Sunday, December 28, 2008
Daily Updated Cricket News
The story of Indian cricket over the last 12 months has been the story of M.S. Dhoni. The year 2008 was special for Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, emotional for Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, forgettable for Rahul Dravid, exceptional for Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, and foolhardy for Harbhajan Singh. India vanquished Australia, crumbled against Ajantha Mendis before fighting back, pulverised England, drew with South Africa, and hosted the first IPL. But each of these tales - from the Rs 6-crore price-tag to the five-over captaincy offer to Ganguly in his final Test - had Dhoni sidebars attached to them.
Looking closely, you would realise that they weren't mere asides.
A study of Dhoni, the skipper, must start with a quick glance at the background of the two other Indian captains who seemed to have a similar, inspirational hold over the team.
Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, trained without mercy by his father, is considered the first of India's path-breaking skippers. Forget the results, though there were some very creditable ones, what made Pataudi different was the confidence he gave his teammates. Crafty on the field, with no insecurities of his own, he dealt with his players like a well-meaning monarch off it.
Then, 30 years later, with Indian cricket mired in match-fixing scandals and parochial selection policies, with their tag of poor travellers more well-entrenched, came Sourav Ganguly. Born into a rich business family, Ganguly's dependence on cricket was not monetary. A very good batsman who couldn't make the transition to greatness, his contribution to Indian cricket must be measured by the barriers he broke as a leader.
Liberated because of their backgrounds, Pataudi and Ganguly were able to bring to the team a sense of freedom that no one else could.
Despite growing over the last decade into a country that allows the freedom of aspiration, India wouldn't have thought that the next captain with a shot at path-breaking greatness would come not even from the burgeoning urban middle-class but a poorer small town.
What is it that gives Dhoni the belief to back his players, battle selectors, give it back to the opposition, take hard decisions about seniors, and refer to India as "my team" with such frequency that he sometimes sounds arrogant?
When the story came out about his disagreement with the selectors over their decision to drop R.P. Singh, Dhoni called the leak "disgusting", and even sarcastically suggested that there should be live TV in the meeting room.
Daily Retail News
Retail Success was first published. Like every first-time author, I was concerned whether or not the book itself would be a success. The initial order was for 1,500 copies. When all those boxes of books arrived at my office, I was absolutely sure we would be the last owners of a good many of them.
I have been pleasantly surprised by the acceptance of the book and certainly by its success. Now in its eighth printing, Retail Success continues to sell at a steady pace. I am pleased to report that the most successful retailers covered in the book continue to grow and prosper.
Over the last five years, I've had the opportunity to work with and study a number of other highly successful retail companies and learn what it is they've done to succeed. This learning process has bolstered my beliefs in what it takes to achieve retail success. But with the ongoing change in the retail marketplace and consumers, I continue to gain new perspectives on everything I know about the business of retailing.
I have been pleasantly surprised by the acceptance of the book and certainly by its success. Now in its eighth printing, Retail Success continues to sell at a steady pace. I am pleased to report that the most successful retailers covered in the book continue to grow and prosper.
Over the last five years, I've had the opportunity to work with and study a number of other highly successful retail companies and learn what it is they've done to succeed. This learning process has bolstered my beliefs in what it takes to achieve retail success. But with the ongoing change in the retail marketplace and consumers, I continue to gain new perspectives on everything I know about the business of retailing.
Foreign Exchange News
The foreign exchange (currency or FX) market is where currency trading takes place. FX transactions typically involve one party purchasing a quantity of one currency in exchange for paying a quantity of another. The Foreign Exchange Market that we see today started evolving during the 1970s when worldover countries gradually switched to floating exchange rate from their erstwhile exchange rate regime, which remained fixed as per the Bretton Woods system till 1971.
Today FX market is one of the largest and most liquid financial markets in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, corporations, governments, and other institutions. The average daily volume in the global forex and related markets is continuously growing. Traditional turnover was reported to be over US$ 3.2 trillion in April 2007 by the Bank for International Settlements. Since then, the market has continued to grow. According to Euromoney's annual FX Poll, volumes grew a further 41% between 2007 and 2008.
The purpose of FX market is to facilitate trade and investment. The need for a foreign exchange market arises because of the presence of multifarious international currencies such as US Dollar, Pound Sterling, etc, and the need for trading in such currencies.
