There’s still time to cut your tax bill for 2011.
I found yet another helpful article for year end tax tips.
Year-end tax tips to maximize your money-From MarketWatch
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/year-end-tax-tips-to-maximize-your-money-2011-12-14?pagenumber=2
2) In the Markets today:
U.S. stocks fell, as a tumble in the euro currency and rising borrowing costs for Italy kept investor anxiety levels elevated. Leading the declines were energy stocks, as oil prices tumbled.
Stocks plunge on concerns euro deal isn't enough-From USA Today
US stocks closed sharply lower after two rating agencies criticized a European fiscal pact announced last week that aims to ease the region's debt crisis.
Fitch Ratings said the deal to bind Europe's budgets more closely will make little difference. The region will face "a significant economic downturn" as it wrestles with its sovereign debt crisis for another year or more, Fitch predicted.
The Dow Jones industrial average dove as many as 243 points in afternoon trading before closing down 163. Intel Corp. dragged the Dow lower, falling 4 percent after the chipmaker said its fourth-quarter revenue will be lower than expected because of supply chain problems. Intel is considered a bellwether for the computer industry because its chips are used in a wide range of products.
The euro hit a 10-week low against the dollar, plunging nearly 2 cents. Yields on Italian bonds rose as investors fretted about that nation's debt burden. European stocks fell.
Moody's Investors Service said that it will review the credit ratings of all European Union nations in the first quarter of next year. The statement doused optimism among investors that had lifted stocks and other risky assets late last week.
The summit produced "few new measures" and Europe remains in a "critical and volatile stage," Moody's said in a published report. The pact, Moody's noted, does not address Europe's immediate problem: the crushing debt loads of some nations and their rising borrowing costs.
The agreement "kicks off a process that has a chance of solving the next crisis, not this one," said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. "The problem is the changes they've agreed to go toward solving the root of current problems 12 months from now."
Stocks fell broadly, with declines across all 10 industry groups in the Standard & Poor's 500 index and 28 of the 30 stocks in the Dow.
The Dow closed down 162.87 points, or 1.3%, at 12,021.39. The S&P 500 lost 18.72, or 1.5%, to close at 1,236.47. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 34.59, or 1.3%, to close at 2,612.26.
About four stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was very light at 3.35 billion shares.
Financial stocks had some of the steepest declines. Investors fear that big banks might be damaged by the turmoil in Europe. Morgan Stanley fell 6.1%, Citigroup Inc. 5.4%. Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. posted the biggest and third-biggest losses in the Dow 30, falling 4.7% and 3.4%, respectively.
The warning from Moody's helped deflate optimism about last week's pact, which called for tougher fiscal discipline among European countries and a central authority with the ability to punish those that spend too much.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.02% from 2.07% late Friday, indicating stronger demand for low-risk investments. Bond yields fall as demand for them increases.
Fears that Italy or Spain will default reduced demand for their government bonds, driving their yields higher and pushing their borrowing costs near the dangerous levels that forced Greece, Portugal and Ireland to take bailouts. The yield on the 10-year Italian bond rose to 6.53%. Greece and Portugal were forced to seek bailouts from their creditors when their bond yields approached 7%.
Stocks in Italy led European markets to a much lower close. Italy's main index closed down 3.8%. Germany's DAX lost 3.4% and Spain's fell 3.1%.
3) Top financial story of the day:
Data on sales of previously owned U.S. homes from 2007 through October this year will be revised down next week because of double counting, indicating a much weaker housing market than previously thought.
Existing home sales to be revised lower-From CNN Money
If you thought the U.S. housing market couldn't get much worse, think again.
Far fewer homes have been sold over the past five years than previously estimated, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday.
NAR said it plans to downwardly revise sales of previously-owned homes going back to 2007 during the release of its next existing home sales report on Dec. 21.
NAR's existing home sales numbers, released monthly, are a closely followed gauge of the health of the housing market.
While NAR hasn't revealed exactly how big the revision to home sales will be, the agency's chief economist Lawrence Yun said the decrease will be "meaningful."
"For the real estate business, this means the housing market's downturn was deeper than what was initially thought," Yun said.
Yun said the database NAR uses to track existing home sales, the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), has led the real estate agency to over-count existing home sales for several reasons.
The MLS database only includes home sales listed by realtors, and excludes homes listed by owners, providing a very narrow view of the market. And because more people are using realtors to list their homes instead of selling them independently, realtor-listed sales numbers have become artificially inflated, said Yun.
NAR used in calculating its data have become outdated, since they were based on 2000 Census data.
The MLS has also been expanding its geographic coverage, so it may have appeared that there were more home sales simply because data from new areas were starting to show up. Also because of this geographic expansion, the system has been double-counting sales of some homes that can be considered part of multiple regions.
First-time homebuyers guide
"Colorado Springs has their own database, but because the Denver market is nearby they may also list that home in the Denver database, so when the home gets sold, both Denver and Colorado Springs will say sales rose -- so that's genuine double-counting," said Yun.
Yun said NAR realized this upward "shift" in data during its most recent re-benchmarking process this year. With the help of the government, economists and other real estate groups, NAR has now taken these factors into account and will issue revised numbers on Dec. 21 at 10 a.m.
"There are multifaceted reasons why things were drifting upward in our database," said Yun. "We have tried to adjust for all these factors so that we have a better understanding of total home sales in America."
Yun emphasized that the revisions will have no impact on consumers because median home price data will not be revised.
4) Quote of the Day from Dave Ramsey.com:
Nobody cleared a path for themselves by giving up. — Alacia Bessette
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