Poker, Baccarat, and other banked table games. The mini-casino is located within 14 miles of downtown Seattle. South Dakota Gold is a slot machine route that operates over 900 slots at approximate! ly 20 locations in Deadwood, South Dakota, which represent about 24% of the total number of slot machines in that market. Deadwood is a town of 1,300 residents located in the Black Hills, South Dakota, in the southwest corner of the state.

5 Best Casino Stocks For 2014: Umax Group Corp (UMAX)

Umax Group Corp., incorporated on March 21, 2011, is a development-stage company. The Company focuses to develop and distribute its product to the arcade and entertainment industry. The Company�� products include Rocket Launch, is Strength testing game which allows players to test their pushing/ throwing strength; Space Hockey, is a two player hockey game - each player must score as many as possible goals and Boxer, is a Simple punch testing game: insert coin/token/bill, press start button, hit the punch bag, wait for result, and try to beat opponent�� score or high score.

As of April 30, 2013, the Company had no revenues. The Company has developed its business plan, and executed exclusive distribution contract GEO a private enterprise, where it engages GEO as an independent contractor for the specific purpose of developing, manufacturing and supplying games for the Company.

5 Best Biotech Stocks To Buy For 2014: NanoTech Entertainment Inc (NTEK)

NanoTech Entertainment, Inc. (NanoTech), formerly Aldar Group, Inc., is a provider of gaming technology for the coin-op arcade, casino gaming and consumer gaming markets. The Company operates as a manufacturer, developing technology and games, and then licensing them to third parties for manufacturing and distribution. As of June 30, 2009, the Company�� products included MultiPin, Xtreme Rally Racing, NanoNET Online System, Pinball Wizard, Mot-Ion Adapter, Opti-Gun Adapter and Retr-IO Adapter. In April 2009, the Company acquired NanoTech Entertainment, Inc. In July 2013, NanoTech Entertainment Inc completed the acquisition of Clear Memories, Inc. of Napa California. Effective August 9, 2013, NanoTech Entertainment Inc acquired Worldwide Global Entertainment, a developer of prepackaged software.

The Company�� physics engine and motion sensors allow MultiPin to accurately recreate the experience of a mechanical pinball machine, while providing players with a variety of classic and modern pinball games to choose from. Xtreme Rally Racing is a driving machine that features three modes of game play: Xtreme Off-Road-Race Head to Head against other players and the computer to checkpoints while driving anywhere on the map with no preset course; Timed Rally Stages-Classic Rally Racing on real world courses. Players will be able to race in five different countries on real world rally courses, and Xtreme Stadium Racing-Custom Stadiums designed for Xtreme racing, including a figure eight multi-lap course with huge jumps. NanoNET Online System is remote operator control of machines, including diagnostics, accounting reports, and automatic software updates and enhancements downloaded over the net.

The Company has created the input device designed to give the pinball players a way to experience real pinball controls on their personal computer. Based on the technology developed for the MultiPin product it has built a controller that lets people play pinball using traditional controls and! the ability to shake and nudge the table. The Mot-Ion adapter is a universal serial bus (USB) adapter that allows do it yourself Pinball enthusiasts to build their own cabinet using real pinball controls providing analog inputs for nudging and bumping. The OptiGun adapter is a USB adapter that allows players to connect Arcade Light Guns to any USB based system. The Retr-IO adapters provide a standard JAMMA interface for USB based systems.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  Call them hunches (because that's all they are), but now would be a great time to get out of a NanoTech Entertainment, Inc. (OTCMKTS:NTEK) position and/or get into an ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD). NTEK looks like its reached its maximum potential - for the time being - while ACAD looks like it's ready to start rolling higher again.

