VOL. 36 | NO. 22 | Friday, June 1, 2012
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
Somewhere on the top of your desk, you keep a calendar.
NEWSMAKERS
Ingram Barge Company has named Crystal Taylor senior vice president and controller.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Ever wonder why some small businesses become powerful brands and others stagnate? Often, it comes down to brand personality, or lack thereof.
THE WORLDLY INVESTOR
Chase Vacuums not Bubbles Markets regained their composure last week as the threat of a Greek tragedy diminished. While there are a couple of mile markers before the Greek election on June 17, markets will remain anxious until the ballots are cast.
SMART STUFF 4 WORK
If you take the time to read about the German writer, artist, biologist, physicist, and all-around highly productive guy Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, you will find that he accomplished quite a bit during his 80-plus years on the planet Earth. And since he lived in the late 1700s and early 1800s, he did it all without a cell phone, iPad, Bluetooth, spell check or any of our modern technological conveniences and so-called necessities.
I SWEAR
I didn’t like the last novel I read, C.J. Box’s Three Weeks to Say Goodbye (2009). If you think you want to read it, then don’t read this column, as it will spoil the experience.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
This past week, I went to Memphis and spent the night with my three young grandchildren. Paige is five (almost six), Gwynn is almost two, and Landon is five months old. We decided to have a night on the town and eat at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Fun!
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam is weighing both an increase in funding for the state's public pre-kindergarten program and creating a school voucher system in Tennessee, though the Republican says he doesn't consider the two proposals linked.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Nashville's Bridgestone Arena is turning into quite a memorable place for Carrie Underwood and her hunky husband, NHL star Mike Fisher.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A list of winners from the 2012 CMT Music Awards:
NASHVILLE (AP) — While major acts and headliners like Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beach Boys and Phish always draw the masses out to the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, it's discovering new acts that's the true joy of the four-day festival down on the farm in Manchester, Tenn.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. John Tanner of Union City is one of 37 additional attorneys to join an expanding major law firm's Nashville office.
MIDSTATE
CANTON, Miss. (AP) - The first Mississippi-produced 2013 Altima rolled off the assembly line in Canton on Wednesday.
MURFREESBORO (AP) — Opponents of a mosque in Rutherford County filed Wednesday for an injunction seeking to stop construction.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' wealth rose in the January-March quarter, boosted mainly by the best quarterly gain in stock prices since 1998 and partly by the first rise in home values since 2006.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks on Wall Street got a boost Thursday from China's efforts to spur its economy. Highly anticipated testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke turned out to be a nonevent.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. rates on 30-year and 15-year fixed mortgages this week fell to fresh record lows for the sixth straight week. Cheap mortgages continue to help boost prospects for home sales this year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people applying for U.S. unemployment benefits fell last week for the first time in five weeks. But the drop suggests only modest job growth after three months of weak hiring.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Federal Reserve is prepared to take further steps to lift the U.S. economy if it weakens. But he didn't signal any imminent action in testimony before a congressional panel Thursday.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke took the air out of a rally in the price of oil Thursday when he gave no signal of imminent action to help the U.S. economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — The founder and outgoing chairman of Best Buy is resigning from the board and may sell off his 20.1 percent stake in the beleaguered electronic retailer.
ROME (AP) — A U.N. agency says world food prices dropped sharply in May, reaching their lowest level in eight months due to favorable supplies and currency fluctuations.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As summer beckons, it seems Americans are thinking more about the stifling cost of energy than about making tracks to the beach.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans shrugged off a veto threat and began pushing legislation through the House on Thursday that would repeal a tax on companies that produce many medical devices sold in the United States.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative House Republicans are again going after President Barack Obama's budget to regulate Wall Street, build rural water projects and send food aid overseas as the latest in a series of spending bills get under way.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Presidential elections are usually serious business, but President Barack Obama and likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney are taking a little time for laughs during the CMT Music Awards on Wednesday.
LOGANSPORT, Ind. (AP) - For Dan Couch, there's somethin' 'bout co-writing a country song and having it performed by up-and-coming artist Kip Moore.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - The remarkable success of evangelist Billy Graham's Crusades for Christ did not come from his preaching alone, but also the immense amount of preparation and follow-up that went into planning each revival.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Children's advocates say a report released Wednesday on the welfare of children in Tennessee supports their belief that more preventive care programs will benefit youth long term, as well as save the state money.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew moderately in most regions of the country this spring and companies kept hiring, according to a Federal Reserve survey released Wednesday
NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow Jones industrial average surged 286 points Wednesday, its best day this year.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Nasdaq stock exchange said Wednesday that it plans to hand out $40 million in cash and credit to reimburse investment firms that got ensnared by technical problems with trading Facebook stock.
DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines says it will reduce flights in July partly because of a shortage of pilots due to more of them calling in sick.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. worker productivity fell by the largest amount in a year from January through March. The steeper drop than first estimated suggests companies would need to hire more if demand were to pick up.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy isn't likely to slip back into a recession, despite recent economic reports signaling the recovery has lost momentum, Warren Buffett said.
Benchmark oil rose 73 cents to finish at $85.02 per barrel Wednesday in New York. The last time U.S. crude gained for three straight days was late April.
