Business Channel 2006-12-14&16

Today, Citigroup raised its view for 2007. Its market forecasters are now targeting around 14,000 for the Dow Industrials and 1,600 on the S&P. That is about a 14 percent increase from where the Dow is right now, Nicole.

So is this a big deal and why the change?

Ah, it's fairly a big deal. Now even though the market numbers are rising more quickly now than in the past, it still represents a large increase. Any investor 1 who has money in the market is looking at these numbers and is probably fairly satisfied at least for the moment. The new figures are partially 2 due to an increase in Gross Domestic Product and international sales. And interestingly, Nicole, strategists say that the increase might have also been impacted by the presidency 3. The third year of a president's term is traditionally the best for stocks.

Politics, business, always go hand in hand. Here's something that really caught our eye this morning. You don't see this everyday. Big business(es) afford the environment?

Oh yes, ah, the CEOs of FedEx, UPS, Dow Chemical, along with retired 5 military generals, they are all pressing the Bush administration to end our reliance on foreign oil and they are asking for some new standards ah. . , that the environmental groups have been lobbying Ford 4 for years. They call themselves the Energy Security Leadership Council and they are calling for a 4% increase per year in fuel efficiency for cars. During the meeting on the Hill today, they all tried to convince lawmakers to step in and put a limit on dependence 6. They don't think that the market economy alone can fix this growing problem, Nicole.

We'd like to think that this is all very benevolent 7, but why exactly are these companies doing this?

Well, let's remember that the companies are big, big users of petroleum 8, and they pay hefty amounts for it. It's not often that you see one big business fighting against another one but they would benefit from cheaper gas and we would all benefit from a cleaner environment. I think obviously.

Yeah, obviously. Here's another story that caught our eye: money might mean more valuable these days when it's not money at all. What is this all about?

I know, isn't that weird 9? It just kind of catches your eye, because this is really kind of an interesting story. Metal has become so valuable these days that the stuff used to make nickels and pennies would actually be worth more if you melted it down and sold it that way. So the government is now making that a crime. It would be illegal to melt down one and five-cent coins. They are also placing limits on the amount of coins that can be shipped out of the country, not more than 100 dollars at a time. Twenty years ago, pennies and nickels stopped being made of primarily copper 10 and nickel, but even so the metal is still valuable. The actual coins are worth about two cents more than their face value, Nicole.

Wait, hold on one second. Does this mean that Disneyland, and all those fun places could get into trouble with those little penny machines that smash them up into a different shape (I understand, I know.) and put a stamp on them?

Oh look at her, she's getting all worked up about it. Do you mean Disneyland and it's...

That's my favorite little machine.

You know, really it is a good question. That, however, is considered to be legal (oh) because it doesn't take advantage of its primary use, which is commerce. Now the penny is no longer being used for currency, it's being used just for a souvenir. So that's absolutely legal. So you can keep yours if you got it from when you visited Disneyland as a kid, no problem.

Thanks for entertaining my silly question. Val, I appreciate it.

No, it was a great question (oh, good), no problem at all. That's the latest from here. Take care.

Ok, you too.

Alright.


worked up (adj.) very upset or excited about something
You shouldn't get so worked up about it.