The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Tuesday that two more large investment companies have fulfilled the necessary requirements and are ready to join the federal government’s toxic assets purchase program.  The federal government initiated buying toxic assets from banks with the intention of helping them resume normal lending, which will fuel economic recovery.  The two investment companies, which together raised more than the $500 million needed to close investment funds, were New York-based Angelo, Gordon & Co. LP and Norwalk, Conn.-based GE Capital Real Estate. These companies will jointly invest in the Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP), under which the Treasury provides financial support for private firms that buy distressed assets, including mortgage-related loans.  These two companies take the total number of firms to have joined the government in buying toxic assets to six. The private sector capital raised by these six firms totaled $3.58 billion. With ...

With Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ:PCLN) – the name-your-own-price travel-services player – it’s time to either beam up or buy in.

Priceline – the online airfare and hotel-booking firm known for its kitschy TV ad campaign that stars “Star Trek” star William Shatner as “The Negotiator” – is an interesting possible profit play, thanks to its strong balance sheet and market muscle in the bargain-hunting end of the travel-services sector, the financial weekly Barron’s says.

The stock market has already factored in the challenges facing the travel and retail sectors into Priceline’s stock price, Reuters and Barron’s both reported.

According to Barron’s, as the current financial crisis deepens, consumers are going to devote an increasing amount of time to their personal and household spending budgets – a point that Money Morning has repeatedly made as part of its ongoing “Credit Crisis Safety Plays” series. As

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With Priceline.com Inc. (PCLN) – the name-your-own-price travel-services player – it’s time to either beam up or buy in. Priceline – the online airfare and hotel-booking firm known for its kitschy TV ad campaign that stars “Star Trek” star William Shatner as “The Negotiator” – is an interesting possible profit play, thanks to its strong balance sheet and market muscle in the bargain-hunting end of the travel-services sector, the financial weekly Barron’s says.

The stock market has already factored in the challenges facing the travel and retail sectors into Priceline’s stock price, Reuters and Barron’s both reported.

According to Barron’s, as the current financial crisis deepens, consumers are going to devote an increasing amount of time to their personal and household spending budgets – a point that Money Morning has repeatedly made as part of its ongoing “Credit Crisis Safety Plays” series.

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