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TAKE NOTE
Prices Going Up
More small businesses are raising prices than at almost any other
time on record, according to the National Federation of Independent
Business (NFIB), Washington, DC.
In November 2005, 26 percent of small business owners said they raised
average selling prices—four percent more than in October and
approaching the all-time high of 29 percent in the19-year history
of the NFIB survey (recorded in June 2004).
Looking ahead, 33 percent of small business owners said they plan
to raise prices over the next few months, 10 percent more than in
October.
Pump and Dump
There is such a thing as being too connected. Cell phone text messaging
has become the latest avenue for scams—including stock fraud.
The National Association of Securities Dealers is advising people
to ignore those “investor alert” text messages that tout
the latest hot stock tip. In “pump and dump” schemes perpetrators
tout small stocks in order to inflate the prices, then sell their
own shares at a profit. Unsuspecting investors stand to lose big when
the stock prices fall during the share dumping.
Web Sites Gain Where Newspapers Lose
The number of users of on- line classified advertising services increased
80 percent last year, says a report released in late November by the
Pew Internet and American Life Project. The report was based on data
gathered by comScore Media Metrix.
In one case, an online classified services reported almost nine million
visitors, a 165 percent increase from a year earlier.
That’s bad news for the nation’s newspaper, which have
long been the dominate source for classified advertising. |
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