In its ongoing quest to alert consumers that the cranberry is a fruit for all seasons, Ocean Spray is suggesting that thoughtful lovers shouldn’t overlook its product line when it comes to expressing Valentine’s Day sentiments. “Whether it’s a love note in their lunch, serving their favorite meal, or whipping up an extra special treat, Ocean Spray’s here to help capture your Valentine’s heart,” said the agricultural cooperative with a headquarters campus that straddles the border of Lakeville and Middleborough. On the heels of a federal lawsuit against Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said Tuesday that her staff also is looking into allegations the New York credit rating agency helped fuel the country’s mortgage meltdown and financial crisis. While the debate over offshore tax loopholes generally takes a national focus, a consumer advocacy group is reporting that states lose nearly $40 billion a year in tax revenues to companies and wealthy people who shelter money abroad. Multinational corporations accounted for $26 billion of that lost revenue in 2011, according to the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit known as MASSPIRG, which helped conduct a national study of the impact on states of offshare tax havens. The state pension fund posted a 13.9 percent gain for 2012, beating its benchmark by 0.84 percent. Fixed income and global equities had strong results, with double digit returns, the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board said Tuesday. (The board, which manages the state pension fund, is also known as PRIM.) Hedge funds fared well, up 8.4 percent, versus a 4.8 percent benchmark. Total assets in the fund closed the year at $51.9 billion, up from $47 billion at the start of the year. Massachusetts Business Confidence Index rose 2.6 points in January to post a 50.4 reading; despite signs of weak economic growth, the state’s employers were seemingly encouraged by progress made towards addressing federal fiscal issues, the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, or AIM, said Tuesday. While January’s index reading is better than December’s, it’s 2.4 points lower than the reading posted for January 2012. Fidelity Investments, the Boston-based financial-services company, and Extend Health, a Towers Watson company, today announced a strategic agreement to enhance Fidelity’s retirement guidance capabilities to include retiree health care. According to Fidelity, this agreement will “simplify the transition process for millions of retiring Americans as they shift from employer-sponsored medical coverage to the individual Medicare market for health insurance.” Extend Health is a large private Medicare exchange. Innovations on biomass production are needed for the biofuels market to boom, a new Lux Research Inc. report concludes. “Using today’s technologies, an area the size of Russia would need to be cultivated to replace all of petroleum use for chemicals and fuels – feedstock innovation will be needed to keep growing biomass’s market share,” said Lux Research, a Boston-based firm provides strategic advice and intelligence for emerging technologies. | 
| |
No comments:
Post a Comment