Are your debts mounting each month? Are you finding it harder to juggle the bills? Do you find yourself relying on cash advances on your credit cards to get you through your pay day? Anne Starke shares 10 tips on how to navigate through credit crunch as painlessly as possible.

Fretting over unpaid bills is a terrible energy-sapper. Money worries hang over your head, undermining your self-confidence and your sense of security.

But things usually aren’t as bad as they seem and the worst thing you can do is accept the situation and continue living hand-to-mouth, day-to-day.  Read more... (542 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

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NEW YORK — US stocks extended their modest rally to a second day as earnings news that was better than expectations helped offset gloomy reports on consumer confidence and housing prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 58.70 points (0.72 percent) to close at 8,174.73 after a 38-point rise on Monday for blue chips.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 15.44 points (1.04 percent) to 1,504.90 and the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 9.14 points (1.09 percent) to 845.71.

Stocks opened higher across the board after some corporate earnings reports were not as bad as expected despite a deepening recession, although the market wobbled after some grim economic news.  Read more... (247 words, estimated 59 secs reading time)

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HONG KONG – World stock markets opened 2009 on a high note, with Hong Kong’s index up more than four percent, as investors shrugged off more dreary economic news to focus on government moves to ease the global slump.

With most investors away for the holidays and more than half of Asia’s markets still closed, trading volumes were extremely light, which exaggerates price moves.

Chinese telecom firms surged after Beijing approved next-generation mobile licenses, and commodity companies were lifted by stronger prices for raw materials. European benchmarks followed Asia higher in early trade.  Read more... (176 words, estimated 42 secs reading time)

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HONG KONG (AP) -Asian stock markets were mostly lower Monday as a US pledge to loan troubled automakers $17.4 billion failed to ease worries about a deteriorating world economy.

The emergency help announced Friday for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC came as a relief to many investors, staving off bankruptcies that would have only deepened the recession in the world’s largest economy.

But concerns about the global outlook, as well as falling demand for the Asian-made products like cars and electronics that drive regional growth, continued to weigh on investors, analysts said. In Japan, figures showed a record 26.7 percent plunge in exports last month compared to a year ago.  Read more... (214 words, estimated 51 secs reading time)

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SINGAPORE — Asian currencies came under pressure on Friday as stocks fell on concerns about the region’s economic outlook, with Singapore dollar and Thai baht falling from multi-month highs.

The Singapore dollar fell almost 0.8 percent to 1.4515 per US dollar, off its three-month high of 1.4168 hit in the previous session.

A trader in Singapore said investors who had sold the US dollar near the 1.4168 level were buying back the unit, but the Singapore dollar should be supported near 1.45.

The Thai baht fell to 34.59 per dollar, down 0.7 percent from its two-month high of 34.34 hit on Thursday.  Read more... (155 words, estimated 37 secs reading time)

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