Compost business gets draft permit in North Dakota

Our company must market our flow-restriction device to an operation that turns manure, straw and unsalable crude oil to compost as a man wants to open a number of sludge-to-compost facilities in North Dakota. This article, found at BusinessWeek.com, discusses how Dale Leivestad wants to open numerous sludge-to-compost facilities in North Dakota as he feels this is an ideal location for his operations due to the number of people in the area and because Leivestad already has the blessing of the state Health department. The article also discusses how this is a well established industry within the area. Another factor that works in favor of the operation is that Leivsestad has already begun testing the process.

In Leivestad's process, a centrifuge machine will be used to separate liquids and solids. Oil removed through the process will be resold, while water and other liquids will be injected into the underground wells. The solid waste will be hauled to Leivestad's site and mixed with organic waste.

This could potentially be a large market for our flow-restriction device as there already are three other sludge-to-compost facilities in North Dakota, according to the Health Department's waste management director, Scott Radig. To many this is an ideal location for this type of operation because of the population. Slope and Bowman counties, where current and future facilities would be located, are some of the least populated counties in the United States with less than 1,000 residents in each. Leivestad has also begun testing the process over the past several months and is already shipping solid waste to an industrial dump in the state. "It's going to be a very safe place to ply our trade," believes Leivestad, who plans to operate on the 140 acres he owns nearby. Not only does our company need to market the flow-restriction device towards Leivestad, but the other sludge-to-compost facilities in the area as this could be a very profitable market.

Why Rising Bullishness Could Derail Stocks

"Why Rising Bullishness Could Derail Stocks", found at BusinessWeek.com, discusses how surveys and experts feel as if the mood of investors could be changing from pessimism to optimism. Measures of investor sentiment tend to become more bullish well after a stock market rally has already begun, as large numbers of people are persuaded to become buyers as the market moves higher and higher. Experts have been watching for overconfidence in individual investors, as this would be a sign that the rally is ending. However, recent surveys have shown mixed results in regards to whether or not the market is becoming bullish or bearish. Investors Intelligence's weekly survey of 130 investment newsletters showed the percentage of advisers bullish on the stock market rising 2.2 points, while the latest American Association of Individual Investors' Sentiment survey showed bullishness falling from 48.5% to 38.1% over the past week. Chief investment strategist at Robert Baird, Bruce Bittles, believes there is a split between professionals (who recognize the strength of the economic recovery) and the general public, which is still wary even after a 79% rise in the S&P 500 since March 2009. While surveys measure what the investors are saying, fund-flow data measures investors behavior and what they are doing with their money. According to this data, investors have pulled much of their money out of U.S. equity mutual funds and put money in the less risky bond mutual funds. John Merril, CIO at Tanglewood Wealth Management says, "The pessimism is pretty thick, the sentiment out there is pretty ugly". He feels this is due to people's unhappiness with politicians in Washington and an anger directed toward financial institutions that "stack the deck" against investors. Many other investing experts also cite the political climate for investor's continued pessimism, mentioning how people don't like policies being developed by Democrats in Congress and the White House. Another clue that could tell of added optimism among investors, is the exchange-traded funds indicator. According to experts, above average flow into ETF's have tended to occur before market declines, while above average flows out of ETF's tend to occur before market rebounds. Since the beginning of February, a net of $12.8 billion flowed back into ETF's. Sentiment is changing among investors and there quite possibly could be a turning point.

Nokia and Ericsson: A Tale of Two Telcos

"Nokia and Ericsson: A Tale of Telcos", found at BusinessWeek.com, discusses how Nokia and Ericsson are heading in two different directions after financial results fell short of what analysts expected. Both company's reports were nothing great, however Nokia is in a much worse position than Ericsson. The reasons behind Nokia's decreased earnings and plunging shares, many feel, are the falling average selling prices for phones, flat market share, and a slightly lowered forecast for operating margins this year. Although the biggest cause behind the negative results is the Apple iPhone. While Apple received about $622 dollars in product and service revenues, Nokia's devices sold for an average of $207. In other words, Apple made 22% more revenue on 60% fewer units. Not only has Apple stolen the market buzz, but they have sent Nokia reeling. Ericsson's financial results may have been even worse than Nokia's, yet their shares soared mainly due to North American sales almost doubling. Helping boost Ericsson's North American sales was the well-timed deal they struck with AT&T. Ericsson is also tied to the iPhone, only they feel it has benefitted their compnay rather than hurt it. According to Ericsson CEO, Hans Vestvurg, "Investors see huge opportunities for Ericsson to sell equipment that serves that growing demand, which in some cities has already lead to network saturation". While Ericcson soars to new heights, Nokia's shares will remain under pressure until they come up with an answer to the iPhone.

