| Credit market 'recovers its poise'
Corporate credit markets have staged their biggest rally this year in the two weeks since the bailout of Bear Stearns Cos. Inc., easing the pressure on the global financial system and economy. Over the past two weeks, many global indicators show that fears are receding in the bond market. The cost of buying insurance against corporate bond defaults has fallen, the panicked flight to U.S. Treasury bills has abated and the giant clot of unsold debt in areas such as the market for buyout loans is starting ever so slowly to dissolve. The credit crunch is far from over. Many areas of the debt markets are still struggling with a lack of buyers and concern that more problems lurk in the banking system. Still, any improvement from the grim levels of early March, when many credit indicators were at their weakest levels since the turmoil began, is a help to the global financial system.
Beware pitfalls of renting home during sluggish market
Real estate agents and property managers say more and more people, in this period of slow home sales, are opting to rent out their houses, even though being a landlord can be an expensive headache instead of an easy way out. "Absolutely, we are seeing an increase in people deciding to lease their homes," says Ginger Pinkerton, property manager for Century 21 in Keller, Texas. She and other property managers caution prospective landlords about the potential pitfalls, and it always comes down to this: Leasing out property can be a money-making move for savvy long-term investors who consider it a business. Anything less and you have the potential for trouble. Here are basic tips from the pros on how to avoid the landlord blues. Money matters Being a landlord takes bucks.
Silicon Valley's cult ride
On any given Saturday morning, throngs of bikers in brightly colored jerseys cluster in front of Roberts Market in Woodside, Calif., preparing to hit the back roads of Portola Valley. Among this unlikely crew are some of technology's titans. But while they spend their days chasing the next, newest, lightest, fastest thing, the most coveted bike in these circles doesn't have titanium forks or computers to record each pedal stroke. It's a handmade, hand-measured steel frame bike by a little-known guy named Brent Steelman. At 6-foot-1, with white just starting to show through his red beard, Steelman is somewhat of a cult hero to clients like Kohlberg Kravitz Roberts co-founder George Roberts, Trinity Ventures partner Noel Fenton, and Accel Partners VC and Facebook board member Jim Breyer, who raves that the bikes are "perfectly proportioned." A former racer who started building bikes in his teens, Steelman doesn't mess with fancy new materials.
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