Daily Business magazine
The Business was London's first global business magazine published in the United Kingdom. It was edited by Allister Heath; published by Andrew Neil; and owned by the Barclay brothers, who also own The Daily Telegraph. It closed in February 2008 after it failed to prove a commercial success.
Daily Business Newspaper
A newspaper is a written publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on political events, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports. Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing columns which express the personal opinions of writers. Supplementary sections may contain advertising, comics, coupons, and other printed media. Newspapers are most often published on a daily or weekly basis, and they usually focus on one particular geographic area where most of their readers live. Despite recent setbacks in circulation and profits, newspapers are still the most iconic outlet for news and other types of written journalism.
Features a newspaper may include are:
- Editorial opinions
- Comic strips and other entertainment, such as crosswords, sudoku and horoscopes
- Weather news and forecasts
- An advice column
- Critical reviews of movies, plays, restaurants, etc.
- A gossip column
- A humor column
- A food column
- Classified ads
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper, The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982. An Irish edition of the paper was launched in 2006. The Daily Mail was Britain's first daily newspaper aimed at what is now considered the middle-market and the first to sell 1 million copies a day.
The Mail was originally a broadsheet, but switched to a compact format on 3 May 1971, the 75th anniversary of its founding. On this date it also absorbed the Daily Sketch, which had been published as a tabloid by the same company. Its long-standing rival, the Daily Express, has a similar political stance and target readership, and currently has a circulation of about 740,000. The publisher of the Mail, the Daily Mail and General Trust is currently a FTSE 100 company, and the paper has a circulation of more than two million, giving the third-largest circulations of any English language daily newspaper, and the twelfth highest of any newspaper in the world.
Circulation figures according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, in October 2007 show gross sales of 2,400,143 for the Daily Mail, compared with 789,867 for the Daily Express. According to a December 2004 survey, 53% of Daily Mail readers voted for the Conservative party, compared to 21% for Labour and 17% for the Liberal Democrats.
Top News Stories
(RTTNews) - Wall Street gained ground on Friday, as hope of further government intervention drove a rally in the automakers. An advance in commodities also contributed to the stock gains while investors shook off worries about the retailing sector.
Spirits were high headed into the session, despite evidence that retailers saw dismal sales this holiday season. Stocks rose in early trading, adding to a mild advance that took place Wednesday ahead of the Christmas holiday.
News that GMAC had received approval to become a bank holding company, an event that opens the door to new forms of government assistance, boosted shares of GM (GM) and Ford (F).
There was uncertain trading during much of the middle of the day, but a rally in commodity stocks helped lead the major averages higher during the afternoon, with oil rebounding from a 4-year low with an advance of nearly 7 percent.
The Dow rose by 47.07, or 0.6 percent, to close at 8,515.55. The Nasdaq climbed 5.34 to 1,530.24, a gain of about 0.4 percent, and the S&P 500 advanced 4.65, or 0.5 percent, to finish at 872.80.
A report released by a division of MasterCard showed that total retail sales are down between 5.5 and 8 percent for the holiday period compared to last year. This was offset somewhat by news from online retailer Amazon (AMZN), who said it had its best holiday shopping season ever.
Meanwhile, there was a substantial rally among commodity stocks. This came as oil prices jumped $2.25 to $37.60 a barrel, bouncing back after settling at a 4-year low near $35 on Christmas Eve.
The advance came as Saudi Arabia and the UAE began to cooperate with OPEC's record production cuts announced last week.
Meanwhile, gold rose $21.60 to $869.60 an ounce, and is up about 6 percent so far this month.
Sector News
Commodity stocks helped lead the major averages higher. The sector advanced early in the day, before a swoon in the mid-morning brought it briefly into negative territory. Buying interest resumed in the afternoon, with the sector gaining strength in the last few hours of trading.
The gold sector led the rally in commodity stocks. The space climbed 4.8 percent, rising to its highest level in more than a week.
The HMO sector was among the best performers throughout the session. The space finished higher by 2.2 percent.
WellCare Health Plans Inc. (WCG) jumped 4.8 percent on the day, leading the HMO space. Centene Corp. (CNC) and CIGNA (CI) both climbed more than 3 percent. Aetna (AET) and Molina Healthcare (MOH) were both up more than 2.5 percent.
On the downside, the rebound in oil prices put pressure on the fuel-sensitive airline sector. The sector slipped by about 0.6 percent.
There was also weakness in financial stocks, which weighed down the major averages throughout the day. The regional bank sector and the broker/dealer space both posted modest losses.
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