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An increasing number of consumers are aiming to score grocery bargains by searching online for coupons and using smart phones or other mobile devices to compare prices and get discounts while shopping, according to the industry trade publication Progressive Grocer. 
 
It’s no wonder more people are looking for ways to trim their grocery bill when you consider the most recent Consumer Price Index figures on hikes in food costs.

The fresh fruits and vegetable price index was up 4.6 percent in March, accounting for more than 60 percent of the seasonally adjusted monthly increases for all items in the Consumer Price Index, which is compiled by the U.S. Bur Full Post…

Joblessness rose by 53,000 to 2.51 million over the three months to March.

However, the total number of people claiming unemployment benefits decreased by 27,100 in April compared to the previous month, according to official figures.

John Philpott, chief economic adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, says: ‘If David Cameron’s incoming coalition government wanted reminding about the economic policy challenge that lies ahead, it need look no further than today’s dire official jobs figures.

‘Combining the critically important task of cutting the fiscal deficit with the equally important challenge of restoring full employment will provide Cameron and his coalition partners with their sternest test.’

The Centre for Economics and Business Research, a think tank, suggesta that further rises in unemployment were inevitable as the Treasury prepares to cut £6 billion from government budgets. Private fi

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US coal giant Peabody Energy is citing the proposed resources super profits tax and the results of due diligence as the reasons for a reduction in its takeover bid for Macarthur Coal.

Peabody reduced its bid for Macarthur to $15 per share today, valuing the company at $3.815 billion, having earlier offered $16 per share, or $4.069 billion.

Since Peabody made its offer of $16 cash per Macarthur share on April 15, Macarthur’s share price has fallen more than 12 per cent, and it closed on Monday at $13.38.

The share price drop came after the federal government announced plans for a resources super profits tax, and a broader downturn in stocks in response to fears related to the Greek debt crisis.

A Peabody spokeswoman said the $16 offer was made in good faith, but was revised in light of Australia’s proposed new tax and after conducting due diligence.

“The definitive proposal delivers a clear, compelling and significant premium for Macarthur shareholders,” Peabody said in a statement.

Peabody made an original bid at $13 per Macarthur share, which was increased to $14 and later to $16.

Patersons Securities analyst Andrew Harrington said it was a highly unusual move for a bidder to reduce the highest offer after it was made. Full Post…

I recently wrote about the fact that my wife and I were buying some Series I Savings Bonds. Following that post, I received several inquiries as to the differences between the two main flavors of savings bonds, known as “I Bonds” and “EE Bonds.” What follows is a brief comparison of the two.

Investment returns

As I’ve noted in the past, the I Bond interest rate is made up of two components, a fixed rate and a variable rate. The variable rate is intended to reflect recent inflation rates (CPI-U), whereas the fixed rate essentially represents a premium over inflation.

In the case of EE Bonds, your investment is subject to a fixed rate of return that is set at purchase. Things ca

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RECORD prices make big headlines. And they don’t come bigger than the story of Christie’s sale in New York on May 4th in which eight private collectors, including one Russian and another from Asia, fought over a richly coloured portrait Pablo Picasso painted of his young mistress during an unusual spurt of creativity in the spring of 1932, when he was 50 years old.

“Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” had belonged to the same American family since 1951. It had been shown just once in public and had only ever been photographed in black-and-white. The five-foot-high painting sold for $106.5m, the second $100m-plus price achieved for a work of art at auction this year (see article). (Albert

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