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It's Only Money

By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator

Dallas, TX – It's Friday, so "It's Only Money," a review of the big and not-so-big stories of the week. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.

On the Dow, triple digits on the downside, triple digits on the upside, economic news worse-than-expected, economic news better-than-expected, and that was just this week. The key for technicians, those that look at charts, the Dow must close above the eight-thousand mark.

All kinds of companies are slashing their previous earning forecasts. Phillip Morris Companies cut this year's outlook - in half. Many more people than they anticipated have quit smoking or are buying fewer packs of cigarettes. Good for you. Sales volume in the U.S. is down.

Health factors might have taken a back seat to the cost factor. Many states have increased the sales tax on cigarettes as an indirect incentive to get people to quit. It's simply cost prohibitive.

The insurance crisis in Texas continues, with Farmers pulling their homeowner's policies out of the state. Now if Farmers is your carrier, take a deep breath. By law, Farmers cannot cancel your policy mid-term. According to the Texas Department of insurance, it must wait until your policy's anniversary expiration date. And then Farmers is required to give you a full 30 days notice before declining to renew your policy. Trust me, there will be much more on this next week.

Though the film industry in North Texas got a real blow this week with the closing of the DFW Regional Film Commission, Performing Arts in Dallas got a huge booster shot. Seven area banks, forming the Dallas Leadership Banking Partnership, will help fund the much-needed creation of a downtown performing arts center. The Dallas Theatre Center and the Dallas Opera will also be recipients of some extra funding.

And it was $44,000 for the titled neon E for Enron. Too bad there's not an engine in it. The new Mercedes Benz E-class is yours for anywhere from $40,000 to $71,000. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.

Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.