FRANKFURT (AP) — The European Central Bank has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged as it increases the pressure on eurozone leaders to tackle a government debt crisis that threatens the global economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Starting late last year, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced the amount of hedging it was doing to contain potential losses, according to a top federal regulator.
TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) — Honda says its 2013 Fit EV has received the highest fuel efficiency rating ever from the Environmental Protection Agency.
TUESDAY, JUNE 5
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — A White House official is to meet Tuesday in Nashville with American Indians.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. service companies, which employ roughly 90 percent of the work force, expanded at a slightly faster pace in May, marking the 29th straight month of expansion.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The faltering U.S. job market has prompted economists to take a much dimmer view of the country's growth prospects. That's a shift from just a few weeks ago, when many were upgrading their forecasts.
NEW YORK (AP) — As world leaders searched for a way out of Europe's mounting debt crisis, U.S. investors moved to the sidelines.
The price of oil was little changed as the market waits for Europe's next move to try to clean up its financial mess.
NEW YORK (AP) — Disney says its programming will no longer be sponsored by junk food.
NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's school districts are turning up their noses at "pink slime," the beef product that caused a public uproar earlier this year.
MONDAY, JUNE 4
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Two of the nation's leading charter management organizations have been authorized to open new charter schools in Memphis and Nashville.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Willie Nelson may have penned himself another classic and CMT Music Awards viewers will get a chance to judge for themselves.
MIDSTATE
CANTON, Miss. (AP) — Elected officials and Nissan workers gathered in Canton over the weekend to discuss what it would take to establish a labor union at the plant.
FRANKLIN (AP) — Preservationists in Franklin, Tenn., say the purchase of a tract of land will be the centerpiece when the 150th anniversary of the Civil War's Battle of Franklin is commemorated in 2014.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Companies placed fewer orders to U.S. factories for the second straight month and a key measure that tracks business investment plans fell, adding to evidence that the economy is weakening.
Calm returned to the stock market Monday after a spasm of fearful selling last week. Major indexes closed mixed after trading modestly lower for most of the day.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The global economy's foundations are weakening, one by one.
The price of oil recovered a bit Monday after last week's drubbing.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — WellPoint Inc. plans to buy contact lens retailer 1-800-Contacts Inc. in a deal that would give the insurer its first direct-to-consumer business outside selling individual health coverage.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — For Republicans, it's an irresistible trifecta: A bill that gives them an election-season chance to say they're fighting to protect jobs and cut taxes, even as it erodes financing for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul they despise.
FRIDAY, JUNE 1
MUSIC INDUSTRY
ATLANTA (AP) - Christian rapper Lecrae first came to Atlanta as a teenager for a youth conference in 1999, but what ultimately convinced him to lay down roots here was its thriving gospel music scene.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Jason Isbell and Gillian Welch are the top nominees for the 2012 Americana Music Honors & Awards.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Southern Baptist Convention's ethics chief was reprimanded Friday and his radio show canceled after he made inflammatory comments about the Trayvon Martin case.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Documents released in a sealed court case involving the father of Academy Award-winning actress Reese Witherspoon show that a Nashville judge has appointed a lawyer to investigate what's going on with her father.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Grand Ole Opry owner Gaylord Entertainment has agreed to sell its hotel brand and the rights to manage its four hotels to Marriott for $210 million in cash.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Opponents of a mosque being built in Tennessee got the government decision that approved it overturned Friday, but they lost their bid to stop construction immediately.
LEBANON (AP) — Casual dining chain Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. said Thursday that it has named two new board members, expanding the size of the board to 13. At the same time, it said two board members plan to retire when their terms expire.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that police must corroborate anonymous tips before officers stop and frisk someone.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and the Nature Conservancy say they expect an $8.8 million purchase of undeveloped property in Johnson County to be a boost to tourism and create jobs.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
U.S. stocks are closing with their biggest declines this year after a dismal jobs report and troubling economic news from overseas.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Barack Obama said Friday the latest employment report shows that the economy is not creating jobs "as fast as we want," but he pledged that the economy will improve.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil plunged nearly 4 percent Friday as a bleak report on U.S. job growth heightened worries about a slowing global economy and waning oil demand. Sobering economic news from China and Europe also contributed to the drop.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy suddenly looks a lot weaker.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer spending edged up modestly in April but personal income growth was the slowest in five months, raising concerns about the ability of Americans to keep spending in the future.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. builders increased their spending on construction projects for a second month in April. A pickup in home construction and commercial projects offset a fifth consecutive decline in government spending.
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto sales remained a bright spot in May even as the economy darkened.
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans loosened their purse strings in May, but it may have been a temporary splurge.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. rates on 30-year and 15-year fixed mortgages dropped to record lows again this week, with the 15-year loan dipping below 3 percent for the first time ever.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy is looking slightly weaker one day before a critical report on May job growth.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House played political hardball with drug industry honchos to get a 2009 deal that helped keep health care overhaul legislation from bogging down in Congress, according to internal emails released Thursday by House Republicans.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The world's air has reached what scientists call a troubling new milestone for carbon dioxide, the main global warming pollutant.