Archive for November 6th, 2008

The Federal Reserve continued its massive lending efforts to business in the past week, pumping $100 billion more into the credit stream through a new short-term funding program.

General Motors dealers are complaining that GM's "captive financing" arm isn't doing what it was set up to do - help them move cars. And if it continues, they say, they could lose their lots.

Forget about inflation. The opposite threat - deflation - is what has policymakers sweating now.

Mutual funds are supposed to simplify investing, but it doesn't always work out that way. Let's say you're looking for a fund that invests in green technologies. There are dozens of choices, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which track narrow indexes in everything from wind power to potable water. The catch? Most are as new and unproven as the companies they invest in. So we set out to find funds with experienced managers and established records. First, we asked research firm Lipper to produce a list of green funds. Then we excluded those with less than five years' performance or less than $100 million in assets. That left us with just three contenders - a slim field, to be sure - but these veterans offer a range of options for different risk appetites.

Question: I'm meeting with a financial planner for the first time. Can I expect to get some specific advice, or just a sales pitch? Will I need to sign an agreement?

Even market pessimists were surprised by Cisco's warning of a huge sales shortfall.

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Fidelity Investments, the largest U.S.-based mutual fund company, is the latest to announce layoffs, which it blames on the economic crisis.