In Bender Square Partners v. Factory Mutual Insurance Company, Bender Square Partners sought to recover for losses it suffered as a result of Hurricane Ike to one of its properties it leased to PNS Stores, Inc. According to the Plaintiff, the amounts it sought to recover were covered under a Commercial Property Insurance Policy that Factory Mutual Insurance Company (“FM Global”) issued to Big Lots, Inc. and its subsidiaries, one of which is PNS Stores (the “Policy”). Plaintiff alleged that FM Global improperly refused to pay and indemnify Plaintiff for all losses covered under the policy. As a result, Bender sought damages and other relief for FM Global’s alleged breach of the policy.

After the parties conducted some discovery, FM Global filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that all of Plaintiff’s claims failed as a matter of law. In response, Plaintiff admitted that it was not a named insured in the policy, but claimed, among other things, that it is a named holder of the certificate of insurance and was entitled to the benefits.

Judge Ellison, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, sided with FM Global, granting summary judgment for all of Bender Square’s claims. Regarding Pla

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As everyone knows, the volatility so far in 2012 is weak. The VIX has been pretty much below 20 all month.

Our trading is a lot slower, but not any less profitable! Most days have been one and done days! In fact several days delivered 2+ points!

Today was a little slow. We had our first setup just before Chicago PMI. We lost. We swiftly recovered and moved on to profit about 10:15 AM!

There is a lot of hype on CNBC today about the Golden Cross – basically its when the 50 day crosses the 200 day.

Historically the mark tend to rally on the cross. However, I really don’t recall a time seeing it hyped up so much. So I am skeptical!

Personally I do not believe the mark are going to continue this rally much longer. I realize election years have historically been rally years as well, but I am a contrarian. What can I say ?

As long as my students are making daily income, I am happy!

Enjoy the rest of the day! Cheers, David

ps.. For our new readers to the blog, feel free to check out the . Some good stuff in there!

Get in touch if you have any questions



Today the European Central Bank (ECB), together with 14 national central banks (NCBs) of the euro area and the European Commission, successfully completed a two-year technical assistance programme for the benefit of the central banks and supervisory authorities of Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Turkey, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo under UN Security Council resolution 1244/99. The aim of the programme – which was launched on 19 January 2010, financed by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the ECB, euro area NCBs and a number of partner institutions – was to strengthen macro- and micro-prudential supervision in the western Balkans and Turkey.

Through the programme, intensive regional training was organised for some 150 bank supervisors and financial stability experts from the beneficiary institutions. The

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Are you looking forward to a nice Spring Break vacation? Or maybe a summer trip to visit family? If so, and if youre planning on flying, then read on…

According to a study by Airlines Reporting Corp., which is company involved in ticket transactions between airlines and travel agents, the best time to buy a plane ticket is six weeks before your intended travel date.

This study, which was based on millions of transactions over the past four years, found that passengers buying tickets six weeks in advance paid roughly 6% less than the overall average fare.

The study also showed that ticket prices can rise dramatically about a week before the departure date, and can be as much as 40% higher if you try to buy the same day you travel.

This isnt to say that youll always get the best deal by booking six weeks in advance but, all else being equal, thats when youre most likely to score the lowest price.

As an aside, a colleague once raved to me about the Bing travel predictor, which tells you whether you should by now or wait (along with a percent confidence indicator) based on whether they expect fares to rise or drop.

While this sounds great in theory, my experience has been that the predictions arent particularly accurate, even when their confidence is high.

As Ive noted in the past, another good trick for saving money when you travel is to consider alternative airports. T

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– If you’re looking for work and unacquainted with the new reality of proving your mettle, you’re in for a big surprise. If landing a job isn’t hard enough for today’s unemployed worker, companies have added a layer of difficulty to the process which makes getting hired that much harder. Specifically, you will probably be asked to take an on-line test just to be considered for an interview. And once you do earn the opportunity to be interviewed, you will likely face another challenge in the form of behaviorally-based methods of questioning your qualifications for the job.

As a business psychologist who has practiced my profession for over 30 years, I’d like to offer some helpful and practical advice without trying to teach you ways to “game” the system. With unemployment still lurking near 9% and little likelihood of going much lower, job seekers can use all the friendly advice they can get. Remember, nothing is gained from distorting your answers to test questions or lying during a job interview. In the event you do manage to fool a prospective employer, the chances of succeeding on the job are small, and you will be back at square one while suffering another embarrassing loss of employment.

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Just a few days ago, Connie wrote in:

It’s been a real challenge turning our financial situation around. My husband seems supportive but he’s having a really hard time breaking his old spending habits and with our reduced income it is really a challenge every month.

I finally was able to get about $300 together for an emergency fund and I was really happy with my progress when our hot water heater died. We had to replace it and it not only ate all of our emergency fund but put us a few hundred deeper in debt.

It feels like every time we start to get ahead we end up further behind.

Connie nailed it. One of the most common reasons for the failure of short term financial plans is a key appliance failure. I’ve seen it happen in my own life, when our own hot water heater failed a couple of years ago and our washing machine failed about three years ago.

The appliances in your house are not infinitely reliable. An appliance failure is going to happen in the future.

There’s never a good time for an appliance to fail. It will

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What surprised the police who came to drive away the protesters was that the Canon Chancellor of the 17th century cathedral asked the police to leave instead and welcomed some of the demonstrators to attend Sunday morning service.

The snowballing global campaign against corporate greed has reached Europe, particularly the capital cities of London and Rome.

Occupy Wall Street protesters camped over the weekend at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London to block access to the London Stock Exchange. Student protesters called for stricter regulation of the financial system.

When police came to drive away the protesters, the Canon Chancellor of the 17th century cathedral asked the police to leave instead and welcomed some of the demonstrators to attend Sunday morning service.

At least 25 police vans and more officers were deployed on side streets.

In Italy, police held simultaneous raids in Rome, Florence and Milan to seize gas masks and balaclavas. However, violence occurred in Rome as demonstrators burned cars, smashed bank windows and attacked a church. Ro

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As you figure your taxes this year, you might be looking at the result and thinking that it would be nice if you could deduct just a little bit more from your income. Even though a tax deduction isn’t as valuable as a tax credit, it can still help you by lowering your tax liability and reducing what you owe overall.

Plus, if you are worried about finding yourself in the next tax bracket up, another deduction or two can really help. But it’s too late — the year has ended. Any deductions you take go toward your next tax return, right?

The good news is that you still have a way to make a deduction for the previous year. Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) allow you to make tax-deductible contributions up until tax day, so you have a chance to boost your deductions if it looks like it will help your cause.

A traditional IRA (contributions to a Roth IRA aren’t tax-deductible) allows you the option to make a “previous year contribution.” The HSA has this option as well. As long as y

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A personal bank loan can be generally classified into two groups, namely unsecured and secured. When personal bank loans are given without collateral at a higher interest rate, it is called as unsecured bank loans. A secured bank loan, on the other hand, makes use of the collateral to better the repayment terms, to reduce fees and purchase a more advantageous and secure interest rate.

Some of the preliminary strategies in working out a personal loan will depend on how you can assess your current financial situation. This includes listing the assets, detailing of the monthly income and deducting any sort of debt, liabilities and expenses. This should be backed up by a letter from your employer confirming the monthly income and job security. If your salary is deposited in your bank account, then getting the invoice statement would help avoid any last minute obstacles.

Getting a better personal loan is not just about competitive interest rates but also depends upon better repayment terms. Offering collateral can reduce your interest rates. All these efforts will only pay off when you complete all your application in a befitting manner including all your documents.
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