W ith the consumer sector accounting for roughly 70 per cent of the U.S. economy, there is an intuitive sense that a consumer recovery is vital to the sustainability of the recovery in both the U.S. economy and the stock market

O ne day in 2002, a self-professed computer nerd named Glenn Kelman scratched his head. Why was it, he wondered, that he could get more information about a $20 book for sale at Amazon.com than he could for a $500,000 home listed on the national Multiple Listing Service?

P etroamerica Oil PTA-X (yesterday’s closing price 58� UPDATE) is building a portfolio of energy development projects in Colombia. Over the last 30 days, insiders have been public-market net buyers of 320,000 shares. CEO Paul Kroshko was the biggest purchaser, acquiring 250,000 shares at prices ranging between 65 and 71 cents

M istakes are costly in do-it-yourself investing, and never mind your bad stock and fund picks. You opened a small registered retirement savings plan account with an online broker without checking its annual administration fees? Ka-ching.

High on the wish list for most business owners is likely to be finding effective guidance for obtaining small business finance help. This article is designed to provide a practical starting point for a commercial finance survival guide. Due to the rapidly increasing failure of banks to provide a normal level of commercial funding, the suggestions described in this article should be considered by most business borrowers in the initial stages of their commercial financing efforts rather than as a last resort.