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While U.S. stocks closed lower today, S&P posted its biggest first quarter gain since ‘99, and the Nasdaq its best since 2000. All new data points towards a resilient economy, and the future does look bright.

Today, the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 41.38 or 0.4% to 11,109.32, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed down 5.42 or 0.4% to 1,294.83, and the Nasdaq composite index closed down 1.03 to 2,339.79. For the quarter, the Dow gained around 3.7%, the S&P gained 3.7% and the Nasdaq closed up 6.1%. This has been the best first-quarter performance since 2000, when the Nasdaq gained 12.3%.

Market breadth was mixed. On the New York Stock Exchange. Losers barely topped winners on volume of 1 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers edged out decliners as 1.3 billion shares exchanged hands.

Market sentiment took a turn for the better after release of data showing a rise in consumer spending in February, and a modest increase in personal incomes. This is a factor that eased wage-inflation fears. The prices component of the report, which is another gauge of inflation, came in unchanged. The consumer sentiment strengthened in late March, and the index rose to 88.9 points in late March from 86.7 in February. This is against the forecast 86.9. Orders for U.S. made manufactured goods rose a much weaker-than-expected 0.2% in February, against the expected rise of about 1.4%.

Shares of General Motors (NYSE: GM) initially fell over 3.4% before closing up $0.21 to $21.27. The United Auto Workers union said court approval to void the labor contract could lead to strike action. Delphi (OTC: DPHIQ.PK), filed motions in bankruptcy court to void its union contracts and said it was closing all but eight of its U.S. plants and looking to shed 28,000 workers. It said it would also seek to shed “unprofitable” supply contracts it currently has with General Motors Corp.

Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) closed down 1.2% at $40.60 after Prudential cuts its rating on the company to neutral weight from overweight, citing concerns over weakening demand. Germany’s SAP (NYSE: SAP) declined to comment on trader speculation that International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) is preparing an offer for the software company. U.S. listed shares of SAP closed up 40 cents at $54.32, while IBM shares finished down 73 cents at $82.47.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) has been charged by the Australian securities regulator with insider trading, over buying shares of Patrick Corp. (Nasdaq: PATK) one day before one of the bank’s clients, Toll Holdings, launched a takeover bid for the company. While Citigroup has denied the charges, its shares finished down 5 cents at $47.23.

Oil prices declined, but still ended the session near $67 a barrel. U.S. light crude oil for May delivery fell 52 cents to settle at $66.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Couple realizes Success Dream with Prosper Learning Coach

Dear Prosper,

There are just not enough words to tell you how much my coach and Prosper have helped Guy and I with our website and retirement dream.  When we made the commitment to sign up with prosper learning, we were both a bit apprehensive that we had taken on more than we could handle.  After all, neither one of us were “internet savvy.”  In fact we were both “scared” to venture out into the big world of the internet.  While the CD’s, articles, books and the Prosper  Web page are all very valuable resources, the most important resource we received was in our time spent with our coach. 

Our coach’s compassion, patience, and encouragement have given us the confidence that we too can be successful in an e-commerce business.  Furthermore, his knowledge, understanding and teaching skills has given us valuable tools so that we are not afraid anymore.  Not to mention the ability for us to be competitive in a very competitive market. 

When we began, Guy and I knew how to send and receive emails and research a few things, but for the most part we were clueless.  Our coach gave us a crash course in a foreign language, so that we are able to avoid the pitfalls and costly mistakes that ignorance befalls.  In other words, he has taught us the foreign language of E-vocabulary with real meaning.  As a result, we now have a professional E-commerce business which has invited Fortune 500 businesses as customers.   While we still have a great deal of learning to do, we are ever grateful for our coach’s ability to coach us step by step with patience and a sense of humor.

Thank you Prosper Learning and our coach for helping Guy and I not only to envision our dream, share the dream, but to live the dream. 

May you Prosper always. 

Cathy and Guy, Texas

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• Prosper Learning Business
  Prosper Learning Inc is experiencing dramatic growth

Too much email

Today, many of plan our day based on what is in our IN box.  Unfortunately, that IN box is often the inbox of our email.

Until a few months ago, I also was guilty of reminding myself to do something by sending myself an email.  But, this system, based on leaving email in your inbox until you are done with it just isn’t a reliable way to manage your days.

Here are a few options that I’ve tried and liked:

ClearContext
This email manager makes a lot of sense.  It almost automatically arranges your email by importance and autofiles your emails according to that status.

You can schedule emails on your calendar and even defer them until a later date, at which point they pop back up as a new email.

Accomplice
Recently shown at DEMO, this task manager/to do list is a great way to organize your life.  Of course, the fact that it applauds your finished job is great as well.

See Also

• Debt To Wealth
  Debt Strategies

Avoid making costly mistakes when marketing your business

If marketing wasn’t difficult enough, there’s nothing like wasting time with costly mistakes.  Be sure to print these helpful tips and keep them nearby when developing a smart marketing strategy.

Shake the Norm.  Be different and don’t ‘copy’ something you’ve seen.

Catch the Niche.  Be focused on your target audience and don’t try to be all things to everyone.

Be Careful with Your Budget.  Don’t use all your money on a one-shot deal hoping it will be the best thing since sliced bread.

Use the Internet.  Online marketing is essential even for brick and mortar companies.

Get your marketing focused and give it time to work.  Just like building a house, there are some things that have to be in place before you see the finished product.  Don’t rush and constantly evaluate.

See Also

• Referral Marketing Strategy
  Getting the word out virally
• Trump Success Secrets
  Enroll in Trump University

Cognos has added a number of new reporting capabilities to the latest version of its Business Intelligence application, as well as a new stand-alone search engine product that will be standard in future releases. Other new features in Cognos 8 include the ability to view Cognos 8 BI reports, analyses and metrics within Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel, and a series of Report Packs built to integrate with Siebel, including its back-end applications.

Stay up to date on the stock market

As a stock market investor, you can’t simply invest and forget.  To be successful you must keep an eye on your stocks and watch the movers and shakers every day.  There are a few great places, on and offline, that will help you keep in tune with the market. 

See Also

• Investing Your Stock
  Learn to invest
• Advice On Wealth Building
  Learn to prosper

Negotiating your 6% back

Real Estate agents commonly work for 6% commission.  While I don’t want to negate the hard work of an agent, that 6% just may be the only profit you receive, so it may be in your best interest to negotiate those commissions:

Take care to keep your profits in mind.  Often we get so excited about a sale we forget the money made until it’s too late.  Don’t forget your profit or you’ll be in business for just a short time.

See Also

• Real Estate System
  Start a profitable real estate business
• Mortgage Notes
  Make money being a mortgage broker

The negative view of spam and what businesses can do to prevent it

Spam is much more than just a tasty meat product, email spam has taken the world by storm and is causing storms in the business community.

Traditionally, email is a great way to get the word out about your e business however, unsolicited email has lost its flavor as a marketing medium.  Be sure that your company is not becoming a spamming entity.

To prevent your good name from being labeled by no-spam sites be sure to do the following:

• Require double opt-in - if they opt in on your site they will also have to click a link confirming their subscription.
• Don’t send constant updates to your site.  Unless your subscribers desire a daily update, be sure that you keep it to once per week or less.

Following these two simple guidelines will ensure that your company isn’t considered a spammer.  You should also consider using RSS marketing as a form of information flow for your business.

See Also

• Online Marketing
  The differences between online and offline marketing
• Start Making Money Now
  Online businesses that allow you to work from home