More Delicious Delicacies, Thanks to Tech

Our company must market our flow restriction device to artisan food makers as demand for artisan food continues to grow due to increased technology. The article, found at BusinessWeek.com, discusses how one area of artisan food that is being positively affected by technology is olive oil. The article also discusses how the olive oil industry is beginning to take off.

Technology is improving century-old processing techniques in a variety of artisan foods. One of the processes being affected most positively is the process of making olive oil. For years, mid size and family owned olive farms in Italy would use traditional presses to turn it's olive harvest, on average 20 to 30 tons per year, into 5,000 liters of oil. This process took a great deal of time. Also, after the olives were harvested, they sat in storage bins for up to eight days, which hurt the oil's quality and limited it's shelf life. Today, the same family farms have installed continuous presses, which crush the olives into paste, then separates the paste from residual water using a centrifuge, eventually extracting the oil. Olives now only need to be stored two days at most, while the quality and quantity of the oil produced is greater. Those same farms that were once producing 20 to 30 tons of olive oil every year are now producing five times that amount.

The higher quality has helped boost an already booming market for olive oil. Worldwide consumption has increased from 1.9 billion tons a decade ago, to 2.6 billion in 2002. Consumption in the United States alone has nearly doubled, from 104 million tons to 196 million tons in 2004. This would be a great industry for our company to crack as it continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Our company needs to market our technology towards these producers in an effort to have these farms buy our flow restriction device.

Venture Capital Investing Climbs to $4.73 Billion

The article "Venture Capital Investing Climbs to $4.73 Billion" discusses how interest in start ups has increased, along with venture capital investment. This is due mainly to improved access to capital among a rebound in mergers and initial offerings. Through the first quarter of 2010, 681 deals had occurred, an increase of $3.36 billion from the same period a year earlier. The biggest deals in the quarter involved companies focused on clean energy, while the biggest declines came in the software and biotechnology industries. According to Bill Wiberg, a partner in a venture firm, "The pace of investing is picking up". This is definitely a good sign for our company, as we will need money to continue to fund our on-going flow-restriction project.

Mind the Estate Tax Gap

The article "Mind the Estate Tax Gap", discusses how much of a mess an estate tax break law has become and the consequences many will face due to it not being fixed by Congress. Although estate taxes will return to their normal 55% in 2011, 2010 will be a year where there will not be an estate tax. This may seem like a lucky break for wealthy heirs of the ultra-rich, however many will end up paying high capital-gains taxes on these inheritances. This is so because of the disappearance of the "step-up" in basis, which allowed assets to be revalued for tax purposes at the time of death. For heirs who inherited homes or family businesses that have grown in value, the "step-up" rule allowed them to start with a clean slate, owing no capital-gains when they sold the assets. Now, an executor can assign a "step-up" basis of up to $1.3 million to assets in the estate, and an additional $3 million for assets left to a surviving spouse. Things get even more complicated when there are multiple heirs receiving multiple assets, a task which requires the executor choosing how to allocate the $1.3 million in tax basis among the assets. This task has led to many executors facing lawsuits from unhappy heirs. According to Clay Stevens, Director of strategic planning at Aspirant, "Many people are going to be worse off than before". Regardless of whether or not Congress fixes the problem before the end of the year, it may be too little too late for some families as we are already well into the year 2010.

USEC shares climb on DOE grant for Ohio

Our company must market our flow restriction device to a company in southern Ohio after the United States Department of Energy recently awarded the plant a grant of $45 million for further development and demonstration of centrifuge technology. The article, found at BusinessWeek.com, discusses how USEC is the world's leading supplier of enriched uranium for commercial nuclear power plants. USEC also looks to increase production of enriched uranium after gaining this grant.

Recently the U.S. Department of Energy announced it will provide $45 million to fund an on-going centrifuge project at the USEC plant in Ohio. The project was developed to further research and develop centrifuge technology. Over the course of this testing program, the company has logged over 338,000 hours on centrifuges. This would be a great market for our company to tap as USEC is the world's leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for use in commercial nuclear power plants. According to the USEC, using centrifugal force to extract uranium is much more efficient than the Cold-War era gaseous diffusion method. Enriched uranium from the plant 65 miles south of Columbus would be used in generating electricity by nuclear power plants.