The Daily Business Digest

Buying electronic goods looks easy but it is not. Sometimes, it can be the most draining of the experiences. That is because, to buy any electronics goods, you need to check shop after shop. You need to know the dealer to ensure that the good is reliable. You need to ensure that there is good service. But, that is what you get as a bundle when you buy from buy.com

We all have a heart. The only problem with most of us is that we have no time and we mind our own business. Also, most of the time, we don’t stop and think about people who have a hard time out there and who desperately need help.

There are , unfortunately, people like that who need help. There are orphans. There are delinquents. There are drug addicts who are in the rehab centers who need some help. All of these people don’t really stand in front of us. Nevertheless, they are all there. And, they all need some money.

What can you and I do about this?

We can in fact make a lot of difference.

You have a old car? What did you do with it? You are planning to sell it for scraps, right? Instead of that, can you donate it? This Car Donations can go a long way in rescuing these people that we talked about. Similarly, if you have a boat and you donated it, those Boat Donations all add up to a sizable total for different organizations such as boatangel which can do a lot with the income from them.

In the same vein, one can even donate a house. These House Donations help the orphan kids and the drug addicts who are trying to kick the habit.

Inspite of the economy down trend in US and the rate of unemployment going high, Mc Donald’s Corp. has reported sales boost of 4.8% in February for their restaurant opened for a year. The sales boost was influenced by overseas gains. The same store sales of the company has also gone up by 0.6 % .

Mc Donald had introduced many budget friendly menu to keep up their customer base. It included breakfast for $1. This had kept their sales going though the financial crunch had kept away the public from splurge spending. In the past five month, the first three months had seen decline in sales of same store sales.

This week has seen another four bank closures across US, including one each in Illinois and Utah. The cumulative number of bank closures in US in the year 2010 till date, has risen to 26 banks. And it is important to note that the continuing weakness in housing sector is resulting in massive loan defaults on housing and commercial property loans.
And most of the banks that have been closed down in the last 18 months have been pulled down badly by mounting housing bad debts. Now the US government seems to be left with very little option to pull up the ailing housing sector. Even the continued financial aid up to 8000 US dollars for the first time home buyers does not seem to be working on expected lines.

Want to get a loan or credit card? Do you want to understand what could be your eligibility for loan? Do you want to know which is the best rated banks for credit cards or which is the best rated financial institution for personal loan, or home loan or any other loan? Then get into internet. There are number of websites that can give us the updated ratings and rankings of all financial institution. It can give you the best one and alert you on the worst ones.

The ranking are generally done on the parameters and criteria like customer service, customer satisfaction, rates of interest, switching facilities, and other features. They also conduct survey with users on their experience with their financial institutions or banking partners and collate data to do their rating.

Upon giving your details, they also give your credit eligibility to avail a loan or credit card credit amount. They can give details of your payday loans. These websites act as survey agents and collect data from common public. They collate the data and award ratings to the financial institutions as per their performance and their customer’s confidence. They also keep track of the financial reports of the financial institutions and give updates.

The US financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 helped Toyota to overtake GM as the largest car seller in US for just one year. And Toyota seems to be doing all the right things to help other competitors to overtake it in terms of car sales in US.
Yes, the massive recall of over 3 million vehicles by Toyota over the last few months and massive negative propaganda for the brand has resulted in new customers moving away from Toyota. And in February 2010, both GM and Ford have been able to gain market share back from Toyota.
And Ford was smarter in making the best out of it, by growing at over 43% year on year in terms of volume. The company was able to go past GM as the largest car seller in US last month. And given the small gap between the Toyota and Ford, we can expect a cut throat competition between the two to regain Number one position.

The General Motors are enjoying sales boost after Toyota has lost their customer confidence after their massive recall of Camry.  Toyota has recalled as much as 8 million vehicles owing to problems in accelerator pedals.  The US Congressional has sought explanation from Toyota for their lapse in safety in their cars.  Customers of Toyota have conveyed their disappointment on the automaker.

 Due to this, the sales of Toyota in Feb has dropped drastically in US.  General Motors seems to have benefited from the drop of sales of Toyota. Their sales in US have gone up and they have made the most of the opportunity when compared with other automakers.

The four wheeler automobiles, including cars / Sports Utility Vehicles / Light Commercial Vehicles / Heavy Commercial Vehicles , have shown a healthy growth rate for eighth month in a row, thanks to low base effect coupled with a revival in demand.
Same is the case with two wheeler automobiles, which has recorded the highest ever monthly sales in February 2010.
But the picture could change altogether in the coming months due to various factors :
- The excise duty has been raised by the Government with immediate effect, which could dent the demand in future.
- Most of the people had anticipated the excise hike, and hence major advancement of purchases has happened in February 2010. This would be absent in the future.
- Year ago, the March 2009 figures started to look up dramatically on a sequential basis, and hence the base effect benefit will not be available henceforth.
- Input costs are going up, and companies have jacked up prices by 2% to 5% already, which also would dampen the future demand.
- Exports to Europe could be badly hit in the coming months due to the Greece and Spain crisis.
So experts say that the next few months could see some downside for the Indian Automobile industry as a whole.
Any major sovereign crisis in part of Europe would only accentuate the problem for the Indian Automobile Industry.

AIG has been trying to sell off the Asian Unit , AIA, right at the beginning of 2009, but the offer from various bidders was found to be nowhere near acceptable amount. So the US regulators, who are the major shareholders of AIG, decided to wait.
And their decision seems to be paying off, with Prudential UK, agreeing to buy it out now at 35 billion US dollars, which is twice the amount on offer a year back for the same unit. And the amount could go for cutting down the TARP loan outstanding of AIG by over 25%.
AIG is also in talks for selling few other units over the coming months, which could fetch it another 15 to 20 billion dollars. All these would help the US government cut down on the TARP losses substantially.

There are a number of insurance options available these days. You can insure yourself. You can also insure against theft etc at your home. The only issue is the question of insurance at what cost. What is the premium that you should be paying. That is probably the only thing that one needs to look at. That is where the home insurance quote from homeinsurancequotes.us helps in.