Business Markets

Michigan’s April unemployment rate fell by two-tenths of a percentage point, down to 8.3 percent from the March rate of 8.5 percent, and more than two full percentage points below the same month last year.

April’s rate is the lowest for the state since July 2008, when the jobless rate was 8.2 percent.

Payroll employment in April rose by 5,000 jobs to 3.98 million, and total employment increased by 11,000, according to data released Wednesday by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.

“The first four months of 2012 have been positive for Michigan’s labor market,” said Rick Waclawek, director of the Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives.

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A major 4 million development at hotel and wedding venue Hogarths has been completed.

Work has ended to add 32 new bedrooms, improve the dining facilities and improve the wedding and conference facilities at the hotel in Dorridge, Solihull.

Owner Helena Hogarth said the investment has created around 30 jobs, while 85 craftsmen, tradespeople and builders have worked on site to complete the development since October 2011.

Mrs Hogarth, who took over the hotel along with husband Andy in 2004, said it has enjoyed significant growth over the past eight years, particularly within the conference and weddings markets.

She said: Our development includes improvements to the excellent events services we already offer, but most exciting is the addition of our new brasserie and bar, fine dining restaurant.

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Welsh businesses will be damaged if moves to devolve corporation tax and create new taxes are brought forward, according to a leading accountancy body. The international professional body for accountants, ICAEW have argued that the introduction of new taxes and the further devolution of corporation tax should be exercised with extreme caution, given the fragile nature of the private sector economy in Wales. From small business to big business, all areas of the Welsh market stand to be affected. David Lermon , ICAEW director for Wales, said: “We strongly believe that the starting point for the consideration of further devolution of fiscal powers, must be whether a strong case can be made that changes will bring real benefits in terms of the functioning of the Welsh economy and political governance.

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Radware  (NASDAQ: RDWR), a provider of application delivery and application security solutions for virtual and cloud data centers will be represented at the Interop show in Las Vegas May 6 through 10 with two speakers discussing ways to optimize virtual data centers and cloud computing.

Amir Peles, vice president, Technology, Radware, will speak May 10 at 10:00 a.m. in the Mandalay Bay Conference Room J on Dynamic Resource Shaping in the Virtual Data Center with an emphasis on software defined networking. Also on May 10, Radwares Meryl Robin, director, Virtual Application Delivery Infrastructure Solutions, will participate in a panel discussion on How Can You Manage and Optimize Cloud Computing? to be held in the Lagoon Conference Room J starting at 10:15 a.m.

Mr. Peles joined Radware in 1997 as the organizations first Vice President of Research and Development and later served as Chief Technology Officer. Prior to his tenure at Radware, Mr.

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Trader Patrick Casey, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. 

Stocks are closing lower after political instability in Greece sent U.S. and European markets reeling.

European indexes closed near multi-month lows Tuesday as Greek politicians appeared unable to form a coalition government. A key political leader said Greece is no longer bound by its earlier promises to cut spending in exchange for international bailouts.

U.S. markets opened lower and fell for most of the morning. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped nearly 200 points before late-afternoon buying erased much of the decline.

The Dow closed down 76 points at 12,932. The S&P 500 was down six at 1,363. The Nasdaq was off 11 at 2,946.

About three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was average at 4.21 billion shares.

There are a plethora of worries to juggle when starting a small business. Between financing, distribution, physical location, and consumer growth there’s no end of dire concerns. These seemingly never ending problems will keep many small businesses from focusing on considerations such as branding, slogans, and logos. It’s not surprising these things fall by the wayside, given the potential problems a small startup company can face, but it is extremely important that small businesses find the time to deal with the issue of branding.

Definition of Branding

Technically speaking, branding is the development of a name, slogan, symbol, image, sign, or combination thereof to represent a product and differentiate that product from similar competition. In practice it is so much more than that however.

Branding in Practice

Branding is made to be the heart of a company. It

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When your multiple credit card accounts are being turned down to the collection agencies and you’re continuously being harassed by the debt buyers, you must be spending sleepless nights thinking about your next step. Yes, nothing can be worse than unattended credit card debts as they affect your credit score and also jeopardize the chances of getting new lines of credit at an affordable rate. There are various professional credit card debt reliefs that are available but how would you choose the best option that suits your present financial needs? Have a look at the debt relief options that you may choose from.

Credit card debt consolidation program: The debt consolidation companies offer a debt consolidation program through which you’ll get professional help from a practiced debt consultant. He will assess your present financial condition, negotiate with your creditors and attempt to lower the interest rates on the cards. Read full post…