The credit card company is willing to give out a $300 cash card to those with overdue balances if you pay off your account and scram. Would you be willing to pay off your debt for that incentive?

Market sell-offs are bad enough. By fixing these common investing mistakes, you’ll make sure difficult times aren’t made worse.

Even modest savings can pack a punch if you give them enough time to grow. Investing just $100 a month for 18 years will yield $48,000, assuming an 8% average annual return. Here are more tips on how to grow your savings for college.

Market sell-offs are bad enough. By fixing these common investing mistakes, you’ll make sure difficult times aren’t made worse.

Filed under: JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Options

JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) is recently trading at $20.56 in pre-open trading, above its close of $19.51. JPM reduced its quarterly dividend to 5c and provided an inline Q1 update. JPM March 20 straddle is priced at $5.55, June 20 straddle is priced at $9.55. JPM March option implied volatility of 123 is above its 26-week average of 89, according to Track Data, suggesting large price movement.

PNC Financial Services (NYSE: PNC) Financial Services closed at $24.61. PNC March option implied volatility is at 137; June is at 108; above its 26-week average of 77, according to Track Data, suggesting larger near term price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Options Update: JP Morgan options expensive into dividend reduction originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Viacom (VIA), CBS Corp ‘B’ (CBS), News Corp’B’ (NWS)

Sumner Redstone, who is the de facto head of Viacom (NYSE: VIA) and CBS (NYSE: CBS), was supposed to be the media baron who could not keep his top management. Now Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), has joined the club. The president of his company, Peter Chernin, is leaving.

Murdoch may be gambling that he can keep his job for life and hand it to one of his children. Since he is 77 and none of his children may be qualified, that could be a bad gamble. At least Chernin could have kept the CEO’s seat warm while one of Murdoch’s offspring got some more on-the-job training.

The press has made the Chernin departure into a story about the earnings trouble at News Corp. In reality, its problems are not much worse than they are at most other big media companies. News Corp is burdened more than some of its peers because of its newspaper holdings. But, odds are that News Corp will make it out of the recession intact and in a position to take advantage of the eventual improvement in the ad markets.

Continue reading Rupert Murdoch: Another old man loses key management

Rupert Murdoch: Another old man loses key management originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Yahoo! (YHOO)

Most of the conversation about Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) centers around how big a change new CEO Carol Bartz will make in the management ranks.

The bigger story may be that Yahoo! could lose money this quarter, especially if it is facing the 25% drop in display ads income that many other large internet companies are.

In the first quarter of 2008 Yahoo! had revenue of $1.8 billion and operating income of $121 million. Some of Yahoo!’s income is from its search advertising. It still holds about a fifth of the U.S. market. And, the company has cut costs. But this may not be enough.

If Yahoo!’s revenue drops by 15%, it would fall to $1.53 billion. Its sales, less the costs of acquiring traffic, could be as low as $900 million. Taking out one-time items, Yahoo!’s expenses were just below $900 million in the first quarter last year.

If Yahoo!’s revenue is off much more than 15%, there is some real chance it could post an operating loss.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

Could Yahoo! (YHOO) lose money this quarter? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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JPMorgan Chase said Monday it will slash its quarterly dividend to 5 cents per share from 38 cents in a bid to preserve capital.

Even modest savings can pack a punch if you give them enough time to grow. Investing just $100 a month for 18 years will yield $48,000, assuming an 8% average annual return. Here are more tips on how to grow your savings for college.

(WebMD) The economic stimulus bill signed by President Obama contains more than $140 billion in health care spending, designed mostly to ease the recession’s effects on workers and also to boost long-held goals of improving the nation’s health information infrastructure.