• [By Peter Graham]

  Nyxio Technologies Corp (OTCMKTS: NYXO), COREwafer Industries Inc (OTCMKTS: WAFR) and NanoTech Entertainment, Inc (OTCMKTS: NTEK) are three small cap stocks in some very diverse industries. In fact, one of these stocks just bought a 3D ice sculpture business. So will investors see their investment melt with that small cap stock�along with the other two? Here is a closer look to help you decide for yourself:��

5 Best Casino Stocks For 2014: Caesars Entertainment Corp (CZR)

Caesars Entertainment Corporation, incorporated on November 2, 1989, is a diversified casino-entertainment provider. The Company�� business is primarily conducted through a wholly owned subsidiary, Caesars Entertainment Operating Company, Inc. (CEOC), although certain material properties are not owned by CEOC. As of December 31, 2012, it owned, operated, or managed, through various subsidiaries, 52 casinos in 13 United States states and seven countries. The majority of these casinos operate in the United States, primarily under the Caesars, Harrah��, and Horseshoe brand names, and in England. In November 2012, the Company sold its Harrah's St. Louis casino to Penn National Gaming, Inc. In December 2012, the Company purchased all of the net assets of Buffalo Studios, LLC, a social and mobile games developer and owner of Bingo Blitz.

The Company�� casino entertainment facilities include 33 land-based casinos, 11 riverboat or dockside casinos, three managed casinos on Indian lands in the United States, one managed casino in Cleveland, Ohio, one managed casino in Canada, one casino combined with a greyhound racetrack, one casino combined with a thoroughbred racetrack, and one casino combined with a harness racetrack. The Company�� land-based casinos include nine in England, two in Egypt, one in Scotland, one in South Africa and one in Uruguay. As of December 31, 2012, its facilities had an aggregate of approximately three million square feet of gaming space and approximately 43,000 hotel rooms. In southern Nevada, Caesars Palace, Harrah�� Las Vegas, Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Bally�� Las Vegas, Flamingo Las Vegas, Paris Las Vegas, Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, The Quad Resort & Casino (formerly the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino), Bill�� Gamblin��Hall & Saloon, and Hot Spot Oasis are located in Las Vegas and draw customers from throughout the United States. Harrah�� Laughlin is located near both the Arizona and California borders and draws customers primarily from! the southern California and Phoenix metropolitan areas and, to a lesser extent, from throughout the United States through charter aircraft. In northern Nevada, Harrah�� Lake Tahoe and Harveys Resort & Casino are located near Lake Tahoe and Harrah�� Reno is located in downtown Reno. These facilities draw customers primarily from northern California, the Pacific Northwest, and Canada.

The Company�� Atlantic City casinos, Harrah�� Resort Atlantic City, Showboat Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City, and Bally�� Atlantic City, draw customers primarily from the Philadelphia metropolitan area, New York, and New Jersey. Harrah�� Philadelphia (formerly Harrah's Chester) is a combination harness racetrack and casino located approximately six miles south of Philadelphia International Airport and draws customers primarily from the Philadelphia metropolitan area and Delaware. The Company�� Chicagoland dockside casinos, Harrah�� Joliet in Joliet, Illinois, and Horseshoe Hammond in Hammond, Indiana, draw customers primarily from the greater Chicago metropolitan area. In southern Indiana, it owns Horseshoe Southern Indiana, a dockside casino complex located in Elizabeth, Indiana, which draws customers primarily from northern Kentucky, including the Louisville metropolitan area, and southern Indiana, including Indianapolis. In Louisiana, the Company owns Harrah�� New Orleans, a land-based casino located in downtown New Orleans, which attracts customers primarily from the New Orleans metropolitan area. In northwest Louisiana, Horseshoe Bossier City, a dockside casino, and Harrah�� Louisiana Downs, a thoroughbred racetrack with slot machines, both located in Bossier City, cater to customers in northwestern Louisiana.

