What’s New at Yahoo! Finance?

Enhanced Stock Charts in beta

Yahoo! Finance Upgrades Its Portfolio With New Products for Investors and Publishers; Launch Includes New Interactive Stock Charts as Well as Industry-First Financial Syndication Tools.

Key product enhancements and additions include:

– Full-screen charts that offer an interactive user experience through the use of Flash and dhtml technologies, including one-click additions of major events such as splits and dividends, as well as one-click comparisons of competitors and indexes;

– Historical charting capabilities dating back decades and a simple click-and-drag feature for customizing the chart’s time range. The charts also feature the ability to type in the dates for charting a specific period of time;

– Customizable technical analysis indicators for sophisticated investors, including charting indicators such as MACD and simple moving average. The charts also include educational information for novice investors and students; and,

– One-click buttons to easily print and email customized charts.

– Set your own parameters for technical analysis

– Easily add competitors, indexes and recently added symbols

– View stock split and dividend data in callouts.

* Get the most from the new charts with helpful interactive video and text tutorials.

Yahoo! Finance Charts Basics Help

Old Finance Chart:

New Advanced Finance Chart Beta:

Yahoo! Finance

Yahoo! Finance Charts Basics Help

Housing Takes Another Header by Seth Jayson

7 Recommendations

Think we’ve seen the worst from housing? Think again.

The latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Index shows that home prices are not only dropping like rocks, in many places, the rate of drop is increasing. The figures, which cover the period ending July, 2007, detail a 4.5% year-over-year drop in the index’s 10-city composite, and a 3.9% drop in the 20-city composite.

That’s the worst performance since 1991, which is why you should click that link and see the whole story. Previously hot markets like Phoenix and Tampa were among the worst tracked, but areas that sat out the bubble, like Detroit, are also suffering. Near Fool HQ, the argument I often hear about home prices never falling (because there’s reliable government spending, big influx of population, blah, blah, blah …) is shown to be a complete fiction, as D.C. area prices tumbled 7.2% year over year.

Remember, the Case-Shiller index tracks differences in sale prices for the same homes, and it screens out data that would compromise the comparisons, such as major renovations and non-arms-length sales. It looks at existing home prices in a more detailed way than the likes of the National Association of Realtors, which today reported a year-over-year increase in median prices that is directly at odds with the slow pace of sales.

It’s going to be a long time before the excesses are wrung out of this market, and I anticipate more investors getting stung. We’ve already seen that the prices of new homes are just as vulnerable in the current market. Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV) recently had a well-publicized “Fire Sale,” which knocked about 20% off the price of new homes.

With foreclosures on the rise, more fire sales are likely in the existing and new home markets. I expect to see builders like Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM), D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI), Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH), Centex (NYSE: CTX), and Lennar (NYSE: LEN) resort to similar desperate moves.

Coldwell CEO: There’s No Housing Bubble
Coldwell Banker CEO Jim Gillespie says there was no bubble and the ‘correction’ should run its course without a big decline in prices.

“A bubble is defined by a stretch in valuation of remarkable proportions,” he explained. People have to understand that there’s not going to be a bubble with stocks that are selling at eight, nine or 10 times earnings, because these companies are the ones that can buy back a lot of stock and can increase the dividend.

To argue against his thesis, Cramer said someone could point out that Toll Brothers (TOL - Cramer’s Take - Stockpickr - Rating), Lennar (LEN - Cramer’s Take - Stockpickr - Rating) and KB Home (KBH - Cramer’s Take - Stockpickr - Rating) are all selling at eight times earnings. However, those companies cannot buy back stock, he said, because they are running out of money, and they can’t raise their dividends because they would be violating covenants.

In recent years, several networking Web sites specifically for business professionals have cropped up, including LinkedIn.com, Execunet.com, Ryze.com and Netshare.com. While you’re using phone or email or industry gatherings to network with colleagues and acquaintances, you can also use these sites to connect with people in your field that you don’t know well or at all.

The way most work is you set up a profile that offers basic information about yourself, such as where you work and went to school, areas of expertise and professional and personal interests. You can search other people’s profiles and contact them by using the sites’ messaging systems. You also can ask a member you already know to make a virtual introduction for you. If you join networking sites that cater just to your industry, such as theFeng.org for financial-services professionals, chances are you already know someone who belongs.

Networking sites are designed to help professionals enhance their careers, not necessarily to change jobs. Many recruiters search profiles on networking sites to find potential job candidates. Ben Foster, a product manager at a Web-marketing firm in California, changed jobs after getting a message on LinkedIn.com from a recruiter who’d seen his profile.

Approximately 200,000 corporate and search-firm recruiters belong to LinkedIn.com, which has more than 13 million members in total. Many networking sites for business professionals charge membership fees. But most also offer free access to basic features so you can determine if joining is worthwhile.

Julia Sweeney: Letting Go of God

Comedian and playwright Julia Sweeney performs the first 15 minutes of her 2006 solo show Letting Go of God. It begins on the morning of her seventh birthday, when Julia learns from her Catholic parents that she has reached the age of reason, capable of being judged by God. That morning she also learns another great truth, equally devastating. This sets the stage for Sweeney’s freewheeling, conversational examination of her own faith.

Who is Julia Sweeney?

Known for her four-year run on Saturday Night Live and her powerful solo shows, Julia Sweeney is carving out her own territory in entertainment, one that moves between the personal and the political, the controversial and the comical.

• Julia Sweeney’s homepage
• Julia Sweeney’s blog
• CD: Letting Go of God