• You gotta "like" this.

    According to the U.S. justice system your "likes" on Facebook are protected by the first amendment - free speech now applies to the social networking site.

    It's difficult to imagine judges arguing about the nuances of Facebook (FB) but it happened in Hampton, Virginia where a deputy sheriff claims he was fired after "liking" the page of his bosses opponent in the race for city sheriff. According to court papers, after learning of the Facebook "likes" the Sheriff told his deputy, "you've make your bed now you're going to lie in it, after the election you're out of here."

    Related: Facebook’s Back: Shares Top $38 IPO Price

    The appeals court decision partially reverses a previous district ruling that claimed the "liking" of a Facebook page was insufficient "speech to merit constitutional protection." In his reversal, U.S. Circuit Judge William Traxler wrote that liking a political candidates page is the "internet equivalent of displaying a political sign in one's

    Read More »from Facebook “Likes” Are Now Legally Protected Speech
  • The next time there is a bubble in stocks, or the housing market, or in any asset class really, you can blame your neighbor. And your colleagues at work. Maybe even your hairdresser. California Institute of Technology researchers employed neuroscience to explain why certain assets are driven to exorbitant prices. What they found: individuals are more likely to make irrational decisions when trying to determine how others will behave. Blame biology.

    Brain scans of study participants who engaged in mock trading showed a higher flow of blood to the brain’s frontal cortex, an area that is responsible for processing value judgments and social cues.

    Study co-author Benedetto De Martino sums up the experiment this way:

    “In a bubble situation, people start to see the market as a strategic opponent and shift the brain processes they’re using to make financial decisions,” he said. “They start trying to imagine how the other traders will behave and this leads them to modify their judgment of how

    Read More »from Blame Biology For Stock Market Bubbles
  • Wealthy Women Lack Investing Confidence, Says Study

    A new study of affluent women is out and the results will surprise you.

    41% of women -- with $455,000 in investable assets and $145,000 in household income -- say they are "not at all confident in their ability to invest." That's according to the Wells Fargo Affluent Women Retirement Survey just published this morning.

    Various studies have suggested that women are more risk averse than men, which of course might be a good thing when it comes to stock market investing. Wells Fargo director of retail retirement Karen Wimbish says one of the big takeaways from the study is that women are not pushing towards an ultimate investment return at the expense of everything else -- "peace of mind" is more important.

    Wimbish tells The Daily Ticker: "I would characterize [the study] as a little good news, bad news. 41% said they are not at all confident in their investing ability. Another 48% said 'I'm somewhat confident.' Only 8% said 'I'm really feeling good about my ability to invest.'" So

    Read More »from Wealthy Women Lack Investing Confidence, Says Study
  • The Fed may just have delivered an early Christmas present to the financial markets. After the Fed announced it would not taper its asset purchases, as many investors had expected, financial markets rallied, from stocks to bonds and even gold. While the S&P 500 surged 1.2% to a record high yesterday, gold prices have soared 5% and are at $1,367 an ounce in early morning trading Thursday.

    In a statement following its meeting the Fed said it "decided to await more evidence that [economic] progress will be sustained before adjusting the pace of purchases." Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke explained in a press conference, “Conditions in the job market today still are far from what all of us would like to see," and “the tightening of financial conditions observed in recent months, if sustained, could slow the pace of improvement in the economy and the labor market.”

    In response to Bernanke's comments, gold – which had been retreating in part because of expectations of tapering – is on a tear this

    Read More »from Jim Rogers: Gold Could Fall to $900 in Next 1-2 Years

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