Here Comes Pending Home Sales...

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Minutes away from the major economic report of the day: pending home sales in the U.S.

Economists forecast a flat reading month-on-month in April.

If that holds, home sales would be 22.0 percent higher than year ago levels.

The announcement is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Follow it live here >

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Sirius XM Shareholders Wasted a Vote

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Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI  ) investors sent a clear mandate in last week's annual shareholder meeting. Shareholders overwhelmingly voted to boot Leon Black from the satellite-radio provider's board of directors.

A whopping 955,186,887 shares were voted against retaining Black on Sirius XM's board, compared with the 512,411,779 shares cast to keep him aboard.

Oh, and the vote was irrelevant.

The Wall Street Journal points out that Black gets to stick around -- despite the minimal support from shareholders who are supposed to have a say in makeup of a company's board -- because Sirius XM uses plurality voting rules in filling out its board.

"The slate will always be elected, regardless of votes, so long [as] no challengers for open board seats receive more 'for' votes," the Journal explains. Since the media giant nominated only eight directors for eight slots, Black was going to be retained no matter what.

So why is there a groundswell against Black?

It's not because he isn't competent or qualified. Black is the CEO and co-founder of Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO  ) , and he's been on the board since 2001. However, his attendance at board meetings has been called into question by the company's filings and market chatter from activist investors. He may be spreading himself too thin to serve on the Sirius XM board if the critics are right.

An absentee director -- if that is the case -- isn't necessarily the end of the world. Black's compensation of $70,000 a year in stock option grants is modest, and surely he must be a contributor outside the board meetings if the company keeps him on. However, these are times at Sirius XM that demand the board's complete attention.

Liberty Media (Nasdaq: LMCA  ) has grown its effective stake in Sirius XM to 46.2%, and this should be an "all hands on deck" situation for the board to be monitoring. CEO Mel Karmazin has been vocal lately about not wanting to work for anybody else, so the board may have some big decisions to ponder if Liberty Media achieved de facto or actual control.

Then again, one can also argue that Karmazin and his fellow executives are there to serve the shareholders first. If the wishes of investors are being ignored in the board vote, one can argue that Karmazin is already working for somebody else -- himself.

Running of the bulls
I remain bullish on Sirius XM's future. It should come as no surprise that I'm promoting the CAPScall initiative for accountability by reiterating my bullish call on Sirius XM for Motley Fool CAPS.

XM Satellite Radio was a Rule Breakers recommendation before the Sirius XM merger. It's now gone from the scorecard, but if you want to discover the newsletter service's next Rule-Breaking multibagger, a free report reveals all.

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal ? and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate ? and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

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Source: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/05/29/sirius-xm-shareholders-wasted-a-vote.aspx

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4 Easy Ways for Young Adults to Get a Handle on Their Credit Scores

--> credit cardsRecent college grads, I know some of you thought your test-taking days were over, but I have one final pop quiz for you: It's a bit of a credit score challenge.

1. Who collects the information on which credit scores are most frequently based?
2. Does each consumer have just one generic credit score?
3. How important is it to check the accuracy of your credit reports at the three main credit bureaus?

If your answers were Experian, Equifax and TransUnion (the three main credit bureaus); no; and very, you'd have done well on the Credit Score Quiz conducted by VantageScore and the Consumer Federation of America. The recently released results show that consumer knowledge about credit scores improved significantly over the past year. And quiz takers in the youngest bracket -- ages 18 to 34 -- are overall more knowledgeable than any other group. "They are more likely to understand that if they have a low score, that would be very costly to them, and they're more aware of the ways to raise their score," says Stephen Brobeck, the CFA's executive director.

Unfortunately, those young people often carry some misconceptions that could make them easy prey for credit-related scam artists. When questioned about credit repair companies, which often promise to erase your bad credit, 60% said that they believe they are "always" or "usually" helpful. In reality, these companies very often make promises they can't keep.


So how do you keep on top of your credit, at this crucial stage? After all, college graduates these days are walking across the stage with record levels of student loan debt. You may want to buy a car soon, and perhaps a house. You'll be getting married and climbing up the career ladder. (And, newsflash: many potential employers check applicants' credit reports.)

Here are four free tricks:

? Pull your credit report. Each credit bureau offers you one free credit report a year - so three total - through the website
annualcreditreport.com. Pull yours ASAP to see what others are seeing. And if you answered question number three above wrong, here's your chance to redeem yourself: Go over your report, highlight any mistakes, and then contact the bureau to help you fix them.

