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Exxon Mobil (XOM) gives boost to student achievement

Posted Aug 28th 2009 5:00PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Good news, Products and services, Exxon Mobil (XOM)

Exxon Mobil Advanced Placement trainingStudents from 12 high schools in Alabama have been benefiting from a education program founded by the world's largest oil company, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM).

Students in the Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Programs in Alabama's Jefferson County and Montgomery saw a very impressive 81% increase in passing scores in Advanced Placement math classes.

Continue reading Exxon Mobil (XOM) gives boost to student achievement

Forget stocks, go for the parakeet: What kids are learning about Wall Street

Posted Oct 29th 2008 11:25AM by Sarah Gilbert (RSS feed)
Filed under: Getting started, , Comic Relief

Most winners in play-money investing games end up wishing they'd invested real dollars. Not in this year's Stock Market Game for students in grades four through 12, run by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Well, except for that team that shorted Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) in late September; they managed to more than double their fake money.

The lessons learned may be exactly the opposite of those the Securities Industry board had hoped.

The kids started the game shortly after school began this fall, so most students have experienced a steep slide in their faux portfolios. One student had it worse: he played the game last year and decided to try it out this year with real money, saving his birthday and Christmas money to buy into a mutual fund. Now he's afraid to open his statements (his fund is down 44.9% this year).

Michael Ashworth, a 13-year-old Delaware middle schooler interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, had been getting excited about investing and had asked his mother for stocks for Christmas. After the market downturn? "I told her not to do it. I asked for a parakeet instead," he said.

Perhaps the rest of us would do well to follow the lead of Mr. Ashworth. If not a parakeet, perhaps a flock of chickens?

Back-to-school shopping season has started

Posted Jul 9th 2008 3:58PM by Eliza Popescu (RSS feed)
Filed under: Consumer experience, Marketing and advertising, Staples Inc (SPLS)

They say it's never too early to start getting ready for the upcoming school year, and Tuesday, Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) announced it was officially kicking off the back-to-school shopping season. This came as a reaction to a survey showing that parents would indeed like to know when they could start finding school supplies on store shelves.

And what can be easier than establishing an official start to the back-to-school shopping season? Based on the example of Black Friday, which announces the start of the winter holiday shopping season, Staples followed the same logic and decided to declare July 8 as the official opening day of the 2008 back-to-school shopping season. Staples is serious about setting an official precedent, and celebrated it by ringing the bell to open the NASDAQ Tuesday.

"Staples is giving parents a clear road map of where and when to the find the best products and deals this season," the company stated. But the more apparent reality is that the current economic environment has consumers more closely watching their spending, while at the same time stores are trying to do anything they can to get shoppers through the doors.

Continue reading Back-to-school shopping season has started

Students loan rates could rise as credit crunch hits student loan-backed bonds

Posted Feb 12th 2008 3:15PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), SLM Corp (SLM)

Undergrad and graduate students may soon be feeling the pinch of the subprime mortgage default-induced credit crunch.

Securities tied to student loans have failed to generate investors' interest, leaving roughly $3 billion in a sort of limbo, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday (subscription required).

Typically, the banks involved in the deal -- in this case Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), J. P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) -- would step in to buy the securities when demand is weak. However, because the major banks are already flush with loans and bonds they're trying to get rid of, they have been allowing the auctions to fail, The Journal reported.

Student loan manager Sallie Mae (NYSE: SLM) fell 42 cents to $19.73 on the news in Tuesday morning trading.

Bond demand is weak

The auction process is similar to those held for municipal bonds, corporate debt and other debt securities. However, Wall Street is not obligated to step in and buy student loan-backed securities when demand is weak.

Continue reading Students loan rates could rise as credit crunch hits student loan-backed bonds

Kids and money: Clueless but confident

Posted Apr 25th 2007 2:56PM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Internet, Scandals, Columns

As Barack Obama said in a recent speech, "Eighty percent of African-American teens in a city like Washington think that they'll be rich and over half think they'll be famous." Assuming that these optimistic predictions hold true in other cities and among other groups, it's clear that young people have pretty optimistic hopes for their future. If only their competence matched their confidence.

According to a recent survey (PDF - may take a minute to load) released by Schwab and written up on Yahoo! by Carrie Schwab Pomerantz, 73% believe they'll be earning "plenty of money" when they're out on their own. Based on the career that interests them most, teens believe they'll be earning an average annual salary of $145,500.

Continue reading Kids and money: Clueless but confident

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Last updated: November 10, 2009: 06:53 PM

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