Most Americans say that if the price of gas rises to between $4 to $6 a gallon, they're going to make "major" changes in lifestyle. Well, get ready to change, America: In some states prices have already touched the $4 mark. But it could be ever so much worse.
Consumer activists are pushing bank regulators to allow people to take their account numbers with them when they switch banks, just like cellphone numbers. Such account number portability might encourage banks to treat customers better because it would make it easier for them to leave.
The big winners of 2010 scored returns far above those of U.S. markets by piggybacking on China's ferocious growth. But rebounding American equities look mighty impressive next to the year's real losers: the victims of the eurozone debt crisis.
ING Investment Management forecasts that stock markets will rise between 8% and 12% in 2011, thanks to a low-inflation, low-interest environment supported by the Fed, despite weak GDP growth. And for those looking for to increase their investment yields, they have a few suggestions.
While investors are focused on the downside of Europe's austerity moves and the euro's decline, they're missing the upside: Exports are rising, and a weaker euro should propel them higher, offsetting the soft demand that will result from budget cuts.
After a spokesman for Hungary's new government said it might default on its debts, investors battered European stocks and Hungary's currency, the forint. And the euro got pushed below $1.20 for the first time in four years.