? View your FICO score. The FICO score is the gold standard, but it's not free. However, you can avoid charges by signing up for a free trial at myFICO.com. You won't pay a penny unless you fail to cancel your trial within 10 days, at which point you'll be locked in to a three-month minimum subscription to FICO's Score Watch (a credit monitoring and alert service) at $14.95 a month. In other words, set a reminder on every calendar you own, twice. If that's too risky for you, you can pull a close approximation of your score from CreditKarma.com or CreditSesame.com.


? Monitor it. CreditKarma.com also offers free credit monitoring, which will alert you if there are any major changes on your report. It can help you prevent identity theft, which can be severely damaging to your credit.

? Use it. This might seem like a no brainer, but to have decent credit, you have to use credit. The best place to start when you're a young adult is with a credit card. Now that you know your score, you'll be able to estimate what kind of card you'd qualify for at a site like NerdWallet.com or LowCards.com. Choose one with a low interest rate and no annual fee, then use it and pay it off every single month.

-- With Arielle O'Shea


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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/05/29/how-to-get-a-handle-on-credit-sco/

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Ex-Rutgers Student Issues 11th-Hour Apology With Big Caveat

Tyler Clementi and Dharun Ravi

Disgraced ex-Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi has finally apologized for spying on his gay roommate before his suicide. But he made sure to say his secret recording was not motivated by "hate" or "bigotry."

"My behavior and actions, which at no time were motivated by hate, bigotry, prejudice, or desire to hurt, humiliate, or embarrass anyone, were nonetheless the wrong choices and decisions," Ravi said, according to The Star-Ledger.

"I apologize to everyone affected by those choices," he added.

Ravi was sentenced to just 30 days in jail on May 21 after a high-profile trial that focused the nation's attention on bullying of gay teens.

New Jersey state court judge Glenn Berman said during the sentencing that Ravi had acted out of "colossal insensitivity" by secretly recording his roommate Tyler Clementi's sexual encounter with another man.

Clementi killed himself in 2010 by jumping off the George Washington Bridge after learning about the spying. Ravi was charged with bias intimidation and trying to hide his spying from police, but he was not directly charged with responsibility for Clementi's death.

DON'T MISS: WATCH: Ex-Rutgers Student Gets Jail Time In Spycam Case, Scolded For Weak Apology >

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/IZBGM-UgVY8/ex-rutgers-dharun-ravi-student-issues-11th-hour-apology-2012-5

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An Ominous Chart That Tells You Why LeBron James Could Be Headed For Another Collapse

The Miami Heat are rolling right now.

After dropping a few games in the middle of the Pacers series last week, LeBron James has stepped his game up, and now the Heat are looking like the unstoppable juggernaut we all feared they'd be.

BUT, there is reason to worry. Because the same thing that a lot of NBA gurus think ruined LeBron and the Heat last year is back again this year — LeBron James is playing a TON of minutes.

Check out the minute per game comparison as the playoffs go on between this year and last year:

lebron james minutes per game chart

Yeah, LeBron is playing less minutes this year. But he's still playing 40+ minutes in the playoffs, and his court time is trending upward.

After LBJ inexplicably fell apart in the Finals, the general consensus was that at least part of the reason he struggled was that he was burned out. He even said it himself.

Now, the same thing is happening.

You could even argue the minutes are even more grueling this time around because he's playing power forward in place of Chris Bosh, and not his customary small forward.

LeBron has been impossibly good this postseason. But if you buy the theory that even King James can wear down after playing 40 minutes a game for two months, there is reason for worry.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/i3lFwMFct9k/lebron-james-minutes-per-game-2012-5

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WATCH: The Amazing Final Laps Of This Year's Indy 500

Since 1911, the Indianapolis 500 has been the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing."

While fan interest may have waned during the last 15 years, the race is still the crown jewel of American motorsports. This is the one win that everyone wants to put on their resume.

For 2012, brand-new cars from Dallara and engines from Honda, Chevrolet, and Lotus were supposed to spice up the competition.

They certainly did.

There were 35 passes for the lead during the race, an all-time record. The best part was that you never knew who was going to win. Even entering the final lap, there were four drivers that had a shot at drinking the traditional milk in Victory Lane.

While Dario Franchitti ended up winning his third 500 since 2007, the end of the race was almost as insane as last year's final corner loss by American rookie J.R. Hildebrand.

Former F1 driver Takuma Sato of Japan, who is famous for his aggressive passes, makes two daring moves to jump up close to the lead. One works out great. The other...not so much.

Some are saying that Dario did not give Sato enough room on his pass attempt. It was the last lap of the Indy 500 and there were nearly $3 million on the line. Would you have left more room than Dario did?

We didn't think so.

Check it out below (via YouTube):

Check out another race from this weekend >

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/EpvbNlSKtww/2012-indy-500-finish-2012-5

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