Heidi Klum goes hot for German GQ

Stocks tried to rally for a second consecutive week
Stocks tried to rally for a second consecutive week, subsequently giving up those small gains, to end unchanged (though the Nikkei and Shanghai Composite lost 1.85%). Rather than the usual ‘risk on/risk off’ knee-jerk reaction investors seem to have become a little more savvy; they continue buying top-quality bonds, so that US benchmark two-year TNote set a record low yield at 0.58%, UK five-year Gilts matched 2009’s record low 1.985%, while ten-year BBB+ rated Mexican ones set a new record low at 6.64% as did Brazil’s BBB- at 4.34%. Peripheral Eurozone Treasuries remain under pressure trading at or close to record spreads with the ECB’s reluctant quantative easing in place. While buying yen, taking it to 86.50 per USD, they sold dollars against most currencies taking the Euro to $1.3008 and Cable $1.5473, an increase of 2.5% in five days leaving consensus opinion (for a stronger greenback) head-scratching calling this a ‘technical short-covering rally’; previous ‘darlings’ are lagging well behind. CBOT Wheat rallied strongly again for a third consecutive week, caused by the heat wave in Europe and parts of North America, reaching 598.5 cents per bushel and its most expensive in a year, dragging Corn up to 397 cents.


Political and Economic Developments

The Bank of Thailand raised it key rate by 25 basis points from a record low 1.25%. Moody’s downgraded Portugal’s sovereign rating to A1. UK inflation remains stubbornly high, CPI +3.2% Y/Y to June and RPI +5.00% (the higher figure which no longer will be used for index-linking payouts) though no rate hikes are currently in sight. US CPI far more benign, +1.1% Y/Y to June, Core +0.9% almost as low as 1961’s record low +0.7%. Minutes from the Fed’s FOMC meeting saw 2010’s GDP forecast trimmed to 3.0%-3.5% saying it might need to ‘consider whether further policy stimulus might become appropriate’. Sentiment surveys from New York, Philadelphia and Michigan were rather downbeat this month and nationwide Retail Sales dropped 0.5% after May’s 1.1% decline.

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Applying Online For a Credit Card

While applying for a credit card you may find yourself wondering if it would be safe to apply online. Online application is actually a boon in our fast paced lives. The facility of being able to apply for a card online is a great combination of commerce and technology. Apart from applying online, you can even use your card to shop online. In fact, several stores have an online presence just to attract more clientele. Many a time these online stores offer you better deals on goods as compared to brick and mortar stores. You can even get the goods shipped to you at no extra cost after buying them online.

In order to apply online for a card, you need to start by filling in an application form available on the website of the card provider. There is not much of a difference between filling out an application form on paper and the one you fill online. You get asked the same details and your application gets processed in exactly the same manner.

Most credit card companies prefer that you apply online since they save on overhead costs like representatives salaries, cost of printing, cost of paper etc. In addition, online applications can be seamlessly integrated into the database of the company without any need for manual data processing. Therefore, the companies save on time and are able to process your application much quicker. Though this is not necessarily true all the time, there is a high chance of your card reaching you fast if you apply for it online.

Online applications cut down on the time and effort you spend on getting in touch with a credit card company. You can also compare various cards and evaluate their features before actually applying for one.

People who are wary of giving out their personal information online prefer applying in person. By following a few guidelines you can ensure that your personal information will be safe. First, check the website address of the page on which you are entering the details. It should begin with 'https'. 'Https' signifies that the website is secure. You can also check the security certificate and see if it is provided by a recognized authority like Verisign. Without an 'https', you should not apply online for your card. If you are unsure of applying online, use the online form as a reference and note down your queries. Then call the customer care center of the credit card company before applying.

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How to Approach Women - Don't Be Shy, Be the Dreamy Kind of Guy
When you approach a woman, she will usually know almost instantly whether or not she sees you as the kind of man that she would like to date, or if you seem to be more of the friend type. Most guys have a difficult time when they make their approach on a woman, but you cannot let that hold you back. Otherwise, you really have no one to blame but yourself when you have yet another dateless weekend.

Here are 3 tips to approach women that will make things a lot EASIER on you:

1. You have to get yourself ready. Some guys can just take one deep breath and they are ready to go. Some guys need a little more than that. The thing of approaching a woman is, it gets better with time. So, the first few times you get yourself moving and actually approach her, you might not get the reaction that you want. Stay ready and be able to adapt for the next one.

2. Appearances does mean something. While it is not necessarily a make or break kind of thing, you don't want to walk up to her with spaghetti stains on your shirt. Seriously though, get your appearance to reflect your personality and your style so that she kind of gets an impression of who you are. Don't over do the whole appearance, but don't under do it either.

3. Talking to her, you need to make her laugh. If she does not let loose any laughter, then chances are, you are not making the kind of impression that is going to make her want you. Of course, you don't want her to laugh because you dropped a corny line on her, but you want to make her laugh so that she knows that you are a carefree kind of guy.

