FleetCor Technologies, Inc. provides fuel cards and workforce payment
products and services to businesses, commercial fleets, oil companies,
petroleum marketers, and government entities in North America, Latin
America, and Europe. It sells a range of customized fleet and lodging
payment programs; and offers various card products to purchase fuel,
lodging, and related products and services at participating locations.
The company also offers equipment that reduces unauthorized and
fraudulent transactions to over-the-road trucking fleets, shipping
fleets, and other operators of heavily industrialized equipment,
including sea-going vessels, mining equipment, agricultural equipment,
and locomotives. The company owns and operates proprietary closed-loop
networks through which it electronically connects to merchants, and
captures, analyzes, and reports customized information. In addition,
FleetCor Technologies, Inc. uses third-party networks to deliver its
payment programs and services; and provides a range of services, such as
issuing and processing, as well as specialized information services.
Please take a look at the 1-year chart of FLT (FleetCor Technologies, Inc.) below with my added notations:
FLT has a very important price level at $80 (navy) that has been
acting as support for the last (3) months. The stock also has a level of
resistance that seems to be forming at $90 (red). Prior to the $80 and
$90, FLT had reacted to $70 (green) back in February March and April.
So, in addition to showing a clear level of support and resistance, FLT
is also demonstrating that it tends to react to each $10 increment. The Tale of the Tape: FLT is currently trading
between its $80 and $90 levels. A long position could be entered at $80
or on a break above $90 with a stop placed below the level of entry. If
FLT breaks below $80, another long play could be made at $70. If you are
looking for a short trade instead, a break below $80 would provide you
with that opportunity. Please share this article
The number of U.S. taxpayers
renouncing citizenship or permanent-resident status surged to a record
high in the second quarter, as new laws aimed at cracking down on
overseas assets increase the cost of complying and the risk of a
taxpayer misstep.
A total of 1,130 names appeared on the latest
list of renunciations from the Internal Revenue Service, according to
Andrew Mitchel, a tax lawyer in Centerbrook, Conn., who tracks the data.
That is far above the previous high of 679, set in the first quarter,
and more than were reported in all of 2012.
Taxpayers aren't required to explain the move, but experts said the recent rise is likely due to tougher laws and enforcement.
"The IRS crackdown on U.S. taxpayers living abroad seems to be having an effect," said Mr. Mitchel.
The IRS declined comment.
Lags
in reporting renunciations might mean that many who appeared on the
current list made the move months earlier. Taxpayers who renounced can
be subject to an exit tax, and people who renounced last year may have
avoided higher taxes on capital gains and income that went into effect
in 2013.
The U.S. is rare in that all income earned by citizens
and permanent residents, even those living abroad, can be subject to
U.S. tax, according to Bryan Skarlatos, a New York lawyer. The U.S. also
confers citizenship on people who are born on American soil.
The
U.S. launched the tax crackdown after the terrorist attacks of Sept.
11, 2001, and ratcheted up its efforts after 2009, amid evidence that
UBS AG UBSN.VX +0.53% and other foreign institutions helped U.S.
taxpayers hide assets.
Some taxpayers have applied for IRS
limited-amnesty programs, in which they pay stiff penalties for past
noncompliance but avoid prosecution.
Tax lawyers say the crackdown has ensnared smaller violators who weren't intentionally evading U.S. taxes.
In
addition, a law enacted in 2010, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance
Act, or Fatca, requires foreign financial institutions to certify they
aren't hiding U.S. taxpayer assets, which lawyers say is leading some to
reject U.S. customers.
Taxpayer penalties for failing to report assets can be severe, including up to 50% of an account balance for each year. american
"u.s. citizenship" u.s. "united states" law foreign foreigner americans
renounce "renounce citizenship" trends overseas tax taxes The web of
rules is "overly burdensome," said Jeffrey Neiman, a former federal
prosecutor who led the 2009 UBS case, which resulted in the bank's
agreeing to a $780 million settlement. He now is a lawyer in private
practice in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "You basically find yourself in this
continuous nightmare."
The cost of complying with various rules and regulations can be steep even for people with small tax bills.
Carol
Tapanila, who moved to Canada more than 40 years ago and is now
retired, renounced her citizenship in November and appeared on the
current list. She says her U.S. taxes amounted to about $250 last year
and she didn't take the step to avoid paying them.
Legal and
accounting fees and other costs of making sure she was in compliance in
recent years have added up to nearly $40,000, says Ms. Tapanila. "It is
nothing but stress."
Expatriation can also be costly, requiring that taxpayers prove they have properly paid five years' taxes, among other things.
Please share this article
It is an oversimplification to summarize George Soros' investment philosophy
based on the theory of reflexivity into a single sentence, but it is
useful to think of the theory as telling us that a trend will continue
until it reverses.
Reflexivity also points out the direction of
the trend can be influenced by underlying economic factors and the
perception of traders and policy makers about the trend. That makes
analyzing trends more complicated because we need to consider what
policy makers might do and how traders will react in addition to prices.