The Company owns the Grand Casino Biloxi, located in Biloxi, Mississippi, which caters to customers in southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, and northern Florida. Harrah�� North Kansas City dockside casino draws customers from the Kansas City metropolitan ar! ea. Harra! h�� Metropolis is a dockside casino located in Metropolis, Illinois, on the Ohio River, drawing customers from southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and central Tennessee. Horseshoe Tunica, Harrah�� Tunica, and Tunica Roadhouse Hotel & Casino, dockside casino complexes located in Tunica, Mississippi, are approximately 30 miles from Memphis, Tennessee and draw customers primarily from the Memphis area and, to a lesser extent, from throughout the United States through charter aircraft. Horseshoe Casino and Bluffs Run Greyhound Park, a land-based casino and pari-mutuel facility, and Harrah�� Council Bluffs Casino & Hotel, a dockside casino facility, are located in Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska. At Horseshoe Casino and Bluffs Run Greyhound Park, the Company owns the assets other than gaming equipment, and leases these assets to the Iowa West Racing Association (IWRA), a nonprofit corporation, and it manages the facility for the IWRA under a management agreement expiring in October 2024. The license to operate Harrah�� Council Bluffs Casino & Hotel is held jointly with IWRA, the qualified sponsoring organization.

The Conrad Resort & Casino located in Punta Del Este, Uruguay (the Conrad), draws customers primarily from Argentina and Uruguay. In November 2012, the Company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement with Enjoy S.A. (Enjoy) to form a strategic relationship in Latin America. Under the terms of the agreement, Enjoy will acquire 45% of Baluma S.A., its subsidiary, which owns and operates the Conrad, and the Company will become a 10% shareholder in Enjoy upon consummation of the agreement. Upon the closing of the transaction, which is subject to certain conditions, including the receipt of all regulatory and governmental approvals, Enjoy will assume primary responsibility for management of the Conrad. Enjoy will have the option to acquire the remaining stake in Baluma S.A. between years three and five following closing. The cl! osing of ! the transaction remains subject to a number of conditions, including regulatory and governmental approvals in both Uruguay and Chile.

The Company owns four casinos in London: the Sportsman, the Golden Nugget, The Playboy Club London, and The Casino at the Empire. Its casinos in London draw customers primarily from the London metropolitan area, as well as international visitors. The Company also owns Alea Nottingham, Alea Glasgow, Alea Leeds, Manchester 235, Rendezvous Brighton, and Rendezvous Southend-on-Sea in the provinces of the United Kingdom, which primarily draw customers from their local areas. Pursuant to a concession agreement, it also operates two casinos in Cairo, Egypt, The London Club Cairo (which is located at the Ramses Hilton) and Caesars Cairo (which is located at the Four Seasons Cairo), which draw customers primarily from other countries in the Middle East. Emerald Safari, located in the province of Gauteng in South Africa, draws customers primarily from South Africa. It owsn and operates Bluegrass Downs, a harness racetrack located in Paducah, Kentucky.

The Company owns three casinos for Indian tribes: Harrah�� Phoenix Ak-Chin, located near Phoenix, Arizona, Harrah�� Cherokee Casino and Hotel, and Harrah�� Rincon Casino and Resort, located near San Diego, California. The Company manages Caesars Windsor, located in Windsor, Ontario, which draws customers primarily from the Detroit metropolitan area, Horseshoe Cleveland casino in Ohio, which it manages for Rock Ohio Caesars LLC (ROC), a venture with Rock Ohio Ventures, LLC (Rock Gaming), in which it has a 20% equity interest, and the Horseshoe Cincinnati casino in Ohio for ROC for a fee under a management agreement that will expire in March 2033. It also has a minority interest in Sterling Suffolk Racecourse, LLC (Suffolk Downs), which owns a horse-racing track in Boston, Massachusetts, and the right to manage a future gaming facility. The Company also owns ans operates a golf course on 175 acres of prime real! estate t! hrough a land concession on the Cotai strip in Macau.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By AlphaStreetResearch]

