money investing

UAE: Ipic allocates $10b for global investments

(MENAFN) The Managing Director at Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) said that the company has agreed to raise its investments to $10 billion in the oil and gas industry worldwide, Gulf News reported.

The managing director clarified that the new rise is in lien with Ipic's plans for regional and international acquisitions of oil companies, in addition to investing in new areas such as liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The company has several ongoing projects such as the Khalifa Point refinery in Pakistan, extending the Abu Dhabi-Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, which is a $1 billion construction project and a $1.36 billion extension of Borouge (Abu Dhabi Polymers).
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Federal Jury Convicts A Kansas City Man For Committing $1.5 ...

Kansas City, MO (AHN) - A federal jury handed down a guilty verdict to a man for a series of fraudulent schemes that took $1.5 million from savings accounts Wednesday.

Jason E. Branch, Sr., 42, of Grandview, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, along with additional counts of mail fraud and money laundering.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in U.S. District Court in Kansas City deliberated three hours before returning the guilty verdict to U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner, ending a trial that began April 30, 2007.

From Jan. 1, 2003 to March 30, 2005, Branch convinced many of his victims to withdraw money from their retirement plans and savings accounts in order to invest in one of Branch's fraudulent schemes.

investing strategy

No need to rush into stock market

Would-be stock investors who see a buying opportunity amid the prevailing gloom and doom on the local political front could be disappointed, some analysts say.

Risk remains high and a wait-and-see approach to stocks is the most prudent course, says Adipong Puttarawigorm, the chief investment strategist at SCB Securities.

His view is that things will get worse before they get better so there's no rush to jump into the Stock Exchange of Thailand yet, he said at Money Expo 2007, which concluded yesterday.

''If it's not necessary, investors should avoid investing in stocks until the situation becomes much worse and everyone is desperate _ then there will be a buying opportunity. Right now, everything is so unclear and the temperature is rising,'' Mr Adipong said.

smart brokers

Beyond Brokerage Getting Some Help With the AMT

TAX TIME IS ALL over but the pouting. But for many members of the so-called mass affluent investing bracket, the April 17 deadline raised the specter of the alternative minimum tax, the formula that increasingly is an unwelcome fact of life in millions of moderately wealthy households.

It's unwelcome because it cuts out many of the itemized deductions that ease the pain of being in the top federal income tax bracket of 35%. While it's a complex formula, the most obvious difference in the way the AMT is calculated is that it eliminates the federal deduction for state and local income taxes, boosting one's overall tax liability. Since the feds require people to pay the highest calculated tax rate, and the numbers used to determine who's liable for the AMT haven't been changed in the 37 years since it was passed, it's easy to see why it's loathed by many.