| Winning the credit card reward game
Michael Cheng and his wife, Nicole, each have four credit cards in their wallets. A Post-it note on the top left corner of each card lets them know which one to use for what.
The Chase rewards card is for groceries, gasoline and drugstore purchases. The Chase business card is for gas stations, home improvement and office-supply stores and restaurants. The Discover card is for restaurants and movies. The Farm Bureau Bank card is for everything else.
In return for their purchases, they get checks or gift cards: 5 percent cash back from the Chase rewards card, 3 percent from Chase business, 5 percent from Discover and an amount equal to 1 percent from the Farm Bureau.
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Gaming N ews
ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRMP) (the "Company") today reported its results for the quarter ended September 30, 2007 and other related news. In making the announcement, Mark Juliano, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, said, "We are pleased that we were able to achieve stable financial results during the quarter compared to last year despite the challenges the Atlantic City gaming market is currently facing, which led to a 6.2% marketplace decline in gross gaming revenue during the quarter. We are working diligently to further improve our business in this changing marketplace, and we are pleased with the positive results from the Taj Mahal and Plaza resulting from efforts under our strategic operating plan. The Marina has been disproportionately impacted by the increased competition and, as a result, we are currently taking aggressive steps by dedicating additional resources to improve the Marina's performance." CONSOLIDATED RESULTS Net revenues have been impacted by increased competition from new gaming facilities in Pennsylvania and New York, an aggressive promotional environment in Atlantic City and the partial smoking ban in Atlantic City effective on April 15, 2007.
Local agriculture office on chopping block
The Henderson County office of the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency in Athens, remains on a list of those that may be closed. Texas is currently in a two- part streamlining initiative that is paring down the number of agency offices. The Freestone County office in Fairfield was one of 13 closed in late October with customers of that office directed to take their business to Limestone County.FSA Regional Public Affairs Director Brenda Carlson said the fate of the Henderson County office has not been determined, but closure is still a possibility. "When U.S.D.A. Secretary Michael Johanns resigned and acting Secretary Charles Conner was appointed, at that time Henderson County was still being considered. As far as Farm Service Agency is concerned, it is, in fact, still being considered by the office of the secretary," Carlson said.
Stocks slip into the red
Stocks turned lower in Friday morning trade on troubling earnings news and concerns that the Federal Reserve may not continue to cut interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average (Charts) fell about 0.1 percent an hour into the session. The broader S&P 500 index (Charts) lost 0.3 percent, while the tech-fueled Nasdaq (Charts) slipped over 0.6 percent. Helping to send stocks lower were remarks by Federal Reserve Gov. Randall Kroszner, who hinted that the central bank may not continue to lower interest even if the economy worsens. "The current stance of monetary policy should help the economy get through the rough patch during the next year," Kroszner said in prepared remarks at a conference in New York. Also hurting stocks was troubling news from package delivery firm FedEx (Charts, Fortune 500), which cut its earnings outlook Friday, citing higher fuel costs and a strained U.S.
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