Hard to believe, but only a couple of days are left in the first half of 2009. Compared to the turmoil of 2008, it hasn't been a really bad time for investors. We start the week with the Dow Jones industrials down 3.8 percent year-to-date, but about 2,000 points above the March 9 low of 6,547. If it weren't for General Motors and Citigroup -- which were recently booted from the index -- the Dow would be positive on the year. The Nasdaq composite is actually up 16.6 percent since the start of the year and the S&P 500 is up 1.7 percent.
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A Federal judge in New York will determine the fate of Bernard Madoff today. The former money manager has admitted to running one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history. The number currently stands at $13 billion but some believe it could be much higher. Madoff's defense team is asking the judge to sentence him to 12 years in prison. They say that, at the age of 71, Madoff has a life expectancy of about 12 years and would hope to spend his last days united with his family. By law, the court could sentence him to 150 years in jail. An informal online poll asked people what sentence he should receive and 64 percent suggested the maximum.
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Small business owners aren't letting the economy get them down. A new survey by Intuit finds that 61 percent of small employers expect their business to grow in the next 12 months and will invest to fuel that growth. And, very few entrepreneurs are looking for the government for help. The survey found 94 percent of owners say the health of their business depends more on what they can do for themselves rather than what the government can do for them.
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Donald Felsinger, CEO of Sempra Energy, has been named the 2009 International Executive of the Year by the Academy of International Business. AIB presents the award every year to an executive who has "bolstered a company's international operations and has made lasting contributions to the global community." Felsinger was recognized for Sempra's commitment to providing clean, reliable energy on an international level.
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The nation's largest department store chain is offering help to people who have lost their jobs. Sears says customers who make a purchase between July 6 and the first of August and then become unemployed will allow people to skip payments of major appliances that cost more than $399. The purchase has to be financed with a Sears credit card. The idea, of course, is to encourage people to make purchases in the coming months even if they are worried they might lose their jobs. Sears says sales of appliances have dropped nearly 12 percent in the past three months.
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An unidentified investor has agreed to pay $1.68 million to have lunch with Warren Buffett. The online auction was a fundraiser for the Glide Foundation in San Francisco. The winning bid is about $500,000 below last year's auction winning bid. Shares of Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, have suffered right along with the rest of the market. The share's closed Friday at $68,210. A year and a half ago they were selling for around $148,000. That explains why Buffett's personal wealth declined during the past year from $55 billion to around $38 billion.
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