  Caesars Entertainment Corporation (CZR) is a highly overvalued gaming, hotel, and entertainment company with deteriorating fundamentals on all levels in a highly competitive environment. The company's stock has seen a massive run to the upside on the coattails of other casino and entertainment companies in the space. A considerable catalyst for the push higher in these stocks is the good news coming out of Macau, but this is an area where Caesars has absolutely no exposure and will be locked out of for the foreseeable future after failing to take appropriate licensing measures. Below is our introduction into the business model, its weaknesses, and the new selling or shorting opportunity that exists for CZR after the recent appreciation in share price. Investors will soon realize that there is little upside value in this company and that there are much better opportunities in this space. The company is now amidst a major struggle from a debt standpoint with major deadlines approaching over the next year and a half. The company is in no position to thrive going forward unless major steps are taken to overhaul the company's capital structure. Caesars Entertainment has a market cap of $3.19 Billion after the stock has moved up over 225% year to date and reports its next quarter on October 31, 2013. With this in mind, we value CZR at $21.00 by year-end of 2013 and $14.00 by August 1, 2014, a decrease of 40% from current levels. We will later highlight:

5 Best Casino Stocks For 2014: Boyd Gaming Corporation(BYD)

Boyd Gaming Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a multi-jurisdictional gaming company in the United States. As of December 31, 2011, the company owned and operated 1,042,787 square feet of casino space, containing approximately 25,973 slot machines, 655 table games, and 11,418 hotel rooms. It also owned and operated 16 gaming entertainment properties located in Nevada, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, and New Jersey. In addition, the company owns and operates a pari-mutuel jai-alai facility located in Dania Beach, Florida, as well as a travel agency in Hawaii. Further, it holds a 50% controlling interest in the limited liability company that operates Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Boyd Gaming Corporation was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  Even if a federal bill does pass, there's no guarantee Zynga would win. Online poker is all about gaining a critical mass of users, and it's a uphill battle. MGM Resorts (NYSE: MGM  ) and Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD  ) have already partnered with bwin.party for a U.S. online gaming venture. Bwin.party is one of the largest real-money online poker companies in the world, and with PokerStars likely shut out of the U.S. in the near future, this would be a formidable opponent. Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ: CZR  ) has also had its eyes on online poker for some time, and with the World Series of Poker brand, it has a big draw for players. Caesars thinks so much of online poker that it's spinning off its "growth" assets, and online games are a key part of the new company.

• [By M. Joy, Hayes]

  Industry trends
  Other businesses in the industry also have copious related-party transactions. In particular, founder-led businesses Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ: WYNN  ) and Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD  ) �reported a large number of such transactions in their 2013 proxies, including employment of relatives, employee use of company services, and employee use of company-owned property. MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM  ) , on the other hand, didn't have to report any related-party transactions in its 2013 proxy.

Best High Tech Companies To Own In Right Now

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, social networking giant Facebook (NASDAQ: FB  ) has received a distressing two-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Facebook and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Facebook facts

Headquarters (founded)

Menlo Park, Calif. (2004)

Market Cap

$65.3 billion

Industry

Internet software and services

Trailing-12-Month Revenue

$5.5 billion

Best High Tech Companies To Own In Right Now: TAL Education Group(XRS)

TAL Education Group, together with its subsidiaries, provides K-12 after-school tutoring services in the People?s Republic of China. It offers tutoring services to K-12 students covering various academic subjects, including mathematics, English, Chinese, physics, chemistry, and biology. The company provides tutoring services through small classes; personalized premium services, such as one-on-one tutoring; and online course offerings. As of May 31, 2011, it operated a network of 199 physical learning centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Wuhan, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Xi?an; and eduu.com, an online education platform for online courses. The company also offers education and management consulting services, as well as sells software. It operates under the Xueersi brand. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lisa Levin]

  TAL Education Group (NYSE: XRS) shares rose 4.30% to $20.86. The volume of TAL Education Group shares traded was 318% higher than normal. TAL Education's PEG ratio is 1.14.

