We Won An Award

WSJ Guide to the 50 Economic Indicators that Really Matter.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"The WSJ Guide to the 50 Economic Indicators That Really Matter"A Winner in 2012 Small Business Book Awards

Cleveland, OH, February 17, 2012 - "The WSJ Guide to the 50 Economic Indicators That Really Matter" has been voted a Winner for a 2012 Small Business Book Award, in the category of Economics.

The Small Business Book Awards recognize business books that were published in 2011. Small business owners often seek advice and information through books. While there are many thousands of books published each year, it's those of interest to small businesses and entrepreneurs that the Small Business Book Awards seek to honor.

"With so many books being published each year, we wanted to recognize those that made a difference to small business owners and managers and startup entrepreneurs," said Ivana Taylor, Book Editor at Small Business Trends, which produces the Awards. "Our annual Small Business Book Awards are a way to highlight the books that entrepreneurs are reading and learning from."

The Awards are an honor to the authors who write books for the small business and entrepreneurial community. Says Anita Campbell, CEO of Small Business Trends, "For many of the authors, writing a book is a labor of love. Often they get up early in the morning before the rest of the family awakes, and they devote their evenings, weekends, holidays and vacations to writing. They deserve recognition."

About the Small Business Book Awards

The Small Business Book Awards, now in its fourth year, enable the small business community to nominate, show their support for, and vote on their favorite business books. The top 10 winners will be selected by readers based on number of votes as the Best Small Business Books of 2012, while the top five vote-getters in each category become Category Winners. Voting commences February 1, 2012. In last year's Awards, over 41,000 votes were cast by the community.

The Small Business Book Awards initiative is produced by Small Business Trends, an award-winning online publication, which along with its sister sites, serves over 4,000,000 small business owners, stakeholders and entrepreneurs annually.

CONTACT:

Small Business Trends
admin@smallbiztrends.com
Twitter hashtag: #BizBookAwards

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Barron's: Baltic Dry: Not Washed Up

By SIMON CONSTABLE

News that the Baltic Dry Index is sunk as an economic indicator is much exaggerated.

The index—which measures the cost to haul dry freight over the world's oceans—has merely run aground after getting hit with a shipping-market tsunami. Don't worry. It will right itself soon enough–and should once again become a useful forecasting tool, as early as the end of the year.

The cost of shipping dry commodities, such as coal, iron ore and grains, forms the basis for the BDI. When more raw materials are shipped, it is because they are needed to be made into finished products. Also, when more of them are shipped, the price of chartering a vessel increases. That makes the index a gauge of industrial expansion. Link to Barrons.com

Cargo Ship

Photo by Jens Rademacher on Unsplash

News on WSJ Guide to Economic Indicators...

We're going to be translated into Japanese. Here's a sneak peak of what will be translated...

WSJ: Topsy-Turvy Money Ideas to Set You Right

By SIMON CONSTABLE

When the financial world looks upside down—and news out of Europe and Washington suggests it is that bad—maybe it's time to follow suit and turn your money habits topsy-turvy as well.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, there are some regular money moves that are better done at the beginning of the year rather than the end. Read more Here are five bog ones.

Photo by Huey Images on Unsplash

We're Up for an Award -- Help Us Win

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The book Robert E. Wright and I wrote, The WSJ Guide to the 50 Economic Indicators that Really Matter, is up for an award.

You can help us win by clicking on this link and voting. You can vote once per day.

WSJ: How to Play the Five Big 'What Ifs' of 2012

By SIMON CONSTABLE

When it comes to investing, 2012 isn't the year to do nothing and just hope for the best.

Yes, there are some mammoth-sized unknowns out there that could hurt your returns. But when the biggest "what ifs" are resolved, you could also profit, if you play it right.

Here's how to tackle the five scenarios that are keeping Wall Street investors awake at night:‬

1 What if Europe gets worse?

No matter how much investors might desire it, Europe's economic mess just won't go away. But the big fear is that it will deteriorate even more before it gets better.
"Europe getting worse is a disaster for everything but the safest investments," says Milton Ezrati, market strategist at Jersey City, N.J.-based money-management firm Lord Abbett. Read more here.

Photo by Danielle Rice on Unsplash

NBR: If You Think Europe Was Bad Last Year, Just Wait...

By SIMON CONSTABLE

If you think things were messy in Europe in 2011, then just wait for this year. I`ve been talking about the euro`s crisis for three years, but I expect the fourth year to be the most explosive. Here`s why — a battle has been set up between European government elites, who want to keep the single European currency and the European taxpayers, who are being asked to endure financial hardship in order to keep the currency. Those taxpayers, those people lucky enough to have jobs, aren`t that happy about those hardships.

Nevertheless, the elected and unelected elites of Europe seem hell- bent on forcing the euro and the austerity upon their people. In 2011, we saw Greece burn due to those cutbacks. The elites see the euro as a way to make Europe more like America, with its single currency, the dollar. They do have a point — single currencies have huge economic advantages. But in democracies, we are governed by consent and there`s the problem — that consent is being tested, more so this year, likely because Europe will fall into a deep recession with even more pain. My worry — it won`t be just Greece that burns, but instead the entire Eurozone. I hope I`m wrong.

Read more here.