MyECheck, a California based company, is a leading electronic transaction processor that provides alternative payment solutions to expensive credit card charges. MyECheck’s Check 21 solution offers the fastest, safest and most cost effective way to process electronic payments from an expanding customer base, and is experiencing rapid growth in the growing eCommerce and Payments industries.

One of the key aspects to the success of MyECheck is their broad reach. MyECheck can debit every US checking account, even accounts that ACH cannot debit. Such accounts include accounts at many credit unions, savings and loan corporations, small banks, brokerage accounts, business accounts and credit card check accounts.

MyECheck provides faster clearing and more availability than their competition. MyECheck items are created, file formatted and submitted directly into the banking system for fastest possible clearing which provides their customers’ banks and financial institutions with expedited availability.

Leading

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The Department of Labor reported Initial Claims for the week ending Nov. 15th were 542,000, an increase of 27,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 515,000 (originally reported at 516,000). This is the highest level since July of 1992.  The consensus was 517,000, which brought today's report at a 4.85% surprise.  California had an increase of 15,532 but declined to provide comment.  North Carolina, Tennessee, New Jersey, New York, and South Carolina all reported a significant increase in filings, a combined 23,443, cited from layoffs in primary metals, furniture, transportation equipment, industrial machinery, construction, service, and manufacturing industries.  The 4-week moving average was 506,500, the highest in 25 years, an increase of 15,750 from the previous week's revised average of 490,750 (which was a 17 year high).  Less than half of unemployed workers do file for unemployment benefits, while there has been much contraction in economic activity recently

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NYT: A Sea of Unwanted Imports November 19, 2008

By MATT RICHTEL NYTimes

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Gleaming new Mercedes cars roll one by one out of a huge container ship here and onto a pier. Ordinarily the cars would be loaded on trucks within hours, destined for dealerships around the country. But these are not ordinary times.

For now, the port itself is the destination. Unwelcome by dealers and buyers, thousands of cars worth tens of millions of dollars are being warehoused on increasingly crowded port property.

And for the first time, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Nissan have each asked to lease space from the port for these orphan vehicles. They are turning dozens of acres of the nation’s second-largest container port into a parking lot, creating a vivid picture of a paralyzed auto business and an economy in peril.

“This is one way to look at the economy,” Art Wong, a spokesman for the

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November 19, 2008 - Solar stocks to a hit on Tuesday on comments from J.P. Morgan’s Christopher Blansett about the potential for reduced subsidies for solar in Europe. Blansett said that 2008 may he thinks 2008 was a peak for solar energy subsidization and recommended First Solar (Nasdaq:FSLR) as a “safe haven.” We disagree with Blansett’s assessment and timing. We think his assessment is doesn’t account for the legislative realities in place in the U.S., Japan and Europe. And we think his timing to call for instability in solar stocks is extremely late. Here is our take: Blansett clearly isn’t impressed by Governor Schwarzenegger’s mandate for 33% renewable energy contribution in California, the potential impact and long-term stability in the U.S. market provided by the eight-year solar tax credit extension, and the expectation that Obama’s administration will likely accelerate the passage in Congress of a federal RPS. We think these ...

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Editor's Note: The following is a roundup of what others are writing about exchange-traded funds, index mutual funds and indexes. This column is updated throughout the day by IndexUniverse.com's staff.  Suggestions are welcome by sending comments or links to: <!-- var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addy98263 = 'mcoleman' + '@'; addy98263 = addy98263 + 'indexuniverse' + '.' + 'com'; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy98263 ); document.write( '' ); //-->mcoleman@indexuniverse.com. 

 

Look Who's Talkin'

You've heard it all before. But for the uninitiated, we're providing a link to our own Matt Hougan, who was grilled by reporter Trang Ho for this Q&A appearing in Investor's Business Daily on Tuesday.

Hougan comes through, providing what IU.com readers have become accustomed to -- unblinking analysis and fiercely independent commentary on everything relating to ETFs.

You can see

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Today, MyECheck announced that it will be providing California State Teachers’ Retirement Fund (CalSTRS) with its Check 21 patented software. CalSTRS is recognized as the largest U.S. teachers’ retirement fund and the second largest U.S. public pension fund with a membership of 795,000 and assets of $147 billion.

CalSTRS is primarily focused on providing retirement related benefits and services to teachers in public schools and community colleges. The fund administers retirement, disability and survivor benefits for California’s 813,000 public school educators and their families.

CEO of MyECheck, Edward Starrs, stated, “We are excited to have this high profile client added to our growing roster of clients. Electronic checks have the most potential to meet current and future needs of the electronic payments industry. With the advent of MyECheck, a payment system now exists that is more efficient at a very low cost, especially when compared

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The record drop in consumer spending in October is clear evidence of a profound weakening of the US economy.  Even President Bush think thinks the situation is bad. At the G20 summit over the weekend, he said it was conceivable that the US “could go into a depression greater than the Great Depression“.

- Of course a depression is what they used to call a recession. Then came the Great Depression. After that, economists and politicians stopped using the word for fear of jinxing the economy. Now, a depression means a severe and protracted recession.

- Bush may be right about the chances of the US slumping into a depression. Part of the problem is that it’s not only the US that’s suffering a bout of economic woes. Japan’s economy, the world’s second largest, has just officially entered its first recession since 2001.

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GreenChek Technology (GCHK) is a maker of a hydrogen-generating system that helps internal combustion engines burn fuel more cleanly and efficiently. The company’s Onboard Hydrogen Generation (OHG) system produces and then injects hydrogen gas into a regular internal combustion engine. Hydrogen enhances the combustion process by allowing a more complete fuel burn while significantly reducing harmful emissions typically consisting of unspent fuel. GreenChek has operations in the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe.

The Onboard technology is also used for emissions reduction technology and fuel economy enhancement in trucks, locomotives, and automobile engines. Independent studies have shown that GreenChek’s technology lowers emissions by as much as 50%, reduces fuel consumption, increases horsepower, improves engine life, reduces maintenance costs and requires only minimal driver maintenance and intervention. The company is forming partnerships with Fortune 500 companies such as TNT and Norbert Dentressangle Group, as well as with the French government and conducting field

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Why We Should Take a Solutions Approach to the Crisis and Look at Some Things DifferentlyBy Peter Schiff, President of Euro Pacific Capital, Inc. Author of The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear MarketsI don't think we're going to see any light at the end of the tunnel until we have a clear, objective understanding of how we got into this mess in the first place. There is a tendency whenever major problems occur in the economy to place blame on external factors and to assume that the external factors can be prevented from causing similar problems in the future by expanding the government's regulatory powers. The problem I have with this kind of thinking is that it makes government bigger and more intrusive without ever getting at the root of the problem, which is usually the government ...

Testimony QuotesCongressional Hearing QuotesQuick Links: Hedge Fund Testimonial VideosHere are a series of quotes from yesterday's testimony.``We do not need greater regulation of hedge funds,'' said Kenneth Griffin, founder of Citadel Investment Group LLC in Chicago. ``We've not seen hedge funds as a focal point of the carnage.''Soros, founder of Soros Fund Management LLC, cautioned against ``ill-considered'' rules because this industry is reeling from market losses and client defections.``I believe our tax situation is fair,'' Paulson said. ``If your constituents, whether a plumber or a teacher, bought a stock and if they held that stock for more than a year they would pay a long-term capital gains rate.''``This isn't just about sophisticated, high-stakes investors anymore,'' Davis said. ``Institutional funds and public pensions now have a huge stake in hedge funds' ...