Best High Tech Companies To Own In Right Now: American National Bankshares Inc.(AMNB)

American National Bankshares Inc. operates as the bank holding company for American National Bank and Trust Company that provides various commercial, mortgage, and consumer banking products and services to individuals and businesses in Virginia and North Carolina. The company?s deposit products principally include checking, money market, savings, demand, and consumer time deposits, as well as certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio primarily comprises commercial and residential real estate loans, commercial loans to small and medium-sized businesses, construction and land development loans, and home equity loans, as well as 1-4 family residential mortgage loans. The company also provides trust and investment services, which include estate planning, trust account administration, and retail brokerage services, as well as investment management services, such as purchasing equity, fixed income, and mutual fund investments for customer accounts. In addition, American Natio nal Bankshares Inc. provides mutual funds, insurance, Internet banking, automated teller machine (ATM), and telephone banking services. As of December 31, 2009, the company operated 18 banking offices and 2 loan production offices located in Danville, Pittsylvania County, Martinsville, Henry County, Halifax County, Lynchburg, Bedford County, Campbell County, and Nelson County in Virginia; and Caswell County in North Carolina. It also operates 25 ATMs. The company was founded in 1909 and is based in Danville, Virginia.

Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Right Now: Plantronics Inc.(PLT)

Plantronics, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of lightweight communications headsets, telephone headset systems, and accessories for the business and consumer markets under the Plantronics name worldwide. It also offers specialty telephone products, such as telephones for the hearing impaired and other related products for people with special communication needs under the Clarity brand name. The company?s products are designed for specific markets and applications, such as offices; contact centers; mobile devices comprising mobile phones and smart phones; computer and gaming; and residential applications, as well as for other specialty applications. It sells its products through a network of distributors, retailers, wireless carriers, original equipment manufacturers, and telephony service providers. The company was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  Can you hear me now?
  Unlike YRC, which I consider to be in awful shape, audio communication solutions maker Plantronics (NYSE: PLT  ) is merely a sell in my book based on its recent share price appreciation.

Best High Tech Companies To Own In Right Now: Heritage-Crystal Clean Inc.(HCCI)

Heritage-Crystal Clean, Inc. provides industrial and hazardous waste services to small and mid-sized customers in the United States. Its services comprise parts cleaning, containerized waste management, used oil collection and re-refining, and vacuum truck services. The company provides its parts cleaning services by offering parts cleaning equipment and chemicals to remove oil and grease, and other contaminants from engine parts and machine parts requiring cleaning. It also offers containerized waste management services by collecting drums, pails, boxes, and other containers of hazardous and non-hazardous waste materials from its customers. The company provides its vacuum truck services for the removal of mixtures of oil, water, and sediment from wastewater pretreatment devices. In addition, Heritage-Crystal Clean, Inc. provides bulk used oil collection services; and customer visit and accumulated oil removal services. As of December 31, 2011, the company operated 94 used oil collection trucks. Its customers include businesses involved in vehicle maintenance operations, such as car dealerships, automotive repair shops, and trucking firms, as well as small manufacturers comprising metal product fabricators and printers. The company operates a network of 67 branch facilities. Heritage-Crystal Clean, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Elgin, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  When judging a company's prospects, how quickly it turns cash outflows into cash inflows can be just as important as how much profit it's booking in the accounting fantasy world we call "earnings." This is one of the first metrics I check when I'm hunting for the market's best stocks. Today, we'll see how it applies to Heritage-Crystal Clean (Nasdaq: HCCI  ) .

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Heritage-Crystal Clean (Nasdaq: HCCI  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Heritage-Crystal Clean (Nasdaq: HCCI  ) reported earnings on May 2. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended March 23 (Q1), Heritage-Crystal Clean missed estimates on revenues and missed expectations on earnings per share.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Heritage-Crystal Clean (Nasdaq: HCCI  ) reported earnings on July 24. Here are the numbers you need to know.

  The 10-second takeaway
  For the quarter ended June 15 (Q2), Heritage-Crystal Clean beat slightly on revenues and 0 on earnings per share.

