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• News Corp. OKs Poison Pill, Buyback Before Split
  News Corp. said its board of directors has approved plans to split its entertainment and publishing businesses into two separate companies. The company also adopted a shareholder-rights plan designed to prevent a hostile takeover in the volatile trading period after the...
• Schumer Urges 'Extreme Caution' on SoftBank's Sprint Deal
  An influential U.S. senator expressed strong concerns about Japanese company SoftBank's plan to buy 70 percent of Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 mobile service provider, warning it could expose the United States to more Chinese cyber attacks.
• Fidelity's Bewick: Bond Funds Are in 'Goldilocks Environment'
  Rates may be rising, but U.S. bond funds are in a "Goldilocks environment" that could last a while longer, according to Joanna Bewick, portfolio manager of the Fidelity Strategic Asset Allocation Funds.
• Bernanke Seen as Being Too Gloomy on Job Market
  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is too gloomy about the U.S. job market, said John Herrmann, director of U.S. interest-rate strategy at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities in New York.
• Independent Community Bankers: US Must End Too Big to Fail
  Small banks are battling megabanks over proposals to end "too big to fail" financial institutions. In the latest salvo, the Independent Community Bankers Association (ICBA) released a report stating the United States must end too big to fail banks.
• 'Alternative Answer' Author: Investors Must Guard Against Inflation Spike
  Author Bob Rice urged investors who embrace alternative strategies to guard against a devaluation of the currency and a major spike in inflation amid a "tremendous risk" in the bond market.
• NASA Researching 3-D Food Printing for Space Trips
  NASA has awarded a grant to a mechanical engineering whiz to covert his scientific acumen to a more epicurean pursuit — a 3-D printer that will spit out nutritional meals one layer at a time.
• Altaira's Acampora: Stocks Are in 'Early Stages of Secular Bull Market'
  Master stock market technician Ralph Acampora says the United States is still in the early innings of a secular bull market that has years longer to run, and predicts non-believers with cash still on the sidelines will eventually be drawn in to push it higher.
• Asia Ramps up Debt, While US, Europe Retrench
  Asia is taking on a major debt load at the same time the United States and Europe are deleveraging, leading some to worry about a bubble.
• Luxury Brands Set to Boom as Wealthy Consumers Spend Again
  Most men might balk at spending $600 on a pair of Dior sneakers but for U.S. shoppers like Ephraim, an upbeat 30-year-old, such indulgences are becoming increasingly commonplace.
• Banking Consultant: Google Is 'Biggest Threat' to Banking Industry
  Google is threatening to disrupt the banking industry in a big way.
• Pierpoint Economist: Growth Yet to Show 'Rip-Roaring Strength'
  Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rose more than expected in April, a hopeful sign that a contraction in factory output could soon run its course.
• Lawmakers Discuss Downgrading Credit Rating Agencies
  Credit rating agencies, long revered for their judgment, may soon be getting a downgrade of their own if some lawmakers have their way.
• Pension Partners' Gayed: Fed Won't Taper QE Amid Muddled Growth
  Michael Gayed, chief strategist for investment adviser Pension Partners, recently discussed the positive aspects regarding the possibility of the Federal Reserve tapering its program of quantitative easing. It will allow for more proper price discovery, Gayed told Newsmax...
• IRS Scandal Seen Having a Chilling Effect on Audits
  The blossoming IRS scandal may be welcomed by Americans who hope to avoid the unblinking eye of the national tax agency, as the last time the IRS was in such a public mess, tax audits fell by 50 percent, according to MarketWatch.
• David McAlvany: US in 'Race to Bottom' With Rest of Global Currencies
  The world has two types of currency de-valuers -- the ones announcing their intentions such as the Japanese -- and those not announcing it, says David McAlvany, CEO of the McAlvany Financial Group.
• FT: Emerging Market Bonds May Be in a Bubble
  Investors have been flocking to emerging market bonds in recent years, but the party may have gone too far, some experts say.
• Fed's Bullard Wants Faster Inflation Before Tapering QE
  Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said he wants to continue the current pace of bond purchases as long as falling inflation is a concern. My own forecast is that it would be a little closer to target by now, so I am a little bit nervous about the...
• Simon Johnson: Board Members 'Kowtow to CEOs' at Megabanks
  While Jamie Dimon's fight to keep both the CEO and chairman at JPMorgan Chase posts got plenty of attention, the controversy masked the real problem in corporate management, argues Simon Johnson, a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund who is now an MIT professor.
• Barney Frank and Sheila Bair Form Tag Team Against Mortgage Bundlers
  Former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair and former Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., are joining forces to do battle against efforts to weaken post-housing crash restrictions on mortgage securitizations.
• Peter Schiff: Fed Will Add Even More Stimulus, Not Less
  Peter Schiff likes fighting the crowd — the president of Euro Pacific Capital believes the Federal Reserve will be forced to pump even more artificial dollars into the monetary system, not less, in a bid to keep the whole economy from crashing down.
• Slate's Yglesias: Eliminate the Corporate Income Tax
  If you want Apple and other multinational corporations to stop engaging in schemes to avoid paying billions of dollars, the solution is simple, says Slate business and economics writer Matthew Yglesias.
• US Energy Independence Could Mean More Mideast Turmoil
  Surging U.S. oil production will stir the pot of Mideast geopolitics because it means energy security will no longer dictate American foreign policy, according to an analysis by the Voice of America, a U.S. government-sponsored news and information broadcaster.
• Gold Traders Most Bullish in Month on Bernanke Clues
  Gold traders are the most bullish in a month after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled record stimulus will continue until the economy improves.
• Analysts: Stocks Have More Room To Rise
  The Standard & Poor's 500 Index may have jumped 17 percent so far this year and 148 percent from its March 2009 low, but that doesn't mean it won't keep rising, experts say.

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