The
entire global economy might be thought of as a group of trends under
the theory of reflexivity. What happens in the U.S. impacts Japan, for
example, just as policies in Japan have an impact on the U.S. These
impacts can be seen in exchange rates, a market in which Soros has
demonstrated mastery. His most famous trade -- a bet against the Bank of
England -- made him $1 billion in one day.
Recently,
Soros said that after a period of remarkable stability in currencies,
he expects to see "more fireworks, more volatility." Traders benefit
from volatility because volatile markets are the ones that offer large
gains in short periods of time. (more)
For a thousand
bucks, a Web surfer today can book a round trip flight from New York to
London in three weeks using Priceline.com – or, for the same $1,000, one
could buy slightly more than a single share of Priceline.com (PCLN) stock.
How’s that for a rich bit of irony? Priceline.com, a company built on
offering the lowest price for travel to distant places, is on the verge
of becoming the first Standard & Poor’s 500 Index member (GSPC) to crack above a four-digit price. (more)
For years…and I mean YEARS…I’ve been screaming from the top of my lungs
that the physical gold and silver warehousing by the large banks was a
complete scam. Well today it’s beginning to look like the CFTC is
FINALLY going to look into the matter: CFTC subpoenas metals warehousing firm as inquiry heats up
“The source, who asked for anonymity and for the name of
the firm not to be disclosed as he is not authorized to speak to the
media, said the CFTC’s enforcement division has asked the firm that has
received the subpoena to send, by August 23, every document,
communication, voice recording, correspondence and external and internal
emails related to the LME since January 2010.”
On July 24th Facebook's (FB)
earnings report unleashed the animal spirits on Wall Street. With one
set of numbers an entire industry was validated. Despite claims to the
contrary, very few saw it coming. To analysts of a certain age it was
frankly stunning that anyone would willingly click an advertisement on
their smartphone. Mobile ads seemed intrusive, annoying and a
counterproductive use of ad money.
Yet there it was: 41% of Facebook's advertising revenue in Q2 came
from mobile. When Facebook shares ramped 28% the next day, it became a
professional imperative for fund managers to own shares of anything with
an app and sort of advertising connection.
In the last month Yelp (YELP), Trulia (TRLA), LinkedIn (LNKD) Zillow (Z) and GroupOn (GRPN)
have gone up more than 30%. At this point if you're running money
professionally you can't justify not being long anything remotely
related to this space.
It's one thing to whine about whether or not the valuations make
sense. The ticker isn't right or wrong. It just is. Individuals can sit
these moves out but pros are in the business of booking profits
regardless of what valuation models say.
"There were skeptics lined up out the door about Facebook and I've had my own reservations about the company," says Eric Jackson of Ironfire Capital. As a result traders just started grabbing anything with social or mobile attached to it.
The stocks are all going to be
"nosebleeders" as Jackson says. That means the valuations are pretty
much tossed out the door. Institutions need to own stocks in the space
and there aren't enough of them to go around at the moment.
We've seen this move before of
course. This is precisely what happened with anything.com in the late
'90s. That doesn't mean short. It doesn't even mean investors need to
run away screaming. It means only this: stocks aren't supposed to move
20% higher with this kind of regularity. These moves will end in tears.
The market will be flooded with IPOs and demand for mobile ad shares
will fade.
The conclusion is inevitable but the timing is unknowable.
Do with that information what you will. Please share this article
There is a lot of discussion lately that we are reaching the peak of a dreaded "triple top."
Here are just a couple of the many warnings from market experts:
--
If the S&P 500 and other major U.S. indexes are turned back at
today's critical, even historic, juncture, we could see a significant
upcoming decline in the U.S. stock market as history repeats and also
rhymes. - MarketWatch, "Is this the biggest triple top ever?"
-- A third top has now formed, and a 60% stock market drop is inevitable -- and it could strike at any moment. - MoneyNews, "Market Collapse Predicted By Scientist"
That's just a sampling of the reports that are being released almost every day.
In
2000 and 2007, the S&P 500 peaked near current levels. The market
then plummeted into long and agonizing bear markets. These crashes
eliminated trillions of dollars in wealth and eroded investor
confidence. J.P. Morgan Asset Management recently published this chart
highlighting the S&P 500's inflection points over the past 16 years.
As
you can see, the market ballooned from 1997 to 2000 and from 2002 to
2007. But both increases were answered with sharp tumbles from both the
tech bubble burst (-49%) and the financial crisis (-57%). And the latest
climb is even steeper than the previous two with a rise of 132%. That
holds the potential for an even sharper drop. Please share this article
FLT has a very important price level at $80 (navy) that has been
acting as support for the last (3) months. The stock also has a level of
resistance that seems to be forming at $90 (red). Prior to the $80 and
$90, FLT had reacted to $70 (green) back in February March and April.
So, in addition to showing a clear level of support and resistance, FLT
is also demonstrating that it tends to react to each $10 increment.
For years…and I mean YEARS…I’ve been screaming from the top of my lungs
that the physical gold and silver warehousing by the large banks was a
complete scam. Well today it’s beginning to look like the CFTC is
FINALLY going to look into the matter: 