The Business of Service

U.S. gasoline prices averaged $3.47 a gallon Friday, the highest level since Oct. 6, 2008.

Gasoline prices have jumped by 6 percent in Texas this week alone, to an average $3.36 a gallon, at a time when fuel prices historically have yet to begin their run-up before the summer driving season, AAA said.

And with unrest in the Middle East and North Africa continuing — it’s already pushed the price of crude oil above $104, a 29-month high — analysts say pump prices likely are headed even higher.

What’s behind higher gas prices? The San Antonio Express-News talked to experts about what’s happening.

Question: The price of gasoline in San Antonio has jumped almost 21 cents a gallon in a week. On Friday, San Antonians were paying an average $3.34 a gallon for regular unleaded, AAA said. Why

Read the whole story…

Oil prices are on everyone’s minds right now due to the unrest in North Africa and the Middle East. Even though demand is still muted as the global economy struggles to recover, the focus is now on supply. Just the threat that Libya’s oil output would be reduced or stopped sent global markets into a tizzy.

Crude oil soared this week with prices topping $103 per barrel before easing back below $100. Brent crude oil in Europe came close to $120. But focusing on West Texas Intermediate, traded in New York, the magic number is indeed $100. That was the ceiling that held for nearly four months back in 2008 before prices took off towards their eventual peak of $147.

As we can see in the chart, prices stalled in November 2008 and settled into a trading range between 86 and 100. Read the whole story…

Apple is hoping to appeal to the small business sector with its new package, called Joint Venture.

While Apple Macbooks may be the laptop of choice for graphic designers, small businesses have generally shied away from the brand preferring to stick with Microsoft software and products.

However, some recent small business technology news may change this. According to the blog AppleInsider, the tech giant is preparing to announce a new enterprise service plan, called Joint Venture, aimed at this sector.

The package will cost owners approximately $500 a year and will be offered to businesses when they purchase a new Mac.

Read the whole story…

It is encouraging to hear so many politicians – Republicans and Democrats – talking about curbing entitlement spending. After all, it’s our mandatory spending programs – mostly on health care – that threaten to drive the national debt to unsustainable levels. Over the coming decade, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid spending will top $20 trillion.

House Republicans are now sifting through that spending, preparing a package of entitlement cuts. I am willing to bet, when that package is presented, it will include a “55-and-older pledge.” That’s the promise politicians make when they talk about entitlement reform: Anyone 55-or-older will not be affected by Social Security reform. And sometimes they throw Medicare in for good measure. Paul Ryan made that clear in a recent post on his Medicare reform plan.

Read the whole story…

Harvard professor of economics Edward Glaeser says that struggling cities like Detroit should make entrepreneurship easier for its residents.

As small business startup news searches for any solutions to the currently struggling financial conditions entrepreneurs are still finding themselves in, one expert has some advice.

According to Harvard economics professor Edward Glaeser in The New York Times, one way to help struggling cities, such as Detroit, is by making entrepreneurship easy.

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No doubt, shares of Apple dominate the thoughts of investors as few others can. Not only has the stock led the market higher during the bull market that began in March 2009 but it has gained more than 300%. That is a quadrupling and then some so naturally investors are asking whether it is time to cash in their winnings.

There are competing Wall Street sayings that apply: “let your profits ride” vs. “bulls and bears make money but pigs get killed.” To me, it seems that a leading edge technology stock with a price/earnings ratio of 15.8 based on this year’s estimates is not exactly priced for wild, unrealistic growth. That means following the trend until it tells us to get out.

One of the simplest ways to follow the trend is to use the 50-day moving average. Read the whole story…