Our Business News

Quick, what’s your credit score? Don’t know? Don’t care? You should. If you’ve been turned down for loans or received high interest rates from lenders, your credit may be, well, bad. The good news? You can fix it. You really can. But there’s no magic formula. There are, however, some concrete steps you can take to turn your credit situation around. Begin by understanding what contributes to your current score and follow the four steps outlined below to change course. “What is bad credit, anyway?” Bad credit means that you have negative items or limited entries on your credit report [...]

NEW YORK Cisco Systems Inc. fell 2% in premarket trades on Friday after J.P. Morgan analysts cut their rating on the networking technology firm to neutral from overweight, and slashed their price target to $ 17 a share from $ 21 a share. “We…expect 2013 to be a tough year as macro pressures persist,” analyst Rod Hall said in a note to clients. Cisco is facing weak enterprise and government spending as well as economic uncertainty in Europe, analysts noted. “We believe battered telco equipment names like Ciena Corp. and smartphone and tablet-geared Qualcomm Inc. look incrementally better for 2013,” analysts said.

Just weeks after the election, President Barack Obama will be faced with a pivotal decision on oil sanctions on Iran, in which he will have to balance the need to stay tough on Tehran without pushing oil prices too high. In considering whether to extend a new series of six-month exemptions to Washington’s oil sanctions, the administration must decide whether China, India, South Korea and other nations have done enough to wean themselves from Iranian oil. Forcing cuts that are too aggressive could fuel a new rally in oil prices, benefiting Iran and hurting allies. Accepting meager cuts risks criticism [...]

PARIS European Union leaders face two months of tough bargaining on money, power and the future governance of the euro zone before they can boost confidence that the existential threat to the single currency has faded. The European Central Bank’s pledge to buy the bonds of struggling euro zone countries in unlimited amounts has changed the terms of Europe’s debt crisis. Yet French President Francois Hollande may have been a little premature in declaring a turning point last week after another night of summit negotiation yielded a deal for a euro zone banking regulator to be launched next year. “We [...]

Dear Dr. Don, I have an individual retirement account with the bank. With the economy the way it is, it has taken every cent that I have to pay the bills while raising two kids on my own. I work in construction, and everyone knows how that work has fallen off in this economy. My car has broken down and I need to buy another one, but I don’t have the income to pay the current bills plus a car payment. So what do I have to do and how much will it cost me to make an early IRA [...]

French President Francois Hollande has revealed a tough first budget, with some saying financial war has been declared. The French budget for 2013 has been heralded as the tightest since the Second World WarHollande has said he would break the spiral of debt while safeguarding benefitsThe new 45% income tax above 150,000 euros a year, this should raise 320 million eurosHollande hopes his budget will cut public deficit by 3% of GDP next yearEditor’s note: Agnes Poirier is a French journalist and political analyst who contributes regularly to newspapers, magazines and TV in the UK, U.S., France, Italy. Follow her [...]

Getting Finances Under Control Even in an age of belt-tightening and economic hardship, overspending is still as American as apple pie and infomercials. Americans owe $ 870 billion in revolving debt, according to the Federal Reserve. Even worse, much of that debt is on credit cards, which charge an average of 14.5% in annual interest, according to Bankrate data from early August. Still, it’s not as if chronic overspenders don’t know they have a problem. Every year, millions of Americans buy personal finance books, tune in to personal finance gurus and make grand plans to put overspending in check. Some even [...]

SAN FRANCISCO Shares of Dell Inc. fell 4% in after-hours trading on Tuesday after the company revised its full-year forecast. The company said it now expects adjusted earnings of $ 1.70 a share. ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall noted that’s lower than the prior guidance of “above $ 2.13,” and also lower than the Street expectation of $ 1.90 a share. In a statement, Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden said, “Growth in our PC business was challenging, as we saw a tough macroeconomic and competitive environment, and continued to focus on higher-value solutions in this business.”

Click to watch videoEditor’s note: Outlook is CNNs in-depth look at business climates around the world. To August 12, 2012, we’re focusing on Singapore.Singapore – Singapore may rock when economic crises hit Europe or the U.S., but it is well placed to come through turbulent times, Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS bank, told Richard Quest. “Singapore gets buffeted quite widely,” he said, as its economy is closely correlated with the fortunes of the U.S., Europe and, to a degree, China. The CEO of the Singapore-based bank since 2009, Gupta believes that the way the Singaporean government guides industry makes the [...]