Best High Tech Companies To Own In Right Now: Hansard Group Plc(HSD.L)

Hansard Global plc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a specialist long-term savings provider, offering life assurance and investment solutions to international investors. The company provides a range of flexible and tax-efficient investment products within life assurance policy wrappers. Its products are unit-linked life assurance contracts that qualify for favorable tax treatment. The company distributes its contracts through financial service intermediaries, independent financial advisers, and retail operations of financial institutions, as well as through its multi-language Internet platform, Hansard OnLine. Hansard Global plc was founded in 1970 and is based in Douglas, the United Kingdom.

Best High Tech Companies To Own In Right Now: Compliance Energy Corporation (CEC.V)

Compliance Energy Corporation engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral resource properties in Canada. The company�s primarily holds interest in approximately 31,000 hectares of coal rights on Vancouver Island, Canada, where the focuses on developing the Raven Underground Coal Project of which it holds a 60% interest. The company also holds various mineral exploration properties totaling approximately 24,000 hectares on Vancouver Island. Compliance Energy Corporation is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Best High Tech Companies To Own In Right Now: Aegis Grp(AGS.L)

Aegis Group plc, through its subsidiaries, provides media communications and market research services worldwide. It offers various media communication services, including media buying and planning, providing integrated advice and consultancy, brand tracking and marketing analytics, market insight and communications strategy, and digital display services. The company also provides local and international digital services, including strategy and consulting, online advertising and media, Web site build, paid and organic search, social and viral marketing, mobile, and customer relationship management services, as well as research services. Aegis Group plc is based in London, the United Kingdom.

Best High Tech Companies To Own In Right Now: Eastfield Resources Ltd. (ETF.V)

Eastfield Resources Ltd., a mineral exploration company, engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in Canada. It primarily explores for gold, copper, silver, molybdenum, nickel, and platinum group metals. The company holds interests in various properties located in British Columbia and Nevada, Canada. Eastfield Resources Ltd. was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Target Founder Douglas Dayton Dies

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Douglas Dayton, who led the transformation of a family department store into retailing giant Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT  ) , has died at the age of 88.

Dayton's wife, Wendy Dayton, confirmed his death Sunday. She said the resident of Wayzata, west of Minneapolis, died Friday after a long battle with cancer.

Douglas James Dayton was the youngest of George Nelson Dayton's five sons who took over the family's downtown Minneapolis department store from their father in 1948. Douglas Dayton started working in the family business after serving in an Army infantry division in Europe during World War II, where he was injured and received a Purple Heart.

Having worked as a store manager, Dayton sensed the threat posed by discount retailers such as Kmart. In 1960, he became the first president of Target, and within two years, the company had opened four Target stores in the Twin Cities suburbs.

"Target was the best job I had," he recalled in a May interview with the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune.

His nephew, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, issued a statement calling Douglas Dayton "an extraordinary businessman, philanthropist, and leader of our family."

Target released a statement Sunday from current President and CEO Gregg Steinhafel praising Dayton's integral role in the company's origins.

"Doug was instrumental in helping to guide the strategic direction of Dayton Hudson Corporation for many years and institutionalize the values that are at the heart of Target Corporation today," Steinhafel said.

According to an obituary prepared by his family, Douglas Dayton left the Target presidency in 1968 and returned to help run the Dayton Hudson department store parent company. That business eventually was consolidated into Target Corp.

The company has expanded nationally and into Canada, and is now ranked No. 36 on the Fortune 500. The Dayton family has not been involved in its ownership or operations for a number of years. Most of the former Dayton's department stores in Minnesota are today operated by Macy's.

Dayton left the company in 1974 and formed a venture capital firm. He retired in 1994 but remained active in a number of charitable and philanthropic groups.

"He and his brothers shared a common vision for improvement to the community, and to give back what the community had given them," Wendy Dayton said Sunday. She said he focused his philanthropic efforts on expanding access to education and social justice, and to preservation of the arts and nature.

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