Microsoft has decided to withdraw its bid for Yahoo. Microsoft felt that if they were to meet Yahoo’s offer it would be bad for their business and their shareholders. Even though Microsoft offered a max of $33 / share, Yahoo felt they were worth $37 / share. Which is interesting considering they were trading around $20 in January and likely to head further down as their earnings continue to shrink. So Google remains the king of search ads.

Finance.Yahoo.com - Click Here for Complete Story

   Wanting to buy a house in a couple years I began looking into whether or not low down payment options are still available. The reason being is the money is harder to get, but the homes are still so expensive you need a substantial amount of cash to do the traditional 20%. This is my observation only , so please meet with a qualified broker or lender , but there seems to be some hope. My findings are as follows;

1 – You use to need a good credit score to get the lowest interest rate , now you may need it to qualify for a lower down payment as well. Also FICO is changing its scoring model which may help people who have had minor slips in payments gain a higher credit score.

2 – FHA still offers low down payment programs , as low as 3% , through participating lenders and down payment assistance grants as well, find more information at fha.com

3 – Good Wells Fargo tool that shows the possibility of qaulifying for a loan with as little as 10% down.  Click here Wells Fargo Loan Tool .

Bear Stearns once commended as one of the greatest Investment Firms on Wall Street will soon be absorbed by JPMorgan Chase. A price agreement has been reached and shares of Bear will be swapped for shares of JPMorgan. Shares of Bear Stearns traded for as high as $163 now trades for $10 a share. Only $6 more than when it went public 23 years ago. Getting caught up in the subprime mortgage madness they would soon come undone. In less than a year Bear Stearns would be forced to sell itself or file chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Ticker Symbol: BSC
Company Key Dates:
1923: The original company is founded by Joseph Bear, Robert Stearns, and Harold Mayer as an equity trading house.
1933: Bear Stearns opens its first regional office in Chicago, and Salim L. “Cy” Lewis–future chairman–is hired to direct Bear Stearns’s new institutional bond trading department.
1955: Bear Stearns opens its first international office in Amsterdam.
1965: Bear Stearns begins expanding retail operations in the United States and, over the next eight years, opens offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, and Boston.
1978: Alan “Ace” Greenberg succeeds Lewis as chairman.
1985: Bear Stearns forms a holding company called Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., goes public, and reorganizes from a brokerage house into a full-service investment firm.
1992: Company earnings double to over $295 million for best year in Bear Stearns’s history to date.
1993: James E. Cayne succeeds Alan Greenberg as CEO; Greenberg stays on as chairman.
1999: Bear Stearns agrees to pay $42 million to settle civil and criminal fraud charges in connection with its role as clearing broker for A.R. Baron.
2001: James E. Cayne succeeds Alan Greenberg as chairman.
2001: Bear Stearns completes construction of its world headquarters at 383 Madison Ave, New York, NY.
2003: Bear Stearns along with 9 other of the worlds top investment firms are forced to pay penelaties related to using their in house R&D release false or inflated claims to move stock prices in a favorable manor for the firm.
2006: The company had total capital of approximately $66.7 billion and total assets of $350.4 billion.
2007: Around June 2007 Bear Stearns pumps 1.6 Billion of capital in its Enhanced Leverage Fund and High-Grade Fund to keep them from closing.
2008: Bear Stearns agrees to be bought by JPMorgan Chase for $10 per share, underwritten by $29 billion in special financing from the Fed.

Company History:
Bear Stearns Companies, Inc., the holding company that owns Bear, Stearns & Company, Inc., was created on October 29, 1985, as the successor to Bear Stearns & Company and Subsidiaries, a partnership organized in 1957. The partnership, in turn, was the successor to a company founded in 1923 by Joseph Bear, Robert Stearns, and Harold Mayer as an equity-trading house. Headquartered in New York, Bear Stearns today is a full service brokerage and investment banking firm focused on three core areas: capital markets, wealth management, and global clearing services. The company maintains offices in major cities all over the globe.
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Who’s excited about the tax rebate? Not me. I was thinking about it and on the outside it seems nice, but upon further investigation , its just adding insult to injury. I am looking at potentially receiving $1,200. Not bad. Consider this; I have a 4 cylinder car, with a 13 gal. / 14 gal. tank. It costs me $46 to fill @ $3.29 per gallon. By the time May / June rolls around they are talking $4 + so now it is going to cost me $56 every two weeks. Heating and Electric run me another $150 or so per month. Then another $100 a month to keep my car insured so I can get to my job. Plus , $50 a month so my kids can watch Hanna Montana.

