Business Markets

The number of farmers with Internet access on a variety of digital gadgets has dramatically increased, changing the way farms do business. Farmers say they’re increasingly using the Net to speed up their work flow, improve their farming techniques, market their crops, connect with customers and retailers, and fulfill a variety of regulatory requirements.

Within the past decade, the number of farms with an Internet connection has increased by nearly 20 percentage points, according to a report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture earlier this month. More than half of America’s farms now have access to the Internet, with farmers in the West with the highest access.

“The Internet is such an integral part of doing business in agriculture,” said Dan Errotabere, who farms 3,500 acres in Riverdale, 25 miles south of Fresno. “If the power goes off, everything on the farm seems to stop.

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August 27, 2011  JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming – Emerging economies should find other ways to buffer themselves from global crises than stockpiling U.S. government debt, a prominent economist argued on Saturday.

U.S. Treasuries and the debt of other advanced nations may be liquid, but it is far from safe, Cornell University professor Eswar Prasad said in a paper presented to a group of central bankers gathered here.

Emerging countries seeking protection from global shocks by individually stocking up on U.S. debt would be better off banding together to create a pool of funds that could be drawn on in a crisis, he argued. Doing so would give them a backstop should they need it, without saddling their national investment portfolios with debt that could turn sour.

Sharply rising levels of public borrowing and weak growth prospects in the United States mean that over time the dollar will continue to decline against the currencies of faster-growing emerging markets, eroding the value of emerging nations’ foreign investments, he said.

And the risks are not only for the long-term.

The United States’ near brush with default earlier this month, as lawmakers refused to raise the country’s borrowing ceiling until a deficit-cutting deal was reached, brought the potential pitfalls of holding U.S.

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U.S. markets closed mixed Thursday after the Labor Department said first-time jobless claims fell by 24,000 in the week that ended Saturday.

Some investors scanned the market for bargains after four consecutive sessions of losses, but the Dow Jones industrial average did not sustain early gains and closed lower for a fifth day as Washington failed to signal a break in a critical budget impasse.

Investors are concerned about the possibility the federal government will default on some obligations should lawmakers fail to agree on a budget plan by Aug. 2.

By the close on Wall Street, the DJIA shed 62.44 points, 0.51 percent, to 12,240.11. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 4.22 points or 0.32 percent to 1,300.67. The Nasdaq composite index added 1.46 points or 0.05 percent to 2,766.25.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,139 stocks advanced and 1,865 declined on a volume of 4.3 billion shares traded.

The benchmark 10-year treasury note rose 9/32 to yield 2.947 percent.

The euro fell to $1.4331 from Wednesday’s $1.4369. Read full post…

Gov. Cuomo was in Schenectady to announce his local economic development council.

The TU asked him how NY would deal with demands by GLOBALFOUNDRIES for $1 billion to build a second fab in Malta. The 10 regional councils will have access to $1 billion. It cant. all go to GloFo, right? Cuomo said A lot of companies want a lot of money to do a lot of thingsThis money is very scarce.. We just worked very hard to balance the.the state budget.

TREASURER Wayne Swan has hinted businesses savaged by the surging Australian dollar could be set for relief ahead of a tax reform summit in October.

A discussion paper for the summit – which the government insists on calling a ”forum” – was released yesterday, flagging reforms ranging from congestion charges on choked roads to an overhaul of unpopular state taxes, such as stamp duty.

The paper also opens the way for renewed talks on the welfare system and possible incentives for skilled workers to move to regional areas.

With the Australian dollar this week reaching highs of more than $US1.10, and with manufacturers and trade unions worried about its impact on jobs and international competitiveness, Mr Swan said he would talk to industries including manufacturing and tourism over coming weeks about options to provide cash flow relief for struggling businesses.

”I don’t want to really pre-empt those discussions except to say that we’ve got to continue to have a discussion about how we put in place arrangements which keep them competitive in the new environment that we’re in,” Mr Swan said.

The Australian dollar rocketed one US cent yesterday to reach $US1.1081 in late local trading, the highest since the local currency floated in 1983.

The October summit will be held at Parliament House on October 4 and 5. Read full post…

There are more mobile phones in Australia than people. It makes complete sense, because its become a crucial part of our lives for business, a social tool for many and a just in case safety tool for parents to give their teenagers.

Mobile is a game changer. People don’t understand yet that mobiles deliver a totally new means of interaction. Mobile marketing allows you to reach an audience that are plugged in 24/7. Don’t believe me? Just look at the mobile number of mobile phones that are on the table in a coffee shop, boardroom or on public transport in the hands of travelers.

So how do you use it in the correct way? The mobile phone is a very personal domain and not everyone is receptive to having an interruption by text. My recommendation is that you need to be invited. Start by asking if your customers want to use SMS etc for messages.

Treat this medium with respect because your customer can opt out and then you have lost them for good! You

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Is $4 trillion in debt reduction cuts over the next decade or so enough to satisfy Standard & Poor’s, the credit ratings agency now threatening a 50-50 chance of a swift credit rating downgrade to the U.S.’s Triple-A without that sum?

That $4 trillion may not be enough, says S&P, it may want more. Moreover, S&P today blamed the “acrimonious” fights in D.C. as for why it shortened the time horizon for when a downgrade could happen to the U.S.’s top-notch credit rating, says S&P’s top executive covering sovereign ratings, calling it “a self-inflicted” problem.

FOX News’ Brett Baier, James Rosen and Mike Emanuel caught this interesting disclosure S&P sovereign-rating chief John Chambers made on a conference call today. FOX Business’s Peter Barnes caught this tip, too.

The “webinar was held for investors on state and local governments and pension issues,” says an S&P spokesman.

Here was the question to S&P exec John Chambers, and his reply:

Q: “There’s been a figure of $4 trillion dollars circulating as an example of the scope of  fiscal consolidation measures that could work to stabilize the U.S. debt-gdp ratios

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