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How to Find the Best Laptops For College Students

The best laptops for college students are those that are lightweight and comfortable enough to be carried around from class to class. It should also have a long battery life and good performance. Price is also a concern, especially for a college student. Hence, these features should all be incorporated in a package that is very affordable.

For someone taking college and who is short on the budget, a good buy would be a budget laptop. There are various models that are sold at a bargain on the market which can perform well in most applications. You can also have a high memory hard drive in a computer that goes around two hundred gigabytes with several peripheral ports.

Among the best laptops for college students are the thin and light models that are powerful enough to perform the tasks that are normally required in college. They can come with a compatible writer that can burn DVD's and CD's. This is essential if you want to create a hard copy for your data or if you want to save a presentation on a disc for use in other units. Thin and light models could have a very high hard drive memory that can go as high as 250 gigabytes. If you are a student taking up science, finance or any other course that requires intensive applications, you could go for a model that has four gigabytes of RAM.

If you are very concerned about the weight and size of the laptop, you can take your pick from ultra-portable laptop models. Although very small in size, such laptops have very good computing performance, which makes them a good package to have. These models could be less than an inch thick, which makes them very convenient to carry around. The best laptops for college students are also priced reasonably so they will not burden you financially, even if you are still a student.

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Widescreen Computer Monitor

Frankly, there's no better way to increase productivity on your computer than by getting a widescreen computer monitor. While a mini LCD monitor could serve the same purpose to increase your work screen it's just not as practical and convenient. Attaching a dual display to your existing monitor requires software to install and just doesn't look as impressive.

With a widescreen computer monitor, you don't have to worry about focusing on two different screens which can give you a bit of a headache. Instead, you can do everything on one screen. With more room on your screen, you can open more windows and work on several applications simultaneously. You can either divide the screen into two with two windows open side by side or even four, with one in each corner.

When you are busy working on several things at once, it can be incredibly annoying to have to close windows to view another. Sometimes you find that you have lots of applications open and it feels like a bit of a juggling act. This can seriously reduce your efficiency to work effectively and can waste considerable amount of time.

Widescreen computer screens are huge, with the standard size being around 21 inches. This gives you more space to get organized and do more. Not only do you have more space to work, but you can enjoy better clarity. Lots of widescreen monitors are HD and provide brilliant detail as well as color. For graphics designers this is very helpful since it helps provide a better idea of the finished product.

Commonly the widescreen computer monitor has a 16:9 display, which is the current standard for most digital TV programs. You'll find that most video sites online also offer the ability to view videos in widescreen. This means you get to enjoy movies and television as it's meant to be, without seeing the black bars.

You can easily turn your computer into a digital TV set by investing in a digital TV card. By doing this you can benefit from a dual purpose monitor and even save yourself from buying a new TV. Unlike analog, you can enjoy crystal clear digital broadcasts straight on your computer.

Since most computers have DVD drives you can also enjoy your movies in HD and widescreen format giving you an enhanced viewing experience.

That's not all, widescreen computer monitors are much more energy efficient compared to standard monitors as well as space saving. You will find new widescreen LCDs super compact as well as lightweight.

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EUR/USD. Holding above 1.25

EUR/USD (1.2582) is up overnight, holding onto gains from the sharp rally last Thursday. Some ascribed that move to a huge short EUR / long gold position unwind, while others indicated that it derived from an increased focus on the downside risks for the US economy. Still others noted that the Euro Zone dodged bullets last week with Spain issuing debt and the ECB’s 1yr loan facility expiring without incident. Bloomberg has published a feature article this morning highlighting various bank strategists who believe that EUR/USD could still trade towards 1.15 this year as debt problems and austerity weigh on the European currency.

Technicals:

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Trend: Daily higher; Weekly higher.
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Overbought/Oversold (stochastics): Daily overbought; Weekly oversold.
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Support / Resistance Levels: Support for EUR/USD lies at 1.25 (psychological), 1.2152 (Jun 29 low), 1.1877 (Jun7 low), 1.1827 (Mar’06 low), and 1.1640 (Nov’05 low). Resistance lies at 1.2612 (Jul2 high), 1.2672 (May 21 high), 1.3094 (May10 high), 1.3692 (Apr12 high), 1.3818 (Mar17 high), 1.4026 (Feb3 high), 1.4194 (Jan25 high), 1.4579 (Jan13 high) and 1.4626 (Nov low).

Positioning:

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The CFTC, EUR, non-commercial, net position (-66K) deteriorated slightly, in keeping with the price action through last Tuesday.
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The risk reversal (3m, 25delta) ticked higher on spot’s hold above 1.25.
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Implied Vol (3m) slipped overnight on the back of spot’s recent gains.

Cross-asset valuation: The significant correlations that EUR/USD has during the past 60 days are the 5yr yield spread (positive), the 10yr yield spread (positive), the US10yr yield (positive) and the SPX (positive).