Households’ Economic Outlook Appears to Brighten; Shoppers are Tapping, Typing and Tweeting in the Store and Online NEW YORK, May 19, 2010 – Consumers are becoming confident about the economic recovery and their finances are on the mend, according to a new survey of consumer retail spending and trends from Deloitte. More than half...

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PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup’s Job Creation Index finds current job market conditions nationwide to be the best they have been since November 2008. Nationally, the Job Creation Index for April — based on 16,171 U.S. employees’ self-reports of hiring and firing activity at their workplaces — shows that employees’ perceptions improved to +5 —...

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From USA Today: In this day and age, do you really need a business plan? After all, everyone’s in a hurry. In a world of 140 character tweets, can you really expect anyone to read a 30 page written business plan? Even if you’re courting investors, couldn’t you just send them a few slides...

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(KANSAS CITY, Mo.), May 20, 2010 – Rather than making history for its deep recession and record unemployment, 2009 might instead be remembered as the year business startups reached their highest level in 14 years – even exceeding the number of startups during the peak 1999-2000 technology boom. According to the Kauffman Index of...

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LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A large number of private business owners would take a business risk (91%) vs. maintaining the status quo (9%) and, at the same time, half (49%) said they rely on “gut feel” to make investment decisions according to a study from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management. The...

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Longer Term Extension Still Sought WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama signed legislation April 15 providing $80 million in additional funding to continue important enhancements in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s two key small business loan programs. The enhancements, first made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, include a higher guarantee on some...

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Economic data for the first quarter of 2010 from the nation’s largest business for sale database that suggests small business-for-sale transactions and valuations have continued to show signs of a slow but sure economic recovery. According to the BizBuySell.com Insight Report data, the number of closed transactions reported to BizBuySell.com in First Quarter 2010...

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The fee waiver and expanded guaranty levels for SBA 7(a) loans have once again been extended, this time until March 28.  New approvals begin March 10.  Efforts continue to extend the stimulus benefits through the end of 2010. Here is the full release: WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama signed legislation Tuesday extending until March...

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WASHINGTON – SBA issued the following statement today from Administrator Karen Mills regarding efforts to ensure continued funding for two key provisions in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) of 2009: “SBA’s most popular ARRA provisions – the increased guarantee and reduced fees in the two largest lending programs – have helped engineer...

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From the Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Virginia Fredericksburg.com The Leyland cypress trees outside Diane and Ted Clark’s Fredericksburg home provided a nice privacy fence. But the trees proved no match for the Feb. 5-6 storm, the second one this winter that dumped more than a foot of snow on the region. The storm knocked down...

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