 So I am up to $415 and I have not even bought food to feed myself or my kids. The average family probably spends $100 to $150 per week on groceries since those have gone up substantially as well. So we will say $400, brining us to $815 per month.

Then there is rent , student loans , credit card debt, and so forth. I am not sure if this is what they had in mind when they wanted to stimulate the economy. I am not running out to buy a T.V. or put a deposit down on a new car. All the check is going to do , assuming we still get one, is help not play beat the bank for one month. I hope there are others out there working hard , and in a position to use it to have some fun. I guess I will just have to live vicariously through them.

Finance committee gives nod to stimulus measures. Proposals to give tax rebates to seniors and aid the unemployed gain support. Next step: Full Senate vote.

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer
January 30 2008: 6:36 PM EST
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday approved a proposal intended to curb a further slowdown in the economy. The proposal, which differs from a bill overwhelmingly approved Tuesday by the House, could be introduced as a bill and voted on by the full Senate as early as Thursday. Lawmakers are aiming to send final legislation to President Bush by Feb. 15.

The committee meeting took place the same day that the government issued a report that economic growth in the last quarter of 2007 was weaker than expected and the Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate another 50 basis points following its emergency move last week that lowered the federal funds rate by 75 points.

 CNN.Money.Com – Click for Complete Story

**Updated to include elderly and disabled veteran rebates**
Assuming democrats don’t mess things up, chances are this is how its going to break down:

Under the agreement announced by the White House, individual taxpayers who earned enough to pay federal taxes would get up to $600 in rebates, working couples $1,200 and those with children an additional $300 per child.

The Bill sent to President Bush would give $300 tax-rebate checks to those whose Social Security benefits, veterans’ disability payments and earned income totaled a minimum of $3,000 last year.

Adjusted Gross Income is more than $3,000 but owed little to no taxes would get $300 or $600 for couple + $300 per child

Adjusted Gross Income is less than  $75,000 , rebate would be equal to the taxes paid in 2007 up to $600 + $300 per child

Adjusted Gross Income for couples less than $150,000 , rebate would be equal to the taxes paid in 2007 up to $1,200 + $300 per child

 For people who exceed these limits the rebate is reduced by 5% for every $1 over the limit. Example, if you made $85,000 you would be $10,000 over so $10,000 x .05 ( 5% ) = $500. $600 – $500 = $100, which would be your rebate. The plan would allow for people not eligible based on 2007 income to qualify again in 2009 based on their 2008 taxes. The government hopes to start sending rebates in mid-may and complete payments in 10 weeks.

 Finance.Yahoo.Com – Click for Complete Story

AP
French Bank Trader Bet Tens of Billions
Friday January 25, 4:24 pm ET
By Angela Charlton, Associated Press Writer

French Bank Trader Was Dealing in Tens of Billions of Euros

PARIS (AP) — French bank Societe Generale said Friday a rogue trader who cost it more than $7 billion by making bad stock market bets had been gambling on a much larger scale — tens of billions of dollars of the bank’s money.

Photo by AP

As the depth of the risk to the bank became clearer, small shareholders questioned controls at Societe Generale and other leading banks, and France’s prime minister joined skeptics wondering whether a lone trader could have been fully responsible for such major damage.

The bank, France’s second-largest, apologized to shareholders in full-page newspaper ads after announcing the fraud, apparently the biggest ever carried out by one person. The news Thursday rattled an already jittery banking sector.

Finance.Yahoo.Com – Click Here for Complete Story

Big moves today. I think there are a lot of stocks for sale. And with the DOW moving down so much , it looks like investors finally realized they better buy some value before things move up and they miss a good deal. I think its a good time to pick up stocks and maybe even flip some for some quick profits. Also always this is my opinion and always due your own research and seek professional advice as needed.

AP
Wall Street Whiplash: Stocks Plunge, Then Post Big Gains on Day After Fed Rate Cut — NEW YORK (AP)

It started with another stomach-turning drop at the open, and a loss of more than 300 points by midday. Then stocks changed course, raced higher and closed with a dramatic gain of nearly 300. This wasn’t just volatility. This was Wall Street whiplash.
Amid tumbling housing prices, an ongoing credit crisis and growing fears of a recession, turbulence has become a hallmark of Wall Street in recent weeks. And after five straight days of pullbacks, analysts saw some positive signs in Wednesday’s trading.

Investors certainly found a reason to buy, perhaps encouraged by the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented 0.75-point interest rate cut a day earlier and a widely held bet on another half-point cut next week. By day’s end, the Dow had swung 631.86 points from its low point to its high — the largest single-day turnaround in more than five years.

Finance.Yahoo.Com – Click Here for Complete Story