Americans have utilized the popular 529 plans to save for college to the tune of $248 billion. The amount in those plans grew by 9% last year. And it has become very popular to save for college as early as when a child is one years old. The College Savings Plans Network advices that this is a smart move by parents as the cost of college continues to rise. The average value of these accounts is now at $20,000. But costs continue to rise and the government only finds new ways to keep the cost of college on an upward trend.

Labor markets improved last week according to government reports showing the number filing for unemployment benefits decreased more than expected. Initial claims came in at 283,000, which was 21,000 people lower than the previous period and lower than anticipated. The general consensus was initial claims would come in closer to 295,000. Some economist have become very optimistic about labor markets while others point to real employment and the low participation rates among other negative signs.

Declines in IBM offset some of the gains made by investors looking forward to the European Central Bank announcement Thursday, where the group is expected to purchase more bonds to stimulate the economy. The Euro Zone has had some economic troubles as of late and investors see the new stimulus as overdue. Asian stocks also moved higher later in the day after the US markets rose.

The minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed that members are not likely to consider raising rates until April and might not inclined to do so if inflation remains at a low level. The minutes from December 16th and 17th voice concern about raising rates and many believe that will keep them at zero for a couple more meetings. Chairman Janet Yellen gave a speech after the meeting about the timing of an interest rate increase and the minutes support her belief that we are still months away from such an action.

The Russian Central Bank raised interest rates to 17% overnight hoping to stem the fall of the Russian Ruble as the country’s main source of revenue, oil, dropped in price at historic rates. A glut in oil production has created a supply abundance worldwide. Since a debt default in 1998, the Russian economy has not been hit so hard. Interest rates were already high at 10.5% before the move that did not have the affect on the currency the central bank had hoped for. The currency remained soft in trading today. Interest rates were raised to encourage holders to keep their cash for additional future increases.

Many consumers have decided that deals presented on CyberMonday will be around longer or start earlier than one day and therefore have delayed making an immediate purchase, according to released reports. As shoppers returned to work, stores saw a 8.5% increase in CyberMonday sales compared to the same day in 2013. This is down compared to the 20.6% jump that consumers saw in 2013 over the prior year. Some see this as a maturing of the shopping habits of consumers during the Christmas season.

Tech hungry investors should take a look at the robust TradeStation platform for their stock brokerage accounts. This trade platform offers 3rd party integration, tools that are very original, advanced monitoring, and great help support. The fees can get a little expense if you do not meet minimums, but overall a great platform/brokerage. At this time you can get 90 days of commission free trading when you sign-up.

Chipotle Mexican Grille Inc. which has outperformed all other members of the S&P 500 Restaurant Index so far, sees sales coming in soft next year. Growth has been near 15% for stores opened in the last year but going forward, the company predicts sales to grow closer to 5%. Analysts had thought a slow down in the 7.2% growth range was coming. So they did see this trend prior to the company discussing it today while reporting its most recent quarter.

The stock, ticker symbol CMG moved lower in after-hours trading. The stock has climbed 23% this year to date. Analyst are hoping the soft sales growth projection is the company being conservative at this time and the actual numbers will be better. Some till remain positive on the stock with Buy ratings. Strong growth in the past was attributed to the healthy nature of their meals and the ability of customers to customize their orders.

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Bill Gross, owner and co-chief investment officer for Pimco is in the  monthly Economical Times .  On this occasion he isn't attempting to clarify why increased rates of interest are ideal for investment and growth, but rather he's attempting to assist investors in deciding on foreign currency trading markets.  His point would be that the classic ideas of change rates do not make a difference very much nowadays, what is important will be the actions of core banking institutions with regards to quantitative easing.

Bill Gross is actually a bond industry celebrity: Following 4 decades of directing his way in the fixed income world and producing top-tier results for his shareholders, he continues to be Morningstar’s ruling “bond fund administrator of the decade.” The situation?

English: Co-founder of , at the Tech Crunch40 conference. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Marc Andreessen, a well-known venture capitalist from Silicon Valley, recently endured attacks from Carl Icahn. Due to a possible conflict of interest, Icahn asked Andreessen to step down from his respected position as one of EBay's board members.

In a strange turn of events, Icahn attempted to gain support for his nominees by encouraging fellow shareholders to take his side . He was concentrating his efforts on governing the corporate structure of EBay. In short, he is trying to convince this auction giant to spin off PayPal, their successful payments business.