News Digest for October 13, 2006

There are 7 items… SEC Delays Access Hearing | CEO Confidence Declines, The Conference Board Reports | Jasdaq, Nasdaq consider alliance | Price war erupts as Bank of America offers free online stock trades | Multimedia on IR Websites | Online Annual Reports – of Spinach and Popeye | Business change to lure Muslim investors

SEC Delays Access Hearing
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has postponed consideration of proxy access from Oct. 18 until Dec. 13.

CEO Confidence Declines, The Conference Board Reports
This is the first time the measure has dipped below 50 in nearly five years, when it was at 40 in the final quarter of 2001.

Jasdaq, Nasdaq consider alliance
Japanese high technology-oriented stock exchange Jasdaq said Friday it is in talks with its U.S. counterpart, Nasdaq, about a possible alliance that might allow mutual listing of companies on each other’s markets.

Price war erupts as Bank of America offers free online stock trades
Bank of America (BAC) stunned the online brokerage industry Wednesday by offering free stock trades to anyone who has $25,000 in a checking, savings or money market account at the bank. That came just days after Ontario, Calif.-based upstart Zecco.com offered free trades to anyone with a $2,500 account.

Multimedia on IR Websites
As the wider internet develops, so IR web sites are adapting, too – incorporating audio, video and animation in interesting and innovative ways.

Online Annual Reports – of Spinach and Popeye
Having said that, both companies and investors recognize that annual reports are to the financial world what spinach is to young children – very good for you but difficult to swallow. Interactive reports can help us to love annual reports in the same way Popeye convinced a generation of children that spinach was delicious – or at least made you very strong.

Business change to lure Muslim investors
By following financial rules that are part of the Islamic code called Shariah, Caribou is among a small but growing list of Western businesses looking to make themselves as attractive as possible to Muslim investors.

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